4 Ways to Kickstart Happiness

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Too busy to get happy?  Think Again. 4 Ways to Kickstart Happiness


Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward smarter, faster and happier is what I do best    


© Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership™ Blog

Here are the facts you need to know:
Stress and anxiety are now the major cause of disability in the world.
Science confirms that optimization of our intellectual potential, health and wellness start with priming our brain to be happy.

Learning to get happier, taking time to have happy moments during the day, is critical to your health, your wellness, your potential, your work…your life 


Four Ways to Kickstart Happiness

1. Suspend disbelief:
Science tells us that there is no logical reason to explain how a bumblebee can fly. No way to understand the bumblebee’s aerodynamic capability.  And yet this small, winged insect has made flight a priority and defies logic every minute, every day flying from flower to flower. What does the unexplained flight of a bumblebee have to do with happiness?  Absolutely everything.  Happiness is very much like the bumblebee’s incredible ability to fly. It is not the product of our intellect.  It is something that we have to feel. It occurs when we suspend disbelief, disengage from intellect and feel with our heart.


2. Take time to be happy every day-even if that time is a 5 minute stress break where you close your eyes and visualize your happy place and nothing else.
In the very busyness of the lives we have created, it is easy to reach a place and a personal space there is no joy.  When joy cannot enter our heart, when we have reached a dark place where we have lost touch with that which replenishes and restores our full passion, power and creativity, we have come to an apocalypse of self.  An apocalypse of self where we are so focused on doing, that we have forgotten how to be one with the seedbed of our possibility and personal power, we have lost touch with our ability to be happy.

3. Understand how your brain works:
 Your brain will retain what is important to you or what has an emotional trigger. Scientific research notes that 2 billion pieces of data come through our senses every second.  Our reticular activating system (RAS) then filters this data and tells our brain what information to pay attention to, what stimuli to focus on.  The RAS filters what we will load into our conscious mind according to three criteria:  1. Is the information important for our survival?  2. Is the information new or different?  3. Does the information have high emotional content for us?

4. Make happiness a  priority.   Just as the bumblebee wants to fly, each human being has a basic desire, an innate need to be happy.  True happiness cannot be purchased, bartered or bargained for.  Happiness comes from our heart; it starts by training our brain to recognize and emphasize what the heart already knows

1.  Happiness important for our survival, as it is the seedbed of inspiration and innovation.
2.  Happiness comes in new and different ways that can enlighten and engage us.
3.  Happiness is the emotion that holds the key to our true power.


No matter where you are, what you are doing, how you are feeling, you can retrain your brain to be happier. 
Yes, we can be like a bumble bee and create what we truly want.  Seize the day. Seize your personal power to reclaim an attitude of gratitude, an emotional pause that shouts loudly to the realm of possibility. Take time each day for a happiness moment.

 

Helping smart people and organizations lead and communicate forward smarter, faster and happier is what my work is all about. Discover Executive Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes and Workshops with as 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ Toronto and Virtually Everywhere
Face to Face  by Video Conferencing
 www.justcoachit.com Twitter @justcoachit   Tel: 1-416-671-4726 Email:  irene@justcoachitcom

 

 

Winning the Race with Wolves

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© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™| Reach-Resonance-Results 


I believe we can not only win the mental health race but develop a new perspective and new ways of transforming change, challenges, failures AND opportunities it to levers for our greatest potential and success. Helping people build what I call their 3Q Edge is my life’s work. Join me in creating a better tomorrow, because you can.

Is overwhelm, anxiety, frustration, overdrive or staying in neutral something that is impacting the quality of your life, your leadership, your ability to survive and thrive? Are you being chased by wolves? Is someone you know, lead, love or work for being chased by wolves?

  • Wolf 1. Career (business  or career challenges) that can keep you locked in stasis, hyperdrive or traveling in reverse.
  • Wolf 2. Communication breakdowns that crush or destroy  potential and results.
  • Wolf 3. Personal challenges and behavioural habits that impede and erode confidence, engagement, empowerment
  • Wolf 4. Interpersonal conflicts that destroy the personal relationships we need to succeed
  • Wolf 5. Health crises; a mental or physical crisis that has you stuck and suffering in silence

Five anxiety triggers, five hungry wolves are destroying our lives and organizations from inside out. I have included a link to my 2012 post about the wolves because I think it is even more relevant than when I wrote it.

My focus on finding purpose in the pain let me to discover what I call Q strengths; three core strengths and are critical to winning the race with wolves and to develop a process, a method that has helped that has helped forward thinking executives, managers and teams communicate, collaborate, inspire, lead and live with improved results and improved happiness. I am a trauma survivor and thriver recently did a certification in trauma counselling. I have been helping people successfully win the race with wolves for 15+ years and remain dedicated to being of maximum service.

This week I will be publishing a post a day on anxiety/mental health because I hope that if I open the discussion others will too, and that the ideas and insights I will share will be of service.

Here’s What is New:
I am going to have a podcast on Spotify sponsored by a leadership think tank ! More news coming soon!

This month I will be opening a new service that will offer very low fee or no fee coaching to people who fit the right criteria for my work but do not have the financial capacity to hire me. If you are interested in participating in this initiative, please reach out.

Book a complimentary 30 minute session with me ,

Executive Coaching, Workshops, 1 hour Fast Fix Sessions

Relax by doing The Pause



Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ Executive Coaching, Consulting & Training with a 3Q Edge™
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726 

Skills-Based Employment: Optimize Excellent Talents

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The recent pandemic has indeed changed a lot of old traditions and presented some new trends. One of the rising trends that’s become more and more evident is skills-based employment. For so long, companies have solely focused hiring efforts on educational degrees. This has ultimately led them to miss out on countless skilled applicants. The value of high-quality, capable candidates skyrocketed during the pandemic and led many companies to change the way they approach hiring. Instead of screening out those who lack traditional credentials, valuing skill sets in the employment process is now a much more common practice.

What is Skills-Based Hiring?

The skills-based hiring approach is pretty straightforward. It’s a tactic that focuses on a candidate’s performance and practical skills rather than traditional credentials. So, it’s less of ticking checkboxes for educational background, personal referrals, pedigree, and other requirements. Instead, it’s more about carefully looking into the cognitive, professional, and soft skills that each candidate offers.

Benefits of Skills-Based Hiring

As you might already know by now, skills-based hiring is gaining popularity due to the benefits provided to organizations. Here are some of them:

Broader candidate pool

If you are still one of the companies requiring four-year college degrees, you’re likely missing out. Entry-level positions become even more difficult to fill if you don’t avoid this kind of requirement. Moreover, most college graduates also look for higher salaries to help them cover their education expenses and other investments. For these reasons, it’s better to choose a candidate whose expertise and skills are well-fitted for the role.

Accelerated hiring time

The average hiring time to fill a specific role takes at least 42 days. One of the main reasons it takes so long is because the skills review is delayed until the latter stages of the recruitment process. Hence, recruiters miss out on tons of candidates while focusing on degrees and years of experience. With this in mind, it really makes more sense to focus on competencies and be open to accepting candidates with lower to no formal degrees. This practice helps you tap into a broader talent pool to fill roles faster.

Lower costs

Focusing on candidates with a bachelor’s or master’s degree doesn’t guarantee they have enough competencies to accomplish the job. Consequently, companies need to provide hires with skills-based education or training. Giving more importance to necessary skills will help you save training and onboarding costs in the long term.

Higher retention rates

In LinkedIn research, it was found that employees without a four-year degree stay 34% longer than their degree-holding colleagues. With this, it’s clear that being open to hiring candidates without degrees increases your company’s retention rates. After all, a candidate’s engagement and readiness to give back are the biggest contributing factors to high retention rates.

Greater diversity

Did you know that 62% of Americans over 25 years old do not hold a college degree? Skills-based hiring helps your company develop a more diverse and inclusive workforce. This means recruiting a variety of workers, such as veterans, women, people with disabilities, and people from low socioeconomic status, among others. Requiring a degree in your job posts automatically limits your reach. Focusing on skills and competencies opens the door to a company environment that values and respects people from all backgrounds.

Skills-Based Hiring: The Best Practices

There’s no denying the challenges that arise from shifting your recruitment and hiring process to support skills-based hiring. Luckily, there are plenty of tools that can help. Here are some of the best practices to help you on the journey to more efficient and effective hiring.

Spell out the required skills for every job opening.

Of course, if you want to focus on skills, you have to be clear on what you want. List out the ones absolutely required for the role, and add those they can potentially acquire on the job. Don’t forget to include soft skills! Keep in mind that the skills you include must be those that can be observed, measured, and assessed.

Make sure the job posting reaches a broad talent pool.

This is very important if you really want to reach the broadest talent pool for the job. Posting on your company website plus one to two job sites isn’t quite enough. Hundreds of niche sites and job boards are available these days. One great way to access them is by using an applicant tracking system with built-in posting features.

Utilize technology to pre-screen based on skills.

Now that you have access to such a vast pool of applicants, you might feel overwhelmed. Don’t worry; your applicant tracking system can help! You can design your application to ask various skill-related questions. The ATS can assess resumes based on expertise and other key requirements. With this, you’ll get an ATS-friendly resume from candidates that are surely an excellent fit.

Conduct skills-based assessments.

After you have narrowed down your candidates based on key skills and requirements, it’s time for the next step. You can now start conducting assessments for a more thorough review of skills. 25% of businesses now apply this step so that you won’t be alone in your efforts. Ultimately, doing this as early as possible will help you avoid wasting time on interviews. Remember to have all your candidates take the skills-based assessment, degree holders or not.

Wrapping Up

Switching from the degree-based traditional hiring practice to a skills-based hiring focus is really a giant step forward. Make sure you study all the pros and cons of this for your company. In general, skills-based hiring is perfect for entry-level to middle-skill jobs that rely on practical experience. Overall, it’s an incredible approach that helps cut training and onboarding costs and improves diversity in the workplace.

Hopefully, you feel more comfortable with your hiring process transition. With the tips mentioned in this article, you can surely make it happen!

Kaye Fernsby is a former HR staff who is interested in studying new recruitment processes. She loves giving tips about hiring, interviews, and employment.

How Leaders Set the Tone for Conflict Resolution

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Image Source: Pexels

Cohesive teams can be the key to a thriving business. When handled correctly, they can collaborate efficiently. This empowers them to innovate and give your company a competitive edge. Yet, working so closely together every day will inevitably lead to occasional conflict. Unless you can help your team to address and overcome these, their relationships and your business will suffer.

This is one reason cultivating relevant abilities is so vital. There is a range of key skills every leader should have whether you work in nursing, small entrepreneurism, or sit at the head of a multinational corporation. One of the most consistent requirements here is a solid approach to conflict resolution. Your actions, leadership style, and attitude impact not just the immediate problem, but influence how workers move forward and cooperate in the future.

Let’s take a closer look at this idea. In what areas can your leadership approach set the tone for conflict resolution? What are some steps you should consider and how far can the effects reach?

Respecting Diversity

Many conflicts stem from team members’ inability to recognize or appreciate the differing perspectives of their colleagues. Diversity of thought is crucial for the success of any business or project, but in some cases, there may be roadblocks here. If team members can’t see past the limits of their own experiences and perceived expertise, they may not give alternative ideas space for consideration and application. This can breed discontent within groups and limit their ability to innovate.     

Your approach to conflict resolution can help to engender positive engagement here. This doesn’t fall neatly into any of the 5 styles of conflict management, though it bears some hallmarks of collaborative and compromising approaches. Essentially, you need to guide employees to recognize why different perspectives may be better for the project.

They need to learn how to step back from their own ideas to accurately assess this. Teach them to detach from the potential to take rejection of contributions personally. Enable them to review the circumstances objectively and free from their unconscious cultural biases. It may be that in the long-term you’ll need to provide training to help workers build their empathetic skill sets.

Taking this approach is not just a route to find a way out of the current challenges of the conflict. Considering diverse perspectives and recognizing the value of their colleagues’ perspectives can have a positive impact on your overall corporate culture. It gives team members the tools to work together effectively, boosts morale, and strengthens the position of the business.   

Valuing Compromise

Asserting the opinion that one member of the team’s position is correct over another can sometimes be necessary for time-crunch scenarios. The downside of this is it can cause resentment and doesn’t always make for cohesive team experiences in the future. Wherever possible, it can be more conducive to harmony and progress to approach the matter from the perspective of reaching a compromise.

Compromise features as one of the common conflict resolution styles. It’s about finding common ground in a disagreement to allow team members to meet in the middle and overcome disagreements. It doesn’t prioritize one idea over another and tends not to leave anyone to feel their contributions aren’t appreciated. It’s not something you’ll find is practical in all circumstances. But showing you favor this approach as a leader can influence the group’s behavior and considerations to all such challenges ahead.

However, compromise isn’t something your team members are always likely to favor. People have egos and want to feel valued. As such. It’s important to provide your perspectives on why you consider compromise to be important and how it helps the team reach mutually beneficial outcomes. You should also provide training on how staff can assess the circumstances and the challenges. This helps them to establish what aspects of compromise are acceptable and conducive to progress.

Recognizing Boundaries

When left unchecked, conflict can quickly evolve into cycles of toxicity. Team members may get more frustrated as time goes on, potentially pushing one another’s buttons and undermining contributions. One approach to conflict resolution is to keep mindful of the various boundaries staff members harbor and ensure that activities and the behavior of colleagues don’t cross them. This can serve to relieve tension within the group and keep projects productive.

In some ways, this awareness of boundaries is indicative of the avoiding style of conflict management. But it has much further reaching benefits. Most industries are vulnerable to staffing issues like high turnover, talent shortages, and workplace inflexibility. A key part of mitigating such issues is creating an environment in which staff feels happy, safe, and respected in their contributions. Boundary maintenance to halt and resolve conflict is an effective element of this.

This approach also helps to influence team behavior on a wider scale. Encourage them to be open about where their boundaries are so everyone can recognize and respect them. Make discussing these a part of team-building exercises at the beginning of any project. You may find this presents a point of vulnerability for some. But embracing it as part of your business culture can also build trust. This gives your staff more empathetic tools to drive collaborations and handle conflict in the future.

Conclusion

While conflict may be inevitable, a negative impact on your team productivity and cohesion isn’t. Your approach to handling tension and discord can set the tone for successfully overcoming difficulties. But it can also influence the way your team functions in future projects and during their day-to-day interactions with one another. Appreciation of diverse perspectives can elicit an understanding of more appropriate and innovative ideas. A culture of compromise helps teams recognize how to move forward for mutual benefit. An awareness of boundaries is key to mitigating disruption to progress. It’s not an easy issue to handle, but your commitment to resolving conflict is another demonstration of your efficacy as a leader.

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Author Bio:
Adrian Johansen is a writer and consultant in the Pacific Northwest. She loves sharing knowledge with others and learning along the way! You can find more of her writing at Medium

People-first Leadership: Why It’s Important and How to Achieve It

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Image Source: Unsplash

John F. Kennedy said, “leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” 

The President had a good point and a strong understanding of what it means to be a successful leader. As the most powerful man in the country at one point, Kennedy recognized that the people around him made a difference. That’s the entire point of a democratic society over a regime or dictatorship. Great leaders put people first.

That kind of leadership is especially important in the workplace. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen that way, which can lead to unhappy employees and unsuccessful businesses.

According to a Harvard Business Review survey, 58% of people trust strangers more than their own bosses.

If you’re an employer or in a management position, what can you do to change that statistic? Start by putting people first. 

Why People-First Leadership is Necessary

You haven’t been in a leadership role your entire life. You had to start somewhere. Think back on those days, and the kind of employers you worked under. Chances are, you would consider some better leaders than others. Now, consider why.

Successful leaders typically have certain skills and characteristics that truly make them great, including:

  • A positive approach to their business
  • Introspection
  • A love for what they do
  • Strong motivation
  • A willingness to “do the hard stuff”

Great leaders are also often great listeners, recognizing that there is always room to grow and learn. 

There is power in putting people first. It improves collaboration efforts, can introduce fresh ideas and perspectives, encourages diversity and inclusivity, and creates a more positive workplace environment.

When your employees feel valued and appreciated, they’re more likely to remain loyal to your company. They’re also more likely to stay motivated and productive, knowing they’re than just another cog in a machine.

By being a people-first leader, you’ll develop a stronger team that is more willing to work together rather than compete with each other. When obstacles arise, they’ll be better equipped to handle them. That includes everything from a lack of clarity (even halfway through the project) to internal conflicts. When your group is strong enough to push through those obstacles thanks to your leadership, everyone benefits – including your business.

How to Put People First

So, how can you make the right choices in putting people first? What can you do to be a learning leader that listens? It’s easier than you might think.

First, understand what it truly means to be a leader. It’s not a dictatorship, but a position designed to keep everyone working toward the same goal. Think about the kind of leader you want to be and the things you want to accomplish. Then, you can start to focus on:

  • Knowing your people and what they truly want
  • Focusing on employee experience
  • Recognizing human factors (people aren’t numbers)
  • Remembering your purpose

When you put your focus on these things, you’ll establish a culture where everyone is on the same page. Encourage collaboration. Set SMART goals, and communicate with each member of your team regularly. By checking in and keeping your messaging consistent, you’ll make your employees more comfortable and provide more assurance that you trust in the work they’re doing. 

Lead by Listening

President Kennedy couldn’t have been more correct in his words about learning and leadership.  But, growing as a leader doesn’t just mean obtaining more knowledge. In the workplace, it can mean learning and listening with the heart.

One of the best ways to be a people-first leader is simply to let your employees know you hear them. Their ideas are valued. They are an important part of the company, and you want them there. That doesn’t mean whatever they say goes in one ear and out the other. It means giving them opportunities to share their opinions, perspectives, and even feedback. 

A great way to encourage that kind of open communication in the workplace is through retrospective meetings. These are meetings that typically occur after a big project. They give the people involved a chance to review the success of the project while working on any issues that may have come up. 

Because each employee has a different role, listening to those suggestions and areas for improvement can offer insight into things you may have never thought about on your own. It’s when every employee recognizes that they have an important role to play that they are more willing to speak their mind and offer suggestions.

Those specialized suggestions and ideas for moving forward are necessary for your business to keep growing and improving. 

So, take a look at your leadership style. Are you listening to your employees? Are you putting them first? How would you describe your workplace culture? There’s always room for learning and improvement, and it’s important to know that “with great power comes great responsibility”. But, part of that responsibility is to the people looking up to you to lead them in the right direction. You can do that by understanding more about them, and valuing what they do for you every day.

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Author Bio:
Adrian Johansen is a writer and consultant in the Pacific Northwest. She loves sharing knowledge with others and learning along the way! You can find more of her writing at Medium

Executive Burnout and How to Combat It

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I work with executives who are on the brink of burnout, some who have burned out as well as those who have not. The imperative to understand that we MUST address the burnout rate and fix it is of critical importance, as is finding new ways of thinking that help us deal with the ever-constant world of change, challenges, competition, and priorities. Burying our heads in the sand will not help. I help clients develop a new perspective and a new kind of focus that creates less stress and better results. perspective and develop a new kind of focus and collaboration that lessens the reality of burnout or other stress-related problems. If you are interested in winning the race against stress, please reach out. irene@justcoachit.com Delighted to host this guest post by Adrian Johanssen

Burnout has become common amongst executives in all industries. One recent study found around 60% of business leaders have reported experiences associated with it at the end of each day. Is it any wonder so many leaders are living with symptoms of this condition? Executive roles are frequently high-stress and require professionals to shoulder responsibility for the company’s successes and failures. This can also be exacerbated by the lifestyles of high achievers.

However, it’s vital to recognize burnout isn’t an inevitability. Indeed, it is vital for your continued physical, mental, and emotional well-being to mitigate the potential for it to arise. It’s not always easy to combat burnout, but it’s in everyone’s best interest that you do so.

We’re going to take a closer look at executive burnout and some of the steps you can take to avoid it.

Understand the Symptoms

Part of the problem is it can be easy to overlook the early warning signs. Indeed, some of the symptoms may have become so much a part of the background of your working life that you don’t consider them problematic at first. There is also a toxic corporate culture of equating exhaustion as an indicator of commitment and hard work. When people look at burnout as a c-suite feature rather than a glitch, it’s difficult to fight it. To combat burnout effectively, you need to be able to recognize it.

Start with the basics. Learn what the common symptoms of burnout look like and how they are part of the executive lifestyle. These are likely to include exhaustion, a higher degree of cynicism than usual, and perhaps a dip in your efficiency. Burnout may also include aspects of other conditions like depression and anxiety. Alongside these elements, also review how your behavior may suggest burnout. This can be difficult to be objective about, so it’s worth gaining input from your friends, family, and peers. Listen to them, they have useful insights.

This leads us to another key aspect of being able to recognize burnout — you need to start talking about it. Be open with your colleagues and other leaders in the industry about the elements you may experience and encourage them to share their own. Firstly, this highlights the various symptoms others may not be aware of. It’s also an invitation to note symptoms of burnout in each other and work to mitigate them. Perhaps most importantly, it creates an honest and stigma-free dialogue in the C-suite that makes it easier for everyone to be happier and more successful

Set Boundaries

A tendency to push yourself too far is likely to be among the primary causes of executive burnout. This can be rooted in various areas. You may have a certain amount of external pressure to perform. Your personal expectations may also be higher than are healthy. The combination of influencers can see you crossing the borderline of healthy commitment and hurtling into burnout. To combat this, you need to set boundaries. 

