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Leadership Habits

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

There is a difference between success that happens because of our behaviour, success that happens by luck, and success that happens despite our behaviour.

I’ve been re-reading What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith who is one of the most successful of corporate America's coaches. Goldsmith's primary insight is that good manners is good management, that bad habits keep highly successful people from succeeding even more. What differentiates the one from the other, he observes, has nothing to do with one's abilities, experience, and training and everything to do with behaviour. Goldsmith explains, successful people often limit themselves with habits and behaviours that they don't even know they have. Likewise, people who have experienced some level of success, tend to assume that the behaviours that got them this far will, in time, get them further still. This may not be the case, they could fail to realise that their success has come despite their flaws. Some fail to understand that their habits may be preventing them from reaching their full potential, not only at work, but also in life.

Everyone has a few Bad Habits: Here are some that may be holding you back:

1. Not listening: One of the most valuable skills we can develop is the ability to listen well. This means listening with the intent to understand, most of us listen with the intent to reply. The quality of your listening will determine the quality of the relationship and is perhaps one of the most important habits to really work on – by truly listening, you help people feel valued, show that you care and that they belong.

2. Adding too much value: This is when you can't stop yourself from adding your thoughts to already viable ideas. The reality is that, while it in some cases it may slightly improve an idea, it drastically reduces the other person's commitment.

3.Criticising and passing judgment or negative comments disguised as humour. Think twice before passing judgement, ask yourself, do I need to say this before speaking.

4. Starting with "No," "But" or "However": Almost all of us do this, and most of us are totally unaware of it. As soon as you say that you negate the other persons view and that will damage the relationship. Change it to “YES” “AND”.

5. Speaking when angry: When you get angry, you are usually out of control, take a breath, walk away – we don’t think or act rationally and logically when emotional and this can be very damaging.

6. Withholding information: This one is all about power. We do this unconsciously; when we are too busy to get back to someone with valuable information or forget to include someone in our discussions or meetings. Or when we delegate a task and don't take the time to show them exactly how we want it done.

7. Failing to give recognition and saying thank you: catch people doing things right – it builds trust and confidence.

8. Making excuses: We do this by blaming our failings on circumstances, or someone or something else outside ourselves. Own up when you mess up.

9. Lack of accountability: Lack of accountability at any level is a damaging negative attribute. It overrules many good qualities. When things go wrong, don’t look for who to blame, look for what you can learn and commit to make it better.

10. An excessive need to be right. This shows up when we argue our strongly held viewpoint when it really doesn’t matter to the outcome. We end up damaging relationships and creating barriers between us and those we lead.

11. Holding onto the past: It’s important to reflect on the past, to learn from it, but we must look forward to current and future circumstances. I call this head up leadership, looking to the horizon. What got you here may not get you there!

12. Not asking for feedback: I am a huge fan of 360 degree feedback. We can only change that of which we are aware. While self-reflection is important, there are parts of us we cannot see. Ask for feedback or as Marshall Goldsmith puts it “ask for feedforward” – tell me what isn’t working and give me suggestions to improve. In my Vistage CEO Advisory Boards, we finish each meeting with WWW and EBI. What’s Working Well and Even Better If – a great example of feed forward in action

We are creatures of habit – some that work and some that no longer work for us. My challenge to you is to ask yourself which habits will you repeatedly do or need to drop to enable you and your organisation to achieve the Habit of Excellence?

Kate Marshall

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A Leader's Impact

“The single biggest way to impact an organisation is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organisation that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them." -John Maxwell

As we continue to navigate the challenges and opportunities our businesses face, I find many leaders working hard to keep focussed, stay strong and believe in their own abilities and the ability of others. I believe it is good practice to regularly step back, reflect and consider the impact of our own Leadership and indeed our sincerity as we lead. I call this “Head up” leadership. Taking time to stop, observe, notice patterns and themes emerging inside and outside your business. Taking time to ask questions such as:

Am I doing the right things and is what I’m doing working?

How are people responding to our current circumstances?

Am I creating clarity and do people know what’s expected of them now?

What do I notice about the energy, creativity or innovation within the business?

What do I notice about the opportunities, challenges, patterns and themes emerging locally and globally?

Are we ready for our next opportunity wherever that comes from?

What am I missing? And my favourite question:

What am I pretending not to know?

We have lived in this very turbulent world of more uncertainties than certainty for some time now. I’m often asked, what is the most effective leadership style for now? Of course, there is no one style that works for every person or indeed every situation. The answer to that question will often be clearer having asked the above questions. I find truly great leaders make time to reflect, to think and find a way to be authentically themselves, flaws and all, whatever the circumstance. They take courageous decisions and have a genuine interest in enabling others to lead though uncertainty.

What is an effective style? The definition of style is simply a particular way of doing or saying something and when it comes to leadership definitions, well there are many. Mine is “leaders instill confidence in their people, belief in themselves and empower them to accomplish their goals”. I also believe the first role of a great leader is to create other leaders. However, the simplest definition is Leadership is Influence. Leadership itself is not about power, authority or title. We all know people who are influencers and lead from social power, not position power. We also know leaders who have position power, but few willingly follow – they follow because they have to, not because they want to.

