Leadership and Management

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21 Ways To Use MBTI To Help You and Your Team

By Christina Lattimer • March 12, 2014 - 10:01 pm Employee Development

MBTI is an essential tool for you and your team.

As a leader, manager or HR Professional, one of your foundational strengths is the depth of your own self-awareness and awareness of how other’s tick. You know the key to motivating people is being completely open and transparent and being able to be yourself, which in turn allows your team to follow suit.

One of the easiest and globally credible tools to develop self-awareness and understanding is Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI). Carl Jung, the great psychologist developed a model of personality type which was later refined by the mother and daughter team, Isobel Myers and Katherine Briggs.

One of the principles of Jung’s model, “Psychological Types” developed in 1921, was each person has an innate urge to grow. Part of our growing process is to learn how we individually operate, develop the parts of us that we need to learn more about, and learn about the people around us.

Understanding difference is a real people skill. Differences occur through cultural, physical and psychological factors. Mix this up with differing beliefs and temperaments, and no wonder managing and understanding people can be challenging.

In the UK, we have travelled some distance in identifying equality and cultural issues; the Equality Act 2010 takes that thinking even further. Some organisations are still learning how to get to grips with difference, and some excel. But I’m sure you will agree it is fair to say we always have room to improve.

When it comes to understanding psychological differences, we still have some way to go, but understanding such difference is important from a leadership or management perspective. Not only is it important; it is relatively simple to grasp.

If you’ve experienced MBTI, you may have found learning about your own psychological type a key starting point for self-development. Once you have an understanding of what makes you really tick, then your whole world will look different. Not only will it lead to greater self-acceptance, but it will also help you accept and value the differences of others.

Many leaders,managers and HR professionals are familiar with and use Myers Briggs extensively so I will skip going into more detail. If you haven’t come across the tool before, you can find out more about Myers Briggs on the link.

If you haven’t used Myers Briggs or you don’t feel you’ve fully realised the benefits from using the tool, here are 21 compelling reasons why you might want to look again.

Learning and understanding how each other tick can help to:

Avoid and resolve conflicts
Play to an individual’s strengths
Identify gaps in the team
Discover how your team style works best with customers
Enable self-understanding and so reduce stress
Help you learn to relax
Aid career development
Assist communication strategies
Provide managers with the understanding to give effective feedback
Inform personal development plan
Work together more effectively
Relate to each other with greater understanding
Encourage true psychological diversity
Support people through life transitions
Inform your own and others decision making
Develop thinking skills
Develop emotional intelligence
Identify and develop strengths and weaknesses
Develop leaders, managers, teams and HR expertise
Encourage team members to understand and appreciate different strengths
Improve and change culture.

There are some circumstances where it can be dangerous to use Myers Briggs such as recruitment selection, judging performance or by making assumptions because of type indicators. The 8 elements of Myers Briggs can be used interchangeably, and people can be just as accomplished using their non-preferred type

If you have used personality type as part of your leadership, management, team development, or HR strategy; I’d love to know how you got on and what you got out of your experience……or not!

Join us on this amazing journey!

This great article is from the our 6 months themed series based on the Centre for Creative Leaderships Report of 2013, in which they identified the 6 top challenges for leaders across the globe: Don't Miss Out! Sign up here to be notified of subsequent issues and posts

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3 Steps to Harness the Power of the Mind for Organisational Transformation

By Christina Lattimer • February 20, 2014 - 2:31 pm Organisational Change

In my article about the Hidden Power for Leadership and Life, I wrote about how beliefs, attitudes and expectations drive the outcomes within teams. In today’s blog I am expanding on those ideas and identifying how the power of the mind can be harnessed to lead your team.

The conscious mind is selective. If we don’t like something about ourselves or others, or we just don’t want to think about it, we can bury beliefs, ideas, thoughts and paradigms into our unconscious minds.

This could sound very efficient on a level, but in fact it isn’t really because we can still be unknowingly driven by the information stored in our unconscious which can if left undiscovered, cause all kinds of mischief.

As individuals, developing self-awareness can identify those unhelpful buried beliefs, ideas and attitudes which can help us to become more conscious of why we might do things, and help us to better understand ourselves.

Organisational culture can equally be created by unconscious or long-forgotten beliefs and ideas about the organisation, and the most common approach, i.e. training or developing behavioural competencies are fine, but it’s like trying to get an addict to stop their addictive behaviour by giving them a set a standards to adhere to. It’s often unsuccessful, or takes years.

Using the creativity of our mind through vision or imagination is the most powerful way to overcome those unconscious beliefs, although visionary thinking is often down to individual personality. If you are a visionary, or an intuitive, you are more likely to tap into the power of the imagination to create your story, or future, than someone who may be logical and deal in facts and evidence.

