December 2014

Things to Include & Avoid When Setting Goals

Dec 30, 2015 Comments

As we approach the New Year we tend to set a New Year’s resolution or establish a few key goals. Experts in productivity promote goal setting as a way to become more focused and productive. As a management consultant and coach I do endorse goals setting as well.

However for all its intended benefits goal setting can also be a determent to our health and well-being. We can easily become obsessed with achieving our goal and do things that can negatively affect ourselves, our relationships and cause stress.

Focus on a must goal

One thing to avoid is setting too many goals. Leadership and personal development expert Steven Covey suggests setting one highly important or must goal rather than several important goals. Goals need to be planned and broken down into steps or sub-goals. So along the way to achieving your must goal you will automatically achieve the sub-goals.

Let’s take a goal to lose 20 lbs of body weight over the next 6 months as an example. Some of the sub-goals might be consult a dietician, eliminate or reduce sugar intake and be regular at doing cardiovascular exercise three times a week. Each sub-goal might have its own sub-goals or action steps.

Focusing on achieving the weight-loss goal would create many benefits, such as illness prevention, better health, more energy, more positive outlook, improved relationships, greater self-confidence etc.. It would affect a variety of life’s dimensions without having to set a goal in each of those dimensions. That is why when setting a goal it needs to be written down and the benefits for achieving the goal listed. Download my free goal planning form here. You can also refer to my goal planning guide video here.

A must goal for inner contentment

A highly important goal that I suggest to go along with any must goal you set is one forinner contentment and fulfillment. After all we were given this life to become self-actualized and we have the potential to feel joy and contentment every day. So a goal to be able to tap into the well of peace and happiness inside ourselves is a must for every human being.

As we grow and develop we learn that having material things and even great relationships is temporary and we cannot base our source of happiness and contentment on these external things. Also, making this a priority in our lives will help us set other must goals that are congruent with fostering a feeling of peace inside and not a detriment.

There are many ways people find to discover inner peace and contentment, from religion to mediation or simply spending quiet time alone. Whatever your practice, make that a priority goal in your life and enjoy the benefits.

Stephen Goldberg

Let’s All be Selfish, Hurt Each Other and Destroy the Planet

Dec 24, 2014 Comments

The Problem

Be helpful, thoughtful, spread joy and good will to man. These are the kind of messages advertisers and brands are promoting. They want us to like their brand and buy their products in the process.

But most of the year we focus on ourselves first and others next. Of course I am generalizing and this is not true for everyone. There are many people who genuinely want to help others and actually do it.

But if this was consistently the case in general we would have a much different world than what we do. How many of us live everyday thinking of how we can help our co-workers do the best they can? How well do we listen to others and empathize with the way they feel? How often do we appreciate vocally and through actions those we love? How often do we recognize the talents of people we work with?

And what about the planet? It is common knowledge today that the way we live and consume is destroying the air we breathe, the water we drink and a host of other things. Man is sawing away at the branch of the tree he is sitting on.

The Solutions

Funny enough the solution is right here right now. It always was and always will be. It begins with changing our perspective of life and ourselves. How do we do that?

We just make the choice to do it and become conscious of ourselves, of what we are doing and saying and the impact it has on others.

It is about seeking to collaborate, support, coach, recognize those we love and care about. I am not saying we should become completely selfless and disregard our own needs and well-being. If we did we could easily be taken advantage of and get hurt.

The Big Dream

Picture a team of employees coming to work every day seeking to help each other do their best job and giving high fives and regular kudos. Imagine people seeking to understand each other first and developing the ability to listen and respond with that purpose in mind. Envision the relations that would be created and the level of trust that would permeate such a team.

This all may sound like a pipe dream but yet we all know it is possible. We see this kind of thing in high level sports where team members never like to take the credit personally but are always shouting out their team members.

What loftier goal could there be for a leader of an organization, for a team, for an employee?

At this time of year when we start to look back and think of what’s to come, consider these solutions and how you can make good cheer and good will to man a reality for each new day to come.

The best part of all is we’ll feel better about ourselves and life in the process.

Yikes! My Boss is Doing My Job

Dec 04, 2014 Comments

Are you assuming some of the responsibilities and tasks of the people reporting to you? This is a common situation and also a big obstacle to organizational growth and success. It also saps people’s motivational energy as they are not able to fully assume responsibility for the job they were hired to do.

Who’s guiding the way?

Imagine the captain of a ship doing the job of his crew? A captain of a small ship might wear a few hats, but if there is someone hired to man a post he does not do their job. It could mean disaster as no one person would have the overall view of the safe functioning and navigation of the ship.

But in business this happens all the time especially in small and medium size companies where the leader is not letting go of control and learning to delegate. This is why leadership development is so important, yet many small and medium size business owners think that this kind of investment is mainly for larger companies.

My first investment in leadership training was a self-paced learning program accompanied by one on one coaching. This was many years ago but it woke me up to my role as a leader and the importance of understanding people and how to deal with them effectively.

Conscious incompetence

If the boss is doing the job of his managers then who’s doing the bosses job? No one is doing it properly and thus the organization cannot succeed or reach its full potential. A competitor in the same market who is providing the right direction and developing his managers to be leaders will definitely have a competitive edge.

As well, if the boss is doing the job of his managers, the managers are also probably doing part of the job of their employees and the employees may be doing things that are unnecessary.

The first step to delegation is to become conscious of yourself, your strengths and weaknesses as a leader and become skilled at delegating responsibility. I call this conscious incompetence and is actually the second stage in learning after unconscious incompetence. Leaders must become aware of what they are not doing well to adequately grow and scale their organization and provide the direction it needs.

Learning to delegate is also a key component of employee empowerment and participative leadership. In my next article I will explain how to delegate responsibility to employees. But first a leader needs to know what should be delegated and to who.

Track your time

For the next 3-5 working days keep track of all your activities. Write them down using this blank calendar template you can download and print. From this list identify tasks that should be done by someone else. This is also a great exercise to improve management of your time by identifying time wasters.

What to delegate?

From the list classify things that should be done by people who report to you. Why are they not doing it now? If they have the skills and know-how perhaps you need to re-assign the work. If they lack the know-how can they be trained and coached? If not then you have another problem and that might be you have the wrong person in the job. You may need to hire more resources or reshuffle responsibilities.

Assign or delegate

There is a difference between assigning a task or responsibility and delegating it. Assigning someone a task does not require them to learn new skills but rather shifting the priority of their tasks. Delegation on the other hand requires new skills or assuming new responsibilities. In this case training and coaching is needed in order to ensure the person can perform as expected. I will cover this in more detail in my next article.

The benefits

Delegation of responsibility affords great benefits for the organization, the leader and the employee. Employees will feel they are being empowered and developed and thus have greater loyalty to the organization. They will feel they are using their talents and contributing to the organization. The leader will have more time to plan, organize, make improvements and grow the business or department. There will be less stress and a greater sense of accomplishment and teamwork. The organization will be able to reach its full potential and become more profitable.

Monthly Archives: December 2014