I still find many confused around the difference between Leadership and Management – both equally important, not mutually exclusive, but require different approaches. I believe one of the traits of great leadership is knowing when to lead and when to manage. In my work with Leaders and Peer Boards I use this tool and ask leaders to self-assess, assess their team member or ask their team members to assess them. A type of mini 360 feedback.

Rate this person on his or her demonstrated capacity to:

Management Rating (1-10 high)

Create Order

Seek Compliance

Create Structure

Control Motivate

Eliminate Risk

Supervise

Total Average

Leadership Rating (1-10 high)

Disrupt order

Seek Commitment

Vision Direction

Take Risk

Inspire

Total Average

(Ref John Kotter).

If you have a relatively stable Organisation, then the requirement is more Management.

However, if you have a rapidly changing Organisation, the requirement is more Leadership.

Ultimately both are required. Success lies in having the right focus for the right moment and right circumstance. Complete the tool, map people against what is currently required and identify gaps.

As we continue to navigate stormy waters, the need for clear impactful leadership has never been more apparent. Organisations have been in continuous rapid change with even more to come with the return to some level of office working. While remote working has worked, people have missed sense of connectedness, relationship and synergies that only happen through people being together in a room. At the moment that requires impactful Leadership and effective Management.

Three quotes I want to leave you with are:

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." John Quincy Adams

"The true mark of a leader is the willingness to stick with a bold course of action — an unconventional business strategy, a unique product-development roadmap, a controversial marketing campaign — even as the rest of the world wonders why you're not marching in step with the status quo. In other words, real leaders are happy to zig while others zag. They understand that in an era of hyper-competition and non-stop disruption, the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for something special." Bill Taylor

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

Keep adjusting our Sails, with impact!

Kate Marshall

Coach, Mentor, Speaker, Author

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Leadership: Dealing with Mistakes & Setbacks

Albert Einstein once said that anyone who says they have never made a mistake has never tried anything new. No-one in this world is perfect – mistakes are an inevitable fact of life and a daily hazard of leadership. Mistakes can be embarrassing, costly, even tragic – but the best leaders understand that they are also opportunities. Indeed I argue that you learn as much from your failures than you do from your successes. So what is there to be afraid of?

Of course, many take the view that risk is an everyday part of their organisation. To these leaders, mistakes are an occupational hazard. It followed, then, that their behaviour towards mistakes in others, and their reaction to their own mistakes, was seen as a key element of good leadership behaviour. Gail Rebuck, chief executive of Random House, made the point that during her early career her bosses had been ‘very indulgent’ when she made a mistake and took the view that you learn from it, stop beating yourself up and move on. ‘That is such a valuable lesson, it really is,’ she says.

A few years ago, I was asked by a board to work in a business where unfortunately this was not the view of the executive team. A very strong Alpha team that were passionate about growth. Don’t get me wrong, they were growing the top line, winning new business, their aim was worthy, but their style and behaviour shouted “win at any cost” and mistakes were not tolerated. They had created an atmosphere where mistakes were seen as a disaster and a personal failure. Consequently, they had created the situation in their organisation where people felt unable to admit to their mistakes and when they did, they feared the response. They condemned people for a wrong decision – or a less that desired result, often looking at who to blame rather than understanding the context, background or indeed circumstances which led to the failure. That fear dominated behaviour and the company went into freefall. A culture where people don’t feel safe, where a blame culture pervades, impacts decision making, stifles innovation and risk taking stalls. The organisation will at best be mediocre and at worst fail and fail fast. An organisation will only travel as far as the people can trust the leader. Our task was to rebuild trust and change mindsets of the executive team who were blinded by their ambition to win at all costs.

Great leaders believe that ultimately, a mistake within their organisation is the leader’s responsibility – and are not afraid to shoulder the blame. Great leaders believe that in the best organisations, responsibility moves upwards and the blame culture is all but extinct. Poor leaders generally have a terrible habit of failing to admit when they’ve made a mistake.

There is no doubt though that mistakes, particularly painful public mistakes, are a stern test of a leader’s ability. We have seen many of these here in NI, in business and in political life. There is a good chance that you will learn a lot more from making a mistake than you will from getting it right, provided that the person reviewing the mistake does so in a manner that reflects on what went wrong and focusses on what can be learnt.

This brings me back to a mantra that I leant early in my career. Catch people doing things right. This uses the analogy of the emotional bank account. Like a monetary bank account, if you make enough deposits (catching them doing it right) then you will be in the black, in credit. If your emotional bank account is in credit, its easier to discuss what’s gone wrong, identify the mistake, build and maintain trust. Too often poor leaders only give feedback when something goes wrong. The emotional bank account is always in the red. This results in a culture of fear and in a culture of fear, we retreat to safety, keep our head down and look for an escape route.

People often see feedback as negative. Feedback can be incredibly positive if delivered well with the right motives. I’ve had the privilege of working with some sports teams where players receive detailed feedback on their performance after every game, whether they won or lost.

