Want to inspire your office? Start writing on the walls – seriously!

Published on 12/05/2010 in Career Development, Coaching, Leadership and Teams. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

If you really want to motivate your team to achieve and maintain peak performance add a dose of creativity and fun to stay ahead of the competition.

I recently started coaching CIO, Marcus Darbyshire as part of my Private Partnership Program and one of the first things we did was my Whole Brain Intelligence package.  We did this so Marcus could understand how to unlock even more of his leadership potential and massively increase his level of performance and productivity to start achieving his most important goals with less effort.

As we were walking into his office I immediately noticed some writing on his glass wall and when I took a closer look I thought WOW!  Not because Marcus has above average intelligence – he’s a passionate Hawthorn fan :-) but because his office window had a MOTIVATIONAL ‘quote of the week’ to inspire himself and his team to kick goals.  The positive effect was so obvious that just walking through the office I could feel the ‘buzz’ in the air.

Marcus

I was really impressed and thought how cool is that?  As a CIO Marcus has done plenty of impressive things but it was his ‘graffiti’ style approach that I just loved because it sets him apart as a leader that’s willing to do out of the ordinary fun stuff to keep the energy, motivation and performance of his team up.

Keeping up motivation and performance is critical when you consider that Marcus looks after a team of over 50 IT professionals. He uses these motivational quotes to reinforce his company’s values and encourage his team to think POSITIVELY and talk openly about having the RIGHT attitude to business.   Don’t think he stops there either, Marcus also just installed a wall mounted LCD in his department to promote his team’s PERFORMANCE and customer testimonials.

Marcus reckons he has the BEST job in the company – and I think he MAKES it the best job in the company!

He’s also got an A1 profile page on LinkedIn, which also links to his technology blog…so check it out.  Did I mention Marcus is in the top 20 leading CIOs who are active bloggers?

Take a leaf out of Marcus’ book, add a dose of creativity and fun to your job and/or team.

Success and nothing less,

Dave Lourdes

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Are Your Goals, Dreams or Resolutions UP THE CREEK Without a Paddle?

Published on 07/04/2010 in Career Development, Coaching, Communication, Goals, Graduate Development, Mindset, Sales & Selling, Teams and Time Management & Productivity. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Whether it’s your last new year’s resolution, a goal you set yourself 12 months ago or even a dream you had when you were younger, if you haven’t achieved it yet or put it on the back burner (in some cases maybe you’ve just given up) the very first thing you need to do is STOP beating yourself up over it.  The reason is, it’s highly likely that you weren’t crystal clear about EXACTLY what you REALLY wanted in the first place.

Up the Creek Without a Paddle

I want to share something with you that I learned way back in 1990 from Tony Robbins, and it’s something that I accredit many of my business and personal achievements to.  By  APPLYING this powerful, yet devastatingly simple strategy that Tony refers to as the ultimate success formula, YOU WILL reap what I call your Resolution Rewards.

When you see the formula, you’ll probably say to yourself “oh that’s common sense”.  The only problem is, it’s common sense but NOT common PRACTICE, so don’t just read it and think you know it and understand it.  Knowing it and understanding it counts for absolutely NOTHING.  If you’re not going to do something with your knowledge you’re still up the creek!

Continue reading ‘Are Your Goals, Dreams or Resolutions UP THE CREEK Without a Paddle?’

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Ohhh Nooo…you’re on a different wavelength to me!

Published on 23/03/2010 in Career Development, Communication, Culture, Customer Service, Graduate Development, Leadership, Performance Management, Sales & Selling and Teams. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

If you’ve attended one of my Coaching seminars you know I’m obsessed with the importance of Building Rapport, I’ve actually blogged about Rapport earlier and talked about how it’s an absolute  MUST if you’re serious about any kind of professional (and personal) success.

You have to be comfortable, confident and brilliant at building rapport if you want to:

  • Inspire and motivate a team of people working for you to GO to the next level (without you having to drag them there);
  • Sell MORE with LESS effort;
  • Have a difficult conversation with an underperformer;
  • Land a new job or more importantly, your DREAM job;
  • Enhance your reputation at work;
  • Negotiate with your boss for a pay rise;
  • Attract talented people into your business;
  • Build a legion of loyal customers;

…and the list goes on.

