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7 Essential Mindset Shifts of New Leadership

  By Christina Lattimer • April 22, 2014 - 4:44 pm

mindsetLeadership of the future will be all about mindset

New Leaders will be at the forefront of creating paradigm shifts for themselves, their teams and followers.  Not only will they  lead by example, but they will show others through focused thinking and vision a brave new world.

There are certain ingredients which leaders and people in the development field must be aware of moving forward.  The ingredients included vision, beliefs, thinking skills and emotional intelligence. Using those ingredients effectively requires a Mindset different than that which has gone before.  is now proving what most people believed was impossible is actually true, based on scientific evidence. Very briefly and simply, this means:

 

 

  • The universe is made up of pure energy
  • We are all interconnected and part of that energy
  • Energy is invisible, but what we what we pay attention, believe and think becomes our reality
  • Every observer will create a different reality depending on their Mindset

There is really only one shift to be made which is the realisation of the infinite possibilities which exist.  But it as rare as St. Paul’s “Road to Damascus” moment for the majority of us to make such a huge shift all at once.  It takes time for most of us to let go of old and outworn beliefs and thoughts and replace them with new life affirming mind-sets.

For leaders of the future, the following seven shifts may be good places to start in the workplace. Shifting our attention from:

Sickness to Well-being

Concentrate and invest in physical, emotional and mental wellness.  We will measure wellness and our activities will be centred around being well.  We will celebrate wellness, and set targets around well-being. Focusing attention and energy upon absence and sickness simply creates more of the same.

Scarcity to Abundance  

Instead of cutting costs or settling for second best or laying off employees for example; we will develop possibilities of generating ways to grow and increase wealth.  Be generous and don’t allow fear or guilt about finances be the decision-maker.   Realise wealth isn’t all about money.  It is about an abundant mindset.

Limited to Unlimited 

There are no right or wrong decisions or beliefs. There is just difference. Moving from limited beliefs and thinking can at first prove overwhelming when we realise there are infinite possibilities or paths to traverse. We are only limited in our achievements by our limited thinking and beliefs.  we must listen to our intuition and dare to believe what we truly desire can be achieved.

Powerlessness to Power

We will empower ourselves, believing in our ability to create, and change our current reality. Accept our current reality without resisting or wishing away what is.   Have faith and patience with the right Mindset we can make positive changes.

Competition to Excellence

Let go of the need to compare and compete with others, whether personally or in business. Concentrate instead on only doing the best we can understand there is a niche for everyone and a contribution for everyone to make. We will focus on doing our best, not coming first.

Profit to Contribution

It matters not about the size of the contribution as long as it is authentic and borne of a desire to make a difference. ~We will shift from how much profit to how much of a contribution we make. It is the energy of contribution honestly made meeting a real need which is paramount. When we concentrate on contribution and make it a brilliant one, the energy will bring abundance.

Management to Relationship

Relationships are going to be the main focus for the future. Relationships built on mutual understanding, equal responsibilities, agreed roles, with built in accountability for fair reward. It is a mutual and agreed relationship of give and take, which returns energies of contribution with those of reward.

 

If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.

   
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A Creative Look At Routine – 5 Steps To Transform Your Routine Processes or Tasks

  By Christina Lattimer • January 9, 2014 - 1:15 pm
Are you creative in your routine?

A human myth is that there are creative people and people who simply aren’t.  The truth is that we are all creating.   Some of us simply create more routine in our lives than others.  Some create a more adventurous lifestyle, hone artistic qualities or even can create much drama in their lives.   One of the determinants of how you will use your creative skills will be based on your personality preferences.

MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator), is based on the psychology of Carl Jung, where he identified eight distinct personality functions which can strongly influence the way we create our world, our creative approach will differ depending on our type preference.

Until I understood my personality type preferences I used to judge myself for “not having more attention to detail” and for preferring to spend time on my own than with friends (not always, but often!), or for having millions of ideas and not being able to finish  implementing many of them.  Realising that I had unconscious preferences to be a certain way, but I could choose to do things differently, even if that felt uncomfortable; was extremely liberating.