Be clear about these in your mind first. It’s difficult to maintain boundaries if you don’t have clarity on what they are. A good place to start is reviewing the contributors to burnout. If your tendency to work long hours is problematic, set hard rules for when you finish all work. Be clear on when you will accept and reply to non-emergency business emails. This includes clearly defining what qualifies as an emergency. 

Setting boundaries is the easy part. It’s communicating them and maintaining them that is challenging. Discuss your boundaries with all relevant parties. This is likely to include colleagues and potentially supply partners. Explain why you’re setting these boundaries and how you intend to keep to them. This can prevent others from pushing you to overstep those boundaries and sets an expectation for you to start saying no. This can take some practice, but it’s a step toward a happier and more productive life.

Shift Your Perspective

Executive burnout doesn’t just come from pushing yourself physically too hard, too often. You can find symptoms arising as a result of your psychological or emotional approach to your position. While it’s not as simple as applying the mythical panacea of positive thinking, mindset can be a component of addressing burnout. As such, it’s worth considering how achieving different perspectives can help.

Think about what might contribute to or drive your tendency to feel run down. One of the common roots of this is the feeling of being stuck in a career rut. You might even have imposter syndrome in which you don’t feel you have the skills to innovate effectively. As such, taking time to learn some new skills can be a good way to address this. Many mid-career professionals have taken to following an executive master of business administration (EMBA) program. This type, of course, allows you to leverage your leadership experience while developing fresh abilities. Importantly, you’ll have opportunities to network with tutors and peers in a way that can unlock new opportunities and help you to think differently about your career.      

This type of mindset adjustment doesn’t just come from learning, though. To some extent, it’s about finding ways to be newly inspired in your role. Feeling like you’re just going through the motions each day is likely to exacerbate the other symptoms of burnout. Consider what you found interesting about your executive position. Assess what elements excited you in the beginning and why they may not be present now. It may be the case you need to look for new people and experiences to surround yourself with so you can reignite the spark.

Conclusion

Burnout is a reality for a growing number of executives. This affects your mental and physical health and could derail your career. Consider your relationship with the symptoms of burnout so you can better recognize and address them. Set and maintain strict boundaries to avoid negative behavior patterns. You may also find looking at your career from a new perspective can inspire positive change. There are no easy steps to combat burnout, but it is in the interest of your success and wellbeing that you commit to overcoming it. 

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Author Bio:
Adrian Johansen is a writer and consultant in the Pacific Northwest. She loves sharing knowledge with others and learning along the way! You can find more of her writing at Medium

P.S. If you are interested in learning more about our stress-busting service and programs, do not hesitate to reach out to book a complimentary meeting. irene@justcoachit.com

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5 Virtual Team-Building Tactics for Your Business

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Team building activities can be tough when everything is conducted virtually. Being able to be in the same room with someone can help you learn a lot about them and get to know them. However, it has been tough recently due to everything being conducted online. If you are trying to bond with your team online, then here are some activities you can do to build your team.

1. Online Trivia

Online trivia is a great way to get to know your teammates better, and it allows you to spend some quality time with them. Typically, you could go to a bar/restaurant and have a trivia night with your team. However, the pandemic has made that hard to do now. This is an alternative that you can do online to get to know your teammates better.

You may find out that one of your teammates has a lot of knowledge about a topic that you love, which can give you two something to talk about in the future. Also, you may be able to ask that person to teach you about that subject, which can lead to a stronger bond within your team.

2. Pub Crawl

A virtual pub crawl could be something fun to do with your team. A traditional pub crawl is where you and a bunch of people go to a bunch of different bars and have a drink. However, the pandemic has made it hard to do that. When doing a virtual pub crawl you can look at different websites and have a drink while talking about a bunch of cool stuff.

Of course, you need to make sure this is ok with your team and that everyone is legally allowed to drink. You may find that someone really loves a particular drink, and your teammates might open your eyes to a drink that you have never tried before.

3. Team Gaming

Gaming is something that has been done online for years prior to the pandemic. Gaming can be a great way for people to bond and learn more about each other. You may find that your teammates are good at a particular game, or that they know a lot about a specific game.

Gaming will give you time to talk with your teammates and have casual conversations. Gaming can go for hours, which can allow you and your teammates to talk about a handful of topics.

4. Escape Room

An escape room is like the idea of gaming with your teammates. Normally, an escape room is where you and a group of people are trapped in a room, and you must use clues around the room to get out of it. This can be done virtually. While you may not get the rush of being stuck in a room, it can still be fun to do with your teammates.

This will also give you an opportunity to problem solve alongside your teammates, which can be vital to a team’s success. Communication is important for a team to succeed. This can also show you who on your team may be good at puzzles, math, or any of the other things that are involved with the given escape room.

5. Two Truths and A Lie

If you have run out of other virtual team-building tactics, then you can always resort to two truths and a lie. You can set up a specific meeting for this to help your team get to know one another, or you can build it into the end of your meetings casually.

Two truths and a lie will help you learn cool facts about your teammates that you would not have already known. You play the game by sharing two truths about yourself with your teammates, and you also share a lie about yourself with them. Then, it is their job to figure out which one of the statements you made is a lie.

Conclusion

You may not have to do all of these things to build your team, but all of these can be fun to do with your team. If there is one activity that your team loves, then you should continue to do that. Also, there are other activities out there to do, so you should look for an activity that best fits everyone on your team.

Stephanie Caroline Snyder graduated from The University of Florida in 2018; she majored in Communications with a minor in mass media. Currently, she is an Author and a Freelance Internet Writer, and a Blogger.

5 Ways to Reinforce Your Company Purpose During Times of Change

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By NakoPhotography on Shutterstock

Change is inevitable. Regardless of your market, the service you provide, or the product you sell, it is impossible to bypass the agents of change. Sometimes changes come from within your organization, but often they are driven by macroeconomic, extraneous factors that you can’t control—like the global shift to remote work and other responses to the pandemic.

During these rapid changes, it can be easy to let company culture, your ties to the community, and other initiatives that identify you as a company slip. However, your company can rise to these changes and others without losing sight of the bigger picture by reinforcing your purpose.

The World of Work Is Changing

In a survey of U.S. remote workers in November-December 2020, 83% of responding employers said the shift to remote work had been successful for their company—up from 73% in a similar survey conducted just months earlier in June 2020. However, only 71% of employees surveyed agreed.

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The same survey found that 87% of employees believe the office is crucial for collaborating with team members and building relationships. The opinion was sharply divided when it came to work-life balance: 55% of the surveyed employees said that they would prefer to be remote at least three days a week once the effects of the pandemic recede.

Attitudes toward remote work are changing, but not everyone is on the same page. It’s important to reinforce your company’s purpose when planning your next steps. This will help you respond to their needs and successfully navigate these seismic shifts in the world of work.

Let’s take a look at five ways you can reinforce your company’s purpose during times of change.

  1. Create a Workplace That’s Conducive to Mental Health

The pandemic has taken a toll on everyone. For many, this includes a severe negative impact on their mental health. Stress caused by the looming threat of illness, quarantine, hospitalization, and even death—plus the disruption of almost every area of daily life—isn’t good for anyone. Dread of stigma, social exclusion, financial loss, and job insecurity has multiplied the effects of this unpredictable time.

To combat these issues and reinforce your company’s purpose, create a workplace that respects the importance of your employees’ mental health. And the most effective way to create such a workplace is to make sure your employees know they are valued and that their achievements mean something.

Supporting your employees is likely a significant part of your company’s purpose, and this pandemic is the time to double down on those efforts, not scale back.

Management and high-level executives should encourage a culture of appreciation. Create a structure where acknowledging employees’ work, successes, and contributions to the team is the norm rather than the exception.

Rewards don’t always have to be tangible. Simply showing gratitude for their work can contribute to a positive workplace environment. Praise their sales skills or congratulate them for completing an important project. Make this gratitude public, and you can do this by announcing the employee’s success in front of their peers on a conference call or in-person meeting, or by recognizing them in the company newsletter.

Invest in training that focuses on reclaiming employee well-being at all levels—physical, social, emotional, and financial. It is vital to prevent and eliminate racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and other behaviors that can contribute to a toxic work environment.

For example, online sexual harassment training can set ground rules and help employees identify problem behavior. An anonymous whistleblowing system gives your employees a secure channel to report toxic or unethical behavior without fear of humiliation or reprisal. This allows you to address issues before they become costly and potentially dangerous problems.

It is also important for your company to adequately invest in mental health initiatives and provide ergonomic devices to increase comfort and prevent repetitive strain injuries.

  1. Establish Close Community Ties

Your company’s place in the greater community is as integral to your company’s purpose as your company’s objectives are. However, during the pandemic, numerous companies, organizations, and brands reduced their contributions to the community, owing to budget cutbacks.

While these cutbacks might give your company some relief in its short-term financial condition, they have a negative impact in the longer run. Such impacts could manifest in reduced loyalty for your brand and adverse shifts in the purchase behavior of the community.

Reinforcing your company’s purpose, therefore, includes rethinking and reaffirming your community grant and donation policies. Take a fresh look at the community initiatives around you and evaluate ways your company can contribute to them. Being compassionate, consumer-friendly, and a champion of sustainability strengthens loyalty to your brand.

Also, while you should support causes you truly believe in, also look at the long-term marketing impact of the initiatives you choose to support.

  1. Re-examine Your Values and Your ‘Ideal’ Workplace

The importance of taking care of your employees and your community is paramount. But the sustainability of your initiatives on these fronts depends on how you are structured from within.

Revisit the core values of your company and the notions that drive your workplace to see if there is any gap to be filled when situations are changing fast around you. Remember that the values and ideals that drive management are often not aligned with those of the employees. Management often looks to:

  • Increase employee productivity.
  • Provide the scope and place for meeting clients.
  • Enable employees to collaborate effectively.
  • Build company culture.

On the other hand, employees often look for:

  • Effective collaboration.
  • The ability to meet clients and colleagues effectively.
  • Secure access to equipment and documents.
  • Fruitful training to develop their skills and advance their careers.

It’s important to meet these expectations for employees, not only for their sake but also for the sake of the company. Unhappy employees cost U.S. businesses up to $550 billion every year, so supporting your employees’ needs can’t be an afterthought.

Therefore, management must spell out their purpose clearly, address employee wants as completely as possible, and stay prepared for changes, especially in the post-pandemic job market. At the same time, it is also vital to manage the expanding set of choices with tools and training.

  1. Embrace Change

It’s difficult to gauge what the long-term impact will be, but there is no denying that the pandemic has introduced many changes in the workplace structure. Many companies are embracing a hybrid workplace, where teams are either split between remote workers and in-office workers, or employees rotate in and out of offices configured for shared spaces.

While this model offers flexibility to employees, it also makes your organization’s work difficult. It can be complicated to organize a workweek and enforce a paradigm shift in the way your organization interacts with its employees. It can change a company’s work culture and its approach to employee engagement.

Rather than resisting change, it is vital to stay open and embrace the changes. Where there is a gap between how employers and employees look at remote work, rather than ignoring the differences it is important to understand why they may exist and address them directly.

Issues including childcare, training, mental health support, mobile applications and data, and the provision of home office equipment should all be assessed based on the specific needs of your organization.

With digital transformation being a critical operational function for any organization, it is imperative that there is a process in place to help ensure a project is successful and mitigate any unforeseen eventualities. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, some digital transformation capabilities were fast-tracked. Such as: shifting to remote working, increased e-Commerce, and digitalization of core supply chain management. 

This digital transformation infographic was created by WilsonHCG, the global recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) specialists, offering enterprise solutions, talent acquisition consulting, executive search, and contingent solutions.

  1. Promote Equitability

Regardless of your industry, it is crucial to ensure that each workplace segment gets equal benefits from the company’s realigned strategies. A workforce can be segmented across gender, race, ethnicity, identity, and salary level. Companies should evaluate the cost of initiatives to promote well-being for each of these segments and their impact on the company and bring these cost-impact dynamics to their optimum. Only then can you be sure that your efforts to reinforce your purpose have spread equitably.

Guest Author: Lindsey Wilcox is a digital marketing specialist for Clear Law, with several years of experience in business marketing, writing, and content creation.

Mental and Physical Wellbeing for Our Leaders

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Image Source: Unsplash

As a leader, you carry a world on your shoulders. Whether you’re managing a large company, a small team, or a community organization, your role comes with immense pressure to excel — mentally and physically. But you’re human, which means you can’t always operate at your peak. You need time to breathe, recharge, and take care of your well-being.

In this article, we’ll explain the importance of caring for your mental and physical health, then dive into four ways you can improve your health.

Why Do I Need to be Mentally and Physically Fit?

When you’re aware of your own mental and physical health struggles, you can actually become a better leader. You’ll be able to bring your best where your skills are most needed. Instead of exhausting yourself mentally and physically by going all-in throughout your workday, you’ll be able to create a balance that works for you.

Plus, you can bring more empathy to the workplace. With a more realistic understanding of your team members’ needs, you can help them thrive in the workplace, too. Your openness about your struggles can also encourage your followers to communicate their own needs and better integrate into your team culture.

Let’s dive into how you can unlock these benefits.

Improve Your Daily Habits

Reflecting on your daily habits is a great way to start identifying what’s taking a toll on your mental and physical health. To do so, first consider how you’re spending your time in your leadership role. For example, think about the number of breaks you take and how much time you’re spending on your own tasks versus helping others. Also consider what you’re feeling throughout your day, whether it’s mental stress, back pain, or something else.

When you understand what’s deteriorating your mental and physical health, you can start implementing better habits to counter your stressors. If you’re struggling mentally, you may need to take short, frequent breaks to recharge. You can also hold office hours for team members instead of offering endless support and energy.

Feeling physically tired or struggling with common injuries like neck pain, back pain, or migraines? You can prioritize your physical health by:

  • Investing in a standing desk or ergonomic chair
  • Taking walks and avoiding digital screens during your breaks
  • Consuming healthy snacks and water instead of eating junk food, coffee, and alcohol

Small changes in your habits can lead to major improvements in your mental and physical health.

Work With an Executive Coach

We’re not always honest with ourselves. And even when we believe we’re telling ourselves the truth, our reflections may still include overly hopeful excuses or negative self-talk. Working with an executive coach can give you a third-party perspective on your situation and what you need to do to achieve your goals.

For example, if you’re struggling with brain fog, your coach can work with you to identify if you’re missing a good night’s sleep or if you need to increase your aerobic activities.

Your executive coach can also keep you accountable. Even if you correctly identify what you’re struggling with, it can be hard to change your lifestyle for your health. A hired coach will not only routinely check in on you and motivate you, but they’ll also track your progress toward your goals.

Seek Professional Health Services

While your daily habits are the primary factors for determining your mental and physical health, it’s crucial not to fully rely on a DIY approach — especially if your struggles are still getting the best of you. Health issues can stem from invisible causes and conditions that only professionals can treat.

When practicing time management, prioritize your health appointments, whether you’re getting preventative check-ups or ongoing treatment like chiropractic adjustments. Be willing to say no to your team’s requests when it will prevent you from getting the help you need. And don’t be afraid to take time off when your mental or physical health demands it.

If you don’t want to take time off from your leadership role, the good news is that many health appointments no longer require travel. Telehealth allows you to access virtual appointments, prescriptions, and much more from the comfort of your home, car, or private office. Whether you’re seeking cognitive behavioral therapy, vision care, or other health services, telemedicine may be able to help you reduce wasted time.

Manage Your Health Wisely

A leader’s physical and mental health is directly tied to their team’s well-being. When you take care of yourself, you can give your team the support and attention they need. Plus, you may improve your performance by removing health stressors from your life.

You’ll also be leading by example. When you prioritize your well-being, team members will feel more comfortable expressing their own needs and taking care of themselves, too. As a result, your whole team may be happier, healthier, and more productive.

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Author Bio:
Adrian Johansen is a writer and consultant in the Pacific Northwest. She loves sharing knowledge with others and learning along the way! You can find more of her writing at Medium

Leadership Skills Every CTO Needs to Have

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Image Source: Pexels

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has reshaped technology leadership, particularly when it comes to the chief technology officer (CTO) role. Today, CTOs are expected to drive businesses’ tech strategies and R&D and understand cybersecurity, coding, and other topics relating to the digital world. 

In addition, companies increasingly want agile and kinetic technology leaders, according to a recent Deloitte survey. And, CTOs who possess the skills necessary to quickly adapt to tech challenges and foster digital transformation are well-equipped to succeed.

Now, let’s look at four essential skills you need to have as a CTO in today’s always-on, hyper-connected global marketplace.

1. Communication

Corporate recruiters often cite communication and interpersonal skills as the top talents employers seek in job candidates, regardless of role. This is because a strong communicator can consistently disseminate the right information to the right audience at the right time. The result: this individual can help their employer avoid missed communications that otherwise lead to costly, time-intensive mistakes.

For CTOs who want to improve their communication skills, it helps to leverage all of the tools at their disposal. For instance, you can learn the ins and outs of Slack, Yammer, and other collaboration platforms so you can keep the lines of communication open with your teams. You can also leverage Bitrix24, Wrike, or other task and project management platforms to ensure miscommunications do not prevent work from getting done on time and on budget.

Don’t forget to host regular webinars, group brainstorming sessions, and 1-on-1 meetings across your teams, too. Because the more you communicate with your team, the less likely miscommunications crop up to hamper your business’ productivity and efficiency.

2. Listening

Along with communication skills, effective listening can make a world of difference for CTOs. This form of listening goes beyond hearing; it involves listening to what others have to say with your ears, eyes, and the rest of your body.

As an effective listener, you can look beyond the words coming out of a person’s mouth and consider them in relation to their body language and tone. This allows you to listen to what a person is saying and understand the meaning behind it. Then, you can respond appropriately.

To become an effective listener, keep an open mind any time you enter a conversation. It helps to give anyone you’re speaking with sufficient time to speak and avoid interrupting him or her. You should maintain eye contact throughout the conversation and use nods, hand gestures, and other non-verbal cues to show the other person you’re interested in what he or she has to say. 

3. Time Management

How you manage your time can have far-flung effects on your success as a CTO. If you let deadlines loom until the last possible moment or constantly fall behind on work tasks, you and your team may suffer the consequences. In the worst-case scenarios, poor time management can lead to brand reputation damage, revenue losses, and other long-lasting business problems.

Planning offers a great starting point for CTOs who want to manage their time as best as they can. You can use time management apps like RescueTime or Focus Keeper or a planner to map out your daily, weekly, and monthly schedules. Moreover, you can use the “Eat the Frog” technique to identify the most important task in a given day and devote your full attention to completing it.

Tech problems like excessive downtime and high energy costs can also put big dents in your schedule. Monitor the technology used across your business; if you find some tech problems continue to crop up, it could be time to make some upgrades.

Automation can be beneficial relative to time management as well. You can automate appointment scheduling, reporting, and other tasks, so you can focus exclusively on high-value activities.

4. Customer Service

The customer experience (CX) plays a key part in consumers’ buying decisions. Research shows 74% of consumers are at least “somewhat likely” to make purchases from a business based solely on the experience. Meanwhile, a successful CTO keeps customer service top of mind, understands a company’s target markets, and crafts IT initiatives to support positive customer experiences.

To build exceptional customer service skills, a CTO must first define exceptional customer service. To do so, consider the customer’s perspective. You can then determine what people expect from you and your business and hone your customer service skill set accordingly.

Typically, customer-first CTOs are empathetic toward others and are willing to commit the time, energy, and resources necessary to learn from them. They share information in a clear, concise manner and are open to positive and negative feedback. As such, these CTOs know what it takes to engage with others and ensure all parties can work together to achieve the optimal results.

Tips to Enhance Your CTO Skill Set 

Leadership development is paramount, particularly for current or aspiring CTOs. Those who have the right skills can lay the groundwork for a successful career as a CTO. They can also provide outstanding support and help their teams maximize their potential.

It helps to continuously explore ways to bolster your CTO skill set, too. Here are three tips to help you hone your CTO skills now and in the future:

  • Build your presence. Passion, confidence, and enthusiasm can be contagious; display them in your daily work, and your team will likely do the same.  
  • Learn from leadership experts. Read leadership books and blogs to foster a diverse CTO skill set.
  • Stay the course. Remain diligent, and remember, there is always room for improvement as a CTO.

Use the aforementioned tips to develop and improve your CTO skill set. That way, you can put yourself in a terrific position to become a successful CTO.

Ethical leaders can have a positive impact not only on their businesses but also on the wider community. By following the key tenets of a morally solid business — transparency, diversity, and authenticity among them — entrepreneurs can ensure that all stakeholders can connect to the company and its leadership in a way that engenders trust and mutual respect. After all, ethical businesses are what consumers deserve, and business owners can in turn reap the immense potential benefits.

Author Bio:
Adrian Johansen is a writer and consultant in the Pacific Northwest. She loves sharing knowledge with others and learning along the way! You can find more of her writing at Medium


The Secret to Success Mini-Habits by Stephen Guise

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Habit formation, positive behavior, neuroplasticity, productivity, focus, attitude, results, goals.
Source:  Mini Habits by Stephen Guise | selfgrowth.com

Mini Habits it is a must read book that explains how we can change habits of thinking and doing, how we can basically rewrite our software and reboot better results. Neuroplasticity has been confirmed by science, mini habits allow us to rewrite our brains. Change is not the problem, it is the solution, and we are gifted with brains that can adapt, grow and evolve. Neuroplasticity may be one of our most important gifts, and one that is far too often overlooked.