The most important lesson, though, is that successes should be analysed and praised as thoroughly as failures. The leaders that have adopted this approach within their own organisation know that people were more willing to talk openly about mistakes in the context of success. We know that only analysing mistakes will damage the morale, culture and trust within an organisation. Think about it. It is the successes an organisation wants to replicate, not the failures. And remember we are a consequence of our thinking and beliefs, we are hard wired to be safe and a culture where mistakes are not tolerated, is not safe!

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Facing the Brutal Facts

General Eisenhower once remarked that “In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”  Heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson offered the sports version of this quote when he observed “ Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”   

 

Many CEOs had to readdress their plans as one could say they got “punched in the mouth” last year by a worldwide pandemic. And there are still punches being thrown!  

 

I’ve been rereading Jim Collins’ Great by Choice. I was fortunate enough to be part of an intimate audience with him in January 2019 and having recently heard him again on the Brené Brown podcast, (really worth a listen) I was prompted to look back again at his writing on what makes an organisation move from good to great.  

 

Collins has twelve questions that organisations should answer or at least explore. I want to focus on his third question. What are the brutal facts? Not opinions, not hearsay but the truth backed by facts. 

 

The craziness of the past year made that question hard to answer. Certainly, we are given lots of information (and misinformation) about when we may restart our economic engine and resume some sort of social interaction. However, the only thing we can be certain of is the continued uncertainty as we navigate our way through this stage of the pandemic and the challenges we see here with Brexit. 

 

For individuals, there is uncertainty about their future work prospects, their incomes, the value of their savings and what they will be able to spend their money on, how and where they will work. For organisations, there is uncertainty about buying trends, sustainability of online, can they source materials or product, liquidity, interest rates, and what changes they will have to make to their workplaces to accommodate social distancing requirements. All this requires clear and disciplined thought.  In his book Collins cited that Good-to-great companies displayed two distinctive forms of disciplined thought. 

 

First, they confronted the facts. They developed a simple, yet insightful frame of reference for all decisions.  We can only work with the things we can control, so what are the facts? What can we influence? And what must we not get distracted by which is totally out of our control.  

Second step is to create a climate where the truth is heard.  Great leaders lead with questions, not answers which helps them get an understanding of the facts. They use questions to gain information, to get below the surface, to ask more.  My three go to questions are 

 “Say more about…”  

“what’s most important to you about…” 

”How are you feeling about…”  

One of the brutal facts right now is that people are weary of lockdown, they are tired and they need hope and a plan of some sort to lift them from this grey cloud.  

People fall into 3 categories when adversity occurs:  

  1. Those who are permanently dispirited by the event  

  2. Those who get their life back to normal  

  3. Those who use the experience as a defining event that made them stronger.  

Good-to-great companies fall into this third category, those with the ‘hardiness factor’.  

In order to build trust and get to the truth and uncover the facts, people need to know that you care not just about the work but about them.  Non-agenda meetings are a good way to understand the current reality.  Asking simply, “how are you?’ “What’s going on in your world?”    

Leading does not mean coming up with answers and motivating people to follow your vision. Rather showing humility and perhaps even vulnerability with the aim of understanding more of their world and how they see it. Seek their perspective, listen to their answers to establish the facts (and some may be brutal) and then ask questions that will lead to the best possible results.  

Collins states that there is no evidence that the Good-to-Great companies had more or better information than the comparison companies. The key lies not in better information, but in turning information into information that simply cannot be ignored. 

The Stockdale Paradox 
Face the harshness of your current reality, but never lose faith you will prevail in the end. What separates great people or companies from the mediocre is not the absence of difficulties, but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life” Admiral Jim Stockdale, the highest-ranking US officer to be taken prisoner in Vietnam for many years.  

If you have the right people, they will be self-motivated. The key is not to de-motivate them by ignoring the brutal facts of reality. Invest now in creating a plan -a plan to give them hope, based on facts and keep planning as we navigate these still turbulent times.  

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Head and heart courageous Leadership – Kate Marshall

Who are you? This is the question I ask at the beginning of my work with leaders and often it seems to create anxiety or even confusion. Of course, who we are isn’t defined by who we say we are, it’s defined by how others experience us. We don’t see the world or others as they are, we see the world as we are.

In my early days as a leader, my team often shared I had very high expectations which they felt they could not always live up to. I had a tendency to put work before relaxation, have initiative and self-management as an expectation. I expected my model of how to work, the story I had told myself of how one succeeded in work, to become theirs. Who had I become?

The past 18 months has been a challenge and perhaps also a blessing. It’s enabled us to question ourselves and think about who we and what really matters in life.

As the child of parents who gave me lots of opportunity to watch as they grew and developed Businesses, it was inevitable that one day I would want to follow their footsteps. They worked hard for every success and picked themselves up and just got on with it when there was challenge or failure. My childhood taught me if you want something to happen, you make it happen, don’t wait for others to show the way. It taught me self-leadership. It gave me a very strong work ethic, which I am grateful for and a strong sense of independence which has served me well. It’s also a challenge! In the early days of my Leadership experience, my benchmark for others was often determined by how hard they worked and how much of that independence they demonstrated.