The relevance of all that is that while some people love routine and feel lost without it, for me I get bored very easily with routine tasks, I love starting new projects, a varied workload and trying new things.   At this time in my life I have learned enough about myself and created sufficient discipline to get the routine stuff out of the way, but I simply don’t enjoy it, procrastinate too often and look forward to the utopian day when I can afford to pay others to carry out the routine tasks to free me up to vision, imagine and create new adventures.

Setting up my new business has been a steep learning curve.  I have been self-employed in the past but simply worked as an associate and worked with many different companies.  This time, I’m actually setting up a business, which means it has to have outcomes, structure, financial plans and on and on.  Up until a few months ago I actually sang my way into the office every day.  Using my imagination to decide what I wanted to create, with real meaning and purpose has been exciting, new and adventurous.

A few months ago the social media side of the business took a remarkable positive turn which meant lots of services being delivered to new clients.  Enviable isn’t it?  Well yes it certainly is and we are counting our blessings every day.  The problem of course for me is it meant routine work increased because we simply had to deliver.  Not my strong preference!

 

 

If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.

   
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The Leadership Formula – 5 Components For Transformation

  By Christina Lattimer • November 7, 2013 - 11:34 am
leadership formula Influential Leaders have several components in place, working together, which I call the leadership formula, which compels people to join in with and embrace their leadership.

The leadership formula usually involves a number of fairly simple concepts.  Yet, despite the simplicity of such concepts, there still appears to be a dearth of great leadership at a business, political and world level.   Even though there seems to be some “modest” improvements on employee engagement reported by the Hay Group 2013   there is still much to be done.

In their most recent research, “”, Hays have concluded leaders need to improve on three levels, cognitive, emotional and behavioural

[pullquote style="left" quote="dark"]Cognitive Leaders need new forms of contextual awareness, based on strong conceptual and strategic thinking capabilities.  They need to be able to conceptualize change in an unprecedented way, again based on conceptual and strategic thinking.  Leaders need to exhibit new forms of intellectual openness and curiosity.

Emotional Overall, leaders will need to be much more sensitive to different cultures, generations and genders. They will need to demonstrate higher levels of integrity and sincerity and adopt a more ethical approach to doing business. They must also tolerate far higher levels of ambiguity.

Behavioural Leaders must create a culture of trust and openness. As post-heroic leaders they must rethink old concepts such as loyalty and retention and personally create loyalty.  Collaboration – cross-generational, cross-functional and cross-company – will be their watchword. They must lead increasingly diverse teams.”[/pullquote]

While the research shows a marked progression and depth to the skill set required of a leader, and are vital components of the leadership formula, they miss out essential components of the formula.  Without these missing components, the change needed to develop our leaders for the future may well be slow and fraught with difficulties.

Expectations of our leaders are increasing   Ethical and value centred leadership seems to be the emerging priority across the globe.  The world needs leaders who can pull it from the current state of chaos.   Certainly enhanced cognitive, emotional and behavioural skills and competences will help to make that change.

According to Mike Myatt In the USA alone, it is estimated that some $170 billion has been spent on leadership development.  The danger is though,  we approach the problem and waste many more billions in misguided leadership programmes which miss important components of the leadership formula.

The missing parts in the leadership formula are the filters which our thinking, emotions and behaviours are sieved through.  These are our beliefs, and our ability to envision a future.

Cognitive, emotional and behavioural excellence is to no avail and the leadership formula is incomplete when the belief system those skills are filtered through is somewhat blinkered, limiting or biased.  Without vision, then no-one is going anywhere, and we remain at Groundhog Day, repeating the same mistakes, making the same future from yesterday and remain in our respective comfort zones.