It is the same in an organisation. Organisations which might need lots of attention to detail and factual information to get the work done for example, are likely to attract people who are good at, and enjoy using their minds in that way.

The good news is, you don’t need to be a psychologist to take some simple actions to harness the power of the mind in a positive and affirming way to get better results. The next three steps describe a process which can help to transform the mindset of an organisation, if everyone is involved.

1. Discover the current organisational story

What is the history? What does the team believe about the organisation? Does the organisation have any defining stories which have helped shape the culture of today? Use focus groups, staff surveys and inquiry to piece together the collective view of the organisation by employees, customer’s, stakeholders, and anyone important in the making of that story. Ask people to describe the organisation to you, what critical events, changes or decisions have made them draw those conclusions. Ask them to describe successful characteristics and not so successful characteristics or decisions. Once you have this information, you can determine how far away the perception of employees, or customers is from where you would like it to be.

2. Raise self-awareness by shining a light on any part of the story which might be holding the team back

A particular HR team I worked with, had their role in the organisation changed from a regulatory, decision making entity, to giving advice and options to help managers to make decisions. A couple of years after this change, the team simply weren’t working well. In a reflective focus group, it became apparent that even though the team were paying lip service to the new role, deep down the new role was resented and resisted. Once this was unearthed, and people were allowed to talk about the difference in status in a way they couldn’t at the time, changes for the better came about quickly. Determine what decisions or stories are holding your organisation back from embracing a brighter future.

3. Change the Story

Harnessing the power of imagination, develop a vision for the future. Tell the story of the vision. What will it look like, feel like, and sound like. What will people be saying about the organisation in this imagined future and how will employees feel about working for the organisation? These are just some of the questions you can use to describe the future you want to create. Use feedback mechanisms to bring out doubts, limiting beliefs and different ideas, about the vision, to the surface, then find ways to strengthen belief, faith and patience about achieving the outcome.

What I have described is a simple methodology, using consciousness, self-awareness and imagination to change the culture of your team or organisation. Can you think of any other ways the power of the mind can be used to get better results?

Join us on this amazing journey!

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50 Ways you can make a difference as a leader for 2014 – Join the leadership challenge!

By Christina Lattimer • January 23, 2014 - 2:05 pm Miscellaneous

I would like to invite you to a leadership challenge.

Don’t worry there is no work required from you during this leadership challenge. You can simply read, observe, catch up if that is what you would like to do. Alternatively, if something inspires you, then please join in, submit relevant articles, news, insights, contributions or even experiences. Whatever you choose, its up to you, the only commitment is to sign up and receive the weekly updates directly to your mailbox.

You are a leader. I know I am like a parrot repeating this to you again and again, but you are a leader to someone, from being prominent on the world stage to simply being your own inner leader, you are a leader to your employees, your kids, your family your friends and yourself. You can lead on the world stage or simply in your own day to day routine. Join our leadereship challenge and improve your leadership mindset!

At this stage in 2014, you are either feeling great because your New Year promises to yourself are being kept, or you once more have lapsed into the same old habits. If the latter is the case, my only advice to you is to forgive yourself and wherever you are, I’d ask maybe to consider a slightly different approach to 2014.

Why not make 2014 a year when you concentrate on how you are leading yourself and others and your life. It’s about quality, not quantity – content, not form. It’s about how and not what; give and not take. Join our leadership challenge. It costs nothing!

What these following practices in the leadership challenge actually help you do is change mind-set – your own and others. How do I know this? Because over a 30 year span of managing and leading others, these are some of the things I learned along the way and which I know if applied can change the way you lead and manage for good.

The truth is, what you give out, you get back. Newton’s 3^rd Law, “To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions”, while centred on physical actions and reactions, it is the same with mental and attitudinal energy too.

So come with me on a journey. Each week of the leadership challenge, I will expand on the suggestions below, one by one, week by week. Updates might include a new article, related articles, research, videos or a relevant quote. You need do nothing, but simply consider the suggestion and read the material. If you are hoping to change the way you lead yourself, simply substitute “others or them” for “you or yourself”. If you are inspired, then I invite you to submit your articles, experiences, quotes or other relevant material for each weekly topic. You can do this by commenting, submitting material to me in advance or providing links on the commentry. If you aren’t inspired to do so, simply sit back and enjoy.

You will know some of this, maybe a lot, and some of it might simply be a refresher or even could be new. My hope is that the journey on the leadership challenge will be an interactive one, where we can share perceptions, views and ideas as we progress through the year.