It is time to make mini habits part of our personal and professional success toolbox. I remain passionate about the topic because enabling faster behavioral change, confidence, communication and collaboration is what my work is all about and it is work that starts with the application of mini habits. Enjoy the summary. Buy the book and if you need help with behavioral change, communication, collaboration and inspiring that important step forward, reach out because I am happy to help!

Source: InspireCastTV

A mini habit is a very small positive behavior that you force yourself to do every day; a mini habit’s “too small to fail” nature makes it a powerful superior habit building strategy. You can achieve great things without the guilt, intimidation, and repeated failure associated with such strategies such as “getting motivated,” resolutions, or even “just doing it.” To make changes last, you need to stop fighting against your brain. Mini habits show you how to do — lasting change isn’t so hard.

  1. Every great accomplishment rests on the foundation of what came before it: one small step that started it all; a mini habit is a much smaller version of a new habit you want to form.

Writing 3,000 words daily becomes writing 50 words daily. Thinking positively all the time becomes thinking two positive thoughts per day. Living an entrepreneurial lifestyle becomes thinking of two ideas per day (among other entrepreneurial things).

Doing a little bit every day has a greater impact than doing a lot on one day. How much greater? Profoundly so, because a little bit, every day is enough to grow into a lifelong foundational habit, and those are a big deal, as you’ll see. Yes, small intentions are better than big intentions. Feeling stuck, trying to change, and failing are all the results of working against your brain; the results of not taking small positive and important steps that work.

  • When you repeat a behavior over time you retrain your brain.

Repetition is the language of the (subconscious) brain. The goal of creating habits is to change your brain with repetition. But the brain will resist change unless it is rewarded it handsomely. The two keys to change are repetition and reward.

Your subconscious brain loves efficiency; this is why we have habits. When you repeat a behavior over time, your brain learns to automate the process. It’s more energy efficient to automatically do something than to manually weigh your options and decide to act the same way every time.

When you make a decision very quickly, it is probably from habit, even if you think you’re actively deciding. In a way, you made the decision a while ago. Choosing your favorite ice cream flavor is one example.

Your brain, our brains, are idiot savants. We are stimulus response creatures, and the best example is continuing to smoke without considering lung cancer while you smoke or the perks of great abs before you exercise. Worse, this is the strong part of your brain that usually gets its way long term. It recognizes repeat patterns until told otherwise. It’s called the basal ganglia.

There is another section of your brain; however, that is really smart. It’s called the prefrontal cortex, and it’s located behind your forehead. It’s the “manager” that understands long-term benefits and consequences, and thankfully, it has the ability to override the basal ganglia. It handles short-term thinking and decision-making too.

The prefrontal cortex has the ability to override the basal ganglia because it focuses on what could be. It handles short-term thinking and decision-making too. The prefrontal cortex is the conscious part of your brain that tires out easily. Perhaps more accurately, because its functions are so powerful, it’s an energy hog that tires you out. And when you tire out the repetitious part takes over.

The basal ganglia aren’t conscious or aware of higher-level goals that are unique to humans. But it is an efficient pattern-repeater that saves us energy. So, while it may not be “intelligent” like the prefrontal cortex, it is an incredibly important part of the brain. And once we train the basal ganglia to do positive behaviors automatically, we’re really going to love it.

Although the smart prefrontal cortex has less stamina than the thoughtless, repeating basal ganglia do, but it’s actually brilliant when you know how to work it. How do clever weaklings ever overcome their dumb, strong counterparts? It’s not through brute physical force. I’m sure you already know that, perhaps, because you are now recalling the failed attempts of your conscious mind to control your subconscious mind by brute force or willpower. The answer, of course, is to employ smart strategies to overcome the prefrontal cortex’s natural weaknesses.

  • If getting motivated is your strategy, you can’t build habits.

We know that habits require consistent repetition. Don’t get this concept wrong. Motivation is an important feeling with many benefits. But think of it as a bonus, something nice when it appears but it is often unreliable.

Motivation is based on how you feel, and human feelings are fluid and unpredictable. Many things can alter your feelings: an event, blood sugar levels, depression, chemical fluctuations, hormones, health, external stimuli, energy levels, beliefs. In other words, anything can alter your feelings. Motivation is like building a house on liquid.

Why Mini Habits Beat Motivation

There are three reasons why forcing yourself to take action with willpower is far better than trying to get motivated.

  • Mini habits are reliable. Unlike motivation-based techniques, willpower is extremely reliable. If you force yourself to do something small towards your goal no matter what, that’s dependable.
  • Unlike motivation, willpower can be strengthened like a muscle. Leading self-control researcher Professor Roy Baumeister found in 1999 that students who had exercised their willpower to improve their posture for two weeks, “showed a marked improvement on subsequent measures of self-control” compared to those who hadn’t worked on their posture
  • Willpower Strategies (small habits/tasks) Can Be Scheduled. If you rely on motivation, you will have a difficult time sticking to a schedule. When it’s time to write, who knows if you’ll be motivated or not? Setting your intention, making a decision to take one small but powerful step at a certain time in your daily calendar can be life changing.

The Mini Habits strategy is forcing yourself to take 1-4 small strategic actions every day. These actions are too small to fail or skip. Mini habits work because they require very little willpower and help you rewrite ingrained patterns of thought and behavior. Mini habits will also get you started because you have made the commitment to take one small step, whether you feel like doing so or not.

Using Willpower, the Mini Habits Way

There was a study on ego depletion that found some correlation between believing willpower is limited and willpower becoming limited. Those who didn’t believe their willpower had a limit appeared to last longer in ego depletion activities.

Mini habits require very little actual effort. You’re going to be doing one push-up, writing 50 words, reading two pages, or other very easy tasks. The initial effort requires hardly any willpower. Mini habits require very little effort and setting mini goals is the best way to retrain your brain and drop the perceived difficulty of any project.

Once you start and are free to continue, your perceived difficulty will be much lower due to the psychological impact of having already started. Just like in physics, the greatest inertia comes before the start of motion. Once you’re in motion, everything gets easier as a result of momentum (and increased motivation).

Subjective fatigue

This is an interesting one, isn’t it? It doesn’t say fatigue; it says subjective fatigue, implying that we’re not completely objective in our assessment of our own fatigue. It turns out that willpower is a battle of the mind, and according to some of these top willpower drainers, the battle appears to be between the perception of your strength relative to your task.

Nothing can completely take away subjective fatigue, but mini habits mitigate it very well. In relation to your mini goals, you may feel a sense of empowerment and energy.

Mini habits thankfully come with a mini amount of subjective fatigue. Subjective fatigue depends on many factors, and a big one is how you see yourself stacking up against your goal.

Glucose (sugar) is your primary energy source. If you have low glucose in your blood, you’re going to feel very tired. If it’s dangerously low, you can even pass out. Your blood sugar levels are determined by genetics, diet, and lifestyle.

As for mini habits, they are independent of your blood sugar, but they can help to preserve it by being the most efficient way to spend your willpower energy. It is far more mentally energy efficient to break things down into small components that are easily “mentally digested” and less stressful.

  • How can this system improve habit development and personal growth over traditional methods? These are fair questions to ask, so here are the answers.

Mini habits can compete with your existing habits. The brain resists big changes. Have you ever heard of people saying that you just need to get your foot in the door for employment opportunities?

Mini habits are that same concept, but instead of getting into a company, we’re talking about your brain. I think of the prefrontal cortex as having a spending allowance before the automatic part takes over. For every task, the subconscious brain looks at what you’re asking of it and charges your willpower to get into the control room. You’re only allowed to ask for so much manual control per day, but once you’re in, you’re in. Mini habits are low willpower Trojan horses that can leverage their easy access into the brain’s control room into big results.

Small steps & willpower are a winning team.

The perfect team in personal development is small steps and willpower. As long as you have enough willpower for an action, you can take that action. Small steps require little to no willpower. So, it’s like having unlimited willpower. You can get yourself to do just about anything if you guide yourself along in super small steps. Try it.

Other methods will tell you it’s ok to let up too soon.

The common myth is that you can establish a habit in 21 or 30 days. Some books are wholly based around this false concept. The truth is a bit uglier and harder to predict — 18 to 254 days until habit formation, depending on the habit and the person.

Mini habits don’t have a specific end date because we don’t know how long it will take to form the habit. Instead, we’ll look for signs that the behavior is a habit.

Self-efficacy helps us achieve goals and create habits, but Psychologist Albert Bandura clarifies that “Expectations alone will not produce desired performance if the component capabilities are lacking.” Believing in yourself isn’t enough. Lacking the baseline self-efficacy required for success, however, is extremely common in people who suffer from depression, weak willpower, and repeated failures. If you expect to fail, positive results are hard to come by.

Mini Habits are a self-efficacy-generating machine. Your daily successes will train you to have high self-efficacy. How can you not believe in your ability to do one push-up per day? Mini habits double as training for believing in yourself.

Here is a step-by-step application guide to creating your mini habits and plan.

Step 1: Choose your mini habits & habit plan.

Make a quick list of habits that you’d like to have at some point. The important ones will come to mind quickly. This will be your reference list for step one.

Step 2: Use the why drill on each mini habit.

Drill’s drill. That’s what they do. And the author calls the following the “why drill” because the simple question “why?” is the best way to drill down and accomplish anything. Once you’ve listed your habits, identify why you want them.

Honest answers are absolutely necessary for this to work, so dig deep. There will be more than one answer to these questions, so try to pick the most relevant ones.

Step 3: Define your habit cues.

The two common habit cues are time based and activity based. In a time, based cue, you’ll say, “I’m going to exercise MWF at 3 PM.” In an activity-based cue, you’ll say, “I’m going to exercise MWF 30 minutes after I take my last bite at lunch.”

People with 9-5 jobs have very structured schedules, so time-based cues tend to work well for them. Those who have a lot of flexibility in their schedule might benefit more from an activity-based cue that lets them keep a solid, yet flexible schedule. The cue to use will depend on your (desired) lifestyle.

Step 4: Create your reward plan.

What do you think would happen if you tried to make a new habit of sticking your face in the dirt and eating some of it? (Let’s assume that you wanted to build this habit.) You couldn’t do it. The obvious reason is who would want to do that? But the brain’s reason is there’s no reward. It’s more like punishment. Your brain would be very adamant against this. Rewards encourage repeat behavior, and also restore our willpower.

Step 5: Write everything down.

Writing something down instantly elevates it above all of your other thoughts. One study found that all thoughts (positive or negative) held greater prominence in the mind when written down on paper. The same impact has not been found for typing. You’ve got to handwrite it to amplify it.

Here are some strategies for tracking your progress. In whatever strategy you choose, the author recommends that you check off your success before you go to sleep. If you check off your task early in the day, the sense of completion might make you feel less motivated to do “bonus reps.” Also, it’s a good habit to check it off before bed so that you don’t forget.

Step 6: Think small

Why are we making these habits so small when we could aim higher? And what if you stop at your small goal? Is it still useful? Yes, and it has to do with willpower.

The advantage of willpower is that it can be strengthened. Very disciplined people are those who have strengthened their willpower. But that’s only to get them started. The extremely fit people you see in the gym don’t have to force themselves to exercise anymore. They don’t actually need willpower anymore because exercise has become their brain’s first preference.

When you develop a habit, you’ll say, “Brain, we need to exercise,” and your brain will reply, “I was already on my way to the treadmill. Try to keep up.”

We want to do three things on the road to habit formation:

  • Strengthen our willpower.
  • Make progress in the present moment.
  • Not exhaust our willpower

Step 7: Meet your schedule & drop high expectations.

Expectations are a tricky thing in life. It’s helpful to have generally high expectations for yourself because it increases your ceiling. In other words, if you don’t believe you can be in good shape, you never will be (as shown in the self-efficacy study). It’s not that belief increases your ability to do things — it increases your willingness to try. If you never try to get in good shape, it’s not going to happen!

Step 8: Watch for signs of habit but be careful not to jump the gun.

This step is another reminder of patience. The Mini Habits strategy works, but if you drop a behavior before it’s truly habit and go on to add your next set of habits, then you’re going to risk dropping everything like an unskilled juggler.

Signs that it’s a habit:

  • No resistance: it feels easier to do the behavior than not to do it.
  • Identity: you now identify with the behavior and would feel completely confident, saying, “I read books” or “I’m a writer.”
  • Mindless action: you’ll engage in the behavior without making an executive decision.
  • You don’t worry about it: starting out, you might worry about missing a day or quitting early, but when behavior is a habit, you know that you’ll be doing it unless there’s an emergency.
  • Normalization: habits are non-emotional. You’re not going to be excited that “you’re really doing it!” once it is a habit. When a behavior makes the transition to normalcy, it’s a habit.

If you are struggling to make progress with your mini habits, it’s probably because you’re breaking one of the rules.

  • Never, ever cheat

There are a few ways to cheat the Mini Habits system. The first, most common way to cheat is to give yourself a mini habit such as one push-up per day, but secretly require that you do more than the single push-up. The reason why you need to be really, really careful not to do this is because every extra ounce of requirement you put on yourself is going to require more willpower to meet.

And while you can likely handle that extra willpower load, you may be pursuing multiple habits at once, and we want to guarantee success, not toe the line of success and failure. You are always allowed to do extra, so let the extra reps come from you, not your requirement. If you want to do more in any session but feel resistance, set additional small requirements after your Mini Habit.

  • Be happy with all progress.

Being happy with small progress is different from having low standards. There’s a quote by Bruce Lee that sums it up: “Be happy, but never satisfied.” Bruce Lee did more with his limited lifetime of 32 years than two typical people do with 80 years each, so listen to him.

Mini habits are a pretty simple brain trick at the core, but also a life philosophy that values starting, letting action precede motivation, and believing that small steps can accumulate into giant leaps forward.

When you complete a mini habit, celebrate all progress.

  • Reward yourself often, especially after a mini habit.

What if rewards themselves were rewarding? That is, what if there was a benefit to receiving a reward other than the reward itself? We typically think of rewards as things we get for doing something good, but rewards can give back too. When you complete a Mini Habit and reward yourself — whether it’s with food, a fun night out, or a monologue in the mirror about how amazing you are — your reward is going to pay you back by encouraging you to perform your mini habit again. When you complete a mini habit and reward yourself it will encourage you to perform your mini habit again.

  • Stay level-headed.

A calm mindset is the best mindset for building habits because it’s steady and predictable. You may get excited as you make progress, but don’t let that excitement become your basis for taking action. This shift to a reliance on motivation/emotions is what foils many personal development plans!

  • If you feel strong resistance, back off & go smaller.

Willpower is limited, and if you’re pushing beyond your means now, it means you’re going to crash and burn later. When you feel resistance to any task, make it smaller. Problem solved.

  • Never think a step is too small.

If you think a step is too small, you’re approaching this from the wrong angle. Every big project is made of small steps, just like every organism is made from microscopic cells. Taking small steps keeps you in control over your brain. Small steps are sometimes the only way to move forward if you are having a lapse in willpower.

If you’re sitting down, and you want to exercise but you really don’t feel like it, there’s intense resistance. What do you do? In this scenario, you don’t want to wrestle your brain if you can coax it into doing things your way. Suggest progressively smaller and smaller tasks until the resistance you feel is minimal.

Conclusion

Mini Habits is more than just a system to teach you how to develop healthy new habits, it is a way for you to rewrite patterns of thinking and doing that no longer work for you. Use these techniques for any situation in which you want to take action. The better you get at mini habits, the more success you’ll have!

Remember, change is not the problem it is the answer and it is an answer that empowers the cognitive and emotional dexterity we need to create, communicate, collaborate in building a better tomorrow. Helping clients make that powerful shift forward is what my work is all about. I welcome your comments and thank you for your support.

Nudge Strategies for Leadership Development

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Companies spend nearly $3.4 billion every year for turning their managers into leaders – and yet research studies have shown that 50% to 60% of managers fail to execute the strategies that they were hired to implement even after 18 months of taking up the job. And it is not because they lack the required knowledge or experience; it is simply because they need to develop leadership skills. And this may compel you to think that if training couldn’t do the trick, then what will?

The answer is just a gentle nudge that guides them in the right direction without imposing any restrictions!

It is the gap between the ‘knowing ‘and the ‘doing’ that changes nothing even with all the trainings on leadership strategies, communication skills, and management fundamentals. This gap is created by flawed reward systems, short-term goals, or priorities that are constantly competing for the manager’s attention.

Fortunately, companies can nudge their managers to perform better by leveraging behavioural insights. Nudge strategies capitalize on encouragement and enablement instead of direct instructions and strict enforcements.

Here are some examples to help you better understand how nudge techniques use behavioural science to boost managerial performance:

Direct InstructionsNudge
Instructing a child to clean the roomPlaying a game that includes room-tidying
Signs that tell people not to litter with fine warningsPlacing more dustbins where they are easily visible and accessible
Budgeting for grocery shoppingUsing a basket instead of a trolley

Nudging techniques take into account people’s knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Based on the understanding of these factors, choices are designed for people so they can make the right decisions without being forced or directly instructed.

Creating Leadership Strategies Using Nudge Techniques

You can start with a written plan that covers the following questions:

  • What is your goal?
  • What is your nudge campaign targeting to improve or enhance? Is it employee engagement? Is it productivity? Or is it leadership skills?
  • Who is your target audience? Managers? Or Employees?
  • How frequently do you plan on nudging people? Every day? Once a week? Or once a month?
  • How are you scheduling your nudge messages? Based on specific events? Or a certain time of the day?
  • How are you going to send out your nudge messages? Via automated emails? Signs? Or during meetings?
  • Are you involving any others teams or departments? Do you need the help of your IT team? Should the messages be reviewed by top management before they can be circulated?
  • What plan do you have to measure the effectiveness of your nudge tactics? Anonymous surveys? Data analysis? Performance reports?

The Transition from Training to Reinforcement

The increased demands of work often make even the most highly motivated and efficient managers fall back on their old techniques and become task-focused. But, if your leadership strategies are based on behavioural science, they will work to ensure that managers remain mindful of their communication style, give feedback, recognize employees and take informed decisions even when they are under pressure and stress.

A nudge program can prove to be your turbocharger for increased productivity and efficiency. Companies that want to unlock their employees’ true potential can team up with a reputed HR consultancy to roll out their nudge campaigns. An HR advisory will design and execute proven leadership strategies that help your managers and employees to adapt and thrive in a dynamic business landscape.

Author Bio:

Liliana Chitnis is a former HR professional who now works as a content marketing executive at NamanHR, an organization that offers end-to-end HR solutions to help companies build a strong human capital base. She strongly believes in the power of consistent training in the workplace. Liliana writes about various topics related to human resources and shares trends, techniques, and tips with her readers. She loves to read and practice yoga regularly, and occasionally binge on Netflix.

How Employee Retention Can Help You Win the War for Talent

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Employees are the core part of every team, and they are essential to survive in such a competitive market. Thus as an employer, you should have a quality team to stay with you to progress more. Your employee retention strategy should be robust, which leads to employee satisfaction. An open mind and prioritizing your employees is crucial for the success of any business. 

Employee engagement is an emotional commitment the employee builds with the organization. When employees feel involved, they care about the company and put in their best work to achieve the company’s goals. Their primary objective is to bestow to the company’s success. Besides employee engagement, this generation of employees also expects organizations and future employers to provide them with the ability to work remotely. Organisations need to be ready to integrate technologically connected employees and virtual workers and be prepared that their future dream-talents will be positioned outside city or country boundaries. Developing a distinct employer brand and fostering a strong culture to attract talent and retain them is critical. This may not be easy but is manageable with the right approach. 

Wondering how to win the employee retention conflict? How to keep from losing your employees in a competitive job market? To keep your employees retained and satisfied, consider trying these employee retention strategies:

1. Communicate job duties and expectations: When employees feel that they don’t grasp the essence of their job duties, company policies, and the performance metrics by which employers will evaluate them, it can prove tremendously frustrating and damage morale to the point that employees may be tempted to look for employment elsewhere. It is best to share important information with your employees regarding pay-raise schemes, duties as per job description, and relevant policies. 

2.   Put culture first: Workplace culture impacts retention. A recent study revealed that 72% of workers cited corporate culture as a factor influencing their decision to work at a given company. Another survey observed that at least one-third of job seekers would pass up the perfect job if the corporate culture were a bad fit. Starting a meeting with a prospective with a question about company culture, hiring policies, or employee retention reflects its importance. A few of the significant employee satisfaction drivers are high-quality senior leadership, a clear mission, and career opportunities.

3.  Get your employer brand right: Ensuring your organization’s online footprints tell a story is the first step in building an employer’s employer even before candidates apply. Building a reputation is essential in addition to amping up your website and social media networks. Employer branding is the process of influencing and managing the company amongst job seekers and critical stakeholders. It should define the company’s values and describe your employee value proposition to potential and current employees.