What I have seen from people who have inspired and influenced the world, such as Ghandi, Luther King JR and Mandela for example have been some basic beliefs and a clear vision which have freeing and unifying beliefs.   These are similar to:

  • We are all equally as valuable
  • There is only love or fear of love
  • We can create our reality

Such leaders and truly successful business leaders, also have a capacity to envision a future and enable great loyalty and enthusiasm from teams and the public when their vision includes the precepts of:

  • Anything is possible
  • Our vision is for the greater good of all
  • What we can imagine we can create

If you add these two elements to cognitive, emotional and behavioural skills, then you have the ingredients for all possibilities, and a chance to shape the world; the organisation or the team anyway you want.  They are the 5 components of a successful leadership formula, which, if done well could change the world for the better.

If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.

   
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The Hidden Power For Leadership and Life

  By Christina Lattimer • October 24, 2013 - 1:12 pm
mindEveryone has this power, some of us just don’t realise it.

When I first began leading and managing teams, I would be irritated by negative and “play it safe” people.  My desire to get on and create great outcomes meant anyone or anything which appeared to block the team power  or create resistance was simply just a nuisance.  That was just one of the many immature attitudes I began my leadership career with.

Many years of experience later, I realised  my irritation was more to do with the fact  I wasn’t actually looking in the mirror at my own resistance and negativity and loss of power.   I’ve always seen the world as a giant classroom and what I didn’t learn via Leadership Development, I learned through reflecting on my experiences.

One of the biggest AHA moments in my life and a huge turning point for me was discovering the power of the mind. Quantum science has been showing us for some time that    “by the very act of watching, the observer affects the observed reality”.  This startling discovery profoundly changes the world that we live in, and I am not sure yet we have fully grasped the concept.  Research such as Emoto’s Water Experiment which shows how water structure changed when exposed to different thought patterns is amazing. In essence what these factors meant for me and certainly what I have experienced is this.

  • What I believed about my team was crucial to their success and secondly
  • My team always lived up to my expectations.
  • Quite often I projected the traits I did not like in myself onto my team and instead of dealing with the unwanted trait myself, I blamed others for it.

This is not a flight of fancy.  When the penny dropped and I believed my team could be dynamic, enthusiastic and creative, I focused on those aspects and not only did I encourage those behaviours, when I saw contrary behaviours; instead of getting hung up about them, I practically helped my team find solutions and develop ways to get different outcomes.

Instead of projecting negativity on them, I started to project positive and affirming traits. The fact is our minds are creatively powerful.  Imagination is the creative force of the universe.  Anything which has been created was first envisaged and imagined.  When we experience outcomes we don’t want then we have mis-created, because we have focused on what we don’t want instead of what we do; it is as simple as that.   Mother Therese fully understood this phenomenon when she said, “I will never attend an anti-war rally; if you have a peace rally, invite me”.

Instead of anti-war; focus on peace.  Instead of diversity; focus on inclusion.  The unconscious mind doesn’t understand filler words, so if you say: I don’t want to go bankrupt, guess what you have set in motion? If you say, I am becoming successful and my business is abundant, and believe it, then that is what you will set in motion. This simple fact is hard to believe because much of our mindfulness is unconscious and it is our unconscious beliefs and tapes which are often creating our world.  Our job is to become aware of our unconscious faulty beliefs and change them with life-affirming and sustaining beliefs.

Every single one of us is creating, we just aren’t aware of it, or we have disconnected from our awareness of it, and so quite often we mis-create.  Much of leadership is about facilitating different mind-sets in order to consciously create rather than unconsciously mis-create. The mind is our creative force, and how we use it is extremely important.  Most commonly because we don’t realise or understand the creative power of the mind, we are constantly in Groundhog Day.  Our script is set, our beliefs are set in stone, our thinking patterns are habitual, we doubt our actions and our days and lives will trundle along.

Many of you will be familiar with the famous quote from Marianne Williamson “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us” The truth is whenever we are judging or blaming or denying responsibility we are in fact running from the astonishing power of our creative mind.