So if you’d like to join me on the leadership challenge journey,

50 Ways to Make a Difference As A leader

Leadership Challenge Part One

Developing Self Awareness to Benefit Yourself and Others

Remembering It’s a Journey not a Destination
Accepting the power of your mind
Tapping into your right-mindedness
Dealing with your inner critic
Understand your own personality type
How to forgive yourself and give up guilt for good
Developing self-trust and trust in others
Practice “honest” thinking, not just positive thinking
How to change limiting beliefs
Understanding, you don’t know what you don’t know

Leadership Challenge Part Two

Creating A Compelling Future

Developing a clear vision
Communicating and engaging with others about your vision
Bridging the gap between the here and now and the future
Understanding the power and limitations of planning
Practice Letting Go
Developing resilience
Developing patience and trust
Keeping an open mind to opportunities
Living in the present while creating your future
Dealing with doubt positively

Leadership Challenge Part Three

Engaging and Motivating Others

Help others feel connected to something bigger than themselves
Help others feel they are part of making a significant difference
Help others feel good about their positives
Help others feel good about the challenging parts of themselves
Demonstrate the power of giving
Practice acceptance of themselves and others
Practice non-judgement
Practice discernment
Develop new thinking skills
Develop new ways to raise awareness of the impact of emotions

Leadership Challenge Part Four

Interaction and Communication

Demonstrate congruent communication
Make decisions with integrity
Use “toward and away” motivation in your interactions with integrity
Raise your awareness of how people tick
Be inclusive
Be visible
Understand how to ask the right questions
Use logical levels to increase understanding
Use Carl Jung’s personality types to aid understanding
True listening

Leadership Challenge Part Five

Relationship is everything

Another way of looking at relationships
Giving up specialness to gain everything
Dealing with difficult people
Preventing conflict
Responding not reacting
It’s either love or fear
The boomerang effect
The role of gratitude
Myths about others
The central relationship lesson

Join us on this amazing journey!

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14 Ways to Be a Great Team Player At Work

By Christina Lattimer • November 21, 2013 - 1:08 pm Employee Development

In the new social world we now live in, the importance of teamwork in any organisation is key. Being a collaborative team player, aligning purpose, values and effort will be the hallmarks of a great employee.

Andrew Armour sets out the need for collaborative working in Why Superteams Win In The Social Era Of Business, and asserts that 86% of senior executives surveyed in the 2011 Innovation Barometer, viewed collaboration as vital to innovate, but only 21% had the culture and people to do so. I believe that things have probably moved on since then, but we still have some way to go.

Being a team player at whatever level in the organisation is a skill which increasingly, organisations will view as essential., according to Mckinsey because of global talent shortages. Because the dynamics of our world are changing so rapidly and significantly, team members no longer need to sit back with frustration or without a voice. As has been demonstrated in many incidents over the last few years, employees have used social platforms to “out” many illicit, unfair or just plain silly practices. Conversely, team players can be the biggest advocates and champions for their employers, as they tell glowing stories across their social media communities.

In an increasing global economy, as Mckinsey’s article points out, there might well be heavy demands on highly skilled interactive professionals: A collaborative aligned team is going to be essential to help bridge any gaps. Change is in the air, and switched on employers are already realising that culture change is essential to meet the challenges of the social era, and the talent marketplace. Good HR Expertise is essential.

As an employee, you will gain a distinct advantage if you understand what is going to be needed to be a valued team player. You are going to find that respected employers are increasingly going to be looking at how well you collaborate with others, how positively you interact in the social world, and how much you buy into their values and purpose.

How can you become the team player that good employers will be lining up to have in their team?

Having led and managed literally hundreds of employees, there are some timeless qualities I have encountered which for me make up the ideal team player. Of course in an ideal world, you rarely get the whole set of team player ideal qualities. We are perfect in our imperfections. The following attitudes, traits and qualities are so good to work with, and one’s I would certainly be looking for in any assessment, certainly for key players in my team.

As a great team player you will:

Take responsibility for yourself. This means not automatically blaming your tools, your colleagues or management, but being self aware enough to say “perhaps I could have done something differently”.
Get the big picture and understand exactly what we are trying to do together – You don’t naturally have to be a big picture thinker. In fact some organisations may employ you because of your attention to detail, but being able to pull yourself out of the detail sometimes is a huge advantage.
Have an affinity with and believe in what we are trying to achieve – You will love our products, love what we are trying to do, and it makes you happy because you think by virtue of working with us you have been part of it all.
Give a positive account of the organisation and concentrate on what is good about it – This does not mean pretending that everything is ok and smiling when it isn’t, but realising that even though things might go wrong, there is positive intent behind the decision making. It really is about giving others in the team whatever their role “the benefit of the doubt”.
At times when it is crucial for the business, go the extra mile – Being committed to pulling out the stops when necessary. There is a fine line between occasionally having to put in more effort and it being expected as a matter of course, so if it’s too much, have the confidence to say so.
Care about others on your team – This can be tough because team work can be a hot bed of relationship problems. But with some determination and commitment to creating a caring environment, then concerted effort is never lost.
Commit to resolving differences in an adult and win/win way – Workplaces can be the worst place to play out the parent/adult/child relationship. A paternally based organisation is definitely becoming an old paradigm. Becoming aware of the paradigm, is the lamp needed to dispel it.
When you’re not able to fulfil your contract for any period of time for family or medical reasons, you commit to doing your best to get back to work as soon as you can because you know how crucial you are to the excellence of the business.
Commit to getting the work done, on time and to the best of your ability – This is not just for the team, this helps to raise your own personal standards and improve your own energy. It always pays dividends, and will be noticed.
Trust us to make the best decisions we can with the information we have, even if you don’t like it. With millions of decisions to make, some with consultation, some not so democratic, its a minefield, and we’re not always going to get it right. Sometimes you aren’t going to like it, but you trust the intention is good behind it.
Understand we have a mutual contract and we will respect your rights, and you respect ours. – if it’s not working, then, communicate, communicate, communicate until it’s right.
Forgive us our mistakes, we all make them – Help to create a no-blame culture, where we know none of us are perfect, but we will learn from our mistakes, not use them to beat each other up.
If you’re not happy come and tell us about it constructively, trust us to listen and do something about it – Be open to different ways of seeing things, and commit to finding a solution. Don’t be that person who is happy being unhappy.
If you can’t commit to any of the above, consider how you are contributing to the success of the organisation, and if you can’t or won’t commit then consider your position. If we are doing everything we can to collaborate and it’s still not working then you might be simply in the wrong job.

So there you have it, my somewhat idealistic list of a great team player. It might sound impossible, but I have encountered such positive traits collectively along the way. I would hope many of them are traits I displayed as a team player myself, although, I’m not sure if my past teams would agree. I’m sure there are also many to add, what would be your ideal wish list for a great team player?

Join us on this amazing journey!

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2 Faulty Thinking Patterns Leaders Must Ditch

By Christina Lattimer • November 14, 2013 - 3:00 pm Leadership Development

Most progressive people in business understand only too well that the old paradigm of faulty thinking has long gone.

Examples like “profit before values”: underhand strategies of “the end justifies the means” or “we are important so we deserve special privileges” have been exposed and deleted by the best organisations. While businesses regroup and to make amends, change doesn’t happen overnight. Some two years or so on from the major scandals, there is still much to do.

Optimistically change for the better must occur, and evidence of proactive and definitive change is happening, typically illustrated by the very strong corporate statement issued by the likes of where they set out in no uncertain terms their ethics and standards moving forward. Other companies are positioning themselves accordingly.

Many of the problems arose, not because people involved in the scandals where inherently bad people, but because they were victims of “faulty thinking”. Faulty thinking taken to the extreme. Throughout history you can see examples of faulty thinking being taken to the extreme. Think Hitler and modern day dictatorship, terrorism, and modern day slavery. There are lesser degrees of faulty thinking, but if adopted globally then innocently seeming “right” thinking can be catastrophic.

There are some key beliefs and thinking patterns which underlie many of the “ills” of society and of course can be evidenced on the leadership stage. These beliefs have permeated our culture as a global society and therefore have become a paradigm which acts like a closed cell door and makes it seem difficult to get out. Much is of course unconscious faulty thinking. This might sound bleak, but actually by acknowledging such faulty thinking, then we are able to shine a light on this paradigm and change our beliefs and thoughts to more positive and affirming thinking which will of course create a brand new paradigm and a much brighter future.

The following set out 2 ways we continue to exercise faulty thinking and therefore limit great changes in the world and in business.

There is not enough to go round

The economic crisis is not yet over, and there is a cacophony of voices telling us there is recovery, and others who are predicting the end of society as we know it. Who knows? The whole debacle has been made by ongoing and systematic faulty thinking about our collective purpose and the possessive of money in particular.

The scarcity principle is one which is one of the most prevalent traits of faulty thinking, and one which people feel most justified in bowing down to. But it is a faulty system, borne of faulty thinking. There is no real scarcity in the world; we have made a system where we have bankrupted the world, businesses and individuals. There is plenty of food to eat and there are enough resources, we have sufficient intelligence to overcome the majority of problems which arise. We just don’t do it. Why? Because we believe there is scarcity, on a global, collective and individual level. The scarcity is literally all in our mind.