4.  Update your benefits package: Health and other benefits are a top priority in employees’ decisions to stay in a particular job. Most HR professionals use these benefits as a strategic tool to retain employees and recruit talent. Employee benefits also include a healthy work-life balance. New age employees look for flexible timings and work from home options to achieve a better work-life balance.

5.  Encourage position transfers within the company: Another wise move to retain and satisfy employees efficiently is to discuss their end goals and their satisfaction in their current roles. It is also essential to encourage them to look into other departments if they’re not they’re Some companies are implementing this idea into their policies and procedures, so employees can quickly look at their handbook and find out if this is an option.

6.  Ask for feedback: An assured and successful way to know the employees better is to ask them. Avoid assuming or guessing how satisfied they are with their work or department. Implement anonymous employee surveys, so they feel comfortable sharing qualitative feedback. Hold discussions where employees can provide their opinions, thoughts, and feelings about the company and improve.

The employee retention strategy of any company is a combination of various elements that makes way for employee satisfaction. Initiatives such as mediation programs, flexible work schedules, a positive work environment have the capability of making the work environment more attractive for challenged parents, excellent talents, and new generations. As an employer, you need to have an open mind and think of your employees as the essential elements for your business or organization’s success. Adopt these techniques and stay consistent in your mission to win the war for talent. 

Author Bio: 

Kelly Barcelos
Kelly Barcelos is a progressive digital marketing manager specializing in HR and is responsible for leading Jobsoid’s content and social media team. When Kelly is not building campaigns, she is busy creating content and preparing PR topics. She started with Jobsoid as a social media strategist and eventually took over the entire digital marketing team with her innovative approach and technical expertise.

Ethical Leadership: Running a Business That Focuses On Values, Morals, and Beliefs

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Image Source: Pexels

How you approach leadership is likely to factor into your company’s ongoing success. You want to make certain that all your stakeholders — colleagues, staff, customers, and the industry at large — have positive experiences as a result of your influence. As such, there is increasing emphasis on leadership styles that reflect the changing priorities of the public. Increasingly, we can see that these are focused on businesses that exhibit strong ethics, make moral decisions, and engage in values-led activities.    

This requires a strong commitment to ethical leadership. Company figureheads must set the highest standards for business activities based on core moral values, and lead by example rather than direction. It certainly helps to have a strong foundation of tools — a robust and relevant code of conduct, and consistent messaging among them. But the key point is that business leaders must exemplify their ethics in everything they do, and seek to guide the rest of the business along an equally moral path.     

This approach can make a significant impact. Employees — particularly Millennial and Gen-Z workers — tend to be more loyal to businesses with values that empower them to be part of something bigger than themselves. Customers invest in businesses that they know are supportive of them and their communities. We’re going to take a look at a few of the primary areas you can focus on to ensure that your leadership direction includes the traits that epitomize solid ethics.  

Transparency

One of the primary tenets of ethical leadership is a commitment to mindful transparency. This is often a sticky issue for entrepreneurs. Historically, there’s been a culture of secrecy surrounding business, that it’s acceptable to obscure practices in the name of maintaining the competitive edge. However, allowing this to become too prevalent in your leadership approach can create barriers between you, your employees, and your customers — which doesn’t exactly breed trust.

Instead, seek to inspire a culture of transparency throughout the organization. Be honest about everything, and encourage honesty in return. This extends to when you feel as though you or the company have done something wrong, or are shirking your responsibilities. This is particularly important when the business is going through turbulent periods. To gain the full support of customers and employees, they need to have confidence that you are honest about the full extent of the situation, and have a plan to move forward.

Whether from day-to-day issues or when a difficult situation arises, your transparency should exhibit openness and inclusion. Ethical leaders utilize their interpersonal and communications skills to make employees a part of solutions. When brainstorming ideas for projects and problems alike, bring employees of all levels into the process — guide them to understanding what the challenges and the goals are. Use visual techniques such as mind mapping and brainwriting alongside verbal discussions to ensure that your transparency of the process is underpinned by clarity. By involving everybody, you show not only that there is nothing to hide, but you encourage a spirit of collaboration and mutual support.   

Diversity

Ethical leaders recognize that they have a responsibility to prioritize inclusivity. Indeed, they have a duty to their community and their industry to encourage growth that is representative of the varying perspectives, needs, and talents in our society. From a purely economic viewpoint, they also understand that their enterprises do not benefit from a monocultural stance. As such, diversity plays a key role.

This begins with employees. A diverse workforce that includes people from various racial, gender, and socioeconomic backgrounds is essential. A range of perspectives results in teams that are sharing new ideas, opinions, and skillsets in a way that tends to foster innovation. As such, ethical leaders adapt company policies and activities to ensure that their workplaces are suitable and welcoming for all workers. This includes mentorship programs for those from marginalized communities that may not have access to traditional education. It’s going beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines to make physical workspaces accessible. 

Ethical leaders also understand that their commitment to encouraging and supporting diversity has to go beyond their immediate workplace. They also have empathy toward the challenges that marginalized people face and use their influence and resources to make a difference in their communities. Technology conglomerate Cisco Systems is considered one of the most diverse companies in the U.S. They demonstrate this not just in their equality-led hiring and payment practices, but also their ongoing support of social justice projects that include financial support for minority students, and provision of venture capital for Black-owned businesses. As such, your leadership needs to go further than self-interest and contribute positively to the work being done by communities. 

Authenticity

There have been too many examples of companies who claim to prioritize social issues only to fail to exhibit this in their ongoing actions. Recently, many companies posted messages of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement on their social media channels to gain credibility, but their operations were clearly in conflict with this. As just one example among many, Amazon posted a black square announcing their solidarity, and yet — their poor employment standards history aside — only have one Black employee at the senior level.

As such, as an ethical leader, you need to exemplify authenticity in everything you and your company do. Your transparency will assist this aspect of your leadership style. By being open, employees and the public alike will be able to see whether the company and its leaders have a genuine concern for their needs. This is why authenticity also needs to be supported by accountability. Create a culture of open dialogue, where you can be directly contacted if anybody feels as though you and the business have fallen short of ethical expectations. Follow this up with authentic action; do the work to put things right, and involve your stakeholders in this.

Conclusion

Ethical leaders can have a positive impact not only on their businesses but also on the wider community. By following the key tenets of a morally solid business — transparency, diversity, and authenticity among them — entrepreneurs can ensure that all stakeholders can connect to the company and its leadership in a way that engenders trust and mutual respect. After all, ethical businesses are what consumers deserve, and business owners can in turn reap the immense potential benefits.

Author Bio:
Adrian Johansen is a writer and consultant in the Pacific Northwest. She loves sharing knowledge with others and learning along the way! You can find more of her writing at Medium


More on ethical leadership? YOU betcha!
Building a Better Future | Values, Mission, Vision
What Does Leadership Really Mean?
Purpose: Building/Actualizing A Leadership and Management Must

How Coaches Can Use Neuroscience To Improve Coaching Results

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Executive coaching on a worldwide level has picked up steam as a valuable element of leadership development, and neuroscience provides us with a better understanding of the inner workings of our brain. Neuroscience studies the nervous system, the brain, the sensory nerve cells, and the neurons throughout the body. What are some things coaches can do to improve brain power in clients?

Reframe The Problem To Gain A New Perspective

Sometimes we underestimate the power of reframing an obstacle through conversation, clarification or a challenging question. All of this will reflect that crucial “Aha” moment where you respond to a situation in a new light because you have been informed.

When a client experiences stress and strong emotions, it can reduce the processing power of the brain. Instead, use reframing to unhook your client from the emotional triggers so that they can respond more appropriately and resolve the problem.

Matt Liberman, a professor and social cognitive neuroscience lab director at UCLA, calls this the braking system of the brain. You activate it to reduce the intensity in the brain. Studies have shown the best way to power up the braking system is through the labeling of an emotion with simple words. When you try to suppress the emotion, it has the opposite effect of strengthening it.

Improve Concentration: Juggle or Workout

Have a client who is struggling with concentration? Several studies suggest aerobic exercise improves the generation of new neurons within the hippocampus of the brain. This process is known as neurogenesis and improves a person’s memory.

Juggling is one of the few aerobic exercises you can do in a small space. Research has proven juggling increases the gray matter within the brain, and one study even showed it could make you smarter in just seven days. Along with toning your body and strengthening your core, you are also improving your mind through problem solving skills.

Exercise, both aerobic workout and strength training, has also been known to amplify the neurochemicals to promote differentiation, growth, survival and repair of brain cells. Neurochemicals serve a quintessential role in both mood and mental health.

Juggling sharpens your concentration because you can’t just throw the balls up and keep the flow going. To truly succeed, you have to stay concentrated, and this raw focus of your mind can permeate into other areas of your life.

Increase Brain Power With Puzzles

How to increase brain power can be done via a variety of different means, but puzzles have been a perfect way to increase your brainpower. Puzzles strengthen the connections between the brain cells, and these connections will later be used for improved thinking speed, and are great for short-term memory. A challenging puzzle is great because it forces both coaches and their clients to think in new and creative ways. It trains the mind to work in original ways, and you have to experiment and apply the process of elimination to unlock the mystery of a puzzle.

Different parts of the brain will work together in a whole brain approach to resolve the puzzle problem. Educators will also tell you how they have found that a whole brain approach has been effective for a deeper and longer lasting memory. Coaches could use that knowledge to make their clients more effective at their work. With a puzzle you can do anywhere like a soma cube, you and your client can use spare time to make the brain more effective. Soma cube is a solid dissection puzzle where you assemble 3x3x3 cubes to make a number of different 3-D shapes.

Get Vitamin D

When Vitamin D receptors activate, they increase nerve growth in the brain, and researchers have found metabolic pathways for Vitamin D within both the cerebellum and the hippocampus. Adults with low Vitamin D have shown poor brain function. The most common way to get Vitamin D is through activity in the sun.

One of the best ways a coach can improve their client’s brain power is through the constant challenge of their potential. You have to keep pushing them, and this will improve both the size and the structure of the neurons. Learning has proven to be a powerful way of igniting brain power and getting to the next level of cognitive thinking.

About the Author:

Yazi Jepson is an inspired writer who enjoys writing about personal growth, self-help tips, and women’s lifestyle. She sometimes writes for Streeterlaw,  a firm that helps their clients resolve disputes, preserve and protect their legal rights. In her parallel life, she loves reading and finding her own way to balance her time between writing, baking cakes, and personal training.

A Freelancer’s Guide to Managing Job Uncertainty During the COVID-19 Crisis

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Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/serious-young-multiracial-women-standing-on-street-with-tablet-and-laptop-in-hands-5965610/

A freelancer’s troubles never seem to end, does it? From the start of work till closing, you’re faced with everything from complex client acquisitions to impossibly short deadlines and unreasonable clients. All of these seem to be the air and water of the freelance work practice.

And while normal life comes bagged and tagged with unavoidable uncertainties, the overwhelm of the freelance work practice takes on a life of its own, getting worse (or better) with every change in social and cultural trends.

In recent times, the persisting COVID-19 pandemic has been one of such crises that have dictated the increasing job uncertainty, melancholic mood, deteriorating mental health, and the general feeling of bleakness that has plagued freelancers.

This article seeks to offer a practical guide to freelancers (no matter their industry) on how to navigate job uncertainty during this COVID-19 crisis.

Regroup and Reprioritize

It’s easy to get lost in the myriad of questions that come with freelancing. Your degree certificate is barely cold when the questions hit: Is freelancing safe? Did I make the right choice? How do I guarantee a steady income flow? Where do good clients come from?

With the pandemic affecting how people consume information and products, it’s inevitable that you also have begun to catch yourself up at night, badgering Google for answers while trying in vain to stop the fear rising at the back of your throat.

But first things first, turn away from your computer. Now would be a good time to remind yourself of the reasons you began to freelance in the first place. Stop and smell your victories and progress (even if it’s just a degree you’ve gotten). Take a good look at your core skills, strengths, and gaps that still need work (this would come in handy soon).

Also, take time to readjust any misplaced priorities, e.g., remember that your present income level (or lack of it thereof) doesn’t define you.

Know your net worth

Next comes the not so fun but essential part: Know your net worth! Yes, we admit, this is a tough one to do for a freelancer, but it isn’t impossible. Your net wealth is described as the total cash amount of your assets minus the total cash amount of your liabilities.

For a freelancer, this may not be easy to ascertain, but you can start with a general understanding of your present financial state. Knowing an average of your income, recurring expenses, and debts would go a long way to alert you to how much gap there is between your present financial state and your future financial aspirations.

Invest in new skills

Remember that earlier stock-taking session?

Yes?

Great!

This is where your findings begin to come together. Your skill gaps (and maybe even ethics gap) should be obvious to you from the deductions you’ve made. And that is an excellent thing.

The pandemic has blessed us with more time on our hands, and there aren’t many things that can compete with learning as being a great use of time.

Invest in a couple of online courses that are relevant to your industry, career, and niche. Subscribe to blogs and newsletters that provide valuable content in your field. Watch YouTube videos, read books, attend virtual conferences. Any method that works for you without putting you under unhealthy pressures is fine. Just keep learning and improving yourself.

Diversify

The phrase, adapt or die has never been more true for the freelancer than now. As we all seek to adjust to the new realities of COVID-19 (face mask-wearing, social distancing, and teleworking), the freelancer must reinvent and equip himself/herself with relevant skills to these new realities.

For example, the world of journalism has experienced a sharp decline in the news that isn’t necessarily COVID-related while upping its demand for pandemic related information. This means an average freelancer may need to become a master of more than one trade.

Evolution has always favored the fluid, not necessarily the strongest. This isn’t to say that you need to become a master of all. You just need to reassess your skills in light of what is relevant in your industry and actively begin honing new skills and perspectives. You may also need to enlist external help like time daily tasks reporting timesheet to help you and your team become more effective/productive.

Innovate

It’s almost unnecessary to say that digital is the future. You’re a freelancer, so you probably understand this reality more than most full contract workers.

But what does this new reality mean for you as a freelancer? For starters, we’ll take a guess that you already run as a business organization. Maybe you even have a team of freelancers who work with you (this is a great place to begin if you haven’t begun to function this way).

All over the world, small businesses are finding creative ways to provide relevant products and services for their consumers despite the odds of the pandemic. This may mean creating a new product or improving on your existing services.

In the future, the most obvious path would be to make your systems, processes, and services digitally friendly. Creating digital products is a great place to begin.

Network more

This has got to be the oldest trick in the book, leveraging the human truth that we’re social beings. These times have served to remind most of us of the actual use and value of Social media.

Networking platforms (physical or virtual) can serve as a medium to connect with contemporaries and experts alike. It can become a treasure mine for mutually beneficial and long-lasting professional relationships.

No matter the industry, the benefits of networking can be astounding, serving to do more in the area of publicity, authority building, ideas banking, etc.

This doesn’t just apply to conferences held in your niches or connections with people in your industry. As a business, networking with your customers can help you gain repeat customers and enjoy customer loyalty (a great way to do this is by setting up an email marketing list).

A word of caution, it pays to be deliberate about who and why you’re making a connection. Avoid irrelevant connections to avoid information and relationships that feel spammy.

Bottom line

Although the COVID-19 crisis has exponentially increased job uncertainty for the freelancer, it has also presented an immense opportunity for growth and possibilities.

Applying all that you’ve learned in this guideline will undoubtedly give you a clear handle on managing these times with grace and confidence, wouldn’t you agree? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Author’s BIO: Lori Wade is a journalist from Louisville. She is a content writer who has experience in small editions, Lori is now engaged in news and conceptual articles on the topic of business. If you are interested in an entrepreneur or lifestyle, you can find her onTwitter &LinkedIn. She has good experience and knowledge in the field. 

5 Stress Management Strategies to Bust Your Stress

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Stress is one of the greatest threats we face. The need to change our relationship with change (3Q) and develop simple effective strategies to manage stress is critical. Nip stress in the bud and start to develop a new relationship with change.

Happy to host this guest post by Yazi Jepson on stress management for coaches and their clients. Excellent actionable advice!

There is a reason why medical experts have nicknamed stressthe killer disease.” It really is that serious.

Since there is no one on this planet (except perhaps a meditating monk in a cave somewhere) who can escape from feeling stressed, the key is to learn how to manage it. Here, there actually is such a thing as good stress.” But it is only good if you know how to recognize in stress itself your opportunity to learn new ways to deal with stress.

If you are a career or life coach working in the field, you can probably think of one or many clients you have right now who are oh-so-stressed. In fact, thinking about this probably makes you feel stressed out too.

In this post, you will learn strategies you can use to alleviate and manage your own stress that you can then teach to your clients in turn. Welcome to your less-stressed, more productive and peaceful world!

De-Stress Strategies That Really Work

These proven stress management strategies will help you and your clients learn how to deal with stress on the spot.

Strategy 1: First name your stress, then address it.

At its core, the experience of “feeling stress” comes from the activity in the most ancient part of our brain. This part is called the limbic system, and we share it with most other creatures on this planet.

In this way, stress is the way your survival instinct communicates with you to let you know there is a survival threat on the horizon.

What to do: Your first step in addressing stress is to name the threat. Here, you might find out your stress is linked to insufficient sleep the night before. Or it could be witnessing your boss go storming down the hall. Or it might be “good” stress – like the type you get when you propose to your love and they say ‘yes!’ Once you know what the threat is, or if it is even a threat, then you can deal with it appropriately.

Strategy 2: Identify your personal stress tolerance limits and your go-to coping strategies.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), different age categories manage and process stress in different ways. Each age category, from Mature to Boomer to GenX to Millenials, also has their “go-to” stress management strategies.

In general, the younger you are, the more you are likely to feel challenged to manage your stress. You are also more likely to use less healthy coping strategies (drinking, smoking, over-eating), whereas your older peers are more likely to take a walk or head for a faith service.

The better able you are to identify when your personal stress tolerance limits are getting stretched, the more control you will have over your response to your stress and the coping strategies you choose.

What to do: It can really help here to create a list of stress triggers and go-to coping strategies you can turn to before you just hit your stress limit and automatically turn to something you swore you would not do again.

Strategy 3: Learn to turn stress to your advantage.

Interestingly, stress can be useful to us as more than just a fight-or-flight early alert system. Stress in its purest and most primal form is the energy of e-motion.

You can see this at work in the performance of elite military forces and professional athletes. Those who become most successful in their chosen careers are the ones who can sense and harness the emotional energy of stress to produce their desired outcomes.

What to do: Welcome the e-motional energy of stress as a tool you can use to achieve your goals. Unharnessed, stress energy shoots around like a water hose without a nozzle. Harnessed, you put a nozzle on that hose and direct the stream exactly where you want and need it to go!

By learning and practicing these three ways of dealing with stress, you can feel more centered and self-connected during your client sessions and then teach your clients how to duplicate your successful results.

About the Author: Yazi is an inspired writer who enjoys writing about personal growth, self-help tips, and women’s lifestyle. She sometimes writes for Streeterlaw,  a firm that helps their clients resolve disputes, preserve and protect their legal rights. In her parallel life, she loves reading and finding her own way to balance her time between writing, baking cakes, and personal training.

Bust stress NOW. Recharge-refocus-repower!
Click here to learn about our 1-hour stressbuster sessions and other fast-fix tools. You will be glad you did

More? You Betcha.
100 Stress-busters
Turn Stress Around
12 Ways to Turn Overwhelm Around


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Strategically Approaching Employee Engagement

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A guest article by Adrian Johansen | Image Source: Pexels


Keeping employees engaged is a top priority in many businesses, but somehow the efforts are falling short. Worldwide, only 15% of employees are actively engaged in their work. Additionally, 63.3% of American companies say that retaining employees is harder than hiring them.

What’s going wrong? All the work that companies put into employee engagement seems to be falling flat.

It’s time to step back and look at the issue with fresh eyes. There are ways to keep employees engaged; it just may not be what you expect.

Know What Truly Matters to Employees

Many business leaders assume that small consolation prizes like pizza parties will satiate their employee’s professional appetite, but they would be wrong. It’s done constantly, and it doesn’t even come close to meeting employees’ real needs.

If you’re understaffed, a pizza party won’t solve the overwork. Unfortunately, managers often go with what’s easy and inexpensive rather than with what’s effective.

Instead, it might be better to gain feedback from employees through work satisfaction surveys. You should ask questions that can give you insight into your employees’ needs, ideas, and desires. Doing this along with updating outdated processes, hiring additional employees, or giving back to your community may do more to boost engagement than 100 pizza parties.

Involve Employees in Creating Processes

Adapting your business is a continuous process, and the people who have the strongest insight about what needs to change are often the front-line workers. You can get better results from process improvements when you include them in the planning and execution.

Even more importantly, being included helps people feel like they are important to the organization. It improves morale and helps employees feel like they are valuable and part of the team. Instead of being told, they’re being asked, and that can change everything. Empowering employees makes a real difference!

When you implement something new that employees have taken part in, the updates will have more meaning to your staff and you’ll get much higher buy-in. The process change is much more likely to succeed.

Don’t stop there, though. Help employees understand that they are part of the team by sharing other information with them as well, from emergency response measures to continuity plans. Everyone can feel like an insider, and if they do, they will be much more engaged at work.

Give Daily Encouragement

Because managers have a lot on their plate, they often spend all day responding to problems and putting out fires. As a result, you may only communicate with team members when there’s an issue or performance problem.

