leadership – Road to improvement

Premium

25 abril, 2021Publicado en leadershipEtiquetado como Brand, needs, sellingDeja un comentario

Saturday evening. Movie theater. Just wanted a popcorn bucket and a pair of sodas. Too many options and it looks like as the more you pay the more you will get. Small, medium, large, premium. No detailed description, only the headlines.

It is important to be clear on what means what we are offering, it is important to bear always in mind what we really want and need, so we don’t go for the fancy name or the first in the list.. So we won’t go every time for the Premium one (smaller plastic mug and a metal bucket instead of carton), maybe you just wanted the Large one: Large drink, big bucket. That’s it, simple.

In life, Premium doesn’t imply quantity or quality 100% of the times. Just to be clear.

Trust

14 abril, 2021Publicado en leadershipEtiquetado como relationships, trustDeja un comentario

Little boys and girls trust their parents actions and instructions. Same happens with their relationship with most part of the adults. They are their reference on how the world works, their teachers and translators into it. They simply trust their words and acts.

Adults‘ trust is slightly different. Trust is already our starting point with experts: Doctor’s advice, legal counseling, … They have build their life around a certain matter of expertise. They are who should help us understand how a different world works.

When we feel we have been fooled, more than once, trust fades away. Not sure which one is more difficult to regain the one from kids or the one from adults.

Vertigo

27 marzo, 2021Publicado en attitude, leadershipEtiquetado como challenge, changes, people, teamDeja un comentario

It can be described as the feeling or sensation that the body is spinning or that objects are spinning around it.

And kind of something similar is what we feel when we face (out of the blue) the unknown, when there is a no written path or rules to follow. So then, you hope you can find at least someone or something to hold on to so you can feel secure.

Sudden changes, moving away of what you control and enjoy can be scary. Listening, watching how people acts and what is going on around you, helps. And if you mix it with what your inner self tells you, everything gets better. And then, the spinning slows down, the vertigo turns into something different, a bit of nervousness as you feel the thrill, the challenge and the growth right in front of you.

Survival mode

9 enero, 202113 enero, 2021Publicado en leadershipEtiquetado como effort, Energy, timeDeja un comentario

There are times when we have no time, low energy and tons of things to do. That’s when our body, turns into a save energy mode. We feel tired, need some sleep and sometimes, a bit of fever.

And knowing that, before it happens, we need to be smart and split our energy between what is important, urgent and all the rest.

Save your time and energy for what is needed. Do things right, execute what is not too important on your own performance limits. Energy, time and speed will be at 100% soon, don’t waste it in the meantime.

Learning along the way

8 diciembre, 2020Publicado en attitude, decision making, leadershipEtiquetado como changes, evolution, Gap, revolution, worldDeja un comentario

Book + Training + Practice this is how some of us have learnt to learn. But life does not come with a manual, there is no book to check on, no teacher, no trial and error process and we can only do our best. Not being sure if the answer it is correct, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Not having the perfect solution doesn’t mean we have failed.

We should not put on hold trying neither not punish ourselves if it did not go the way we imagined the first time. There will be more. We just need to try again, harder, more focused and aware of what worked and what did not.

Just do not push anything away just because you need to learn the perfect way first, it might be too late or you will might have to rush and it will not be even good enough to go.

The world has changed, so if we want to continue learning from it, we need to look at it through a different glass. Stop watching is not the answer. Still, keep it simple. Always.

Culture and breakfast

24 octubre, 2020Publicado en attitude, leadership, organizational culture, teamEtiquetado como change, culture, execution, transformationDeja un comentario

“The Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast”. Peter Drucker.

Corporate culture is defined as: “the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions”.

So, in the end, everything comes to people, teams and individuals. Each with its own roadmap, goals, but with a common sharing of beliefs and behaviors. But, together they are who run the business and usual, who face challenges and who will have to execute any strategy that can be designed.

As employee you need to understand your company’s culture. If you are new, in order to fit. If you are already part of the crew, it will help you to understand the way to reach your goals, why you have the feeling there is something not right or make you realized that it is not your place, you don’t fit.