Our stories, patterns and filters, engraved from early childhood, shape how we make sense of this world. We see the world through our own truly magnificent neural pathways, primarily formed in the first two decades of life. However, as Adults, we have choices, once we become aware of those patterns, we can choose who we are and how we show up for others.

At the age of 32 (with 3 children and by now Company Director) I encountered a transformational moment. You know them when they appear – they interfere with your life’s path. I had a Leadership Coach working with me and I realised I had worked my way into a role that I could do well, but did not love. With his help, I began to explore who I was, why I had made the choices in my life so far and importantly, to realise I had no clarity on what I wanted in life. That transformational moment took me to where I am now, very clear on who I am and my purpose in life. I changed career, moving into the world of Coaching and Leadership development. I continue to learn all I can about how to lead in business with Head, Heart and bold Clarity to achieve extraordinary results.

What lessons have I learnt that have helped me most?

1. In leadership, nothing is more transparent than how you lead yourself.

2. Humility releases leadership that transforms people and organisations.

3. The need for clarity is paramount.

4. Great leadership of you, your life and your business, requires continual self-awareness, and a willingness to learn and grow.

5. Who you are on any given day or moment has impact on your own performance, and your teams’ performance.

6. Too many times I’ve allowed my response to negatively impact the outcome.

7. Too many times I’ve argued to be right, when it was more important to be loving or kind.

8. How many of my old habits and patterns come from the need to be independent, in control, I am a recovering Controller.

9. Old habits die hard. They still show up…But I have a choice.

So here we are at the back end 2021- You will soon have set goals for 2022 . I encourage you to check you have set goals for not just what you will achieve, but also for who you will become along the way.

I have met many leaders in my time in business, if there was a formula for becoming a great leader, I’d have had it bottled. However, what I know, above all is that who you are, matters.

A Great leader?

Their Character is deeper, Ideas fresher, Spirit softer, Courage greater, Leadership decisions better, Concerns wider, Compassion more genuine. They give away power and Ask great questions.

They understand the key role of a leader is to create other Leaders. They strive for Clarity, leading from within with great self-awareness, operating both Head and Heart Leadership.

Who are you?

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Driving with the Breaks on!

The new year is when most of us reset, renew and revive our Personal and professional goals for the year ahead. Economists suggest the 2022 outlook is one of cautious optimism, strong inflation, and rising wages, it might feel no matter how clear and focused you remain, that you are driving with the breaks on.

Here, for some businesses, the continued uncertainty of Protocol and Covid on our ability to fully execute our plans and achieve the desired results remains paramount. There’s cause to be cautious. Covid and its yet-to-be-discovered mutations continue to plague confidence. The emergence and outbreak of Omicron is a timely reminder that the pandemic is not yet over and the residual Brexit issues remain challenging. Rising interest rates and weaker real incomes also test the resilience of household consumption and business investment. However, the good news is Covid-related restrictions are proving to have a diminishing economic impact.

So Covid combined with the Protocol issues are going to be with us well into 2022 and are still the biggest headwind for business. So as a leader we can go back to what we know has worked in times of great uncertainty.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) led England and the Allies to victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. His life spanned from the Victorian Age to the Space Age. He authored 37 books, producing more words than Shakespeare and Dickens combined. When Western Civilization was threatened by the ominous expansion of totalitarianism, Churchill defended liberty against tyranny, exuded a confidence in victory and provided something freedom-loving people across Europe and the United States desperately needed: HOPE.

While he was revered by some and hated by others, regardless of your stance or politics, he was a great leader for that time. There are lessons we can take from his approach to leading through continued hardship and uncertainty.

Leaders must be above all things a purveyor of hope. Your people take their lead from you.

No matter how brilliant, challenging, or dire your circumstances, what they look for and analyse is your reaction. We cannot not communicate. We know that as humans we are likely to focus on the danger/negative/fear in our circumstances with the ratio of 5:1. So communicate the reasons for hope frequently and repeatedly. Get in front of as many of your people as often as you can either in person or on a recorded message, let them know you’ve got this, no matter how uncertain the circumstances around us. People read our body language as well as our language, both equally as important when delivering a message.

Choose your words and language carefully. Be real with them, tell them the facts and somehow find a way to share the optimism and hope, making a commitment to do that consistently.

Churchill was also an avid reader and had an insatiable learning mindset. He sought wisdom in many of the ancient scholars, he started with the rise and fall of the Roman empire and worked his way, over a two-year period, to read and study the wisdom of Plato, Aristotle, and Darwin to name a few. Today we have easy access to wisdom from many ancient and recent leaders from many genres. It’s amazing how an unexpected story can inspire you to think or act differently, to learn and apply to your circumstances. Recently a book named Breathe was recommended so I bought it, and half-way through the book it discovered I had ordered the wrong book! I had thought it a strange recommendation but became curious about the content. I bought “Breathe “by Rickson Gracie, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Legend. The book was not what I was recommended to read, but the life lessons on discipline, resilience, courage, the ability to control your response were more than worth the read. Leaders are readers. Recharge your curiosity and fill your mind with new options by reading, or listening, or watching wisdom from diverse sources of how others have thrived and inspired during tough times.