If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.

   
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Never Mind The ” X Factor “, Does your business have the “E” Factor?

  By Christina Lattimer • November 8, 2012 - 8:40 pm
x factor What is the mysterious X Factor ingredient which makes your business great?

That mysterious elusive quality of “the X Factor” existed before the popular shows.  The Oxford Dictionary describes the “X Factor” as ” a special quality, especially one that is essential for success and is difficult to describe”.  In the past I’ve asked the question “Does your business have the X Factor?”  Of course we all want to be in the category of having the “X Factor”, but if your business is going to be successful, then that intangible essence must be identified.

Having seen and heard about successful leadership and businesses.  I now believe that the “X Factor” for business, and indeed for most people or organisations or situation is actually the “E” Factor.

There are many “E” elements which can make a business successful.  Think about Engagement, Excellence, Extra mile, Extraordinary, Empowerment… and I’m sure you can think of a lot more.  But what I think is the biggest factor, the one which sets a business out from the rest is something which the majority of people relate to.

A few months ago, I read a blog post; entitled “101 Short Stories that Will Leave You Smiling, Crying and Thinking” you can find them here.   It is a post from  Marc and Angel Hack Life, a great blog.  Of course I enjoyed the stories  enormously, and mostly they brought tears to my eyes.  (Go on read them and see how long it takes you!). It is one of the few blogs I subscribe to, and one when I share,  attracts by far the most readers, shares and re-tweets across social media.

A few weeks ago I was at a seminar where a guy called Steve Trister of   entertained by teaching delegates how to  engage with an audience using this factor when presenting.  Delegates  found his presentation  funny and enlightening, he had a throng of people around him when he’d finished wanting to know more.

Last week in the UK, we were entertained with  “The Pride of Britain Awards”.  If you haven’t come across this now national event, the programme celebrates stories of heroic acts of bravery and contribution.  On the awards site the introduction states “Selfless, courageous, caring . . . our amazing winners make the world a better place”

Indeed I have recognised that what makes an “X Factor”  contestant successful, is in fact this magic ingredient.  (A TV singing competition for those uninitiated)

Yes, you have of course realised the magic ingredient I am talking about it is…

 Emotion!

Putting all of those fairly recent experiences into context made me realise sharply that the things in life we really like, and really want more of engage us emotionally.  So what?  you might be saying… we’ve always known that successful businesses engage their customers emotionally.  After all we are surrounded by a raft of advertising and marketing, which is intended to do just that, isn’t it?

I know it’s obvious, but then I got to thinking about what I spend my money on, and how emotionally engaged to the products or services I receive I am.   And I realised it was very little.  Of course we all have different personality types and because of that, we buy through different paradigms.  Some organisations sell to people because “It’s all about you”, or others sell because, the target customers “will have no less than the best”.  And some sell because they “like the tried and tested”, for example.

But what is the intangible emotional element which we all seem to share at some level?   When we see the young people on X Factor doing well, despite the odds; when we see the young girl who saved her mum; or the soldier who risked his life, we feel something about it.   When we read the stories about caring about one another, or significant people in our lives, we feel something about it.  When we receive praise for something we’ve done brilliantly, or we are forgiven for a big mistake we’ve made.  We recognise that at the core of  who we are, we care about each other and we will sometimes move heaven and earth to demonstrate it.

I am a big Oprah Winfrey fan.  If any of you watched her daily show, you know what I mean. If you don’t watch her, you might label her 25 year run  as a female dominated magazine show.  But actually it is much more than that.  The majority of her employees at Harpo, her production company, were at the time the show was running,  some of the most enthused, committed people I have seen.  They told stories of working long hours, dedication and going the extra mile.  They truly believed they were part of something much bigger than themselves.   They were emotionally engaged.  According to CNN in September 2011, Oprah was the 8th richest woman in the world. Undoubtedly, her employees’ dedication and commitment have helped her reach that enviable status. Not only that, her audience were hugely emotionally engaged with what Oprah had to offer.  What Oprah had to offer was the “E” Factor.  She helped people see the good inside of themselves.  She helped them touch positive emotions which made people want more.  She came from the paradigm that people cared about each other and recognised this was who they were at their core.

