Is your significance being drowned out?
Have you ever wondered if you are being noticed and appreciated at work? Are you by chance struggling with your unique role and contribution? At first glance these two questions may seem disconnected but there is really only 6 degrees of separation between the two. If you are clear on your unique role and contribution then whether anyone acknowledges it or not, you are still confident of bringing value to the table.
Much of the jealousy that goes on at work stems from a persons inability to see their unique value. I was recently working with a V.P. who was threatening to leave her employer of 15 years because there was now someone much younger “gunning for her job.” Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not. But, one thing is for sure, time and energy spent on speculation is counterproductive.
Here are some tips for shoring up your unique value that will make replacing you next to impossible.
1. Teach and train someone else to do your job. How dumb is that, right? I mentioned this in a radio interview recently and caller told me that was the dumbest thing anyone could ever do if they were really interested in keeping their job. The fact is so few people live this way. Your training someone to do your job demonstrates the single greatest characteristic any leader could possess, the ability to duplicate yourself in the life of someone else. That’s a unique and significant contribution that will never leave you short on opportunity.
2. Demonstrate your desire for personal growth. Enlist a mentor. Hire a life-coach. Build a reading list based on what your leadership perceives as important. Ask for constructive criticism. In looking for a way that differentiates you from most, realize your greatest ability just might be your teach-ability. I once had a team member who was indignant about me asking them to invest in themselves by paying for a book out of their own pocket. Show me someone not willing to invest in themselves and I will show you a person who contributes very little.
3. Take a risk. Don’t assume you are playing it safe by staying under the radar of being noticed. Even under the radar you are vulnerable to friendly fire (gossip, jealousy, envy, etc.). Write a one-pager and engage others in conversation about it. Whether its better customer care, employee engagement, new business leads, process improvement. Even if your ideas are never used or appreciated, you are setting yourself apart from most others.
Take a moment and pick out even one suggestion to start on today. Write it down… enlist someone you trust to hold you accountable to follow through. Get started now and make your unique voice heard.
I love my job!
I love my job!
Are you one of those persons who cringes when you hear someone say that? Or are you one of those persons who thinks, “yep, I know what you mean!”
From the earliest of days of my childhood, I can remember playing those imagination games of “what do you want to be when you grow up?”
I will always be grateful for the various people whom I believe by divine appointment, intersected my life to help clarify and even cast a vision for my future. Jim and Ruby Barber, Larry Bone, Bob Harrington (AKA, The Chaplain of Bourbon Street), Duncan Dodds, Kevin McAfee, and Laurie Beth Jones just to mention a few.
More than ever before, I meet so many people who are either disrupted by the economy or some even well into a career still wondering, “what am I going to be when I grow up?” Something is within our DNA that wants to know we are doing exactly what we were built to do. In my haste, I confess I do not always put my tools back where they belong. So, when time comes and I need a phillips-head screwdriver, I will grab what ever I can find… usually a pointy object (last time it was an oyster-opening tool) and try to make it work. Even last week I could not find my hammer so I tried to drive a nail with the back of a wrench. And it bent the nail! How frustrating.
That is how it is when we attempt to do that which we were not intended to do. Nothing is inherently wrong with the tool, just being used for the wrong job.
Meet my friend Laurie Beth Jones. In her latest book, Jesus Career Counselor, How to find and keep your perfect work, she provides a perspective on career selection that I believe is unlike any other that I have read. It’s one of those books when you get through you say, “why didn’t I see that before? It’s so clear.”
If you are coming up on a new intersection in life and looking for some encouragement and/or guidance, I encourage you to take a read. She will help Explore your mission, Assess and embrace your unique personality strengths, discover your greatest talents, and even help you write your vision for life.
My hope for you is you will come to be (if not already) one of those persons who says out loud, “I love my job!”
7 Phrases Every Boss Needs to Practice
1. I misspoke, I was wrong. Please forgive me and I promise I will learn from this and be a better leader in the future.
2. I need you. I know my limitations and you bring something to the table that I just do not possess.
3. I see real potential in you to be….
4. I am committed to your success.
5. Thank you for your contribution to our mission.
6. Let’s turn our mistakes and dissapointments into a teachable moment.
7. I might change mission and direction based on new information, but, I promise I will never, never, never change the vision.
5 Minute Hero
I recently issued a challenge for those who would dare, to practice being an inspirational hero to someone else for just five minutes per day. If (and when) you are familiar with the seven principles of inspiration, its really easy to choose one principle per day to practice for five minutes.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.”