Unfortunately, this means that negative feedback is only what your team receives from you. They need positive reinforcement as well. You can improve employee engagement by providing it. You don’t have to go overboard or make a big deal out of everything. Simply share genuine gratitude often.

Daily boosts build up and create loyalty, which matters a lot more than a momentary buzz from an annual kickoff event. Be a boss that people respect. If they look up to you because of your actions, they’ll be less likely to leave, and more likely to engage in the company. This applies to everyone involved in a company — everyone from those that work at the management level to front-line workers. 

Start Engagement at the Very Top

People know when their leaders are putting on a show compared to when they are genuinely enthusiastic. If engagement doesn’t exist in your management team, you won’t have engaged employees either.

Excitement is contagious, but so is cynicism. A key engagement strategy is to make sure you’re encouraging great morale from everyone. This includes engagement from the very top of the company and those at the bottom.

If you’re a manager struggling with a disengaged team, think about your disposition and how you display it around others. By working on your attitude and approach to work, you can make a big difference in your staff.

Develop the Careers of Your Staff

Another difference you can make with your staff is giving them something to stay for. If someone is in a dead end with their job and can’t see a way to advance, they’ll disengage and start looking elsewhere for work.

Being intentional about career development can help motivate passive employees and keep enthusiastic ones engaged. Talk to each team member about their goals for work and help them develop new skills. Keep your eyes open for opportunities and encourage your employees to go for them.

Don’t make your employees look elsewhere to advance their careers. They’ll either stay and grow apathy for their job, or they’ll take their skills to another company. Neither one is good for your team!

Create an Environment Where Employees Can Thrive

As a business leader, it’s important to have a team that’s committed to the company’s goals and involved in its future. To get there, you’ll need to create an environment where employees are appreciated and encouraged to grow.

You can’t force someone to be happy, of course. All you can do is accept feedback and set the stage for people to succeed. Include your staff in process changes and significant decisions, help them develop, and pay attention to what matters.

When you do, your team will be an exception to the rule. They’ll be genuinely engaged.

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Author Bio:
Adrian Johansen is a writer and consultant in the Pacific Northwest. She loves sharing knowledge with others and learning along the way! You can find more of her writing here

Ten Ways to Start Turning Overwhelm Around

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(photo credit: Getty Images)


We are living in a time of overwhelm. We have all felt it, many of us deal with it on a consistent basis, and it erodes our potential, our results, and our happiness on a multiplicity of levels. Anxiety is destroying people and organizations from inside out.

Let’s take a look at what happens when we are stressed or overwhelmed. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that controls executive functions; clear thinking, decision-making, strategizing, planning, etc. When we are stressed the blood flow to the prefrontal cortex is reduced, making clear thinking increasingly difficult. The more stressed or anxious you become, the more difficult it is to focus and think.

When we feel overwhelmed, we subconsciously look for a distraction to remove stressful feelings. Rather than completing a project or dealing with a difficult situation, we surf the web, watch a program rather than doing our work, or dealing with a difficult situation because our thinking brain, our prefrontal cortex is not working properly because our survival/fight or flight mechanism is in play.

The good news is that we can learn how to deal with overwhelm and stress.  Rather than beating yourself up for going into fight/reactionary, flight or freeze response, try one of these 5-minute exercises knowing that the stress, anger or overwhelm will pass, and you will be able to refocus on your most important objective after refocus, repurpose and repower.

Here are 10 5-minute exercises (cool tools) to help beat stress or overwhelm

  1. Do The Pause” a mindfulness exercise that takes 2 minutes, 3 times a day for 7 days to be effective. You can’t meditate? You don’t want to learn about mindfulness? Do The Pause! It is transformative if practiced regularly, and science confirms its positive impact on your potential, results, and health
  2. Take charge of tension by releasing it, fast.  Clench whatever part of your body is tense and release it.  Even better, do your whole body-clenching & releasing.
  3. Drink/sip ice water. Fluids move hormones into exactly the right places for sustaining energy, and those same fluids eliminate toxic wastes that can accumulate and wear you down.
  4. Change your state, move your body, jump, dance, do chair yoga take 5 minutes to get energetic because inactivity is an unnatural state for us..
  5. Laugh, yes have a joke collection or clips you can watch for 5 minutes that make you laugh.  Laughing gives your brain an aerobic workout, and it is an excellent stress reliever and mood booster.  Smiling automatically elevates our mood.
  6. Take a 5-minute time out. Block out all stress or worries.  Think about something that really makes you happy or visualize your favorite place or vacation spot.  Yes, take a happiness time out!
  7. Meditate, pray, listen to music, or read poetry for 5 minutes.
  8. Journal for up to 5 minutes, longitudinal studies have proven that keeping a confidential emotional journal where you can write out your deepest emotions, releasing the tension associated with them not only makes people feel better, but it also enhances healing and recuperation time.
  9. Take a 1 minute time out. Wiggle your toes (it distracts your brain) Block out all stress or worries.  Think about something that really makes you happy.  Yes, take a happiness time out!
  10. Doodle or color for five minutes.  Creativity is a great stress reliever.

Make the critical shift forward because it is possible to retrain our brains, re-center our hearts, and learn to think, communicate, and collaborate better at the speed of change and in the face of challenges, competition, anxiety, overwhelm and even stasis.

Try one of these free five minute tool cools on for fit this week. You need to do them consistently for 7 days to begin to see results.

Author Bio: Irene Becker a self professed nerd who is on a mission to change the world. Irene completed a certification in trauma counselling in addition to post graduate certifications in management coaching, life coaching, emotional intelligence coaching and completed her executive coaching certification with the #2 leadership coach in the world, John Mattone. Most of all, Irene believes that together, we can create a better tomorrow.

There is no time like the present to invest in your most important asset!
Click here to book a complimentary 30 minute meeting with me

Just Coach It with Irene-15+ years of transformational results


Cool Tool-5 min. success step

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We are living in chaotic times, and the upside of chaos is of course that it is a state generating new solutions and often incredible answers. The downside of chaos is before us each day; record levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. I focus on helping clients use change as an asset, as a springboard for great personal and business leadership, purpose, communication, collaboration, and success.

There is no doubt that adopting a new mindset = new results, and building a growth mindset is critical. Carol Dweck’s landmark book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success is a must-read. Click here to read Carol Dweck’s Article on Growth Mindset in Harvard Business Review

The first step in building a new relationship with change, a new relationship with the times in which we live starts with focusing on your wins. We are automatically wired to see the negative, and while doing so helped us when we were living in caves, it is now one of the biggest causes of failure. Turn Negativity Around: 3 Simple-Practical-Powerful Ways To Reset The Internal GPS

COOL TOOL:   SELF ESTEEM BOOSTER | 5 MIN JOURNALING

Take 5-10 minutes every day to notice and acknowledge positive aspects of yourself and your day because doing so is an important self-esteem booster! Start a journal or add these questions to your daily journal.  Great way to wrap up the day!

What is my best achievement of today?

What is a challenge (or challenges) I successfully overcame today?

Today, I had fun when…

I call tools that take 5-10 minutes or less a day and are free, Cool Tools! You may be skeptical, but they do work!
Try this one for a week, and send me your feedback!
Photo Credit: Getty Images


DO you want to turn the tables on stress? Achieve personal and business success at the speed of change? Help your executive team master the soft skills and new mindset that leads to breakthrough results? Reach out and I will reach back! irene@justcoachit.com – your catalyst for success at the speed of change

Tips for Leading a Diverse Team

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Success is a team sport, and the imperative to communicate, collaborate, and build diverse and inclusive teams has never been greater. Enjoy this guest post by Adrian Johansen.

Now more than ever, companies need to prioritize diversity and inclusion. Gone are the days when diversity was solely regarded as a checkbox to tick. Championing diversity and inclusion is good for innovation, culture, and business. Moreover, the workplace plays a huge part in shaping the lives of its employees and society as a whole, and inclusivity that stems here can spark real change.

Though companies already have diversity on the agenda, the 2020 pandemic and the resulting surge in remote hiring has allowed more businesses to hire across borders. Even when in-person working picks up, diversity will continue to be upfront and center.

So how does one inculcate inclusion and build diverse teams? The answer points to leadership.

Training management to actively promote a culture of diversity is an ongoing process and here are a few tips that can help:

Understand and address diversity as a spectrum

Often, when you say ‘diversity’, people think religion, race, gender. While these are all included, companies need to understand that it also extends to diversity in personality, background, age, and sexual orientation. As a leader, learn about and make room for different kinds of diversity, as well as account for the differences that might arise because of it.

Develop empathy

Every employee is different and experiences the workplace differently. The only way to be a leader who factors in these experiences is to learn how to walk a mile in their shoes, and empathize. Many argue that empathy is too emotional for the workplace, but an article by Western Governors University (WGU) makes the case for a healthy emotional balance. To support this point, it points out that when employees feel their leaders empathize with them, they’re more productive, more loyal, and happier to come to work. In turn, empathy builds a personal connection and that builds stronger teams.

WGU goes on to say that empathy, though often inherent, can be developed through certain practices. These include learning more about your employees, taking an interest in their ambitions and concerns, stepping out from one’s own bubble to consider other perspectives, and so on. And contrary to misconception, empathy doesn’t make a leader soft. It only proves their mettle and their ability to support their team in challenging times, as stated in our previous article on leadership.

Create formal diversity policies

While a company may hire diversely, what are they doing to support their minority employees in the workplace? Creating strategic, thoughtful policies that value, understand, and encourage diverse employees has multiple benefits. First, these are a formal, tangible show of support from the company. Second, they safeguard the well-being of diverse employees and showcase employers’ intentions. They also help create transparency and accountability within the workspace.

These policies should be formed by Diversity and Inclusion experts. Policies can be based on non-discrimination and anti-harassment principles like:

  • Abusing authority to demean someone or have them perform tasks outside their role.
  • Undermining a colleague or refusing to cooperate.
  • Discriminating and mistreating someone based on their race, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, etc.
  • Passing unwanted and unsavory remarks.
  • Spreading rumors, gossiping, or bullying other employees.

And they can also be policies that outline programs, tools, and resources to empower minority employees.

Change your recruitment strategy

The best first step to diversify internally is to change how you hire externally. To make sure your company is more attractive to a diverse workforce, consider changing your recruitment approach by:

  • Showcasing your pro-diversity policies: Let candidates know that your workplace is a safe, welcome, and inclusive space.
  • Using technology: Minimize human bias by using AI to shortlist candidates based on their qualifications.
  • Identifying and overcoming bias: It’s important to make sure your recruitment team undergoes tests like the Harvard Implicit Association Test and others, to identify any unconscious bias and work on it.
  • Working with partners: Partner up with organizations that champion diverse minorities and can send the best candidates your way.

Take feedback

The only way to understand your team’s needs is to listen to them. Set up feedback sessions that empower people to speak up about their concerns or needs. You can do this by having an open-door policy, host town hall meetings, or have anonymous feedback surveys. Regular feedback sessions that are productive and then implemented make for better, happier, and more secure employees and a more cohesive company culture.

Encourage collaboration

Bring together team members that have different backgrounds but complement each other’s professional strengths. Encourage open, honest, and respectful debate to fuel creative collaboration. Leaders can also help the foster community by bringing together team members over passions they share outside work!

Measure and evaluate

Managers and leaders should regularly check in with themselves to evaluate if their initiatives are working and what could be better. Pay attention to how your employees are feeling, what their feedback is, and show them that their inputs and experiences matter. Involve diverse employees when creating programs and policies for them so that it isn’t a top-down dialogue, but a collaborative effort that works.

Conclusion

Diverse teams make your company so much stronger, more innovative, and a much more enjoyable workplace. Not only that, diversity boosts business, with studies showing that companies with diverse management report 20% higher innovation revenue as compared with those who don’t. Creating and leading a diverse team is not just necessary, it’s a given.

Author Bio: Adrian Johansen is a writer and consultant in the Pacific Northwest. She loves sharing knowledge with others and learning along the way. You can find more of her writing here.





Stand Up for What Can Be

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It is time to stand up for what can be, rather than looking in despair at what is or what was.

It is time to realize that we have the potential to build a better tomorrow, but it is potential that will not be realized without embracing a new mindset, a new focus that allows us to transform what is into what can be.

Will you be a pioneer, a peaceful warrior, a champion who will join me in celebrating a delicate balance between autonomy and collaboration, a new world of working together with purpose, with passion by building what I call 3Q Strengths?

3Q Strengths?  Yes, strengths I built when facing monumental business challenges in an executive career, and personal challenges ranging from illness to tragedy.  Strengths that have helped forward-thinking executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs change their lives and the lives of others. Strengths that have helped me and helped my clients navigate change, difficult challenges, crises and even trauma in ways that drive our best self, best collaboration, best work and most purposeful contribution.

The answers to our problems must reflect strategic thought Q1, emotional dexterity Q2, and the universal values and purpose Q3 that holds our world together. The answers start with developing a relationship with ourselves and with others that builds bridges between what is and what can be; growth mindsets, emotional and cognitive dexterity, and a relentless desire to contribute to be part of a better tomorrow.

What would a better tomorrow look like?
What would happen if you could let go of the cloud of negativity and chaos surrounding us and become relentlessly solution focused because the answers to our problems can be found in the ashes of what has failed. In the synergy that is created when great hearts, minds, and people of courage hold hands and hearts.

Pie in the sky?  Think again. 

Every great movement, every great change, every important learning starts with a dream to do better, to contribute more, and to build a better world. I reach out to you today and always and ask you to dream, to imagine, to visualize what we CAN create and do…together.

Together we can create organizations and communities of purpose founded on transformational thinking, emotional dexterity, and purpose (our 3Q Edge). If you want to lead, if you want to succeed, it is time to know that together we can change the world. 

 Join the fight for a better tomorrow, or face the peril of being mired in a sea of negativity, fear and ego that can attack even the best and brightest among us. We each have a role to play, no matter how small or large, in building a better tomorrow.

Get ready for a weekly 3Q post and inspiring quotes on 3Q Leadership Blog starting next week.  Carpe diem, inspire yourself, and those you lead to dream, to aspire to what we can create.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

6 Effective Ways to Motivate a Passive Employee

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Motivation is key to success on so many levels. Learning to motivate others, is a critical skill. Happy to share this guest post by Angeline Lecerio

The truth is that almost all employees fall into some degree of being passive in their working lifetime. Direct superiors’ skills often get tested when they are trying to get passive employees to perform better at work.

To be clear, passive employees are not necessarily bad for the company. This just means that more often than not, these employees need more than just the usual nudge from their managers to have a productive day at work.

What passive really is.

Leaders often think of passive employees as employees that need a push towards the right direction, which in this case, towards productivity. Inactive employees will often tell their managers what they wanted to hear just to get along. In fact, passive employees can be trusted like clockwork to just go about their tasks with nothing more and less. Simply put, they would not put in that extra effort but can still get the job done.

Just because it’s not a bad thing does not mean that leaders can just let it go and also be passive about it. There are simple, effective, and proven ways to motivate passive employees in your work. Below are six of the most effective ways of getting employees engaged and being more productive in their respective tasks.

Level the ‘paying’ field

It may sound like a pun, but it makes a lot of sense. This means that there are industry standards for pay in a specific category of workers — being passive starts to creep its way in when your employees realise that they are being paid less than the average grade in their position. As soon as they realise this, it can be tough to get them to perform at their peak. 

If, for some reason, the budget dictates very little wiggle room in terms of salary increases, companies often compensate with non-monetary perks. The point is that when employees perceive that they are being given value, productivity will increase as they feel happier in their work. One of the easiest ways to improve morale in the workplace is by merely aligning your company’s salary grid to the industry standard. 

Opportunities for self-improvement

Passive employees who are given a glimpse of their potential achievements can be valuable assets to a company as they work their way towards their goals. Having your team attend skills training, even simple ones, can remove passivity and nip any long term problems in the bud. Employees that show potential are prime candidates for leadership training, and giving them the opportunity will not only provide motivation to that particular employee but their co-workers as well.

Providing training to your employees is a win for everybody, often improving morale and productivity. Training does not just deal with a worker’s attitude towards his or her work, but you are substantially upgrading your workforce. Corporate training will allow them to move forward with their careers and start to aspire for more. 

Maintain open communication

An approachable and open communication policy in the office will often keep management up to date on the office’s latest goings-on. This is a valuable tool in keeping the pulse on your workforce so that you can react accordingly. However, the real purpose of fostering open communication is to show your team members that you and the company he or she represents genuinely care about employees’ welfare. 

Open communication tells them that what they say matters. By hearing employees’ suggestions, you engage them and make them feel included. As a leader or superior, you can encourage questions and try to provide answers that will enable them to perform their work more effectively. Gathering input does not necessarily mean listening to each, and every one of your employees tells you about their day. There are other means of getting them, such as during meetings. When you get inputs, make sure to brush up or follow up on them when you get an opportunity. This will make employees feel that you listened to them, even if you did not actually solve all their problems.

Be a leader, not a boss

Almost all of us have experienced working for that nightmare of a boss, so make sure that your employees will not experience the same thing under your leadership. In short, make sure that you would be someone that you would want to work for. A miserable manager can influence the way a workplace feels and can spoil everyone’s day fast.

A leader is always on the positive side of things. If you want to inspire your team, be the example of what a leader should be. A manager sets the mood and tone for how the day will go at the office. Keeping that good vibe going at work reduces stress, and when you are approachable, employees will feel that they can tell you things that may impact the day to day operations in the office. They will feel confident to disclose any challenges and in turn, you can act on these challenges before they turn into huge problems.

Encourage team bonding

Positive employee relations are among the most effective ways to motivate employees. There are a lot of activities you and your team can prepare to make sure that the team bonds on a slightly more personal level. A simple dinner or a night out once a month can do wonders for the morale of your team members. This will also allow you to manage internal conflicts quite easily because you can communicate with your team effectively. 

Team activities also help employees feel that the company values healthy work-life balance. A company that respects work-life balance is something rare, and that alone can refocus anyone who is being demotivated at work.

Appreciation can do wonders

Appreciation does not mean heaping praise on every single task your associates do as it’s just impossible and counter-productive to do so. Always appreciate in public and reprimand in private. One does not always have to do it daily, but make sure to find the time to commend team members for their achievements.

This is based on the very essential human psychology trait itself, the need to be appreciated. People love to be appreciated. Thanking an employee, or acknowledging his or her contribution to the team can do miracles in improving that person’s productivity.

Final words

Employee motivation is not something management can sweep under the rug. Just following a few of the tips above can help bring about a noticeable change among your employees. Cultivating enthusiasm and motivating employees should be on the list of any company’s priorities because it is their teams that will allow them to achieve significant growth and success.

Author Bio: Angeline Licerio is a content writer for Elevate Corporate Training. Like the rest of her teammates at Elevate, Angeline believes that she can help create better bottom lines, happier and healthier staff, and build communities where people engage with each other in high functioning relationships.

Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | Build Your 3Q Edge


Build your ultimate advantage in turbulent times

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You have heard of EQ/EI (emotional intelligence) but what is 3Q, and how can building three “Q” strengths change and improve your life, your communication, your leadership, and the results you achieve in a VUCA* world?   Click here to learn all about 3Q skills scroll down to take a free 3Q life and career self-assessment. (*volatility, uncertainty, change, ambiguity)

Here are 7 ways to start building YOUR 3Q Edge:

  1.  Build a community of purpose, because success in a connected world demands communication, collaboration with your direct reports, your boss, your colleagues, and other stakeholders. Click for more info on developing YOUR Community of Purpose.
  2. Develop Greater Self Awareness  Your ability to find new ways, better ways to R-E-A-C-H (redirect, empower, actualize, communicate and harvest results) in yourself is the starting point, the pivotal determinant for your ability to inspire and engage the best in yourself and others in good times and bad.
  3. Increase your emotional intelligence, build self-awareness, awareness of others, emotional mastery, and resilience that is critical to effective.  Click here to learn more about EQ management, leadership, and wellbeing. Learning about EQ/EI is important, but it is not enough. Emotional intelligence is honed in the practice, in using challenges at hand to build each critical area of EQ/EI that will allow you to live, lead and succeed more effectively, optimize and delegate purposefully and build the communication and strong relationships that are critical to success.
  4. Embrace and nurture your strengths. Get in focus with what you do brilliantly, with your areas of excellence. Know what you do best, and use every challenge you face to engage and build you’re your intrinsic and learned strengths. Choose team members who have different strengths that give the sum total of your efforts more power. Team members whose values, integrity, and dedication mirror yours but whose intrinsic and learned strengths are different and complementary to your own.
  5.  See challenges in a new and different way that takes YOU and those you lead forward. Develop a new and different relationship with changes, stressors, difficult people/situations that will help YOU Fail Forward faster and better. Your ability to reset default patterns is the coachable moment. It takes awareness; it takes practice and consistent small positive steps or changes in perspective and behavior that will have a formidable impact.
  6. Develop your REACH coaching skills. Learn how to effectively coach others. Develop the coaching skills that can help you help others to optimize their potential, communication, and results when the going gets tough by helping others R-E-A-C-H™ (redirect focus, empower, actualize potential, communicate effectively, harvest results). Apply systems theory, because even one small consistent positive change will impact the whole system in ways that can be pivotal and transformational.
  7.  Develop new ways, better ways of communicating that helps you build a bridge across cultural or generational differences that helps you to achieve the engagement and collaboration you need to succeed in our connected world.  Your ability to communicate effectively is one of the most important determinants of your personal and professional success.
  8. Do you want to play to strengths while transforming stressors, changes, challenges into a lever for your greatest purpose, potential, and results?  Pie in the sky?  Think again.  The proof is in a 16-year track record of breakthrough results in high stress, high change environments.