Churchill was of all things a courageous leader. A quote that struck me as relevant for our circumstance today is this one. “The amount of courage it takes to do something can be measured by the amount of fear one must put aside in order to act. Courage is knowing what not to fear.”

Fear is what we feel when we sense a threat. Whether that threat is mental, physical, major, minor, real, or perceived, when this emotion arises, our response is what matters. Fear helps us recognise and avoid potentially detrimental threats, pain, or harm. It also ignites our fight or flight response, prompting us to take appropriate action if needed for survival.

So as we set goals for 2022, step into the year with courage and harness the fear to navigate “Driving with the Breaks on”.

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Standout Leadership

In an earlier post I talked about how reaction to the Pandemic has put a spotlight on employees – those who excelled in attitude and approach and those who have not. This situation has played out much longer than any of us hoped or wished and the spotlight is rightly now on leaders.

Once in a while you meet a leader who stands out, even in a room filled with skilled, experienced, successful people. They simply think and act and lead differently than most people and this has been amplified over recent weeks and months.

Those rare individuals don't become outstanding leaders overnight. While some are born with an aptitude for leadership, truly outstanding leaders are made. Through training, experience, and a healthy dose of introspection they learn how to make quick decisions. They learn to work with different personalities. They learn to nurture, motivate and inspire. Unfortunately in our Brexit uncertainty and Covid -19 world today, poor leadership is even more blindingly evident. It stands out for all the wrong reasons.

Great leaders learn to lead, they create patterns of thinking, being and behaving that develop into skills. In time those skills become automatic. Great leaders are thinkers and often that thinking happens behind the scenes. In the moment, in the crisis, when people look to them and need them most, they act swiftly, decisively and confidently.

So what does it take to be a truly outstanding leader? Here are eight things that great leaders do naturally, automatically and instinctively:

1. Catch them doing it right! Make it a priority to notice and tell people when they get it right. For a truly outstanding leader giving praise is almost like breathing. Its’ natural, automatic, frequent and, most of all, genuine and sincere.

2. Decisive. Thinking is essential, ideas are great, but implementation is everything. Outstanding leaders quickly weigh, assess, decide, and then immediately act. Decisiveness and action build confidence and momentum. Making a decision is often better than making no decision at all as most mistakes can almost always be corrected.

3. Take responsibility. We all make mistakes and what matters is what we do after we make those mistakes. Outstanding leaders say, "I was wrong” or "I made the wrong choice. Outstanding leaders admit their mistakes early and often because they take responsibility and because they want to build a culture where mistakes are simply challenges to overcome, not opportunities to point fingers and assign blame.

4. Communicate. Great leaders are great listeners. It’s not absence of communication that is the problem it’s the quantity and quality of communication. Great leaders create great clarity in the communication processes and over communicate the WHY. Tell me what to do and I'll try to do it; tell me why, help me understand why, help me believe and make that why my mission too ... and I'll run through proverbial brick walls to do the impossible. Clear communication is more about listening than talking and we sometimes forget that.

5. Lead by example. “Leaders doing what they said they would do, when they would do it has more impact on the bottom line than good customer service” (Stanford university). Employees notice everything, you are on stage, everyone watches what you do. They watch how you do what you do ... and what that says about you. Outstanding leaders do what they do simply because it's important to them. It's part of who they are. They care about doing the right things that are aligned with aspired values and culture.

6. Give feedback. Because they care about their employees, not just as workers but as people, outstanding leaders instinctively reach out to give others the chance to succeed and do better. Outstanding leaders naturally try to support and help and are prepared to have the candid conversations, even if it's uncomfortable.

7. Ask for help. In the Peer-to-Peer groups I chair, I often hear “it’s lonely at the top”. Leaders often feel the burden of leadership and wrestle with the assumption that you're supposed to know everything. Of course that's not true. Outstanding leaders don't pretend to know everything. In fact, they purposely hire people who are better than them or know more. They ask for help and in the process show vulnerability, respect for the knowledge and skills of others and a willingness to listen.

8. Challenge. Outstanding leaders create a clear why, focus on communicating with clarity and then challenge their employees by giving them the autonomy and independence to work the way they work best. They set vision with clearly articulated boundaries and expectations and then they support, care for and challenge to help others thrive and succeed.

That's a challenge every employee wants to face and one that outstanding leaders instinctively provide.

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Setting Boundaries

As Schools have more or less fully reopened, this brings some sense of “structure” to our seemingly uncertain, uneasy world. And as we begin to bring staff back to into offices safely over the coming months as we have come to realise that these “interesting times” are likely to be with us for some time yet. I see and hear anecdotally that we have accepted that we must continue to find ways to adapt. While the form that adapt and accept takes will be different for each of us one thing is true for all of us: we must focus on what we can control, be mindful of determining what that is, and set boundaries.