For a business leader, this is a difficult one because the thought and “evidence” of scarcity through downturns in economy, reduced budgets, income etc. is compelling. The scarcity principle is one which makes people work longer for less with little hope.

The unified alternative is to find the opportunity in any situation whether reduced economy or other situation where scarcity is the fear. Use the experience to find ways of creating more, leveraging growth and learning to challenge beliefs and assumptions and “the way things have always been done”.

This is not rocket science. Every savvy entrepreneur knows that there are always opportunities in adversity.

Favoritism

There is a standing joke on the UK version of the “X Factor” involving Louis Walsh, the long serving judge from Dublin, who is said to favour acts from Ireland whether they have talent or not . I think most people see it very much as harmless fun, and it always raises a laugh. This is only a TV show, and while I’m sure some hopeful with talent might feel put out about being turned down because people with less talent have got through by virtue of their place of birth, they hopefully can get their talent recognised elsewhere.

Favouritism in other arenas and especially in the workplace has more serious connotations. At its worst, favouritism stems from a conscious or even unconscious form of discrimination and can seem harmless, but it has far reaching effects. At best, favouritism is simply a matter of keeping ourselves in our comfort zones, because of a fear of “difference”.

Many years ago I applied for a job. Pitching up for the day of assessment and interviews, I was joined by 6 other hopefuls. Of the seven of us there was one man. We were collectively greeted by the CEO and his board, all men, and the day of interviews commenced. I remember thinking they were doing really well because they must have recognised the overly masculine nature of their top team, and they had called 6 women to interview. Surely they were committed to giving women a chance. I don’t know indeed they may well have been. The next day, I got a phone call to say that I had been an “exceptional candidate” and the board had been very impressed, but that they had decided to offer the job to another person. I was fine, and was quite amused to note when they announced the appointment, it was the only male candidate, who was successful. Now I’m not saying that they were discriminating against women, nor am I saying the male candidate didn’t have the best qualifications. But I did wonder if they were pretty comfortable in their “all male” group.

Favours can consist of securing contracts, promoting, awarding bonuses, praising, promoting, spending time, allocating quality work etc. to others with little regard to contribution or effort but because they are in the “favoured few” circle. It can mean employing family members even if they aren’t the best qualified.

The unified alternative is to be open to many different types of contribution and value them all. To develop a framework of fairness, appreciation and reward open to all. Be aware of, and guard against biases. The underlying premise to this is of course that we are all equally of value in whatever situation.

There are many ways we think in a faulty way, but if we solved those two we would have opened up a vista of opportunity, the like of which has never been seen before.

Join us on this amazing journey!

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Burying the Hatchet on Work Place Disputes

By Christina Lattimer • October 31, 2013 - 2:46 pm Leadership and Management

Disputes at work cost us much more than loss of productivity

As we speak I have placed myself at the centre of a dispute. Now for me this is quite a big deal because quite frankly I am against being in dispute per se. The details of the dispute are immaterial because all it really boils down to is that the other person I am in dispute with simply sees things differently to me, and they are trying to foist their perspective on me. (Conversely, I’m at it too!).

Because I know that disputes are futile egotistical diversions, which waste a lot of time and energy I usually avoid them like the plague. That’s not to say I don’t feel strongly about certain issues, and I abhor it when my values are being dishonoured, it’s simply that I know enough to realise that everyone is entitled to their opinion. Also life is simply too short to become embroiled.

The thing is with disputes though; it is usually when someone else’s rules, opinions or behaviours impinge on our own personal boundaries that we can no longer turn a blind eye.

Some of the facts

At work in the UK, around were recorded in 2012/13. The introduction of payment of a fee to lodge an employment dispute to a tribunal which was introduced in July 2013, has many HR professionals and employment lawyers waiting with baited breath to see if there is a sharp downfall in claims as a result. The most recent released by the UK Government are pretty inconclusive and the trends have certainly not been established.

But whether or not the payment of a fee helps to direct the minds of claimants whose disputes may be dubious is really a bit of a red herring. The emergence of an application to an employment tribunal is quite often the end result of a long and arduous route whereby somewhere along the line, parties to the dispute have failed to find a solution, or a meeting of minds.

Workplace conflict is extremely costly; in a , it was found that resolving conflict took up, on average, one day per month for each and every worker. If you start doing the math, then you realise that the cost to businesses is pretty huge. But even then, as we all know; disputes at work have a ripple effect. Not only do they take precious time to resolve, they can create an awful atmosphere, absence from work, knotty HR issues while disputes are being solved and simply drag down the business.

