Monday 30 May 2016

The 3 critical questions every leadership team must answer with behaviour

Debate the 3 questions below in a candid and convivial way with your team.

Don't leave the room until you all agree on what your answers mean behaviourally, and what the consequences will be for anyone (including you) who betrays agreements.

1) What does it mean to fully appreciate and get the best out of ourselves and other people every day?

2) What does it mean to be responsible for, and answerable to, our actions and behaviour (accountability) every day?

3) How do the aspirations we are striving to achieve every day as a business, help our employees, customers, and other stakeholders to achieve their aspirations too?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Friday 27 May 2016

Last chance to claim your complimentary place at The Appreciative Leader Accelerator

Every moment of every day The Appreciative Leader focuses their time and energy on fully appreciating and getting the best out of themselves and other people.

The outcomes are more people leading and being accountable, which means better business results at less personal cost.

The Appreciative Leader Accelerator is a complimentary online hour of candid and convivial conversation about being the best Appreciative Leader you can be. There's no slides and no sell.

The next Accelerators are on next Monday the 30th at 8 am Melbourne time and 8 am London time. You can claim your place here.  As I write there's 4 places left for the Melbourne conversation and 9 for the London conversation. Registration desk closes at 11.30 pm today.

Accelerators embrace the proven principles I've been exploring in my Monday Morning Momentum videos and associated handbooks as overviewed below. You can view the videos and read the handbooks via this link.

I hope to "see" you on Monday.

Be remarkable.
Ian


We learn primarily by doing. Coaching and mentoring and formal learning must be in alignment.

Candid and convivial communication and conversations are paramount for success in our personal and business lives.

For your strategy to get executed every employee needs their unique piece of the map.

The purpose of every person's role in your business is to deliver value. Clarity of what this means for everyone precedes them being accountable.


The primary purpose of leadership is to create more leaders.

Fundamental to co-creating cultures of high performance and innovation is understanding "what it means to be human here." The starting place is seeing yourself and every person in your business as the remarkable one-of-a-kind human being that each of us is, and then behaving accordingly.

Stop being a manager and let people get on with management (i.e. processes which include policies, procedures, practices, and systems).

The number one role of leadership is to help people to unleash and enhance their gifts (talents).

Models don't matter. What matters is following proven principles in your own best way.

Meetings must be meaningful to participants.


Full appreciation of what is, dramatically increases your likelihood of achieving what can be (possibility).

What we truly believe we can achieve.

Your life only has one purpose, so does your business, and the two are connected in an unbreakable way.

Strategy is the compass that guides your personal and business decisions, and execution is the map.

Clever answers often hinder execution, whereas wise questions accelerate the process.

In the new world of work only the milestones and lead measures that have meaning for people have value. ‘What gets measured gets done’ is only partly true.

Behaviour determines your culture.


The two roles explored so far

Maverick Thinker - the most successful people understand conventional wisdom isn’t always wise, and therefore think differently.

Maestro of gift (talent) enhancement - when you fulfill this role more people will be doing what they love in the service of people who love what they do, and you’ll have more time and energy to do the same yourself.

Monday 23 May 2016

"Success depends on where intention is"

Two of the best-selling business books of all time are 'In Search of Excellence' and 'Good To Great'. I value both books.

There is something very interesting though about the organisations profiled in these books - very few, if any, are still excellent or great!

A very different story applies to the organisations profiled in Firms of Endearment another of my favourite books. Such organisations as a general rule are outperforming the market 15:1. The difference - they're purpose driven. Purpose is another word for intention.

The poet Gita Bellin says "Success depends on where intention is." 

The intention role of Appreciative Leaders is Maestro of Gift (Talent) Enhancement.

This is the subject matter of today's Monday Morning Momentum video below.



Perform the Maestro of Gift (Talent) Enhancement role in your own best way and I have no doubt your business will be a 'firm of endearment'.

You can download the resources referenced in the video here.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Friday 20 May 2016

The Appreciative Leader Manifesto

You can download a PDF version of this manifesto for printing and signing here.

The Appreciative Leader Manifesto

I accept that simply yet profoundly by the nature of my birth that I am a remarkable one-of-a-kind human being.

I see myself and everyone else as remarkable.

Every day my primary intention is to fully appreciate and get the best out of myself and other people.

I know that by living this intention that the purpose of leadership - to create more leaders, and the number one role of leadership - unleashing and enhancing people's gifts (talents) are a natural consequence.