We are not looking for Captain America here. We are looking for ordinary people to be an inspirational hero to someone everyday for five minutes. We will then gather, compile, and publish the stories. Your stories.
Example, last night I practiced the principle of “See in others the abilities they don’t see in themselves.” The core of this great truth is about affirmation. Here’s what happened. My wife has always been paranoid about her cooking and therefore really reluctant to cook for other people. But, lately she has been super passionate about cooking a large variety of low-carb, really yummy dishes. My favorites being her zuchinni lasagna and her cheese-cake! It’s really unbelieveable for supposedly being so low in carbs. So, I paused long enough to get her total attention and said, “I appreciate so much how you have turned into the amazing cook. You have undersold yourself to this point. You are truly a good cook.”
Her response? She thought I was reading some text message from one of my daughters, as if they were referencing me and my cooking. When she finally caught on that she was the object of my affirmation, I cannot begin to tell you about the satisfying smile that came across her face. Less than 5 minutes, one principle, one really big smile.
O.K. Your turn!
Download the principles if you don’t have the book. Post them in your work space. Pick one and practice it today. Let us know what happens because I am confident it will be good.
Keep inspiring!
Don’t just motivate. Aspire to inspire.
The Inspiration Factor
by Terry Barber
If you were asked to come up with a synonym for inspiration, what would you say? Stimulation? Encouragement, perhaps? Most people would instantly say motivation.
But are motivation and inspiration really the same?
Motivation, like inspiration, provides an incentive to act a certain way—but it can be for reasons both self-sacrificing . . . and self-serving. One can even be motivated out of fear, say, of a penalty—like when my dad used “corporal punishment” to “teach me a lesson.” Motivating? Oh yeah. But inspiring? Uh-uh.
According to Webster’s Dictionary, to inspire means to exert an “exalting influence.” Unfortunately, most business training or material focuses on motivation, encouraging the dangling of “carrots” to prod employees along toward better performance (“carrots” meaning promises of upward mobility). And employers? Well, sometimes their methods are less than inspiring: they motivate, all right, but through manipulation—or threats. “If you don’t meet this goal . . .” Even if an organization does achieve some results this way, they will be short-lived, because people haven’t been inspired.
So, what kinds of actions make the difference between inspiring someone and motivating him or her? Again, I refer to my father. Often, as a boy, when I’d first come into the kitchen in the morning, my dad would be standing by the coffeepot, singing enthusiastically to country music. He’d greet me with a big smile, then on the way to school, ask, “Son, what are you looking forward to today? How are you going to make a difference?” He wasn’t charging me to “live up to my potential.” He was asking me about my goals for the day. I began to think seriously each morning about what I wanted to achieve before the sun went down.
Sometimes my dad took me to work with him. All day long, he would introduce me to his customers. He taught me to shake hands assertively, look his customers in the eye, and say my name with confidence. I want to be just like Dad, I remember thinking. I want people to like me the way they like him. On days like these, Dad did more than just briefly motivate me. He actually tapped into my dreams (to impact people) and gave me a vision for my future. In other words, he used the inspiration factor.
Are you a leader? Then understand this: leaders who genuinely inspire others do so by tapping into people’s dreams—then extracting the best from them. And whether these leaders just have a knack for inspiring those around them, or they have developed the skill through years of training, trial, and error, it is the inspiration factor that produces more positive transformations than any other leadership trait.
I didn’t always understand this. The first time I was asked to supervise a group of interns, I spent a lot of time “motivating” them. I’d read all the books and attended all the seminars—but I got it all wrong. First I manipulated people: “We. Are. Fired. Up! We. Love. Our. Work!” (Sounds like a cheerleader, doesn’t it?) But I wasn’t connecting to their dreams, so results were minimal, at best.
So I changed tactics. “Live up to your potential . . . or you’ll answer to me!” Just as dad’s belt imparted only temporary “motivation” to me, so did these threats only briefly “fire up” my interns.
My frustration drove me to look for answers, and in my search I realized that my approach had been far too external. I had used pressure to get people to meet my goals—while failing miserably to touch their hearts.
Leaders, we all have goals—but do you know your employees’ goals? What are their dreams? Their ambitions? Find out—and then find a way to tie their objectives to your mission. If you can do this, you can begin to build a culture of inspiration in the workplace. (I discuss this, and much more, in my recent release The Inspiration Factor, published by Greenleaf Press.)
What if you really could change the very culture in which you work—and live? You can . . . if you learn to, not motivate, but INSPIRE!
What Do Visionaries Think About?
