What's Your Style?

Style is an interesting word. It's one of those words that will take on different meaning depending on how the word is used. It can be a manner of doing something, a distinctive appearance or design, elegance and sophistication or a rodlike object or part. In this case, the reference is to the manner of doing something, but doing what?

Every manager has a style of leading/managing, communicating, goal setting, time-management and etc. Indeed, every person prefers different styles of working and accomplishing tasks. Today, the focus is on 'goals'. Here are some tips for a style of setting, working and reflecting on personal/business goals.

Prepare

Goals need to be tied directly to your personal values and dreams and not to those of others. It takes some thought and planning to make certain the goals being set are personally right. This planning step can help you to avoid struggles redesigning the goals later. The idea is to put considerable effort behind designing your goals right from the start.

Be SMART

Not a new concept, but to be SMART in goal setting means to make your goals Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timed. Spend time visualizing the positive impact of achieving the goals being set. This can help to encourage you through the process of designing the goals. Also, reflect on past failures and apply what you've learned to the new goals being set.

Motivate

Remaining motivated as you do the heavy lifting of working to achieve the goals that have been set can cause loss of motivation. Look for low hanging fruit (i.e. quick wins) to keep motivation high. Easy wins will boost enthusiasm. Build goals into To-Do lists and action plans so that you're actively working on the goals every day. Be willing to redesign a goal if you're feeling demotivated. Ask for support from friends or coworkers. Remember, this is all about change and change can be challenging. Look for resources and give yourself every opportunity to succeed.

Achieve

As you near the fulfillment of your goal, be certain to plan a celebration that's right for you. Recognize your personal achievement and reflect on the process. How you found success can be important to the next goal begin set. Think about each step, what went wrong, what was difficult and build your experience into future goal setting.

Big Tip

The goals you set should inspire you to do the work necessary to achieve the goal. Your goals should excite and maybe even scare you a little. When working through the process of setting your goals, identify feelings of excitement and even fear to help you know you're on the right track!

I hope this is helpful and inspires you to set some goals for yourself. Whether setting personal career or life goals, the process is the same. Take some time and start the work to get you to your next celebration. Have a great week and until next time, keep it cheerful!

The Art of Meeting

If you ask business people what they do for a living they will usually describe their work with as much grandeur as possible. People's eyes generally glaze over within 30 seconds of me describing my work. Now, my answer to the question, "What do you do for a living?" is simply, "I solve problems and encourage people." Short and simple. For the most part we humans have a need to be impressive, but in large part, what we really do for a living is meet. Unfortunately, we don't always get the best bang for our meeting buck, so to speak. In an effort to facilitate improvement, here are a few points I believe are important to remember before creating or accepting a meeting invite.

1. Know the answer to the question, "Why meet?" Have you ever been invited to a meeting and couldn't for the life of you, figure out why? Meetings should have purpose and substance and have a definable reason for existing. Oh, and the definition should NOT make people's eyes water or go glassy!
2. Document, document and oh yes, document some more. Over the years I've learned that documentation is what saves me from many a difficult situation. So, I became a person who could take good notes. As you grow in a role, work to become well known for the ability to take good notes. When a meeting point is later discussed that documentation will likely be what is trusted as the best source of what really happened. A word to the wise, if it isn't in the notes, it didn't happen.
3. Be present and on time. Have the courtesy to be on time to every meeting. People become known for their ability to manage time and themselves and are frequently measured by their ability to be where they have agreed to be, when they've agreed to be there.
4. Boy Scouts are not the only people who should be prepared. Devote time to subject knowledge before the meeting. If presenting, be ready with a well thought out script or set of speaking notes for leading discussions and presenting the content. Be certain there is enough time to cover the subject while still leaving time for others to ask questions and comment. Meetings are where a group of people collaborate, so everyone should be prepared and able to contribute. In other words, don't be a meeting hog!
5. More on timing. Be sure that meetings you lead start and end on time. People will be more comfortable accepting meeting invites from your calendar if you are personally responsible when it comes to timing. If time appears to be running short, gain agreement of additional time in the future and allow your meeting partners to move on to the other meetings, they no doubt have booked.
6. Ask questions and listen. Be both a good questioner and a great listener. Try to know as much about the meeting participants as possible and work to fit into the natural rhythm of the group; neither asking too many or irrelevant questions nor failing to listen to others.
7. Follow-up. Every meeting will have additional work that needs to follow. Sometimes labeled as 'Action Items' these things require follow-up. Make special note of what is agreed to, making certain to follow-up as expected. Again, credibility is being built or destroyed during meetings.
8. Know when to lead and when to follow. The person who calls the meeting is generally the one who leads, but regardless of who calls the meeting, know your place before entering the conference.

There is so much more to great meetings than this, but it's a good start. Subject matter knowledge, preparation, great social skills and self-management will all be apparent in how you approach and complete meetings. Regardless of whether leading or following, be prepared to be great!

What is your favorite way to prepare for meetings? Share your comments below and help all of us learn to be great meeting participants. Until next week, when we'll share more about life in the world of business,  stay cool and as always, cheerful!

Manage or Lead?

What's in a name? Manager is what my title says, but lead is what I do. Is there a difference between someone who manages and someone who leads? I believe that there is:

Top 10 Things That Differentiate a Manager from a Leader

10.  Managers control, leaders engage. Do you want to have to 'manage' people into doing the right thing or lead them there so they do it automatically? Lead=easy Manage=hard. I choose easy.

9.  Managers follow rules, leaders question them.  Rules should be challenged regularly to make sure they really are still the rule.

8.  Managers are rigid, leaders embrace flexibility. See #10. The manager tends to control and therefore, demonstrates rigidity.

7.  Managers do, leaders delegate.  Managers are really workers. They may get volumes of work done, but it is probably work that would have been better handled by others in the organization.

6.  Managers spot problems, leaders solve them. Because managers tend to be 'doers' they are usually quick to spot a problem. A great leader may hear about the problem from their fantastic team, but their focus is on resolution.

5.  Managers focus on details, leaders look to the big picture. We are surrounded by manager minutia and it's very easy to become caught up in small details. Leaders look beyond the trivialities of managing and focus on the bigger, important work that needs to be done by a team of well led individuals.

4.  Managers think 'process,' leaders think 'people.' Yes, both processes and people need to be led or managed, but which comes first. Believe me, if people are managed instead of led, then processes will fail and put the manager into the mud.

3.  Managers like routine, leaders embrace change. The work of a manager is easier if it remains routine. Changes force people to think and work differently. A great leader understands that to grow and improve, routine has to be challenged. So many times I've heard people say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Well to them I say, "Then break it!!"

2.  Managers hire to fill a seat, leaders hire great staff.  Managers tend to be focused on tasks rather than people, where a great leader knows they need versatile, knowledgable, skillful, well rounded associates to be successful.
1.  Managers may simply fail, leaders fail fast and recover faster. Success is a road where failure is a frequent stop along the way. All people fail and so they should. How will you appreciate the success you achieve without experiencing failure along the way? What a leader does that is different from a mere manager is fail quickly, learn from it and move on.

So what will it be? Work as a manager or leader? The answer is clear. The title may say 'Manager' but the effort should be all 'Leader.' Do some self-evaluation and make changes where you can to be the leader you want others to see. Until next time, stay cheerful!