Take action NOW, and it’s free!

Find out where you stand with this FREE 3Q Career and Life Self Assessment  Just email irene@justcoachit.com 

Irene Becker

Just Coach It with Irene 
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™

Contact:  irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
                 Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene   

5 Actionable Tips on Improving Your Negotiation Skills

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Negotiation is inevitable for salespersons, business managers, and nearly everyone that operates a business of some kind. Usually, negotiations come along with opportunities that could be in your favor. After all, that’s what motivates us to make the most of every negotiation.

It could be an opportunity to persuade the customer to purchase your offer at a specific price, convince the supplier to increase the number of materials, or request your employees to adopt a particular company policy.

Besides, you might be dealing with people that aren’t easy to convince. Arm yourself with these five tips to help you win the negotiation.

1. Build a Connection

Often, we may think we know the other party, but the reality is, we don’t. It’s never wise to assume you know what the other individual wants until you consider their position, experience, perspective, and reputation.

Be empathetic because people won’t always be honest and upfront regarding what they want. Consider what you already know or what other people have told you about someone. You’ll understand the intent behind their tactics and know what to say so you can persuade them.

When you understand the other party’s situation, you’ll know the best approach to use and steer it toward a fair and equitable result. Establishing common ground and expressing humanity can break even the most rigid negotiator.

If you don’t practice this exercise, you’ll only put forward your point without validating the other person’s concerns. The result will be a defensive response that’ll make it difficult to compromise.

2. Be a Good, Active Listener

Active listening goes beyond the ‘hearing’ aspect. It’s the conscious choice to listen, decipher, and understand the speaker’s message, whether it comes with facial expressions, words, vocal properties, or gestures.

Additionally, it’s not staying silent as the other individual speaks. Instead, it’s a cooperative association in which competitive attitudes don’t have room. In other words, it doesn’t refer to using the time the other person is talking to identify logic errors, become defensive or form arguments.

Active listening is an invaluable negotiation technique. Listening can be the key to reduce tension and enhance progress in deadlock situations. When you listen, you’re signaling to the other party that you’re putting your opinions aside and taking your time to consider their perspective.

Besides, listening helps you to collect all the relevant details regarding a particular situation. And with that information, you can explore the matter in a more effective and deeper way. The last thing you want to do is sit there, smile blankly, and nod your head as the other party argues their case.

Listening gives you access to more information. With more information, you’ve got the power to help you reach the desired goal. So, how do you exercise listening skills during a negotiation?

Powerful Tricks to Transform Your Listening Skills into a Successful Negotiation

  • Ask questions: When you ask questions, you express interest in what the other person is saying. It also shows that you’re ready to explore different sides of the argument. For example, when you formulate a question starting with, “Can you please explain what you mean by…..”, it shows that you’re paying attention and willing to understand the other party’s viewpoint.
  • Paraphrasing: Paraphrasing is an effective way to show that you understand what the other person is saying, as it sums up what they’d said. Thus, use sentences such as, “from your explanation, I understand that your plan is to …”
  • Giving Feedback: Providing feedback is the best way to show you’ve carefully considered the other person’s point of view. It demonstrates that you didn’t disregard their views and that you’re ready to further discuss their perspectives.
  • Acknowledgment: Just like feedback, acknowledgment is an effective way to identify the other person’s concerns so you can work together toward solving the problem.

3. Place Yourself in Their Shoes

One of the biggest mistakes that negotiators make is failing to uncover their opponent’s position. For example, when selling, if the prospect isn’t ready to pay the asking price, then it’s important to find out what they’d like to pay.

Most salespeople usually miss out on this point. Typically, most say ‘OK’ and proceed to discount the price by say 10%, after which the prospect might say, ‘the price is still too high’. Upon hearing this, the salesman will give more discount.

But this is not an effective approach, and only unprepared and inexperienced salespersons use it.

It’s essential to prepare upfront for any negotiation process by evaluating the other side’s unique position. By doing some research beforehand, you can choose the right approach so you can organize, lead the negotiation process, and eventually close the deal.

Next time the prospect objects your price or terms, you should ask them what they’re ready to pay. That way, you’ll have two positions and sufficient ground for negotiation.

4. Be Direct

Some people don’t like small talk; they like it when you cut right to the chase. So, you need to understand them beforehand so you can prepare accordingly. If you’re engaging a negotiator who takes an extreme position, you may want to come up with your own tough strategies.

But remember to always act respectfully and calmly when speaking your mind. In some situations, it’s necessary to tell a negotiating party that their conduct is unacceptable and that you won’t withstand any manipulative or controlling tendencies. Prioritize self-respect, and you may get full cooperation from your opponent.

5. Don’t Take Things Personally

Most negotiations don’t succeed because either party is carried away by personal issues or matters unrelated to the deal at hand. Instead, successful negotiators focus on a problem-solving approach, which is typically how the agreement may end.

Focusing on the other person’s personality or issues unrelated to making a deal can sabotage a negotiation. If your negotiation partner is rude or unruly, try to understand their behavior without taking anything too personal.

Final Word

To win a negotiation, it’s important that you strive to understand the other person first. Put yourself in their shoes, be a good listener, and build a connection. Remember, it’s not always about your perspective and what you want. You also need to understand the needs of the other party.

Author BIO: Heather Redding is a part-time assistant manager, solopreneur, and writer based in Aurora, Illinois. She is also an avid reader and a tech enthusiast. When Heather is not working or writing, she enjoys her Kindle library and a hot coffee. Reach out to her on Twitter.

Are Your Delegation Tactics Actually Empowering Employees?

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In our article on Why Excellent Managers Delegate Tasks, we covered the difficulties that come with being a manager – most notably, delegation. Delegation entails straying away from micromanaging, and instead, trusting and empowering your employees enough to accomplish deliverables on their own. The role of a manager does not require you to be fully hands-on, but to ensure that everything is executed excellently. Delegation is essential in empowering employees. This gives them agency, improves accountability, and allows them to think on their feet and make their own calls. If you are adjusting to the new role or are looking for ways to improve, it may be more difficult for you to measure how effective you are as a manager.

Here’s what you can do to make sure your delegation tactics are empowering your employees:

Fostering transparency with regular feedback

Feedback is a two-way street, and it shouldn’t just occur during mid-year or annual evaluations. An Entrepreneur article highlights how effective feedback could define trajectories if it is actionable and growth-oriented. When you delegate a task to an employee and they deliver, assess how well they were able to execute it. In the same way, employees should be able to evaluate their own performance and inform you of any hiccups they encountered along the way. Creating an environment of transparency means that they inform you if they are lacking any support, resources, or other information needed to improve. You can set quick catch-ups or even online meetings for feedback after a project has been completed. The more regular, the better – as this could even enhance your company culture.

Leveraging integrated platforms for mobile workers


More companies are starting to adopt a mobile workforce. Nowadays, leaders are encouraged to fully consider this strategy given the current situation. However, the concept of a mobile workforce has been around for a while – which could be a valuable asset for a modern organization. But without the right tools and resources, your business, workers, and clients may end up suffering. Research from Verizon Connect has found that the mobile workforce often has issues with productivity and efficiency. In order to successfully delegate and manage a remote team, you need to find the best software, tools, and integrated communications platforms for everyone to stay in the loop. These should be avenues for you to check-in throughout the day, have a public record of tasks, and allow for free-flowing communication for all teams. Operations will become more efficient and transparent, and workers will now be able to stay accountable and get work done despite geographic and technological constraints.

Giving credit when and where it is due


HR and management consultant Susan M. Heathfield emphasizes the importance of managers demonstrating that they value their employees. If you remain quiet, workers may end up second-guessing themselves and the tasks that they have been doing, which could affect the outcome of their work. This then defeats the purpose of empowering employees through delegation. Giving credit where and when it is due is a good business practice that will supply employees with enough compensation and recognition to keep them motivated. The art of rewarding and recognizing is so significant that it could affect how much employees are willing to invest in your company.

At the end of the day, effective delegation can be measured not only by how well employees are able to handle assigned tasks, but how they feel about themselves after. The responsibility of a manager does not merely end with the act of delegating but should be constantly revisited even when the work has been completed.


Written by Alisha Gwen
Exclusive for justcoachit.com

Alisha Gwen is an HR expert with a background in psychology and management. She writes about company culture and often assists businesses with growth and development. In her free time, she crochets and does some freelance writing

Science-Backed Memory Tips

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How to Improve Memory and Recall

Memory, the process of maintaining information over time, is an essential part of life as it allows us to store the information we need to interact and adapt to the world around us. Without memory, we wouldn’t be able to recall places we’ve been, the names of friends or family members, how to do our jobs or information we are taught in school. Understanding how memory works can help us protect and enhance the process.

There are three stages of memory: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Memory encoding converts information into a form that the brain can store. Information can be encoded as visual (picture), acoustic (sound), or semantic (meaning). Next, information is stored as either a long-term or short-term memory, impacting how we are able to access the memory later on. The final stage of memory, retrieval, allows us to access stored information.


Since memory is a critical part of life, it’s important to protect against memory decline. The best way to do this is by living a healthy lifestyle. Additionally, there are specific techniques individuals can use to memorize and recall information. This piece offers tips for boosting brain health as well as science-backed techniques that can be used for memorizing and recalling information.

Lifestyle Tips for Boosting Brain Health

In addition to actively engaging your mind, such as with brain training games, to improve thinking skills and memory, living a healthy lifestyle can also help promote brain health. Individuals may be able to protect against memory decline by doing the following:

  • Engaging in regular exercise: Doing aerobic exercise to get your heart pumping appears to boost the size of the hippocampus, the area of the brain involved in verbal memory and learning. Additionally, exercising regularly can help you maintain a healthy weight, reduce stress, and sleep better, all of which have a relationship to memory.
  • Reducing stress: Since stress can interfere with memory, actively working to limit stress can be protective. If you are overwhelmed or struggle with negative thinking patterns, there are ways to retrain your brain for positivity and success. For example, engaging in self-care practices such as journaling or yoga can be beneficial for individuals. Meditation in particular has been shown to improve episodic memory, the memory of everyday events.
  • Eating a healthy diet: Consuming a balanced diet, one that limits red meat and is full of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, can help promote against memory decline and dementia. Specifically, diets higher in mono- and polyunsaturated fats (opposed to saturated fat) may help to preserve memory.
  • Limiting alcohol: Most of us are aware that alcohol can impact memory. Alcohol can disrupt the ability to form new long-term memories, and even at low doses alcohol can impair memory. 
  • Getting enough sleep: Since sleep plays a role in the consolidation of memories, it is essential to get enough quality sleep. Researchers hypothesize that slow-wave sleep, which is deep, restorative sleep, plays a significant role in declarative memory, the knowledge of fact-based information, by processing and consolidating newly acquired information. Additionally, if someone is sleep deprived, it will be difficult for them to focus and learn efficiently.

8 Techniques for Memorizing Information

Not only is memory important in everyday life, but there are also situations that require individuals to be able to memorize and recall specific information. For example, when studying for an exam, preparing a presentation, or getting ready to deliver a speech.

There are a few ways to set yourself up for success when preparing for a situation where you will have to recall specific information. Before preparing, try to get rid of distractions and plan ahead so you are able to avoid cramming and take breaks. Additionally, evidence suggests that it may be beneficial to study before going to sleep, as well as sleeping between learning sessions, can help people consolidate memories and retain information.

When it comes time to begin studying the information you’ll need to recall, there are science-backed techniques you can use to help retain information and improve recall. For example, using organizational strategies, such as the chunking method, visual cues, and handwriting notes rather than typing can be beneficial.

Additional strategies, such as using mnemonics, can be useful for storing information as long-term memory. Many of us likely remember the mnemonics we learned in school, for example PEMDAS (parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction) teaches students the order of operations.

The visual below from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences outlines 8 science-backed techniques for retaining information and improving recall.

Click on the thumbnail below for the full infographic

Julia Morrissey is a content creator who works to develop helpful guides and compelling stories. Her passion for creative writing has led her to cover unique topics ranging from business to lifestyle. She calls New York City home and enjoys spending time with her rescue dog, running in Central Park, and finding new vegan dining options around the city.

How to Help Employees Develop a Growth Mindset

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Photo credit Pexels

The imperative to develop a growth mindset is critical. What is a growth mindset and why should you develop one and help your people do the same? Enjoy this guest post by Lisa B. Michaels and find out!

Simply put, a growth mindset is a firm belief that one’s abilities are not cast in stone. It’s the belief that talent can be nurtured and that intelligence can be fostered.

Think of it as an attitude that also entails a sincere hope that leadership and creativity can be developed. Note that subscribing to a growth mindset is an imperative attitude and not particularly a skill.

Growth-oriented workplaces like Microsoft and LinkedIn seem to have figured out what developing a growth mindset is all about. For example, Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, stands out here for several reasons. He’s credited with leading the multi-billion dollar company through a much-needed culture shift using a growth mindset strategy.

The company is now using the approach to develop its next crop of leaders. LinkedIn CEO, on the other hand, advises employers to focus on skills, not qualifications, when considering potential employees.

Growth vs. Fixed Mindsets

Individuals with fixed mindsets firmly believe that their skills and intelligence are intrinsically linked to themselves. Thus, rather than being motivated to develop further, they view constructive feedback as personal attacks. This often triggers an emotional reaction to feedback, which blocks potential personal gain.

People with growth mindsets are the exact opposite of their counterparts with fixed mindsets. They see challenges and obstacles in the workplace as opportunities to improve.

They are open to feedback and criticism. To them, critique and feedback open up avenues that can fuel their performance and output.

How Leaders and Managers Can Help Their Employees Transition from a Fixed To a Growth Mindset

Think of it as a gradual process, so be patient. Understand that individuals adapt to change differently. The following tips can help you expedite the process:

Encourage Employees to Learn and Set Their Own Development Goals

Many employees crave for this kind of freedom. It comes in handy when transitioning from a fixed to a growth mindset for pretty much obvious reasons.

Your employers will set their own development goals based on what they are good at. They’ll also set the goals based on how fast they can get projects done. Be sure to allow them to choose their teams. More freedom means more output. It is a win-win situation.

Ask Your Employees for Their Opinion on Solving Some Issues

Think of your workplace as a big classroom where everyone is a teacher and a student at the same time. In other words, you can learn a lot from each other.

For that to happen, ask your employees for their opinion on different things. Find out what they think about trying out a new system, working hours, and everything and anything that affects them.

Provide Learning Opportunities

This is, by far, the best way to impart a growth mindset at the workplace. Provide numerous learning opportunities at work time and again.

Be sure to make the process fun. Bring onboard experts and have them train your employees on the best practices in the market in your field of work.

Be Transparent About Challenges and Failures

This applies to both management and employees. It’s one of the most effective problem-solving skills in any work environment. It’s also an excellent way to diffuse bureaucracy and protocol issues that often bar employees from reaching out to their bosses.

Accountability and Independence

One of the most effective strategies to develop a growth mindset at the workplace is to make employees accountable for their work and give them sufficient independence.

But before giving them all the autonomy they need, train them to stay productive, and to manage their time. Train them to prioritize and identify how their work can contribute to company goals and objectives.

This is precisely where time management strategies come into the picture. To succeed at it, use the following procedures:

Discourage MultiTasking

Many employees fall into the multitasking trap without even realizing it. They try to do multiple projects at once and end up not getting anything done at all. Assign single projects to your employees. Give them room to brainstorm on ideas that can help them execute the task with minimum ease. Note that research shows multitasking decreases productivity.

The rule here is simple; focus on each task separately.

Break Down Bigger Tasks into Smaller Tasks

It‘s easy to get overwhelmed by big projects sometimes. You can find it hard to know where to start.

To confront this, take the whole project and break it down into smaller tasks. You can also try to batch smaller tasks together.

To-Do Lists

Create a list of things you need to do in advance. Invest in software that can do this easily. The software should be able to make it easy for your employees to create their to-do list.

Remember, though, that the traditional pen and paper to-do lists are still useful. Encourage your employees to use them.

Prioritize

Train your employees to evaluate their responsibilities based on urgency and importance. Besides, you should emphasize that they complete their projects, starting with the highest priority.

Remember that this process calls for effective communication between employees and their supervisors. This will ensure that priorities are adequately and appropriately aligned with departmental and overall company goals.

Organize

Every second lost because of a misplaced document or file is time that could have been used to complete a task. Insist on personal space as well as personal organization at the workplace. This will not just help you save time; it’ll go a long way to improve your employees to maximize their output.

Create a Favorable Working Environment

Make your employees feel excited to report to work. The environment should stay productive throughout the day. This doesn’t just apply to workspaces.

The printing room, washrooms, and even the waiting lobby should all be comfortable. Where possible, incorporate an element of fun at the workplace.

Be Open to Ideas

Be approachable. Often, employees have ideas on how to get work done faster. Unfortunately, bureaucracy and protocol make it hard for them to air their views.

By all means, avoid this at the workplace. The rule here is simple: listen to your employees all the time.

Final Thought

Encouraging employees to have a growth mindset is about creating a favorable environment for them to express their ideas independently. If done correctly, it can boost productivity and reduce staff turnover.

Author BIO

Lisa Michaels is a freelance writer, editor, and a thriving content marketing consultant from Portland. Being self-employed, she does her best to stay on top of the current trends in business and tech. Feel free to connect with her on Twitter @LisaBMichaels.

Our Greatest Hope 2020

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I wrote this post years ago, but I believe that it is even more relevant than it was in 2012 because we can change the world for the better and we are all part of the solution.

 We stand on a glass cliff, a place where we will see the greatest renaissance we have ever known; or a decline and descent into the abyss of chaos, aggression, and destruction.  A place where we will be crippled by the need, greed, and ego that has destroyed every empire and fiefdom in history OR choose to embrace our potential to use what is to create what can be, our potential to work together to build a better future.

It is your ability, my ability, our ability to cleave to the universal values, express the humanity and moral courage that is our hope for the future.  

Courage that starts with service above self, with the desire to move from me to WE.  Power that grows each time we show kindness to a stranger, reach out and help a colleague of friend, mentor or share knowledge. 

Leadership that grows when we focus not on what we can get, but rather on what we can contribute.  Humanity that is expressed in learning to treat our neighbors, our brothers, and sisters as ourselves.  Happiness that is found in caring, sharing and contributing.

In a world of increasing complexity, it is the simple things that often elude us. It is time to get simple and clear with the importance of tying a knot around our values, courage, integrity; for they are the greatest riches we have.  

Love is the truth,  universal values are the motor, and human passion, purpose, and potential are the engine that can drive us to an evolution of self, and of others that will take us into the age of innovation – an age of extraordinary possibilities; or push us into an abyss of fear, despair, destruction, aggression, and chaos.

Our greatest hope lies in a new balance of independence and interdependence, mutual respect and collaboration that will take us forward.  A path that is difficult, but worthwhile.  A path that requires courage and conviction.  A path that is oft forgotten, and begs to be remembered.  A path of redemption and renewal.  A path of human beings being better not simply doing faster than ever before.  A path that can change one life, many lives and ultimately our world.  A path where we serve to LEAD from me to WE.

Written for my late father, Joseph Becker, my best friend, mentor and a soul whose light shines on.

Become Anti-Fragile in 10 minutes or less a day

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Science confirms our ability to succeed at the speed of change, challenges, competition, frustrations, and even failures.  Most of us are so busy doing what we have done before faster than every before although what got us here will NOT take us forward. Our brains are neuro-plastic, that we have the ability to re-write default patterns of thinking, doing, communicating that no longer serve us.  It is the ability to adapt, evolve, communicate, collaborate that has helped homo sapiens survive.

Do you want to develop a NEW relationship with change and challenges that will help you become “anti-fragile”? A new relationship that can help you develop greater empathy, adaptability, cognitive and emotional dexterity? I have been helping clients do just that for over 16 years.  I am dedicated to this purpose, to helping people build their 3Q Edge because it is a passion, calling and a purposeful mission that can help many. It is a perspective, a framework you should consider.

Check out these 3Q COOL TOOLS, simple, effective, FREE and FAST exercises you can do in less than 10 minutes a day.  And, I would suggest to you that spending 10 minutes a day to build your edge may be the most important thing you can do for yourself, those you love, lead and work with.

• Identify the path (walking/driving) you prefer, then take a different one.

• In a similar vein in your personal life, experiment with taking one old habit every week and tossing it out the window or changing it.

•Walk down a street you are familiar with and search for something you have never seen or noticed before.  The results will surprise you!

• Uplift your posture. There are few more powerful ways to raise and sustain energy than to ease your posture upward, which frees your breathing and raises your energy level.

• Stretch your Strengths by applying them in new ways.

• Try writing a few sentences in the reverse direction, or with your opposing hand.

• Embrace new experiences.  Focus on learning from everything! What you focus on grows, and a positive focus on learning will expand your learning potential.

• Change at least one routine every day.

• Pause for 10 seconds before you respond.  Taking your ego (need to be validated out of the equation and refocusing on your objective).