As a company you can have designed the best strategy or requested for the most disruptive solutions, that if the teams have not changed, implementation will be pretty hard to achieve and proposals will not be too original. So, the company has to be aware of what kind of culture is in place.

You want to do different as a company? You need to change the way your staff behaves, or change the staff who behaves in a specific way. If this does not happen majority imposes their own way: Change proposals are always the same with different names, part of the staff is in discomfort.

Changing corporate culture it is not easy, it takes time, willingness, effort and commitment from the management team as they who will lead the transformation.

Thanks for the nice chats with awesome people that reminds me that some things never or change or the only thing that change is the name or label.

This is not the right time

20 septiembre, 2020Publicado en communication, leadershipEtiquetado como conversation, Discuss, focusDeja un comentario

When there is someone who makes a fuss about meaningless stuff, escalates issues when there is no need it can be because many different things. Could be that priorities were not set or understood or because they do not want to bring to the table important topics to be discussed.

Make a big deal of irrelevant things, makes very easy to start a discussion that’s tends to go nowhere, upsetting whoever is involved. And we leave out of the picture the important matter. It can happen once, but if someone insists on coming back to an irrelevant, provocative topic it is not a mistake. They rather talk about anything else but the important thing. Important things require understanding, patience and mutual respect. Not everyone is up to it.

Learning drivers: need or willingness

11 septiembre, 2020Publicado en leadershipEtiquetado como drivers, learning, need, willingnessDeja un comentario

Some years ago in secondary school, I had Latin as a mandatory subject. It was not my favorites, therefore the only driver was to pass the exam (Driver? Need). However, I really enjoyed foreign languages and my driver was completely different (Driver? willingness).

As adults we continue to struggle/enjoy with very similar matters although we might not be aware of it. Our drivers remain unchanged, willingness or need. We study just for enjoyment or personal/professional development. We make the choice. We decide to study in order to get a certificate and be able to find a better job. But, there are times when, even knowing we will not be asked to pass an exam, the only way to go over something is by learning, from someone or by practice. Because there is no other way, no workaround.

Learning takes us to the next level, even when it is the only way to unlock ourselves, it is the only possibility not to fail, or we simply and truly believe we will be better after all. And this is always true, learning moves us forward not back.

T / L Ratio

20 agosto, 202021 agosto, 2020Publicado en attitude, communication, leadershipEtiquetado como development, learning, ListeningDeja un comentario

“If we were supposed to talk more than to listen, we would have two tongues and one ear” Mark Twain

If we learn by observing, by copying someone else’s movements, learning by listening is a great option. In listening we can learn many important things. But that it’s not what usually happens.

We tend to talk al lot, and we “hear” what is being said, usually just awaiting the moment our speaker has finished so we can start our own speech. And that is mainly because from very young we are taught on how to talk, how to express ourselves, how to get the audience’s attention. So, our Talk / Listening ratio usually becomes >1. And that is no good, not helpful.

So, what to do to change the situation? Any knowledge, any different behavior we acquire in our adulthood takes a considerable amount of time and effort as we need to alter our habits. Truly listening would be on the “difficult ones” list. Turning around the ratio, Talk/Listening<1 will require your full attention 😉

Some tips:

“be patient my friend”, practice makes perfect and if you want to be a good listener you need to wait (allow your speaker finish completely prior to saying anything)
Play mindfulness, yes, stay open-minded, avoid assumptions, do not let yourself be led by stray thoughts, stay focused on listening
Create an open space: remove any obstacle, be careful with your body language, ..
be organized, if you don’t have the best brain storage capacity, take notes
PRACTICE, practice, practice

We are back, in the middle of August, but is there anything “business as usual” this year?

I don’t know

14 junio, 202013 agosto, 2020Publicado en attitude, leadershipEtiquetado como attitude, Knowledge, learningsDeja un comentario

We are not supposed to have all the answers. We have the ability to find a way out, or the right person.

I don’t know, and it’s alright.

Too many times we think Or we play as we knew, so we guess, we imagine or we trick ourselves. Admitting unfamiliarity is not a sign of weakness, vulnerability. It only means opportunity.