So how does this affect all of us “ordinary” people, going to our desks, maybe nipping out for a sandwich, and thinking about the routine tasks we might have to get through, or when we are facing the tough realities of our world of work right now?  Well you can happily be a spectator, celebrate other people’s success, and there is nothing wrong with that.  Or alternatively, you  could show the world you have the “E” Factor.

Businesses who have the “E” Factor have the following qualities about them.

  • They have a vision, or a dream and they are passionate about it
  • They make sure that what they do, they do extraordinarily well
  • They are purposeful and they believe in what they do
  • They want to make a sincere difference and have stories to tell about how they do.
  • They realise that they are part of something bigger than themselves
  • Their people are emotionally engaged, they have attached real meaning to what they do
  • Whatever it is they do, they help people get in touch with the very best of who they are at their core.

What about you?  Does your business have the “E” Factor, if so I would love to hear from you.

 

If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.

   
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A Recipe for Visionary Leadership

  By Christina Lattimer • October 11, 2012 - 7:10 pm

When it gets down to basics, we all have the same psychological operating systems, we give out and absorb energy, we take in information, think, feel, and make decisions.  However we use those depends on our own preferences, beliefs, values and experiences.  For many leaders being congruent with the way they use their psychological operating system is key.

Expectations of our leaders are increasing   Ethical and value centred leadership seems to be the emerging priority across the globe.  The world needs leaders who can pull it from the current state of chaos with clear vision, great emotional intelligence and thinking skills.   For me, together with unity conscious beliefs therein lies the skills of visionary leadership.

For individuals; the raw material of those three skills creates our reality.  How you imagine your life to be; what you focus and think about the most; or indeed how broadly you may think, and how emotionally you navigate life, filtered through our beliefs are the play dough of life.

For a leader those skills, if used purposefully and with awareness can collectively create the reality of a nation. If that nation is a world leader, then the potential is staggering.

Of course, vision, emotional intelligence and thinking skills are all to no avail when the belief system those skills are filtered through is somewhat blinkered, limiting or biased.  If however the leader’s belief system is centred on unity consciousness then their intentions are for the greater good of all.

If you put all of those elements into a pot, then you have the ingredients for all possibilities, and a chance to shape the world; the organisation or the team anyway you want.  They are the play dough of true leadership, if done well could change the world for the better.   Here is a summary of what I believe are the top 10 ingredients which could enable a leader to shape the world for the better.

Leadership Play Dough Recipe:

Ingredients:

3 basic beliefs:

We are all equally as valuable

There is only love or fear of love

We can create our reality

 

3 components of vision:

Anything is possible

Our vision is for the greater good of all

What we can imagine we can create

 

2 parts emotional intelligence:

Our emotions are a guidance system not a result

Emotions help us learn who we really are

 

2 pieces of thinking wisdom:

We are not our thoughts, we can change them

Thinking and what we focus our thought upon creates our world

Preparation Method:

  1. Find the problem and develop a solution based on the 3 basic beliefs.
  2. Create a vision which involves the 3 components
  3. Flexibly navigate our way through using 2 parts of Emotional intelligence and 2 pieces of thinking wisdom

What other ingredients would you add to the mix and do you have a different preparation methodology?  If so, do please comment below, I’d love to hear from you.

 

If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.

   
2 Comments

7 Essential Mindset Shifts of New Leadership

  By Christina Lattimer • September 14, 2012 - 11:42 am

mindsetLeadership of the future will be all about mindset

New Leaders will be at the forefront of creating paradigm shifts for themselves, their teams and followers.  Not only will they  lead by example, but they will show others through focused thinking and vision a brave new world.