What does setting boundaries mean?

It means being very aware of and deciding what is most important for you personally as well as for your team or your organisation and then setting boundaries around each of these.

While some clients have been energised and refreshed and have taken time out to reinvent or reshape their business model, many are tired and weary. Most have worked harder in the pandemic climate than ever before. They are mentally and physically tired.

For those leaders (especially the Worriers, Controllers, Perfectionists, and People Pleasers out there) setting boundaries means putting “self” first. It’s only by putting on our own oxygen mask first that we are able to support others, creating and imagining new ways to maximise opportunities or rebuild our businesses.

There are three key steps to setting Boundaries.

Step 1 - Setting aside “Me” time; Me time can include exercise, meditation, watching TV. Whatever works for you to relax, unwind and recharge.

Step 2 - Setting aside Thinking time; taking time every day to think, to reorganise your thoughts to create, reflect and learn. Focused thinking time is essential for identifying the things we can control and to stay focused.

When presented with a challenge or concern ask yourself these three questions

1. How much of this problem or situation can I control?

2. How much of this problem or situation can I influence?

3. How much of this problem or situation can neither control nor influence?

Then control what you can, influence where you can and what you can neither control nor influence simply change how you think about it. LET IT GO

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” Mark Twain

Step 3 Diary Management, we can only accomplish the first two steps is we do this one. Many years ago I facilitated time management courses. How ridiculous! Time is finite. There are always 24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in an hour. Time cannot be “managed”. It’s self-management that is the key to productivity and achievement.

We have the gift of 1440 minutes given to us every day. We need to manage the choices we make around how we prioritise those minutes. When reporting back on things that they had committed to but didn’t happen, I hear people say they didn’t have time and I always challenge that. Do you mean you didn’t have time or you didn’t make the time, because we always have enough time – it’s what we choose do with the time we have that is the problem. We are a consequence of the choices we make each day. We may not like or welcome many of the choices we have to make but we always have the ability to choose our response no matter the circumstances.

Back to boundaries. If we are not clear on what’s most important, then it’s easy to feel overwhelmed tired and unable to bring our A game to our business or personal life.

When we lack clear thinking and have no clear boundaries, we will easily lose time and energy on unimportant or easy things to do.

Patrick Lencioni in his book “The Advantage” talks about his simple but impactful approach to high performing leadership.

Step 1 - Create a cohesive Leadership Team

Have you the right people in the right roles doing the right things?

Step 2- Create Clarity

Have you created organisational and team purpose with great clarity on the roles and responsibilities?

Step 3 - Over communicate the Clarity

Do your organisational systems and processes enable clarity, particularly around accountability and feedback?

Step 4 - Reinforce the Clarity

Do you set clear boundaries and model good selfcare, enabling clear thinking, timely and wise decisions and behaviours aligned with your values?

I’ve added Step 5 – Repeat as required!

These Interesting times are here to stay indefinitely. Make sure you are clear of your boundaries for both the businesses you lead and in your personal life.

I don’t recall hearing of anyone at the end of their life say “I wish I’d spent more time in work.” Set Boundaries and use your 1440 minutes each day wisely.

Kate Marshall

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Adversity - The Game Changer

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way” Marcus Aurelius

Necessity is the mother of change and we have had a speed course in managing in crisis that has driven extraordinary change in both our business and personal lives and whist Covid -19 and uncertainty of the protocol still stands in our way, we have learnt and adapt to use it for the better.

Businesses up and down the country have done us proud despite the fact that they have been far from immune to the economic effects of the pandemic. While we have been taking small steps towards economic recovery, we cannot miss the lasting impacts of the uncertainty caused by the pandemic and changes caused by Brexit. Maintaining motivation and innovation in the face of adversity isn’t easy.

One of the sources I look to for motivation is Marcus Aurelius – I have quoted his work and words many times in my talks and in my writing. He was the last of the so-called “five good emperors”. Marcus Aurelius kept the Roman Empire safe from the Parthians and Germans between the years 161-180. One of the most respected Roman emperors, he is best remembered for his rule driven by reason and his intellectual interest in Stoicism – a philosophy of personal ethics informed by its system of logic.

He reminds us we have power over our mind - not outside events. “Dwell on the beauty of life.” “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.” “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one”.

How can we reflect on this as we continue to lead our businesses through this adversity and these still turbulent times?

The leadership shadow you cast over your organisation has never been of greater importance. Your level of personal motivation really matters. Leaders cast a long shadow: what they say and do has a very large impact. People look up to leaders and because there is a human desire to belong and feel valued, they start copying them. After a while, organisations tend to become the shadow of their leader. The leader’s influence is far reaching and will set the levels of motivation and ability to think creatively and innovate. In short, YOUR MOOD BECOMES THEIR MOOD. Here are some questions to ask yourself.

• How has my mood changed in the last 18-24 months ?

• What have I noticed about the mood of others around me?