Why disputes occur

There are many reasons why disputes occur, but some of the common dynamics present are; roles of victim and victimiser, a sense of unfairness or injustice, a need to be right and the other wrong and sometimes a need to be better than or indignation at being seen as less than.

Some of the causes of disputes arise from:

Rules imposed by one party have been broken by the other, but the other doesn’t agree on the rules in the first place.
There is a disagreement on the facts
One person is being seen as having an unfair advantage over another
A person’s behaviour is, or is seen as, unacceptable
Decisions are made which don’t consider the person or their circumstances
There is a personality clash
Inadequate communication exists.

I’m sure there are many more, but in my experience many disputes are contained within those seven causes.

Because we are all so unique and our perspectives are so very different, conflict resolution management is not really a huge success, as can be seen by the number of disputes which have reached employment tribunal. In fact many companies might argue that the most important HR Expertise is being able to minimise the effects of disputes in the workplace.

A different mind set

There is no magic wand unfortunately. Human behaviour doesn’t transform instantly. A change of mind is needed, and this is not just in the workplace, but at home, in politics, in global leadership. The following mind-set shifts would produce a significant change in unhealthy disputes which simply squash the spirit, waste time and stunt creativity and innovation. Creating dynamics of equal value, a goal of harmonious working (healthy conflict is allowed!), and respect of boundaries and understanding each other.

These can translate into possible actions such as:

Helping people who feel victimised to access their inner strength and honour themselves.
Creating a common purpose and vision when setting rules and boundaries, and when others can’t or don’t meet them, helping them as much as possible to do so.
Allowing people to make an occasional mistake.
Treating everyone with equal value as a person
Involving and honouring everyone when instigating change
Being aware of and acknowledging when decisions are made they may have a negative impact on others and finding ways to help people when that is the case.
Raising awareness of how we operate as human beings, and our impact on others.
Creating congruent communication, where different styles are respected and used.

The funny thing is, when I began to get into my current dispute, a big part of me was saying, just surrender, don’t go down that route, let it go! But my rebel sense of indignation and rightness won over. Well for a short time anyway. I think though, it might just be time to bury the hatchet!

Join us on this amazing journey!

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The Hidden Power For Leadership and Life

By Christina Lattimer • October 24, 2013 - 1:12 pm Leadership Development

Everyone 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.

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Tiny Buddha – The Lori Deschene Interview

By Christina Lattimer • October 24, 2013 - 10:00 am Personal Development

Even before I realised how much I would get involved and connect with others across social media and the internet; one of the first personal resources I found which resonated with me was Lori Deschene’s Tiny Buddha twitter feed.

As a life-long learner and self-awareness student, I have read my way through literally thousands of books which speak to my heart and soul, and I have to say Lori’s work stood out in it’s simplicity but also because of the truthfulness and vulnerability contained in her articles.

So when I published the , one of the first internet resources I wanted to show my gratitude to, was, the Tiny Buddha, and I contacted Lori to get permission to use her branding in the e-zine. Not only did I get a swift and positive response from Lori, I was absolutely delighted to persuade her to let me interview her for a future issue of the E-zine.

I am delighted that this interview with Lori also coincides with the publication of her second great book . I pre-ordered the book and was struck by the powerfulness of the chapters within. A must read! (More later)

Lori’s inspirational first book “” is also available from Amazon.

So here is what Lori had to say about her work on the Tiny Buddha and also her inspirational new book.

Why do you think the Tiny Buddha has such a huge and loyal fan base?

I believe it has a lot to do with the heart behind the site. People share themselves honestly and vulnerably in their writing, and this invites a type of authentic connection that’s sometimes hard to find. I also think it has to do with the way the site has grown—organically. Even as it attracts more readers and writers and we launch new products and features, it’s never about maximizing page views or meeting traffic or sales goals. The purpose is always the focus, and everything else is secondary.

To read the full interview simply click on the image below:

By Christina Lattimer

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10 Steps to Find Balance in the Pursuit of Excellence

By Christina Lattimer • October 17, 2013 - 1:55 pm Leadership Development

Finding balance while pursuing excellence

I met with some very dear friends earlier this week, we are friends and business colleagues and so much of the topic of conversation revolves around our respective business issues. We were recounting our progress with varying amounts of success. One of my projects is taking much longer than I thought, and I was happily talking about the qualitative changes I felt I must make before moving forward, when one of the group suggested that perhaps I should take the approach that “just good enough” might be the mind-set I needed right now. I immediately replied that I wasn’t prepared for “just good enough”, I wanted my product and services to be excellent. But as usual the exchange got me thinking. Was the pursuit of excellence on my part simply a delaying tactic?