There are certain ingredients which leaders and people in the development field must be aware of moving forward.  The ingredients included vision, beliefs, thinking skills and emotional intelligence. Using those ingredients effectively requires a Mindset different than that which has gone before.  is now proving what most people believed was impossible is actually true, based on scientific evidence. Very briefly and simply, this means:

  • The universe is made up of pure energy
  • We are all interconnected and part of that energy
  • Energy is invisible, but what we what we pay attention, believe and think becomes our reality
  • Every observer will create a different reality depending on their Mindset

There is really only one shift to be made which is the realisation of the infinite possibilities which exist.  But it as rare as St. Paul’s “Road to Damascus” moment for the majority of us to make such a huge shift all at once.  It takes time for most of us to let go of old and outworn beliefs and thoughts and replace them with new life affirming mind-sets.

For leaders of the future, the following seven shifts may be good places to start in the workplace. Shifting our attention from:

Sickness to Well-being

Concentrate and invest in physical, emotional and mental wellness.  We will measure wellness and our activities will be centred around being well.  We will celebrate wellness, and set targets around well-being. Focusing attention and energy upon absence and sickness simply creates more of the same.

Scarcity to Abundance  

Instead of cutting costs or settling for second best or laying off employees for example; we will develop possibilities of generating ways to grow and increase wealth.  Be generous and don’t allow fear or guilt about finances be the decision-maker.   Realise wealth isn’t all about money.  It is about an abundant mindset.

Limited to Unlimited 

There are no right or wrong decisions or beliefs. There is just difference. Moving from limited beliefs and thinking can at first prove overwhelming when we realise there are infinite possibilities or paths to traverse. We are only limited in our achievements by our limited thinking and beliefs.  we must listen to our intuition and dare to believe what we truly desire can be achieved.

Powerlessness to Power

We will empower ourselves, believing in our ability to create, and change our current reality. Accept our current reality without resisting or wishing away what is.   Have faith and patience with the right Mindset we can make positive changes.

Competition to Excellence

Let go of the need to compare and compete with others, whether personally or in business. Concentrate instead on only doing the best we can understand there is a niche for everyone and a contribution for everyone to make. We will focus on doing our best, not coming first.

Profit to Contribution

It matters not about the size of the contribution as long as it is authentic and borne of a desire to make a difference. ~We will shift from how much profit to how much of a contribution we make. It is the energy of contribution honestly made meeting a real need which is paramount. When we concentrate on contribution and make it a brilliant one, the energy will bring abundance.

Management to Relationship

Relationships are going to be the main focus for the future. Relationships built on mutual understanding, equal responsibilities, agreed roles, with built in accountability for fair reward. It is a mutual and agreed relationship of give and take, which returns energies of contribution with those of reward.

If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.

   
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Know How + Great HR = Inspiration

  By Christina Lattimer • March 27, 2012 - 10:16 am
Inspiration is the best way to engage people!

Or  does it make you squirm?

You may be an HR Professional leader or manager relying on HR to help move your business forward.  When discussing strategy with people of different roles at many levels, I have often been met with a perplexed look when I have mentioned that the role of the HR professional is to help the business to be inspirational.   Many people feel much more comfortable with descriptors like, credible, respected, focussed, performance-led…. well I could go on and on.

So what does inspiration mean and why do many people not relate to it?  The free dictionary gives the following definition of inspiration.

  1. Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity.  Or the condition of being so stimulated.
  2. An agency, such as a person or work of art that moves the intellect or emotions or prompts action or invention.
  3. Something, such as a sudden creative act or idea that is inspired.
  4. The quality of inspiring or exalting: a painting full of inspiration.
  5. Divine guidance or influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind.
  6. The act of drawing in, especially the inhalation of air into the lungs.”

For me; inspiration is about tapping into the true self of a person and helping them to engage, emotionally, intellectually and physically with a situation or cause which resonates with their values.  No mean feat huh?