In this blog, I’m sharing with you  a snippet of an interview Andrew Denton did with Nigella Lawson.   It’s a perfect example of what NOT to do.

Now this is IMPORTANT…As you read the transcript ask yourself if Andrew is:

  1. Focussing on his guest, Nigella;
  2. Letting Nigella know he appreciates what she does;
  3. Helping her feel good in his company;
  4. Creating a good impression about his show;
  5. Concerned about his personal brand (and his show’s brand)
  6. Making Nigella feel like she’s important; and
  7. Treating her as a valued guest.

Nigella Lawson

ANDREW DENTON:

I have a bit of an awkward confession to make. I find food to be frankly an interruption to the day. It is not that I do not like it, but for me it is basically a fuel stop – and why that is awkward is that Nigella Lawson thinks exactly the opposite. She is a food critic, writer, broadcaster and all round food lover.   Nigella Lawson. Welcome Nigella.

NIGELLA LAWSON: Less of the all round please.

ANDREW DENTON: I do apologise. [laugh]

ANDREW DENTON: We’ve got off to a bad start. You say that food is about being alive. I clearly miss this point. What am I missing?

NIGELLA LAWSON: Well you clearly understand that in a sense you realise you need food to survive.

ANDREW DENTON: Mmm.

NIGELLA LAWSON: I’m sure that as much as you say that food is a fuel stop, you probably do have dinner with people because you want to spend time with them. You don’t just sit around an empty table. I presume.

ANDREW DENTON: No that’s true, but I do kind of like to be over quickly.

NIGELLA LAWSON: Yes I think that’s a great loss for you.

Now I’ve only written down the first couple of minutes of the interview for you so you get a sense of how he opened up with an “invited” guest.  I still clearly remember watching the show with my wife Lina as if it was yesterday.  We were both blown away with his intro and without saying a word we slowly turned and looked at each other with our mouths WIDE open – think Luna Park wide!

I’m NOT an Andrew Denton ‘hater’ at all and I’m not aiming to discredit him, I just want to give you a clear example of what NOT to do when you’re trying to build rapport with someone or even a group of people, especially if you have a different view.

Now go back to the 7 points I asked you to focus on while you were reading the transcript….how did Denton do on those seven points?

Well, in a nutshell the intro is all about him and food (what Nigella is known for worldwide)  is an interruption to the day.

FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL

Okay, I’m going to repeat that earlier sentence because I want you to get the key point, “the intro is all about him and food is an interruption to the day.”

Can you relate to that?  I hope not…I mean I hope you don’t do it or have ever been on the end of it.

So how do you approach people that seem to be on a completely different wavelength to you?

Come on…don’t just answer this in your head – go back and look at the 7 points and be honest about how you REALLY interact with people when you just don’t get their point of view or think their view of the world is warped.

Go out of your way to make someone’s day (go on REALLY DO IT) AND for practical tips on rapport check out my earlier post here – Rapport…your ticket to PLAY

Success and nothing less,

Dave Lourdes

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Toxic Team Get Out of Jail Strategies

Published on 09/03/2010 in Communication, Culture, Leadership, Mindset and Teams. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , .

A few weeks ago I told you about The Top 5 Traits of Toxic Teams and since then I’ve had quite a few people email me about the Get Out of Jail Strategies that I promised so here they are.  And watch out for my offer of more info on Toxic Trait no 2 – Snakes in Suits.

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Flip A Weakness Into A Strength with 4 Simple Steps

Published on 24/02/2010 in Career Development, Coaching, Customer Service, Graduate Development, Leadership, Mindset and Sales & Selling. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

In last weeks blog I posted a short video clip.  Remember the mouse and cheese?

If you didn’t see it be sure to watch it because its less than 1 minute and 30 seconds and it’s what I’m talking about in this post.

That blog post was about turning a weakness into a strength or a problem/shortcoming to a positive.  I challenged you to give it a go and also promised I’d share one of mine.

So, here it is.  Quite some time ago I missed out on a speaking gig that I was in the running for.  And to stick with the mouse analogy this gig was my Havarti (my favourite cheese).  Man, let me tell you, I could smell it and taste it.  I really, really wanted this gig and my name was all over it.