I know that more people leading and therefore being accountable is the simplest path to better business results at less personal cost.

I know that the more fully business owners and leaders appreciate and get the best out of ourselves and other people, the better relationships at work, at home, and in third places.

I know that the better relationships are in these three places then the better our communities, cities, states, nations, and our world can be.

I am committed to The Appreciative Leader Promise - co-creating workplaces where people feel valued, live values, and deliver value so that everyone has the opportunity to be the best version of themselves.

Should this manifesto resonate with you then my complimentary Appreciative Leader Accelerators are tailor-made for you. The next Accelerators are on at 8 am Melbourne time and 8 am London time 30th May 2016. You can register here.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Wednesday 18 May 2016

The Appreciative Leader Accelerator

You know those voice over slides webinars where there's a big sell at the end.

This isn't one of them. There's no slides and no sell.

This is a complimentary service where I host a master-mind gathering to accelerate your Appreciative Leadership.

Places are limited so that everyone has the opportunity to share.

The next accelerators are on Monday 30th May 2016.

Find out more about the Southern Hemisphere Accelerator (starts 8am AEST) and register here.

Find out more about the Norther Hemisphere Accelerator (starts 8am London time) and register here.

Be remarkable.
Ian



Friday 13 May 2016

You're the only one who can pierce your appreciation shield

"I hope I didn't offend you just then" said my client after an outburst of frustration in which he tried to blame me for the inaction of a colleague.

"I'm not offendable" I replied.

What followed was an intriguing conversation that ended with my client leaving with a renewed sense of personal accountability.

I shared with my client that inside myself I have an appreciation room and that we all have such a sacred place. And, I suggested to my client, our appreciation rooms are protected by a shield that is only penetrable if we allow it.

Inside our appreciation room is everything we are grateful for about ourselves - the one-of-a-kind human being that each of us is.

The next time you feel yourself being negatively affected by what someone else says, does, or doesn't say or do, go inside your appreciation room. With practice ill feelings pass. Eventually such feelings become non-existent.

I'm responsible for my intentions, feelings, thoughts, and behaviours (actions). I'm not responsible for yours. Your intentions, feelings, thoughts, and behaviours (actions) are entirely your business.

Be remarkable.
Ian

image credit nobacks.com
"It's not what happens to you. It's what you do about it - W. Mitchell

Wednesday 11 May 2016

Emotional Intelligence At Work

There's a good white paper from The Langley Group on this here and from where the diagram below comes from which I think captures well the 4 areas we need to always have in our consciousness/awareness.


Be remarkable.
Ian

Monday 9 May 2016

Who To Be and What To Do When Conventional Wisdom Isn't Wise

Below is the first video in a series about The 8 Roles Appreciative Leaders Play Remarkably Well.

It's about who to be and what to do when conventional wisdom isn't wise.



You'll find the resources referred to in the video here.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Friday 6 May 2016

"Innovation in a business context is simply change that adds value"


The title of this post comes from Dr Amantha Imber (pictured above), an innovation psychologist, author and founder of business consultancy Inventium.

I heard Amantha speak at a 99U event last year. I was taken with her ability to explain the profound simply.

Subsequently I subscribed to the Inventium newsletter where I came across a Huffington Post interview with Amanda here, where she states "Innovation in a business context is simply change that adds value." I like this statement a lot. You?

In this post I link creating and delivering value with employees feeling valued and living values. This trilogy of valued, values, and value are the bedrock for building cultures of innovation.

How genuinely empowered are your employees to make changes in your business that add value?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Wednesday 4 May 2016

Living On Purpose

I find the diagram below very valuable as a mainstay for living on purpose.


I like Carolyn Tate's insights on living on purpose here.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Monday 2 May 2016

Monday Morning Momentum Master-mind

Next Monday morning I'm recommencing my Monday Morning Momentum videos with the first in a series about the 8 roles appreciative leaders play remarkably well.

I'll be producing a video twice a month May through August and also providing a handbook that will be updated with each video.

For a limited number of people at both Southern and Northern hemisphere times on 8 Monday mornings May through August I'm conducting a one-time-only online master-mind group about living the 8 roles in your own best way. 

I'll also be providing 8 1:1 mentoring sessions for each participant.

Find out all about this and take up the super early-bird offer by securing your Southern hemisphere place here, and Northern here.

Super early bird offer expires at 5 pm AEST tomorrow May 3rd.

Be remarkable.
Ian