For you as an enlightened leader, manager or HR professional, you may be well ahead of me.  However, If you aren’t sure how, you might be asking “Is that the role of HR? “

Some people will prefer other expressions, such as “gain commitment” “going the extra mile” employee engagement”. “Performance management” to name but a few.   There is nothing wrong with these ways of expressing how you get the best from your people.  The questions are; Are you inspiring your people to be the best? and: Is the task of inspiring your people something HR should be involved in?

Well I believe yes it is.  If HR is going to be at the top table, and bring real value, it needs to understand the equation of Knowhow + Great HR = Inspiration and it goes like this: -

  1. Great HR professionals know how people tick.  – They understand why people like words like inspiration and why other people prefer words like respected.  They understand how to motivate people and why some people will never be motivated unless you pivot them in a certain way.
  2. They understand the dynamics of their organisation; how people relate to each other, and the dominant dynamic which is in place.  If their organisation is a caring sharing one, for example, they know what the big no-no’s are which might shatter the brand it has consciously or unconsciously developed.
  3. They are great at all levels of the HR offer.  They understand how to develop people strategy, as well as pay people on time.  The policies they develop reflect the desired outcomes and culture as well as mirror the values of the company.
  4. They make sure that the products they develop and the frameworks they set out include the right information and are in a format which is understood by everyone.  Most importantly, they know how to get them to people in the right way so they absorb them.
  5. They understand the business inside out.  They know how their CEO and the Board ticks and they are committed to helping the business become a success, because they share the vision and values of the organisation.
  6. They care about people, know that people are the organisations greatest resource, and so they take care to inspire them.

What do you think?  Are you an inspirational leader, manager or HR professional?  Are you managed by someone truly inspirational?  I would love to hear from you with your story.

If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.

   
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Sparking Creativity

  By Guest Post • March 8, 2012 - 9:38 am

Welcome to this weeks’ Guest blogger – I am really pleased to introduce Claire Marriott.  I have known and worked with Claire over a number of years.  We instantly developed a rapport as we both had similar views about innovation, creativity and life!  Claire has a flair for weaving creativity and innovation both in her communications expertise and other interests.  As you can see she is the perfect person to talk about sparking creativity!  You can  learn more about Claire below.   

Let your Creativity Sparkle!

Hello everyone! Having worked with Christina on a number of projects I am delighted to be her guest on this blog.

For many managers, creativity is something of a holy grail. How many of you, if asked about your ideal working environment, would end up describing a free-thinking, energetic set-up where ideas flow like water and innovation is the norm?

Unfortunately, the day-to-day realities of working life and the typical structure of organisations often work to hamper the very qualities that we desire most in our team members, limiting their ability to generate new ideas or their willingness to think differently.

Letting go of expectations

The first step to unlocking creativity is to let go of expectations. Creative people aren’t fixated on what others think of them and tend not to focus on the ‘right’ way to do things. Instead they try a number of different approaches and see what happens. They follow their instincts and their intuition to see where it takes them and, above all, they ask questions.

Here are two exercises that you can try with your teams to increase the amount of creative energy in your organisation.

  • Summarise a challenge that you are facing in just one sentence and then ask each team member to spend ten minutes writing down everything that occurs to them about the situation. Tell them that they don’t have to worry about spelling and grammar but should just write anything and everything that comes into their head when the y start thinking about the problem. This type of free-writing helps people to overcome their internal censor and can give rise to intriguing new ideas.

 

  • Over a number of weeks ask your team members to save any images that they come across which remind them of your organisation, or what they would like your organisation to be. Gather the images together and paste them all onto a board then discuss what you see. Look for themes that the pictures have in common.  Identify any colours or settings that recur. Imagine the lives of any people in the pictures and see how the images make you feel. Using images activates different parts of the brain and can be a wonderful way to bring a company’s vision and values to life.

 

If you would like to find out more about living creatively then I would thoroughly recommend ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron, a classic book on the subject. I leave the last word to film-maker Frank Capra who said ‘A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something.’

