Business – Business Stamina

Five Essential Attributes for Executives: Courage, Conviction, Wisdom, Clarity, Credibility

CCWCC. These 5 letters stand for 5 essential traits that every successful executive today needs to embody. Courage. An executive needs the courage to speak out against conventional thinking, to innovate, and be unafraid to voice an unpopular, but true, opinion. Conviction. If you want to convince anyone that you are right, you must be steady with your opinions and defend them with passion. Wisdom. Sometimes, you can be so sure that you are right that you get tunnel vision. A great executive has the wisdom consider all opinions, not just their own. Clarity. You need to be able to explain yourself clearly, so that everyone understands what you are saying. Credibility. If you lack credibility, then no one is going to take you seriously. Great executives need to build credibility with their thoughts, opinions, and actions (small and large), so when they speak, everyone will be listening. Don’t be afraid to “go back to school” or to learn again! Coaching can help you embody these 5 attributes in the privacy of your office. By internalizing these traits, your ability to communicate your ideas will strengthen fivefold.

Business Stamina offers dynamic, energizing, and effective executive team coaching and alignment services to help companies and individuals achieve their professional goals. Whether you need assistance with succession planning, team development or calibration, business retreats, or leadership coaching, we are dedicated to your success. Discover the high-performing team within your organization using a coaching approach. Contact us to schedule your private exploration session.

Why Coaching Works: The Most-Requested Corporate Professional Development Methods

The development of talent in the corporate world is a very high priority for leaders and rising stars in the workplace. Leaders want the best, and rising stars want to become the best and coaching can bring out the best in the committed professional. One-on-one coaching is very popular because a coach can really get to know an employee or executive and focus entirely on their goals and their (sshhh!) blind spots. Team Coaching can help a small group all at once. This is a more economical solution and, in addition to serving more individuals, it provides a place to fortify the team and their agreements.

Working Through Language, Time, and Cultural Differences

With a multicultural and increasingly diverse workforce, communications skills are more important than ever. If you find yourself working with someone who isn’t quite fluent in your language and comes from a very different culture background, you may have difficulty communicating with them. Remember that the language barrier goes both ways. If you are frustrated by their lack of understanding, they probably feel the same. Find the resilience to push past that barrier. If you need to talk about something complex or technical, you have the option of using a free service like Google Translate to help facilitate communication. Remember also that using pictures is a much more universal language. It all boils down to patience and endurance. Take your time, making sure to explain things clearly, and if necessary, use translation tools to help. If they have different cultural values, acknowledge them and find common ground. If you are talking to someone on the other side of the world (Isn’t technology wonderful?), work to compromise on the time so one party doesn’t need to get up insanely early or the other stay up insanely late.

Bring Thanksgiving Back to Work!

Now that we have celebrated the holiday of Thanksgiving, remember to bring this concept back to work.

Reach out and make an ordinary day into something more memorable by thanking someone for the small things they do.

Be you, it’s what true leaders share

A great message that many of us grew up hearing: You’re special just the way you are. But this is a fact that can easily be forgotten with all the books and tips (like this one!) on how to be “better”. There is nothing more important than knowing and being you, especially when you are a leader, business owner, or champion of others. And, there is nothing more important than coming from this place of knowing with an effort to learning how to flex to others. Go ahead! Show your real authentic self, and also learn how to modify your true colors to flex to others.

Motivation or inspiration: What is your role as a leader?

We often think of inspiration and motivation to be interchangeable concepts; the reality is that they are related yet very different. You can “motivate” your employees to do their work, or you can “inspire” them with seeing how they contribute. When you motivate someone, you are pushing them to do something. The external impetus-motivation to do their work-is coming from you. On the other hand, when you inspire your team, they start to push themselves. You don’t need to provide much motivation because, by inspiring your employees, you are helping them find their inner drive. An inspired workforce is easier to manage, gets more done, and will be more resilient, energetic, and positive.

Babbling is for babies: How to speak clearly and concisely

Um, this email is all about, ah, how you, um, communicate with, er, others. When you’re speaking with your co-workers, manager, and customers, it’s vitally important that you can clearly communicate with them. There are two traps that we can fall into that prevent us from doing so. First, little verbal ticks, like um, uh, like, ok, er, and ah, are verbal roadblocks that get in the way of what you are attempting to say. Second, if you aren’t exactly certain what you want to say, you might start to ramble in a run-on sentence that becomes difficult for the listener to keep track of. It can be challenging to rid yourself of these verbal habits, but with a little practice you can smooth it out. Record yourself making a phone call or speaking with someone. Or, ask someone you trust to call you on it (privately) whenever they hear you ramble or use a word like “Um”. Once you can hear yourself, you can begin to change. When you need to communicate something important, slow down. By studying your communications, you can strengthen your impact and increase your positive presence.

Off to see the wizard – Ways to encourage courage!

The tempting thing about the status quo is that it is easy. It requires no work, no effort, and no courage. It can be comfortable, and this is a huge danger to the workplace. You want your employees to be active, to constantly be growing. You want a courageous workforce who will push themselves and others to greatness. How can you inspire these qualities in your team? Create an environment where employees can feel they are able to take risks. If there is fear of punishment for failure, you will understandably see lower levels of courage in the office. Help them find resilience after a failure. If you see an employee who you think can handle more responsibility, give it to them. Push them to grow! The absolute best way to inspire courage in your employees is to be courageous yourself. Lead by example, steadily take smart risks, and try new things. If you create a workplace where courage can thrive, you will not only see higher levels of engagement and morale from your workers, you will feel more engaged yourself!

Rule 1 of management: Get them emotionally involved

There is a lot of talk about Millennials today and how to best work with them. They are not necessarily driven by the same aspirations and desires as prior generations. Millennials want to know that they are doing something that matters, that they are making a difference. This is true of almost all employees. To get their best, learn to engage them emotionally. Develop the strength to build a relationship with them. This doesn’t mean that you need to become their friend, but does mean that you need to be able to relate with them on a personal level. Consider ways to give them freedom within their job while also providing necessary boundaries. If they have suggestions, listen and consider them. Even if you don’t put their suggestion into action, thank them for the contribution and explain your thinking.  It isn’t enough anymore to tell your employees to do something, you need to tell them WHY they need to do something. Communicate rather than command; you will find that you can get a much higher quality of work from an emotionally involved workforce.

Happy Yom Kippur!

Today is a special day: Yom Kippur. This holiday is probably the most important holiday of the Jewish year. Many Jews who do not observe any other Jewish custom will refrain from work, fast and/or attend synagogue services on this day.

The name “Yom Kippur” means “Day of Atonement,” and that pretty much explains what the holiday is. It is a day set aside to “afflict the soul,” to atone for the sins of the past year.

To atone, is to make up for, or to do something good as a way to show that you are sorry about doing something bad. Regardless of your spiritual foundation, this is good practice while here on earth. Who do you need to reach out to and apologize, or send a note to? Don’t let another day go by with a “bad” act weighing heavy on your heart.

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Category: Business