As I write this, I am traveling back to Atlanta from a two-day conference in Washington, D.C., on the bends and trends of direct marketing. These kinds of events are typically peppered with a vernacular that only direct-marketing geeks would ever appreciate—words like “segments” and “upgrade logic” and “buckslip inserts” and “regression.”
So, it was incredibly rewarding to listen to five CEOs from the world’s largest NGOs. Each presented a seven-minute talk on “the most critical things to remember when times are tough.” You would have thought they had gotten together beforehand and shared one another’s notes.
As I have reflected on this session, it caused me to see that visionaries think about things that others never consider. I realize I could be more inclusive if I were to simply focus on all those who are “leaders.” But at the risk of sounding cynical, the fact is, not all leaders are visionaries. There are many reasons why a leader might be in a place of leadership, yet have absolutely nothing to do with being visionary. Maybe it is a legacy position. Or maybe the one leading is doing so only because he was the first one there. As an example of this, I met with one CEO at this same conference who, when I asked about his background and his journey to the top of his organization, quite honestly told me, “It was by default! I was a professional fund-raiser, but when the executive team was terminated by the board, they asked me to fill in until the appropriate leader could be found.” A visionary? Probably not.
True Visionaries
So what do real visionaries think about?
Purpose. Without exception, every one of the real visionaries that day spoke about just how critical it was during difficult times to come back to the organization’s original purpose. Peter Drucker can be credited for being a prophet in the world of business regarding this very principle. If it ever becomes only about profit, an organization will quickly lose its way. One of the most emotional and energetic activities we do in our seminars is centered around helping people and their organizations become crystal clear about their purpose. In the case of Larry Hausner, CEO of the American Diabetes Association, it is really simple and yet profound: to stop diabetes. “When priorities are being set,” he said, “when plans are being made, when budgets are stretched, the filter we look through begins and ends with this simple question: will it help stop diabetes?”
What is the purpose of your organization, and what is your personal purpose within that organization?
Vision Casting. Visionaries never stop looking for new ways to involve others in their vision. This is where would-be visionaries—a group I refer to as dreamers—and true visionaries begin to separate. Dreamers are prone to hang around other dreamers and feed off of all things new and shiny. Visionaries have seen in their own minds’ eye what the world looks like on the other side of fulfilling their vision. They are always casting vision to involve others who can help execute.
Last week I had the privilege of meeting for the fist time Jon Albert, CEO of a relatively new nonprofit organization, the Jack and Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation. With barely two years under his belt in the world of fund-raising, his list of corporate sponsors is the envy of any formidable charity. The first 15 minutes with Jon helped me know why: his cause is worthy—but so are many others without this kind of support. What’s the difference? Jon’s ability to cast vision was contagious! This is not someone who simply leveraged his assets in the business world to get his portfolio of supporters. It was nothing less than his tenacious and sustaining passion to cast a vision that was too big, too real, too emotional to turn away.
Conversions. The visionaries’ ultimate payoff? Conversions. “How many people can I get to think about, feel, and ultimately believe in what I see?” This mind-set is what makes visionary people the best in selling, the best in fund-raising, the best in leading, the best in getting tangible results. Until someone believes, there is no action. It is easy to pass on facts and figures. Yet so many leaders lag in results precisely because they believe that if they can just pass on enough facts, enough information, enough numbers, surely people will get it. But the mark of a true believer in your vision is that she is willing to invest herself—so much so that your cause becomes her cause.
While I was in D.C. for the conference, I took some time to stroll the grounds around the Lincoln Memorial. As I approached the memorial, I recalled August 28, 1963, when Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. rocked the world with his “I have a dream” speech. Though I was only 13 years old, how shall I ever forget the thousands of “converts” there and around the world who BELIEVED enough to invest themselves in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream? This revolutionary leader had a knack for getting others to sign on to his mission.
If you are struggling with getting converts to your cause, people who are willing to make your mission their mission, ask yourself two questions:
1. Am I just trying to extract a donation or make a sale, or have I provided a way for this person/organization to be involved in the mission?
2. Am I just passing on information, hoping people will “get it,” or am I causing them to think, feel, and believe?
To all the visionaries out there, we need you more than ever. Help us find purpose in this crazy world. Cast a vision that is so big, so attractive, so compelling, that if God Himself doesn’t come through, you will surely fail. And finally, boldly ask us to stand, fight, help, follow—to believe enough to take action.
P.S. “Don’t let the bastards get you down.”
Skunks and Armadillos
I spent a lot of the days of my youth riding from Gonzales to New Orleans (pronounced N’orlens) on what was then called Airline Highway. In those days there was not much there except swamp on both sides and of course the Stuckey’s store where they sold that narly pecan bar, guaranteed to help accelerate any subtle tooth decay that you may have.