 

[message type="custom" width="100%" start_color="#FFFCB5" end_color="#F4CBCB" border="#BBBBBB" color="#333333"]After a 16 year career working in corporate communication for a range of public and private sector companies, Claire  redesigned her life and became a freelance writer, craftsperson and reiki practitioner. As well as providing communications advice to a number of organisations she has also begun to write creatively and is currently studying scriptwriting with the Open University. To find out more, please visit her website: www.clairemarriott.com[/message]

If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.

   
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Make your Innovative Idea come to Life

  By Christina Lattimer • March 5, 2012 - 6:36 am
The innovative process is available to everyone!innovative

You either own or run a business, and so you know what it takes to make a concept work.  You must be providing a product or a service which is or has been in demand.  If your business is thriving then congratulations, if not doing so well, then take heart.   You have the means within yourself to expand and create new and innovative products or service.  You just have to believe you have and that you can.

You may be in the position where you aren’t sure about how you expand and accelerate growth in your business, or you may have a great idea, but are not sure how to make it a reality.  Either way, the first thing you have to do is get clear.

The innovative process is not going to begin until your mind formulates a clear outcome. The problem is, is that we get fixated on the details, and the “how’s” and this actually inhibits the creative process.  All you need to do, to start is have an outcome.

I remember coaching a young entrepreneur in her 20’s.  She had paralysed herself into inaction because she wasn’t sure which career path to take.  She had got to a crossroads in her life, and wasn’t sure what she wanted.  After some exploration, she realised that she didn’t need to be specific about exactly what her career looked like, but she did need to be specific about how she would feel about what she did.

Thus her success criteria and outcome became.  “She would feel enthused and love what she did.  She would feel motivated and grateful that she was doing work which made a huge difference”.  Ok, so she still had to make choices, but outlining an outcome that meant something to her gave her a standard or a benchmark to work towards.   As she tried different things, if her outcome didn’t materialise, then she knew she had to try something else.

You may have an innovative idea, and a clear outcome for a product or a service which is going to make a difference, but are not sure how to make it happen.   Alternatively, you may just want to make your business profitable, more profitable or make a bigger impact, but at this stage you may have no idea about how that is going to happen.  In both situations simply set out the outcomes that you want, and that process will give you a massive head start.

The next step in the innovative process is to believe it can happen.  Doubt is the biggest prohibitive force in the innovative process.  Doubt shuts off your mind to the possibilities out there.   If you think you can’t then – guess what – you can’t.  If you doubt you can, then it either shuts off the mind, or delays the realisation of your innovative idea.

I’ll give you an example.  A number of years ago, a team I worked with wanted to be great at customer service.  To change the mind-set, the only way was to access some in-depth customer service training.  After some research, across the board of all the providers who could help, the cost came to some £25k for all of the staff to be trained (It was a large team, and the training stretched over  a number of  months).

There was no way that sort of budget was available.  There was a resignation across the management team that it wasn’t going to happen.  But I asked the team to keep open to possibilities.  That if we kept out doubt then a solution would appear.  And it did.  About 3 weeks later we received a call from a company who had heard we were looking for customer service training, could they come and talk to us?  Because we hadn’t dismissed the possibility, we agreed.   It turned out the training company had access to grant funding for just what we were looking for.  Altogether, a team of 30 people were trained for 9 months, with a City and Guilds qualification for under £2k.

I could relate many stories like that which show the power of trusting that you can make things happen is key to the innovative process.  The vital message here is that you simply need to get started with an outcome and then believe it can happen.

Here at People Discovery, we help clients formulate their success criteria, and then find a way to make things happen, which works to each owners individual style, to realise their outcome.

If you have any questions, or have a great innovative story to tell, then let us know.  We would love to hear from you.

This coming week, I have a brilliant guest blogger who is a writer and entrepreneur, who will talk about sparking creativity.  Look out for her blogspot in the next few days!

If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.