• Where has your focus gone?

• What has happened to your need to control?

• How visible are you to your team now?

• What needs to change now FOR THE BETTER OF YOUR TEAM

An important part of your Leadership shadow is the narrative around your business. The stories you tell. Words have power, language is the window to your soul. Words can either build up or drag down. What stories are you sharing about your people and how they have been working under these challenging circumstances? Are you sharing even the smallest of wins like repeat orders, contracts just won? Have some of your staff been working from home under challenging conditions, trying to juggle young children and work and grasping any hour of the day to get the work done? Have you captured the great acts of kindness that we have witnessed during the pandemic– staff going out of their way to deliver exceptional service in difficult circumstances? The stories you tell now are a reflection of your current leadership shadow.

· Who are your organisational heroes?

· How have you lifted them up and shared stories of their actions and results?

· Are you capturing these great stories and encouraging others to do so, to share both internally and externally?

· Are you creating a narrative of truths and experiences around your business that helps build motivation and drives creativity?

· Is your language and story currently dominated by the opportunity this impediment brings?

· Importantly, what is the story you are telling yourself right now about your ability to remain focused, motivated, resilient and leave a positive shadow across your teams?

Great adversity requires great resilience, that requires healthy self-talk, selfcare and self-esteem. That brings the ability to not bounce back but to bounce forward. The game changer!

Kate Marshall

Coach Speaker Author

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The New “Better Norm”

COC 1 The New “Better Norm” May 2020

As a coach and chair of CEO Peer Advisory Boards, I have been privileged to witness at first hand the courage, dedication, and determination of leaders during this pandemic. I have been both humbled and inspired.

Leaders of businesses have worked hard to keep their employees safe, making tough decisions to ensure they had a business to return to. Not one of these individuals, trained or signed up for this, and yet they dug in and committed to doing what they knew they must.

In the midst of the pandemic leaders were required to stay current on the latest developments and adapt to whatever changes flooded in from one day to the next. Even now, this remains an evolving and fluid situation with uncertainty as the work from home/office blend is still being established. A leaders resolve and resilience will continue to be tested!

The statement “We are all in the same storm but we are certainly not all in the same boat” certainly rings true.

What I have seen are businesses that fall into three categories,

1. Thriving- their product/service demand has been part of the response to the climate that the pandemic has created and they have seized the opportunity, despite encountering challenges around servicing the demand;

2. Dying – their product/service had its route to sales/market disappear or blocked;

3. Idle, ticking over- they have made the most of this time, trading where possible, improving systems/processes, training and developing staff – focusing on new opportunities and getting ready for new ways of working.

Many are asking “what part of the old norm is worth rushing back to?”

Whichever of the categories your business falls into, here are some of the ways businesses can adapt for the future.

1. Flexible working and use of technology - Any lagging resistance to either working from home, flexible working hours, using technology such as Zoom to communicate with staff and clients virtually has disappeared. Our acceptance and use of technology for digital collaboration, entertainment and e-commerce as a viable sales platform for many services/products (including food) has accelerated as quickly as our individual technology skills have improved. Technology has allowed much of our lives and some businesses to continue in ways that would not have been possible

years ago. I believe that these mediums will not fully replace face-to-face meetings, however the future will need a blend of virtual meetings, working from home or office and people being valued more for outcomes than hours worked. It seems workers not only like working from home, in some cases they are more productive. Businesses have asked; could we thrive as a business with reduced office space and flexibility around how and when we work in offices?

2. Intolerance to poor behaviours/productivity/systems/processes. This enforced time out has enabled owners/leaders to reflect on and review how they do business and use resources. It has exposed strengths and weaknesses. The new norm will require greater clarity around what is and is not working for the business, better focus on measures and accountability with a commitment to only employ the right people. Many leaders are using the term “true colours”. Some employees have surpassed expectations with attitude or ability to deliver outcomes with a “how can I help” mentality. Sadly some have not.

This brings me to the final area I believe businesses will have to adapt and strengthen to thrive.

3. Purpose led, engaged and smart business. There is no doubt in my mind that the businesses that will survive and thrive will be those who have seen this crisis as an opportunity to do better. They will have a short-term focus on the One Thing that will enable their organisation to survive and be here in six months time. Those businesses will ensure they have both the right medium and long-term strategies, systems, processes, measures and people in place and will communicate those strategies through refined processes and systems. Importantly they will reinforce the clarity through how they structure and lead the organisation with staff knowing exactly how they can contribute and how they will be measured, both now and in the future.

Every crisis presents us with unlimited possibilities. As people return to their new way of living and working, my hope is we are going to keep the best of what was, learn from what’s good about now and create a “better new norm” for the future.

Kate Marshall

Speaker, Coach, Facilitator

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“Thinking is the hardest thing of all..."

...– that’s why so few choose to do it”. Henry Ford

The speed of life and complexity of challenges we face require us to think fast, make great decisions and respond quickly in our business and personal life. Never before has there been a greater need to stop and think. 

We are accessible 24/7 and we forget to turn off the ON button, to create time and space to think. This has consequences, not only for our businesses, but on our health and our relationships. 