As a master procrastinator I am usually more obvious in my efforts to avoid doing things I should, the tax return filed only 7 days before the deadline, the marketing product I have been working on for weeks but I always find something else more urgent to do. The friends I must call because I haven’t seen them for so long.

I have experienced first-hand, business owners who don’t move forward because they feel there is always more preparation to be done; when deadlines are missed because some other factor comes into play and they want to make sure everything is lined up before they move on. Such environments simply call time on innovation, motivation and enthusiasm, because nothing ever is achieved. My friend’s question made me think: Is this me?

Social media and globalisation has forced a pace on most businesses, not only to be active transparent and visible, but also to do things in an increasingly bigger, more connected and excellent way. The platform is equally open to large multi-nationals as well as the small sole trader. There is room for all, and the benchmark for excellence and the way we do business is changing rapidly. Will Yokowicz’s article “Get Ready for the Social Network of Things” gives a vivid picture of the mind-set shift which is taking place right now. Leadership Development programmes must help develop appropriate mind-sets moving forward.

There is no place to hide anymore; procrastination is not going to cut it, nor is anything other than a pursuit of excellence going to be tenable. How do we reconcile almost superhuman efforts with the fact that the vast majority of us are human? How do we drag our fallible, procrastinating, pressurised, vulnerable selves to balance work, relationships and conflicting demands, and still achieve visible excellence?

There are a number of ways we can negotiate the path of excellence without creating unnecessary stress, pessimism or doubt. Its vital leaders have a realistic strategy to both achieve the excellent results they need while on a daily basis recognising in what situations “just good enough” is acceptable. Here are my top 10 steps which help navigate the way through.

1. Be committed to achieving a clear vision

There are going to be days when achieving your vision seems like a million miles away. When this happens just keep the vision in mind and know that the universe is conspiring to help you achieve it.

2. Setbacks are simply learning curves

If you can develop the mind-set that setbacks are simply opportunities to make improvements then you will recover much more quickly. Not allowing despondency or doubt in, will accelerate growth.

3. Listen to your intuition

Sometimes a lack of progress or huge resistance is a big sign that you are working on the wrong thing. If you continually feel uninspired, stressed and pressurised then you are definitely on the wrong track.

4. Create a great team

You really can’t do it on your own. You need help to achieve excellence whether through employees, partnerships, contractors, a support network, friends and family.

5. Look after yourself

You need to take time out to rest, connect with others and do other things. Health is one of the biggest pre-requisites for achievement of excellence, and could be one of your biggest stumbling blocks if ill health prevails.

6. Be clear about your priorities and values

If for example a family crisis comes along and you need to delay then don’t agonise over your decision.

7. Plot small milestones and celebrate success

It is easy to forget all the hard work and successes you have had along the way. Sometimes you can get so focused on what’s not achieved, you don’t realise how much you have achieved.

8. Forgive yourself

When you set out on the road to achieving excellence you put your head above the parapet. You are not always going to feel like following your own path. When you feel like rebelling, then forgive yourself and get away from it until as long as it takes to get back into the right mind-set.

9. Don’t cling to results

You are going to get the right results at the right time. Even if you believe they are poor, they are simply results, giving you a nudge and an indicator to say you need to look again. A journey to excellence is about progression and constant re-evaluation.

10. Get it into perspective

In his book “” Michael Singer helps the reader get their life in perspective by saying “You’re sitting on a planet spinning around in the middle of absolutely nowhere”. That’s not to minimise your efforts towards excellence, but realising that in this world everything ends eventually helps you to enjoy the journey much more than focusing on the destination.

Having thought through whether I should settle for “just good enough”, my resounding answer is still “No”, but I realise there are days and times when maybe I have to settle for “just good enough” rather than excellence as a temporary measure, and when I get to those times, I simply take my own advice!

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10 Ways to Get Focused When You Simply Have Too Much To Do

By Christina Lattimer • September 19, 2013 - 1:59 pm Miscellaneous

10 Tips on How to get Focused When Multi- tasking

I don’t know about you but I do struggle at times to feel in control when my “to-do-list” is over the page. Unfortunately while mindlessly reacting, I’ve developed an almost comic strip routine, a little like starting a new healthy eating regime, it only lasts a few days and then old habits usually take over. The routine goes like this: I draw up a new to-do-list; I prioritise it, and start working through it. What usually happens is an emergency occurs, or something unexpected becomes the priority of the day, and my carefully planned prioritisation goes out of the window. I spend a day or two trying to get through some bulk volume work, spend unplanned evenings catching up and then the whole cycle starts again.