BUT, I didn’t get it and I was shattered to say the least.

What's your cheese (weakness)?

Continue reading ‘Flip A Weakness Into A Strength with 4 Simple Steps’

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A weakness becomes a strength in <1min & 30 sec

Published on 16/02/2010 in Career Development, Goal Setting & Achievement and Mindset. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Whilst this is a clever little advertisement it’s also a great analogy.  Check it out… and bear with it, the middle isn’t as tragic as it first appears.

So, consider for a minute a weakness/problem/shortcoming (like the cheese) you have in your career, business, relationships or life and see if there isn’t something about it that you can turn to a positive or make a strength.

Of course there’s no use just considering and seeing it.  You have to do something…

C’mon do it!

Just pick one small thing and do it today.  And then share it with us.

I’ll do mine as well and share it in my next blog.

Success and nothing less,

Dave Lourdes

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The Top 5 Traits of Toxic Teams

Published on 09/02/2010 in Career Development, Coaching, Communication, Culture, Graduate Development, Leadership and Teams. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

At one time or another we’ve all worked in one; a Toxic Team!  You know what I’m talking about don’t you?  One of those teams where the week feels like this:

MOANday,
TEARSday,
WASTEday,
THIRSTday,
FIGHTday.

Seriously though, there are some common traits that are alive and well to some degree in all Toxic Teams and the reason I’m giving them to you is because sometimes you’re in a Toxic Team and you don’t even know it!  As human beings we are very good at adapting to our environment so what this means is, we can sometimes not only endure highly stressful or demoralising situations BUT actually trick ourselves into thinking what’s happening is ‘okay’ or ‘normal’.

So here are The Top 5 traits of Toxic Teams you need to know about:

Continue reading ‘The Top 5 Traits of Toxic Teams’

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Checking Emails is an Addiction

Published on 28/01/2010 in Career Development, Coaching, Communication, Customer Service, Goal Setting & Achievement, Graduate Development, Leadership and Sales & Selling. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , .

You’re on the phone – ‘DING!’,

Someone’s at your desk discussing a project – ‘DING!’

You’re having a coffee – ‘DING!’

DING! DING! DING!

If it’s not a DING then it’s a different sound or alert letting you know that another email has been delivered to your Inbox.  And as if it’s not enough to be getting them on your computer, now there’s the trusty Blackberry, iPhone and so on.

Here’s something interesting – 70% of email alerts get a reaction within 6 seconds.  And it takes 64 seconds to recover your train of thought after an interruption by email.  So, let’s do the math.  If you check your emails every 5 minutes that means in a week you can waste 8.5hrs trying to get back to where you were before the email interruption.  You may not think you check your emails that often, but just for the next 48hrs take notice or keep score in your head and I bet you’ll be surprised with how often you do this… and leave a comment on the blog and let me know if it was more than you thought.

About 5 years ago I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and keeping up with email was a major issue because I couldn’t work for long periods of time.  At its peak I had 690 emails in my Inbox awaiting action… I was freaking out big time!

I had to do something fast… something out of the ordinary, something from left field and even a little provocative.

For 3 weeks I implemented the following strategy which got me back on top of my emails, reduced my stress and had a positive effect on my health – an awesome BONUS!

  1. Turn off any alert, sound, notification, pop-up, flashes or alarm that’s capable of being heard or seen on your email program.
  2. Turn off your automatic send/receive and do it manually OR extend the timeframe, which transfers email to your inbox as soon as someone sends you something.
  3. ONLY check your email twice per day, once at midday or 30 minutes prior to lunch, and again at 4:00pm.  12pm and 4pm are the best times to make sure you have plenty of responses to your previously sent emails.  Ignore your email for the rest of the day.
  4. DO NOT check email first thing in the morning.  ALWAYS start your day with COMPLETING your TWO most important tasks before 11:00am.
  5. You MUST avoid using lunch or reading email as ‘creative avoidance’ to getting your most IMPORTANT, most URGENT tasks completed.

When you implement these steps make sure you you let people know, maybe you could include a note at the bottom of your emails or use an auto-response message to educate your peers, direct reports, boss, other colleagues, suppliers, and clients to understand your intention and help them be more effective when communicating with you. Also let them know if there is an urgent matter they need to call you.