• Take charge of tension by releasing it, fast.  Clench whatever part of your body is tense, and release it.  Even better, do your whole body-clenching & releasing.

Do The Pause. Yes, a 2-3 minute mindfulness exercise that is transformative if practiced regularly

• Sip ice water. Fluids move hormones into exactly the right places for sustaining energy, and those same fluids eliminate toxic wastes that can accumulate and wear you down.

• Move more. Inactivity is an unnatural state for us, and it limits energy production.

Laugh more, smile more. Laughing gives your brain an aerobic work-out and is an excellent stress reliever and mood booster.  Smiling automatically elevates our mood.

• Keep an emotional journal that is for your eyes only.  A safe space on paper where you can write out your deepest emotions, releasing the tension associated with them.

•Take a 1 minute time out.  Block out all stress or worries.  Think about something that really makes you happy.  Yes, take a happiness time out!

Try one cool tool for the next 7 days. Share your experience on the blog or write to me at irene@justcoachit.com

© Irene Becker | Just Coach It 2020

What Makes Successful People Different?

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Delighted to host this guest post by Avil Beckford

Today, technology is changing rapidly. And most people feel like they are on a hamster wheel, going nowhere fast. Will things ever change? No, the pace of change will actually speed up. Instead of trying to keep up, why not figure out which things to focus your attention on?

What makes successful people different from the masses?

When you examine the lives of the most accomplished people in society, a few things come to mind. You never hear them complaining about the recession. Continuous learning is a daily part of their lives. They seem to get breakthrough ideas one after another. And they have several income sources.

At first glance, all the things you notice about them seem disconnected. However, when you take a closer look, you discover that professional development is the thread that holds things together. Take Elon Musk as an example. Reading books is his primary way of learning. And in his life so far, he has managed to disrupt several industries. Additionally, he reads across multiple disciplines. And he has an uncanny way of synthesizing information from the various books, getting idea after idea.

Many have called him an “expert generalist.” Orit Gadiesh, Bain & Company Chairman, London coined the term, defining it as,

“Someone who has the ability and curiosity to master and collect expertise in many different disciplines, industries, skills, capabilities, countries, and topics.”

The term captures the essence of who Elon Musk is. But Musk is more of an intersection thinker. According to Rohit Bhargava, author of Non-Obvious 2019: How to Predict Trends and Win The Future:

“Intersection thinking is a method for creating overlap between seemingly disconnected ideas in order to generate new ideas, directions, and strategies for powering your own success. It can create a crossover gamechanger. It allows you to think in a way your competitors aren’t.”

Want to be more like Elon Musk?

To be more like Elon Musk and other luminaries, incorporate reading books into your day. Be intentional about reading to learn. Read books across multiple disciplines to broaden your worldview. If you are in finance, also read about history. Every industry has a history. Try reading about global poverty. To find a solution to global poverty it will take money. Do you see how everything is connected?

You do not have to spend all day reading books!

Most successful people have taken some form of speed reading course. It allows them to power through more books. But you do not have to speed read. You simply need to know how to become an effective reader. Here’s how to do that.

  • Have a purpose for reading every book.
  • Inspect the book before you start to read it. This means reading the Preface, Foreword, and Introduction. Review the Table of Contents to identify the sections that address your purpose for reading the book. Look at the Index. The terms with the greatest number of references tell you what the author considers important.
  • Read the sections of the book that deepens your understanding of the text.
  • Take notes while you are reading the books.
  • Review your notes, picking out the big ideas.
  • Connect the ideas from the various books you read, making them into bigger ideas.
  • Test the feasibility of the ideas.
  • Implement the ideas.

This kind of reading is not superficial. You are simply looking for the sections of the book that will give you the greatest understanding of the text. You are applying the 80/20 Rule to reading a book. You read 20 percent of the book to understand 80 percent of it. Inspecting the book first, allows you to uncover the 20 percent to read.

Using this strategy, you can read more of the right books to get the kinds of benefits that successful get from reading books. However, the process does not end there. You have to synthesize the information from the books you read, picking out the big ideas. And ultimately acting on the ideas.

So when you see the following statistics about the impact of artificial intelligence:

“Between 40 million and 160 million women globally may need to transition between occupations by 2030, often into higher-skilled roles. To weather this disruption, women (and men) need to be skilled, mobile, and tech-savvy, but women face pervasive barriers on each, and will need targeted support to move forward in the world of work.”

Source:  The future of women at work: Transitions in the age of automation

You won’t panic because you know that your continuous learning practice allows you to see what others are missing.

Three Books to Read

  1. Lifetime Learner’s Guide to Reading and Learning
  2. Non-Obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and
    Predict the Future
  3. Opportunity: How to Win in Business and Create a Life You Love

The above three books will teach you how to read effectively and get a broader perspective of the world, analyze and synthesize the information from the books you read, and learn how to spot and capitalize on opportunities.

About Avil Beckford
Avil Beckford is the Founder of The Invisible Mentor. She’s a learning strategist who created the Performance Accelerator Plan, so professionals can develop intercultural awareness and learn the skills the World Economic Forum reports they need to thrive in 2020 to 2022.

Be the Difference — Motivational Monday

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Seize the Day to Lead Greatly

In a world of change, challenges and the opportunity to create NEW organizations, NEW collaborations,

New ways of understanding, collaborating and turning problems into our greatest solutions are before us.

The need to lead greatly, the need for those who will stand up and stand tall because they know that they can do better, that we can do better together echos through the turbulent corridors of our workplaces, lives, and communities.

Leadership is not about what we have, it is about what we can create.

Leadership is not about what we can take, but rather what we can inspire when the power of our intelligence is aligned with our highest selves and greatest intentions.

What step will you take to lead today? Each step towards our best selves is a step towards a better future.

Seize the day to lead with your head, heart and greatest purpose aligned. Seize the day to lead greatly.

Monday Motivation-Never Give Up

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Never every give up.  

Get inspired.

Stay inspired.

Make the hard decision to love yourself,

And your love for others will grow.

In growth there is fulfillment,

In love there is power,

And in you, there is a special spark to share with the world.

© Irene Becker 2020


Check out this free cool tool (that’s what I call fast, free, proven exercises you can do almost anywhere
).  Close your eyes and think about smiling.  Just thinking about smiling will elevate your mood.

Irene Becker, Just Coach It, 3Q Leadership Blog
irene@justcoachit.com

Why Excellent Managers Delegate Tasks

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Enjoy this guest post by Nikki Brooks

Management is a tough and, at times, lonely role. It requires a blend of skills and approaches that only a few can bring together successfully.

Being an excellent manager means ensuring you are the one with which a problem filtering up stops with, and you are the one who ensures positivity and purpose is all that comes back down to your staff.

You must be resilient, adaptable and resourceful with your staff too. Knowing when to delegate tasks is vital in becoming a successful manager, for a multitude of reasons, which we examine here.

Empowerment

Being an excellent manager is all about getting the best out of your people. If they’re excelling in their work, then you’re excelling in yours. It is not your role to do the tasks and be hands-on – it is your job to make sure they’re done properly.

An article by Leadership Choice suggests by giving employees autonomy over a task, you can empower them to make it their own and excel. However, in giving the right task to the right person, you can ensure you have certain control over the situation before they take away the autonomy and run with it.

Resource Management

Resource management is critical in any business, not least in startups. A new manager putting together a new team needs to ensure they have the right blend of people carrying out all the tasks that need completing. Digital marketing firm Ayima explains how delegating resource is one of the biggest challenges a new startup can face. Delegating tasks to the wrong person, or not having all the necessary roles filled by your staff, is one route to start-up failure and the blame lies solely with the manager.

An article by L Spark tells how Ziversity, a Canadian SaaS startup, describes how poor team structure and direction ultimately led to the company’s demise. A good manager gives direction through delegation and manages resource correctly, something that could be crucial to the success of a start-up, or the continued success of a rapidly evolving existing business.

Time Management

A manager will have more tasks and commitment pass across their diary than time allows for, so by delegating some of those tasks you’ll be saving vital time.

It seems an obvious benefit, but in passing tasks to staff, a good manager is effectively managing their time in a strong and efficient manner. The key is which tasks to hand down and to consider the staff member’s time management too. Giving them a job might save you an hour, but can they do it in their allotted time as well?

Control

We’ve already covered how relationships between employer and employees on Just Coach It is one of the key factors in becoming a successful business. One of the key points of interaction between the two parties is delegation. People who work for you come to you for tasks and it is your responsibility to control them and ensure they’re doing the tasks given.

How you handle that interaction and control is important. A good manager empowers their staff, as we mentioned above, but they do so without relinquishing control. Autonomy, or the feeling of autonomy, is important, but perhaps not as important as a manager knowing the task that needs doing will be done effectively.

Content written by Niki Brookes for justcoachit.com

4 Important Leadership Conversations

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by Irene Becker, www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership Blog
The leader who communicates well succeeds well.

Building successful relationships grow in importance at every step of your career, it is particularly critical when going through a transformation, and in stepping into your change agent shoes and helping to build a leadership culture.

It is important to invest time in conversations with team members, your leaders, peers, and other stakeholders.  21st C success demands greater connection, alignment, and collaboration with others. Every exchange is a touchpoint, an opportunity to learn, share, encourage creativity, build trust and truly
honest dialogue.

In their book, Leadership Conversations, Alan S. Berson and Richard G. Stieglitz describe four important types of leadership conversations; those that build relationships, develop others, help in decision making and lead to execution.

1.  “Conversations to build relationships”
 

The more relationships – and relationship conversations – you have, the more you’ll know whom to trust for the right perspectives on problems or opportunities.

You’ll also learn how to complement your strengths with others’ abilities. As you talk, ask questions, seek common understandings and listen carefully. Don’t use texts or emails to deal with challenging or difficult problems. The phone is better, and face-to-face conversations are the best. Be respectful and seek to engage and inspire others as you build relationships.

Remember that people look to you constantly. Avoid bringing negative moods to work, since your silence and your body language also send messages. Keep your mind open to different and opposing views. Value diverse views, especially from those closest to you.  Do not react to what is being said to you, pause and respond; yes, you can train yourself to pause and to refocus on your objective and the mutual objective of your conversation.  I call this skill, constructive discontent-a critical EQ & 3Q leadership skill.

 2. “Conversations to develop others” – As you progress up the leadership ladder, increase your investment in developing other people. To succeed as a leader, you must have followers. Invest in them, develop them, recognize them and gain their loyalty.

To be promotable, you need successors. Bring them along with coaching, allow them to do what they do best as often as possible and give them the tools they need.

Provide formal and informal feedback regularly. Be open and direct. Learn how to give thoughtful, constructive criticism in a way that transforms what you are saying into a growth opportunity.

Ask for feedback, open the door for your team members to let you know if there is something you can do to support their work. 

Consistently recognize big and small achievements.  Even putting a post-it note on a screen saying, “Good Job” has been known to have an important effect.  Positive feedback makes our body secret the happy hormone, dopamine which also helps us remember the positive incident. 

Craft all of your feedback to help recipients achieve their goals.

Finding mentors who will coach team members can be a robust success tool. 

3. “Conversations to make decisions” – You will rarely have enough time and information or the right conditions to make decisions in an ideal context. Leaders make better decisions when they can draw on multiple perspectives and gain as much data as possible to aid their judgment.

Set up talks to gather data, determine your options and gain broad buy-in for decisions.

Remain open to building consensus around a compromise. Instead of concentrating on problems, set a conversation’s tone by asking probing questions that open possibilities and empower everyone in the group.

4. “Conversations to take action” – Prior discussions create optimal conditions for action, but action requires additional dialogues. Use conversations to plan your actions. In the process, you’ll develop ideas and build concurrence.

“Managers usually answer questions, great leaders routinely ask them.” Alan S. Berson and Richard G. Stieglitz

Circumstances will likely alter your plans, so prepare your team for change. Don’t act based on assumptions. Ask questions, gather data, and craft your plans and actions accordingly. Make requests of people; don’t give them orders. Soon after you act, use an “after-action review” – invented by the US Army – to talk with your team about what worked, what didn’t and how to improve.

“Employ the management mindset to make decisions based on numbers and facts…use the leadership mindset to consider the people who will participate in making and executing the decisions.” Alan S. Berson and Richard G. Stieglitz

Conversations take time and perseverance yet avoiding them leads to mistakes that consume additional time and money to fix. Instead, use idea sharing and consensus building to align your team’s mission and your team members’ understanding of and commitment to the group’s objectives.

Remain aware that personal engagement takes place at an emotional level based on relationships. The chain of conversations starts with those relationships and leads to collaboration, shared ideas, better decisions, and more effective action.



Leadership Skills: Relationship Building Matrix

Who Type of
Leadership
Conversation
When &
Where
Notes/Results
       
       
       
       
       
       

What type of leadership conversation would you like to improve, and what will be the likely results of this improvement? Communication is a learned skill and mastering the art of the aforementioned leadership conversations is an investment in your success.

Executive/Leadership Coaching and Advisory Services with a 3Q Edge
“It is the small companies like Just Coach It that are leading the way, and Irene Becker is one of the finest runners in the race.” Leon Benjamin, Author, Winning by Sharing, London, UK

Contact: irene@justcoachit.com Tel:  416-671-4726     Skype: beckerirene

3 Tips to Help You Boost Creativity in Your Team

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Guest post by Ashley Wilson

Leaders have a penchant for inspiring their team members to do their best and achieve great outcomes.

Can they inspire creativity too?

source: pexels.com

Yes, leaders can make team members more creative—and the biggest companies today are already echoing this statement.

Google encourages its employees to spend 20% of their work time on creative projects, one of which leads to Google News.

Twitter’s open workspaces are designed to get its people’s brain juices flowing.

Apple built a worldwide following with its “Think Different” slogan.

Why is creativity important for organizations anyway? Isn’t it reserved for more artistic, expressive ventures rather than B2B deals?

It turns out creativity is one of the most important soft skills to have in building successful businesses.

According to a study by Adobe, businesses that invest in creativity training see improvements of over 80% in vital areas like productivity and customer happiness.

In fact, the most in-demand trait that employers look for in 2019 is creativity.

While some are more imaginative than others, creativity can be taught and improved. As a leader, it is your responsibility to help your team members be more innovative in their work.

The question is: what can you do to boost creativity in your team?

Champion Creativity and Cultivate an Open Environment

The best thing you can do to foster creativity is to create an environment that allows it to happen.

This is why the workspaces of many leading companies feel more like an adult playground rather than an office; it gives team members freedom and with it comes creativity.

Be lenient (but reasonable) in giving your employees breaks. A snack or smoke break is all it takes for a fatigued team member to bounce back and get creative.

This can also be supplemented by doing fun activities from time to time. Board games, team retreats, and office sports are some events you can consider to break the monotony of work.

The most important factor in boosting creativity, however, is open communication.

When people are allowed to discuss freely with each other, a creative environment is established where ideas and opinions are exchanged, eventually resulting in droves of innovative solutions.

Some moderation is needed to stop discussions from going haywire but for the most part, it’s best to give your team members the freedom they need.

How do you establish an open environment in your organization?

Let your team members know it’s OK to voice out their thoughts even if the opinion is not favorable for your company.

A lot of employees are still afraid of speaking out as they’re worried about the consequences.

If your organization is practicing this, understand that businesses lose $7,500 on average to employees who don’t speak up about a concerning project or situation.

Abolishing penalties is not limited to opinions as well.

Give your employees permission to try out their ideas and more importantly, allow them to fail.

It might cost your organization in the short-term but in the long run, consistent experimentation will improve your business’ innovation efforts a lot more than not thinking out of the box.

Don’t Limit Your Team Internally, Mix Things Up

Collaboration can boost innovation but there is a point where groupthink kills creativity instead.

When the same individuals work with each other for extended periods, it’s hard to maintain inventiveness as each person can only come up with so many new ideas at one time.

To avoid this issue, practice diversity.

One way to do so is by bringing in people outside of the company to give your team members fresh perspectives on their tasks.

For example, bringing in a loyal customer or an influencer in the industry to work with your employees can help them discover avenues they might have missed—or are not even aware of—which leads to increased creativity.

Consider mixing up teams and departments to overcome creative block. The marketing team can take a day or two to work with the accounting team to uncover useful insights, for instance.

If you have a hand in the hiring process, you can also prioritize candidates with varying backgrounds and skills to further improve diversity in the company.

Multicultural offices are excellent creativity boosters as well.

Another area where variance makes sense is in distributing employee tasks. We are not designed to work on the same thing every day like robots. Variety is the spice of life and that applies to task delegation.

If your developers have been coding every day for the past year, spruce things up by letting them work with customer-facing departments for several days.

Working on different tasks can give your team members a different outlook on their jobs which again, brings tons of benefits to your organization’s creativity.

Invest in the Right Tools and Resources

Aside from empowering your team members, providing the right tools and resources is another integral part of enhancing creativity.

Businesses of the past had to rely on pen and paper to collaborate. Technology, however, has changed that for the better.

Collaborative tools like Trello and Jira are now staples in organizations as they are an effective outlet for team members to store and share their creative work.

For example, you can use an online drag-and-drop prototyping tool to assist your organization’s marketing department.

Not only does the tool make it easy for team members to visualize their designs, but staff from other departments can also use it to share ideas even if they have zero experience in the field.

Think of these tools as the engine for your organization’s creative vehicle.The vehicle is the final product but without the engine, it won’t be able to get to its destination—your organization’s creative outcome.

Even prominent companies are using creativity tools to help them with innovation.

Google champions the Design Sprint ideology to power their creative processes while IDEO practices its famous 7 Rules for Brainstorming to empower its employees.

All of this is only possible thanks to technology, with one of it being cloud computing.

Collaborating with teams inside and outside of the office all over the world, generating key insights, bringing productivity levels to all-time highs—these are just some benefits your organization stands to gain from using the cloud.

Training must also be included as part of your investment.

While cloud-based tools are designed to be user-friendly, you should still educate your team members to minimize errors and ensure they use the tools as efficiently as possible.

Your Role as a Leader in Boosting Your Team’s Creativity

Boosting creativity among your team members is just a matter of establishing the right company culture and providing the necessary tools and resources.

When done right, you will skyrocket your team’s innovation levels beyond your expectations—and that spells nothing but good news for your organization.

Ashley Wilson is working remotely as a content creator, writing mostly about business and tech. She has been known to reference movies in casual conversation and enjoys baking homemade treats for her husband and their two felines, Lady and Gaga. You can get in touch with Ashley via Twitter.

Irene Becker | Just Coach | irene@justcoachit.com

The Greatness Within

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“Great leadership comes down to only two rules: It’s not about you and it’s only about you.” Peter Anderton

Our potential to be good, do good and share good is as real as our ability to create darkness, chaos, and decline. Human beings need happiness, inspiration, human contact and the feeling that they are contributing to a better today and tomorrow. These needs are written on the walls of our lives, our communities, and our organizations while we suffer from the fear that not only causes our greatest ills, but that incapacities our pre-frontal cortex, reducing the blood flow to that area, and making it difficult to think.

The longer we wait to embrace our humanity, the less time we will have to experience it, and the greater the chance that we will fall into an abyss of negativity, fear, and selfishness that will put our individual and collective survive at risk.  It is the white space, the gaps between our thoughts, our feelings and our actions that give us time to take in where we are and where we really want to go.

Great leadership is not about you and it’s all about you. Embrace your greatest purpose and it will embrace you back. Start now, do one new thing today that is purpose-driven and creates value in the life of another person and they will have the opportunity to pay it forward.

The idea is to live with the purpose, passion and potential that helps you embrace and engage the greatness within. We don’t need to do more, we need to do better.  And doing better can be simple. We can start by reflecting daily on who we are, who we can become because we each have a part to play in creating a better tomorrow. Carpe diem.
© Irene Becker









  

© Irene Becker, 2019 

Tips for Cultivating a Culture of Success in Your Company

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The ability to achieve lasting growth and success at your company is often dependent on your workplace culture. While the success of a business is typically a combined effort, it can be heavily reliant on the success of individual employees within their specific roles as well. To help cultivate a culture of success in your company at individual and staff-wide levels, there are several things you can do as a leader within your workplace to get the ball rolling.

Make sure your staff feels well-supported

As a leader within your company, it’s important your leadership style creates open channels of communication between your team and yourself. Additionally, you should be readily available to share knowledge and give assistance to your staff as needed. Your employees can work at an elevated level if they feel as though they have sufficient support and resources to complete tasks properly. Ensure you’re doing all you can to provide that support.

That being said, there’s a significant balance to be struck between being too hands-off and too hands-on with your team. Once you find that balance, you and your team can work more cohesively and efficiently together, which can enhance the results you produce to contribute to the continued success of the business.

Place trust in your staff

In addition to being a balanced leader for your employees, it’s important that you develop trusting relationships with each of them. Having confidence in your team’s ability to get their work done on time and at the expected level of quality can prevent you from becoming too overbearing as a leader, and it can keep your staff from feeling as though they’re under constant scrutiny.

Consider giving your employees greater flexibility to perform their jobs on a schedule that optimizes their individual levels of productivity. Certain members of your team may be “night owls”, for example, and produce their best work later in the day. If they are given the freedom to complete more of their workloads at a time of day that aligns with how their minds function, they’ll be more likely to succeed in their roles and to experience greater job satisfaction. Making your workplace more flexible and trusting can help to boost your staff’s motivation and improve the quality of the work they produce for your company.