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I believe you need to agitate (examine) your thinking, observe where thoughts take you and decide what needs to change to get the outcome you want. Too few do this and drift along, ending up with a slightly better version or worse, a lesser version of their best self with mediocre results.

Great leaders, entrepreneurs, people whose lives make a difference don’t do that. They choose to protect thinking time, to reflect on their behaviours and actions, enabling better thinking and choices, taking conscious action while holding themselves accountable. They take the road less taken. Will you? 

 

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Wardrobe Out of Control!

As I get ready for another week I realise my wardrobe is out of control!

Too much stuff, not wrong just too much

Some things now not right for this season but taking space front and centre

Messy, Not simple, not clear and ordered, just messy

Decisions take longer and its too busy!

Not enough space

It occurs to me this might not just be happening in my wardrobe

Time for a life and mind clear out!

Have a great week

Kate Marshall, Award Winning Speaker and Coach

If you would like to find clarity, contact Kate at kate@katemarshall.biz

 

 

 

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Aim for Significance

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I have been working with leaders for over 20 years. Many have become materially and professionally very successful. Many live happy, purposeful lives and truly add value to their business, family and community. However I also often come across some who have not always focused on the right things. As I get older I realise that success without meaning and purpose and the love of people who really care feels hollow.  My goal in life is to add value to others and live a life of significance. These are the last words of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs’ Last Words - "I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to. At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death. In the darkness, I look at the green lights from the life supporting machines and hear the humming mechanical sounds, I can feel the breath of god of death drawing closer… Now I know, when we have accumulated sufficient wealth to last our lifetime, we should pursue other matters that are unrelated to wealth… Should be something that is more important: Perhaps relationships, perhaps art, perhaps a dream from younger days ...Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me.God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. The wealth I have won in my life I cannot bring with me. What I can bring is only the memories precipitated by love. That’s the true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. Love can travel a thousand miles. Life has no limit. Go where you want to go. Reach the height you want to reach. It is all in your heart and in your hands.What is the most expensive bed in the world? - "Sick bed" … You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear the sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – "Life". When a person goes into the operating room, he will realize that there is one book that he has yet to finish reading – "Book of Healthy Life". Whichever stage in life we are at right now, with time, we will face the day when the curtain comes down. Treasure love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends..Treat yourself well. Cherish others"

So set goals not just to achieve results - aim for Significance.

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My three words.

Faith hope love.

Taking a taxi ride from the airport to my hotel in Atlanta this week I noticed a huge truck, American style, with a very tough looking driver. Then I glanced to the side of his truck it said on the passenger door Faith, Hope, Love. 

 

Those three words changed immediately how I thought about the driver and the truck. While the words resonated with me from my personal faith perspective, it got me thinking about those words in my business and life generally. 

 

I would want to inspire faith, faith in making the right decision, taking leaps of faith, faith in that person, faith in their ability to make right choices in all circumstances. 

 

I want to be a hope carrier. To take people to new possibilities through their thinking and changing perspective. Without hope we are just surviving or worse, we struggle to see reason to go on. Hope changes all situations and gives us energy to continue.

 

Above all else I want to work and live from a place of abundant love. Unconditional love for my family and friends, those I work with or connect with no matter how brief. My personal leadership mantra is from King Solomon. Above all else, guard your heart - it's your greatest leadership tool, whether that's leading yourself, your family or your business. What are your three words? 

 

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How saying "I am Fabulous" can help grow our economy!

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How saying "I am Fabulous" can help grow our economy!

I spoke at a women's event last week where i asked the women in the room say to one another " I am Fabulous" some really struggled and could not get the words out of their mouth. Others thew their heads up and laughed and giggled but said it. Last night I watched a Ted Talk by Meeghan Ramsey call “Am I ugly”. The information and statistics she provided was painful listening.

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London calling

I was asked in November to speak to around 60 women on the importance of Focus. Great session and with ages ranging from early 20's to 80's I was delighted with the response. Here is the feedback from the organiser.

"What an amazing morning you gave us. I have rarely had such a uniform response of appreciation from all who were there. Everything, the inspiring ideas, consideration of how we think about, and perceive the world around us, the sense that we could do it and get our lives in control and the moving stories made for a superb and practical experience, One participant said she had been to similar sessions at her work place but had never attended anything so practical and relevant. A very big thank you from all of us" 18th November 2014

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Client Feedback

Feedback from a recent event I ran, if it resonates, get in touch

12 March 2014 

 

Scores of 96% for content and 96% for delivery.

 

Comments from the members included –

·         Great speaker. Really made me think about myself and what I want out of life! Lots of actions to implement.

·         The session was very thought provoking.

·         Best speaker yet!

·         Really stimulating. Lots to think about.

·         What a fantastic, thought provoking session! Kate stuns with her delivery.

·         This was an exceptional speaker session and assisted greatly in focussing my own issues. Very thought provoking.

·         Brilliant! Life changing stuff.

Kate@katemarshall.biz

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