My 16 year old son has just started into 6^th form, for a lad who simply hates homework, at least 16 hours of it each week is a big stretch; it’s a whole new paradigm shift for him, one which already into the 2^nd week has become a source of stress. Of course he has to build habits which are going to help him to avoid being stressed. As I was giving him some advice about how to focus, I realised it was about time to take my own advice. So here I am writing this blog (on time) because yesterday, I began the process of practicing what I preached. I have heard many times that you learn best what you teach, so I thought in that spirit, I would share my advice with you! If you are ultra-organised and can add to the list, please do share! Any advice will help me I’m sure.

Ten ways to get focused :

1. Turn off the technology

With an array of teenage social media such as Snap chat, Instagram, Face book and IM, my son’s phone pretty much pings constantly. For me, my guilty time waster is to open emails when they ping into my inbox on my desk or laptop. This idea is as old as the first installed workplace computer, we all know we have to do it, but it takes some discipline and determination to ignore our ever increasing online communications.

2. Do one thing at a time

I know, I know it’s not rocket science, but I do flit about from project to project at times. My son started some Psychology homework, got stuck and instead of getting over the “difficult hurdle” he put it down and started something else. Doing one thing at a time means doing it from start to finish, without being distracted with something else. To actually do this takes determination and concentration, but it is well worth it as even difficult tasks get ticked off.

3. Diarise non urgent tasks a month ahead

If you have a million things to do and half of them are routine and definitely not going to be urgent in the next week or so, then diarise them a month in the future. I know it doesn’t get them off your list, but it gets them off your list for now. For me, it is like a breath of fresh air to know I don’t have to give those routine items a priority, and if I do happen to get up to date, I can always reach forward and get those things done and feel even more virtuous!

4. Chunk down daunting tasks

My son had his first 1000 word essay to do; he was daunted to say the least (while I tactfully kept quiet about the 10k and 20k feats which might come if he goes onto higher education). If you are daunted by the size of the task, then chunk it down into manageable tasks. Put each smaller task into a series of priorities and complete each one in order. It is easier to concentrate on a task if you know it’s only going to take an hour or so, than when you know it’s going to take a couple of days.

5. Have a purpose

When I have a mundane, but a priority task to do, I need a good purpose. So for example, when I got my tax return done earlier this month, I had to remind myself that if I got it done, not only would it not be hovering over me, like the ghost of Christmas Past, but I would be able to completely get focused on tasks I really love and enjoy. My son had to remind himself that he wanted to spend some of his weekend playing football and going out with friends, and not have to do homework instead. Having big picture purposes can help too, although tend not to be so effective, as small ones. At the moment, my son has a vision for his future, so he needs to remind himself that by focusing now, it will help him achieve his goals.

6. Don’t do it

Ok, this tip isn’t about focus, but getting rid of unnecessary or habitual tasks helps to get you focused on the important and necessary tasks. If you can’t find a good reason to do it, other than, you always do, or its part of your routine, or you’re scared to let it go, then stop.

7. Be in the right environment

We are lucky because we have a spare bedroom which my son is now using as his study. It means he can shut the door and escape from the hub-bub of the rest of the house. If you are in a busy office and can’t concentrate for interruptions and activity around you, then go somewhere else. I managed a busy office with over 80 employees on site, and as my door was wide open, I had a constant queue of people coming to see me. During one particular crisis we encountered, I was struggling to pull together an urgent report, when one of my dear team members, marched over, popped her head round the door and said, “excuse me, but this is for your own good”, and she shut the door and taped a “Do not disturb” sign on my door. Yes I should have done it myself of course, but being in reactive mode can sometimes be a lifelong habit.

8. Take a break

If you get to a point where you are finding it hard going, take a break. Taking a break does not mean checking your phone or emails, it is about going to get a coffee, getting some fresh air or even practicing a five minute mediation. It is about quieting your mind, not populating it with fresh information

9. Establish a routine.

If you are a morning person then getting through your priority tasks should be done as soon as you get to your desk, or as soon as you can. You know what times of the day you are most productive, don’t waste those times on routine non urgent tasks, reserve them for the things you really need to do to make a difference. Once you’ve established your time zone, then stick to it and make it a habit as prevalent as brushing your teeth.

10. Borrow tips

My tenth tip is borrowed from a great mentor of mine, the eminently successful Peter Thomson, who is the UK’s most prolific Information Product Creator. So sorry, I don’t want to steal Peter’s thunder, so you will have to wait for this one, as I have interviewed Peter for the next issue of our monthly E-Zine “The Extra MILE” where he tells readers all about his work and in amongst his great advice he also shares his brilliantly simple tip to help people get things done, which is brilliantly effective! Do visit our website, and sign up for the E-zine to be sent directly to your inbox so you don’t miss out on Peter’s sage advice.

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