Here’s a sample auto-response message:

Hi X,

Thanks for your email.

To keep focussed on my workload I am only checking email at 11:30am and 4pm.

If you have anything urgent that can’t wait please call me on xxx so that I can address the matter quickly.

Thank you and have a great day!

If your Management isn’t in favour of  your strategy put forward the idea of a 2 week trial to alleviate any of their concerns.

Like I said, I used this for 3 weeks and it worked.  You may only need to do it for a few days.  Some people use it every single day… that’s right, it’s their permanent way of handling emails and they swear by it.

If you have any doubt that this would work for you – just try it!  You have to discipline yourself to follow your own rules.

Success and nothing less,

PS – It doesn’t stop there, if you want more advanced strategies and knowledge that I share with my clients and you want to become a Productivity Powerhouse you have to understand your Thinking Preferences.

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EXPOSED! – How a Switched ON Corporate Graduate Landed Work in India AND Secured Tickets to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics…ALL in 60 Seconds!

Published on 07/04/2009 in Career Development, Coaching, Goal Setting & Achievement and Graduate Development. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , .

This post is inspired by a switched on corporate graduate named Fiona Looker.  Before I tell you how Fiona is making her GOALS REAL, it’s important you read this short context.

Do you set real and meaningful goals for yourself?

As a professional speaker and executive coach I always get to ask people if they set goals, and if I had a dollar for every answer like this, “oh yeah, of course I do”, I’d have enough cash to start my own airline.  But here’s the thing, if I had a dollar for every person I know that actually followed through and took action, I wouldn’t have enough to catch a bus to the airport.

Now I know you’ve been to a seminar, read a motivational book, seen something on television (maybe a reality where people are losing weight or launching businesses) or met someone who has motivated you to set yourself a goal AND you tell yourself, “this time I’m serious!”.  But then life happens and you re-schedule and decide to re-launch your quest to achieve your goals …the most common one I hear is, “I’m going to start again on MONDAY” – which is code for, I’ll just cut myself some slack AGAIN.  So what stops YOU from following through?

Continue reading ‘EXPOSED! – How a Switched ON Corporate Graduate Landed Work in India AND Secured Tickets to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics…ALL in 60 Seconds!’

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Revealed – How To Attract People To YOU Like A MAGNET

Published on 19/03/2009 in Career Development, Communication and Sales & Selling. 4 Comments Tags: , , , .

Do you attract people to you like a magnet?  If not, how can you do it? First I’m going to reveal the secret to you and then I’m going to give you some context to think about.

The secret – Be The MOST POSITIVE Person YOU KNOW

THINK ABOUT THIS - Have you ever noticed how you are just drawn to some people?  When they walk in the room, you just can’t stop staring at them.  You want to be around them, you hope they will notice you and just give you some little sign, no matter how small, that they notice you…you may even seek their approval.  WHY?  What is it they possess that makes them so intriguing, inspiring, attractive or appealing?  The truth is, you have the EXACT same qualities as them.  If YOU spot it, YOU’VE got it! You can only admire a quality in another person if you also have that quality – so that’s the good news.

Now the not so good news, most people have no clue that they have qualities, talents and gifts that others find attractive.  Most of us like playing things down, you know, keeping a lid on it would rather shrink instead of SHINE.  After coaching people for many years, here’s one thing I’ve noticed; there are so many of us that would never ever even dream of admitting to ourselves, let alone others, that we are incredible, awesome, amazing, intelligent, inspirational and the list goes on.  In fact, I find it so crazy that so many people actually feel like publicly acknowledging their strengths is a negative quality.   For whatever reason, we can tell ourselves that letting people know what we’re great at is equivalent to bragging, showing off or being cocky.  I’ve met people where I couldn’t find their strengths with a search warrant.  They are so hell bent on PLAYING SMALL, that finding their strengths is an exhaustive hunt that feels like trying to find the Da Vinci Code!

NEWSFLASH – There are things you can do that no one else in the world can do.  There is something that you are THE BEST in the world at!

Continue reading ‘Revealed – How To Attract People To YOU Like A MAGNET’

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