The two things there seem to be no shortage of were armadillos and skunks. Having witnessed a lot of carnage over the years, given the choice, I would rather deal with the aftermath of the armadillo than the skunk any day. Something about skunk residue that just gets trapped in your nostrils causing everything you smell, eat, or drink for most of the day to be reminiscent of skunk.
I thought of this story the other day when meeting with a client, talking about potential problems in the future if they stayed on their current course. And his response was, “let’s bring the skunk up on the porch now.” I needed no interpretation for that idiom. He opened the door to deal with the unpleasantries upfront.
Those of us who would prefer to think about only the potential good and ignore the potential pitfalls, this is a great lesson (a teachable moment). Consider the potential positive outcome of bringing the skunk up on the porch:
1. You are positioning yourself as a true advisor versus just another sales person. Being able to see the possible outcomes, good and bad, causes others to perceive you as one who has forethought, insight, and credibility.
2. You will be able to manage expectations upfront versus over promising and under delivering.
3. It creates a platform for collaboration and problem solving between you and the other party. If there is no skunk on the porch to deal with, it leaves you in the role as the primary presenter, creating more of a monologue than a meaningful dialog.
At the risk of keeping skunk residue in your nose for the day, I challenge you to call the skunk to the porch at your next meeting.
Write your story with plenty of white-space
I live in the world of marketing. I view and read direct mail letters, print ads, web banners everyday. Nothing makes me more agitated than to look at print that has little to no white-space. The come back is always the same… I have too much to say and not enough room to say it in.
Wow! What an incredible teachable moment. Sounds just like my life and without meaning to be all inclusive, sounds like the live of most of the people I live and work with. Too much to say (do) and not enough space (time) to do it in.
I am sorry to say that my life is at times so crowded that the people around me have a difficult time reading even the HEADLINES of my life, far more the actual body copy.
Some of the many symptoms of having no white-space in my life is how much stuff I find myself forgetting… My charger in the hotel, my watch which right now is sitting on my vanity in my bathroom at home, the names of people I see on a regular basis. Can you relate?
I am on a plane from L.A. to Atlanta. It’s October 6, 2009, 8:08 P.M. and I am going to be intentional about making more white space in my life beginning now.
Would you like to join me in this commitment? Here is my game plan.
1. I am going to begin by making time to journal for just 10 minutes in the morning rather than watching the weather channel. (I know, its beginning to sound more like a sign of being old!)
2. I will prioritize my time around the roles in my life that are most important, Husband, Dad, Grandfather, Consultant, Writer, Speaker, etc.. if something gets left out at least it won’t be that which is most important.
3. I will ask my good friend Bill Jacobs to hold me accountable.
What about you? Do you have enough white-space in your life? If the answer is no, what’s your game plan for creating margin?
Act on Your Dreams or else someone else will
The other day as I was monitoring my tweet deck (which I love), I came upon a fascinating white paper. What made it all the more fascinating was because it was on a topic I had intended to write on and publish myself! I felt as though someone had just shouted “checkmate” then only to realize no one else was playing. It was me, myself, and I that I had lost to.
Have you ever had this experience? Maybe it was a clever invention that you said, “hey, I had this very idea several years ago.” I run into people all the time who share with me their immense frustration and disappointment over an author who supposedly “stole their idea” for a book or even their very title.
For those of us who have had such encounters, I want to offer just a few guiding principles:
1. There is still plenty of space left in the market for other ideas, inventions, and yes even book titles. Be careful not to fall into a scarcity mentality.
2. If this happens to you on a regular basis, it might be a good idea to take inventory of your life and make some adjustments. One off kinds of experiences can potentially be turning points or even defining moments in life but patterns in life are symptomatic of something much deeper. Pause. Listen. Adjust your life course so you are in front of the next opportunity. Not behind it.
3. Get comfortable being uncomfortable and take some risk developing your next idea. Some very basic ways to begin nurturing your idea is to
- journal about it in free verse (unstructured mind mapping). Nobody is grading your journal. Its just thoughts that are being released into an entrepreneurial incubator… your journal.
- speak it out loud to someone. As you talk about it even in its infant form, you bring much needed energy and nourishment to the idea.
- survey people wherever you go on the viability of your idea.
- write it on a post-it and stick on the rim of your computer
Above all, don’t do nothing… (my 8th grade grammar teach would be unhappy with my double negative here but it makes the point).
Dreams are like leaves of gold that fall from heaven… if you don’t pick them up, someone else will. Excuse me now while I start on my next white paper!