Keep pace with your competitors To achieve a degree of success that puts your company at the top of its field, it can be helpful to study both the external and, if possible, the internal practices of your biggest competitors in order to determine what you could be doing differently to give your company a competitive edge. For instance, if a competitor has launched a marketing campaign geared toward a specific target demographic, explore the campaign’s success and see how you could do it better or with a different, more receptive demographic. If they’re making their production more efficient by automating certain components of workflow using technologies like AI, or if they’re managing their talent using digital solutions for HR professionals, see how you can incorporate intelligent tech tools into your business structure to boost your own productivity and organization. With your staff working at an optimized level and your competitors’ successful practices pinpointed and improved upon, the culture of your company can shift fully into one that’s well-equipped to tackle their goals now and in the long-term

More on building success from our archives:
Enlightened Self Interest | People Development Magazine
Teambuilding Toolkit for Disruptive Times
The Essentialist Leader

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer | Just Coach | www.justcoachit.com

Get Rid of Negativity in 10 Minutes or Less

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1. Delete:  Delete an energy stealer or inertia builder that is undermining your ability to transform challenges into solutions. Catch your self when you are thinking a negative thought, say stop or next and shift your focus.  Start right now by deleting one negative thought you have or had today that is not taking you forward.


Delete-Reboot-Upload-Recharge in as little as 10 minutes a day.  You will be glad you did!  Beat the stress trap. I have done it, my clients do it and you can do it do in less than 10 minutes a day.  Yes, here come the cool tools (exercises that take ten minutes or less and will help you rewire your brain by getting rid of default patterns of thinking and feeling that are impeding your greatest potential and happiness)

2. Reboot: Stop the blame game,  let go of who did what, or who has what.  Reboot a better perspective by letting go of one thought that is causing you more pain than gain.  Let go, reboot and refocus on a positive goal and intention that takes you forward. The impact of one positive goal and intention is powerful.

3. Upload:  Take 2 minutes a day three times a day to be positive, to let go of any negative thoughts and beliefs. Click on the blue text for a simple and powerful exercise you can do almost anywhere.  An exercise that will help you build greater mindfulness, enhanced focus, improved resilience and also improves focus and ideation.

4. Repower: Schedule your day with blank time, time between meetings, time between commitments where you can simply recharge.  Science has documented the powerful benefits of blank time to cognition, health, focus, and resiliency.  Diarize your blank time whether it is 5 minutes, 10 minutes or 20 minutes, because giving your brain a rest will only make you think smarter, feel better and increase your focus and effectiveness.

Science tells us that we need to be happy, be positive in order to tap into our greatest cognitive power and wellness. The imperative to find simple and powerful ways to stop negative thinking is critical.

Carpe diem. Delete-Reboot-Upload-Recharge in as little as 10 minutes a day.  You will be glad you did! ©Irene Becker, 2019

Carpe Diem.  Del

6 Ways to Build Constructive Discontent-A 21C Superpower

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Do you want to communicate and collaborate across boundaries?  Improve leadership and life results? Learn to watch your emotions without judgment or reaction while focusing on your true/most important goals/objectives.  Pie in the sky?  Think again, I have done it and my clients have done it for 14+years.  You too can achieve similar results by developing a new perspective and skill set (“constructive discontent” that takes you forward stronger, happier and faster.  The proof is in the coaching. Developing constructive discontent may be the most powerful thing you can do because it is a 21st C superpower!

I believe passionately in constructive discontent as a critical learned skill that can change lives in a multiplicity of ways. Coaching leadership teams/healthcare professionals many years ago led me to doing a certification in coaching emotional intelligence, consulting and to developing my 3Q philosophy and model. Anything else?  Yes, my personal life, career experiences and fascination with all things “neuro” compelled me to find a way to lead, succeed and reduce toxic stress in very difficult, challenging circumstances.

Here are 6 ways to start building a 21C superpower: Constructive Discontent.  Read more about 3Q life and leadership skills-building your 3Q edge.

1.  Expect change to be stressful but know that you can use them to move forward smarter, faster and happier. Part of accommodating change is doing what you can to get additional help or support, using effective delegation, dedicating daily time to recharge, repurpose and reinvigorate.  Find effective ways of putting your brain into an alpha state during the day will help you develop mindfulness, increased focus on what is important and is terrific at lessening stress…

⇨  Here is a quick 2-3-minute exercise I call THE PAUSE that is easy to learn and really effective.

2.  Understand and limit crisis orientation.  Our brains are automatically set to go into fight or flight in reaction to fear.  We live in a world where we are surrounded by negativity, fear, change, and fear of change.  Learn to understand when you are going into fight or flight mode so that you can move past the 90-second window of reaction and respond rather than react or flee.

⇨  Develop your ability to move past fight or flight, because you can retrain your brain to refocus while not moving to fight or flight so that you will respond and NOT react.

3.  Be gentle with yourself.  Get rid of the negative self-talk, the should have, would haves. Notice any signs of stress in your body. Apply self-compassion.

⇨  Take a few moments to breathe deeply because it is impossible to maintain the same level of stress, anxiety or tension after breathing deeply.

4.  Resist negativity because it will not take you forward. Develop positive habits of thought, positive coping styles that will allow you to build constructive discontent. Take positive steps to alleviate the pressures, the stressors you can do something about.

⇨  Establish personal boundaries and priorities that work for you not against you.  Offset pressures with time for relaxation and activities that bring you pleasure.

5.  Develop habits of thought that will help shift your perspective and discover new options.  We are social animals, you need social relationships and you need ME time to just reflect and reboot!

⇨  Eliminate burnout factors by strengthening meaningful relationships with others and meaningful time with yourself.|

6.  Develop flexibility by simply identifying one rigid pattern of behaviour/coping and turn it around. Observe yourself for one day. Notice how you react to compliments, to demands, to angry co-workers. Develop greater self-awareness (not judgment/ self-judgment) and learn to become the participant observer.

⇨  Pick a habitual or rigid pattern of behavior and turn it around in small consistent ways.  Each small step repeated consistently is a power step forward.

Develop constructive discontent, build your 3Q edge before the next change, challenge or negative stressors nips at your heels! Purpose, meaning, contribution are the drivers that build our best selves, best work, best organizations; they are drivers that can be elusive without developing constructive discontent because the velocity of change, challenges, competition will continue to grow, as will the opportunity to transform what is into what CAN be in our lives, workplaces, and world.

⇨  QUESTIONS FOR YOU:  How is reactivity impacting your work, your life or the lives of those you lead, work for or love? Are you ready to improve communication and collaboration?  Do you want to turn reactivity around?  What difference would doing so make in your life?  I welcome your comments and or questions on the blog!

© Irene Becker, 2018

Wednesday Wisdom: From the Heart

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I chose to share my personal thoughts, stream of consciousness today because I believe that our ability to achieve greatness, our ability to transcend and transform the challenges before us is titanic.

I believe that if you are great, you can be greater! If you are stuck, you can move forward! And, if you want to become the change you seek, it is time to make a difference!  

I hope you enjoy this post and welcome your thoughts and feedback!

 

 

In a world of change, competition and uncertainty,

greatness lies in finding your greatest purpose and noblest intentions.

If you feel great, you can be greater.

If you feel powerless, stuck or consumed by pain you can use these feelings to find and build your greatest purpose and potential.

I know all about success because I have realized it.

I know about pain, loss, and struggle because I have faced them.

I know about leadership because I have been a leader.

I know all about insecurity because I have been held hostage by my own fears as well as the actions of others.

I know all about being wealthy and having the best of everything. And, I have faced poverty and struggle.

I have learned that our most important strength lies not in who we are, who we were or what we have, but in who we can become when we build our 3Q edge.

I have learned to be happier, stronger and more fulfilled in the face of uncertainty because doing so is the only way forward.

I have learned that greatness means knowing that you have the power to create what can be in your life and the lives of others.

Seize this day and this moment to feel your greatness and use it to not simply fill your pocketbook but your soul because you have a unique purpose and untouched potential.

Seize this day because you have the ability to help build a better tomorrow.

Find the pilot light that illuminates your soul and makes you stronger in the face of pain by igniting your desire to be the difference to make a difference and be the difference.

Fight against the negativity, fear, and anger that will destroy your purpose, your potential, your ability to make a positive difference.

It is the decision to take the road less traveled because those following like sheep will fall off the cliff.

It is not about your past or present, it is about realizing that your greatest power lies in who you can become.

It’s about getting stronger in the broken places, it means fighting for your best self, your noblest intentions, your greatest purpose, your unique contribution to a better world.

Greatness means developing habits of thinking and doing that drive your faith, hope, courage, humanity, and integrity.

It is a purpose that can lead you to hope, faith, courage, integrity, and humanity that will fill your pocketbook and your soul.

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach

7 Ways to Turn Conflict and Communication Problems Around

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The leader who communicates well succeeds well, and communication is a linchpin for personal, professional, business success and wellbeing that is particularly critical in disruptive times!


Conflict destroys productivity, engagement, empowerment, communication, leadership, and success. 
Conflict is an emotionally charged situation that is fueled by incompatible interests, goals, feelings, ideas, values, ethnicity, personality differences, or miscommunications that destroys productivity, engagement, empowerment, communication, relationships, leadership, success, and wellbeing.

Here are some facts you need to know that are outlined in a recent article in Forbes article by David Sturt and Todd Nordstrom; The Gallup Organization notes that 70% of employees are actively disengaged, Careerbuilder.com notes that 58% of managers do not get management training and the most prevalent cause of employee disengagement and people quitting their jobs is conflict, communication problems with their boss. Click here to read more  

Yes, learning to turn conflict and communication problems around may be the most important thing you can do for your business/career, personal life, and health.  Communication is one of my three areas of professional focus because it is critical to our individual and collective success and wellbeing, and developing great communication is also an important 3Q skill!


Here are 7  proven ways to turn conflict and communication problems around; proven ways that will also help you build your 3Q Edge!

Step 1. Do NOT react; instead use the conflict at hand to build one of your most important Q skills, constructive discontent. While our first instinct, when confronted with conflict, is often to react, or retreat this is often one of the most counterproductive ways to handle conflict.  Your automatic response, a response triggered by your amygdala/your reptilian brain will be to fight or flee.  DON’t do either.

Step 2. Understand. Understand the manifestations of our automatic fight or flight response and do not react to them:

Denial – If we don’t think about it, it doesn’t exist or will go away by rationalizing or minimizing. We can deny the problem altogether, or we can deny our anxiety be becoming aggressive, confrontational or carrying a chip on our shoulder.

Avoidance – We know the conflict is there, but we don’t want to deal with it and make or find excuses to not deal with it.
Projection – Permits us to deny our own faults by projecting these faults onto others.

Reaction Formation – Adopting the traits or mannerisms of the person with whom they are engaged in conflict.

Displacement – Attacking the other person by changing the original topic of conflict, with some other unrelated complaint.

Escalation – A person will respond to the conflict by blowing it out of proportion, or expressing their own needs, by acting overly melodramatic, and appearing too needy for attention.

Pause; expect that your amygdale or reptilian brain will cause an automatic fight or flight response.  It is subconscious, it is primal, it is automatic to all human beings; and, it can be circumvented by waiting for this fight or flight reaction to pass so that we can learn to respond rather than react.


Step 3.
  Become a better listener. Take a moment to understand the objectives of the person fueling the conflict. Walk in their shoes for a few moments. Make sure you really understand what the other party wants. What do they really want, what are they feeling that is compelling them to create a conflict?  Has something done or said invalidated them in some way causing the current impasse? Is there a communication problem that has caused mutual misperceptions, perhaps misinformation?

 

Step 4. Build what I call “constructive discontent” a critical 3Q leadership and life skill that I will talk about and introduce next week. On a superficial level, constructive discontent is your ability to stay grounded and focused on your objectives, your true goals during an argument or conflict.  On a deeper level, constructive discontent is a learned skill, a leadership skills that will help YOU feel a difficult emotion, but not act upon it.  Feeling the emotion, not being held hostage by it but refocusing YOUR true objective is critical.

 

Step 5.  Focus on the shared objective. Begin again from the center of the table.  Focus on the objective you and the other person share, the common goal, rather than the difference in your proposed solutions.  If you need to discuss feelings do not be accusatory, do not invalidate the other person’s position. Reflect their position to them, make them understand they are heard AND focus on the common objective that you share.

 

Step 6. Validate.  Validate the other party’s opinion/position.  You do not have to agree, but you must let them know that you have heard their position. Alternatives must be framed in a way that does not invalidate the other person’s position but shows them how the alternative will benefit them and your shared objectives. A cooperative atmosphere is critical to building trust and to any hope of a successful resolution. Nothing can be accomplished without trust, and trust can only be engendered when both parties think cooperatively.

 

Step 7.  Agree and Resolve, if possible. When a resolution is accomplished, both parties must be clear about what they are agreeing to and abide by their agreement.  Make sure that everyone clearly understands and agrees with what has been decided.

 

What are the greatest communication challenges you face?  How would transforming them impact your work, your bottom line, and your life?  I welcome your comments and thoughts on the blog and encourage you to recognize that power of turning conflict into communication, communication into collaboration. 

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach

Success Leaves Clues: Trailblazer Edition 7, John Nosta

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“If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”  Isaac Newton

Is it time to step up to the plate, put on your cape and develop the mindset that will change your life and the life of others by helping you think, live, lead and succeed to purpose If you answered yes to one of these questions, you will especially enjoy my Monday posts, short profiles of people who are standing on the shoulders of giants.  People who are not afraid to be change-makers and trailblazers because they believe in our ability to create and sustain a better tomorrow, a better future.

I believe that we are standing on a glass cliff facing the greatest renaissance we have ever known or a descent into the darkness of need, greed, ego and destruction that has destroyed every fiefdom and kingdom in recorded history.  The greatest challenge we face is accepting the fact that the future must be different, and that creating a better future means adapting, changing the way we think, developing an evolution of self that drives grit, growth and positive results for all.  It is this challenge that speaks to my heart, it is this challenge that led me to develop the 3Q model and has been the pivot point in my life and work.  It is this challenge that compelled me to highlight the work of fellow trailblazers and change-makers because I believe with all my heart that we each have a role in creating a better tomorrow.

I am honored and delighted to introduce you to John Nosta, change-maker, trailblazer, and the #1 global influencer in digital health.   John has helped to guide companies, NGO’s and governments through the exponential change in the health and technology marketplaces.  (Scroll down for John’s bio)

 

Success Leaves Clues.  3 important questions, and equally important answers from, John Nosta, CEO Nostalab

  1. What has been your greatest accomplishment as a trailblazer and change-maker serving a higher purpose?
    My greatest accomplishment has been my talent for translation–to take complicated aspects of science and medicine and articulate them is a way that is both resonant and interesting to a      Specific target audience. From scientists to caregivers, it’s been my goal to empower innovation through strategic and creative communications.
  2. What do you want to be remembered for?
    It’s my hope that I’ll be remembered less for the individual innovations but for the individuals whose lives I have touched.
  3. What is your favorite quote?   “As you think, so you act. As you act, so  you become.” The Upanishads

John Nosta is a thinker and top disruptor in digital health, life sciences and the pharmaceutical industry. John is the founder of NOSTALAB—a digital health think tank.   He’s currently ranked as the #1 global influencer in digital health and is an international speaker and subject matter expert who has helped to guide companies, NGO’s and governments through the exponential change in the health and technology marketplaces.  A member of the Google Health Advisory Board, pens HEALTH CRITICAL for Forbes–a top global blog on health & technology and THE DIGITAL SELF for Psychology Today—a leading blog focused on the digital transformation of humanity.  He is also on the faculty of Exponential Medicine.  John was a research associate at Harvard Medical School and has co-authored several papers with global thought-leaders in the field of cardiovascular physiology with a focus on acute myocardial infarction, ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. He cut his teeth big agencies including Ogilvy CommonHealth, where he has held a series of positions including Chief Creative Officer, Chief Strategic Officer and unit President before founding Nostalab.

Selected Videos from John, a small sample of his prolific work:

Wisdom from the World’s Top Digital Health Influencer

How Digital Health is the Future!

TEDx Video:  Genius is our birthright and mediocrity is self-imposed.

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach

 

 

Nine Steps to Building a Thriving Organization in Disruptive Times

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Is your organization people ready to make the necessary transition from the age of information to the age of innovation?

Can you create not only a learning organization but a living organization where adaptive communication, management, and leadership thrive?  

 

Here are nine simple, but powerful steps:

1. Be a promise manager and leader. Use every opportunity to model promise management and leadership. Build the DNA of all successful relationships, trust. Do what you say, come through with the promises you make.

2. Find the DNA of success. Get coached so that you can not only build but sustain the high emotional intelligence edge, life, leadership, communication and whole brain thinking strengths that are the new currency of success.

3. Fail Forward. The only way to build and sustain success in an environment of constant change, challenge, competition is to learn to fail forward. Develop a new perspective on change, challenges, competition and failures that is relentlessly solution focused.

4. Get out of the comfort zone on a daily basis. There is nothing comfortable about the era in which we are living and leading. Learn to embrace and use moments that take you out of your comfort zone as opportunities to stretch, grow, learn and succeed.

5. Cultivate humour, optimism, and resiliency, while retaining a realistic perspective. Take time each day for a good laugh. Brain science tells us that laughter not only connects you with others but it also helps strengthen the immune system, creativity, and enhanced ideation.

6. Nurture and build collective intelligence; develop vertical and horizontal communication. Success is not achieved alone. Your people are your most important asset.

7. Build your diversity quotient. A global marketplace, a war for talent, and a diverse workforce all demand a new perspective that will allow you to understand and successfully negotiate the cultural and ethnic differences that can deride communication, effectiveness, engagement, action-ability, and results.

8.  Don’t react-respond.   Build your adaptive management and leadership skills because the era of command and control leadership is passé. Adaptive management and leadership mean keeping an eagle eye on your goals and objectives, values and vision while also building an emotionally intelligent, adaptive leadership and management style that is responsive and not reactive.

9. Positively adapt and model changes in your management and leadership style. Send the message loud and clear that positive change is where it is at. Encourage learning, growth, collaboration, and action!

Irene Becker | Just Coach

Success Leaves Clues: Trailblazer Edition 6

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I think that it is especially important to honour those who have lived a life of service and whose work has changed and saved many lives.  Mark Persaud is such a man, and I am delighted to share his answers to my 3 trailblazer questions.  And, if you want to get inspired, skip to the bottom of this post for his biography.  Kudos, Mark Persaud for being a change-maker and trailblazer who has not only inspired many and changed their lives, but also represents leadership in the truest sense of the word.

 

Success Leaves Clues.  3 important questions, and equally important answers from Mark Persaud and his inspiring bio!

What is your favourite quote? “Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” – Norman Cousins

What do you want to be remembered for? I want to be remembered for fearlessness, passion, resilience, compassion and love of animals

What have been your greatest accomplishments?  (1) Assisting thousands of vulnerable persons in need through my work in the not-for-profit sector and volunteerism. (2) Being an anti-discrimination advocate.

Brief bio of Mark Persaud:  Mark M. Persaud, LL.B., LL.M., LL.D. honoris causa is a member of the Ontario Bar and held a broad range of positions with the Department of Justice as a prosecutor, counsel to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and civil litigation counsel. He studied political science at York University and obtained his law degrees from Osgoode Hall Law School . He also studied at the Center for Study of Values in Public Life at Harvard University. He is the recipient of many awards and recognitions for his civic and public sector contributions including a Public Sector Law Gold Key Award in 2007 from Osgoode Hall Law School, both the Queen Elizabeth II Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals for leadership and significant service to Canada and being nominated by the diplomatic community for the prestigious 2006 Seoul Peace Prize. He was twice elected to the national executive of a Federal Canadian political party and has chaired and advised on political campaigns at the federal, provincial and municipal levels. He has also been recognized as an exceptional lawyer by the Law Society of Upper Canada as part of the Lawyers Make History project as well as receiving a Doctor of Laws ( LL.D.) honoris causa in June, 2016 from the Law Society of Upper Canada.  Persaud practises in both civil and criminal litigation including in the areas of commercial and construction litigation, administrative and regulatory law and professional discipline. He has also been an adjunct law professor in the United States and a media commentator.  CLICK here to read Mark Persaud’s keynote address upon receipt of his Doctorate of Laws honoris causa from the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Irene Becker | Just Coach

 

 

How to Become the Change You Seek in Ten Minutes a Day

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How can you become the change you seek?
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is about doing 3 things that are critical to surviving and thriving in disruptive and/or turbulent times, three things that can change YOUR life. Questions and cool tools (exercises to achieve the following 3 things follow below)

1. Develop a growth mindset
2. Become a possibility thinker
3. Embrace and appreciated the positive things in your life/career because doing so builds resiliency, strength and creative thought.


 

Questions for YOU:
•Are you dissatisfied with some aspect of your life, your relationships, your job/career, your organization, your community and/or the uncertain and turbulent state of the world?

•Perhaps you want to put an end to overwhelm and introduce the empower, engagement and growth mindset that can change your life on a multiplicity of levels?

•Do you want to feel that you have greater control or mastery over your future?

 


 

Cool Tools for YOU:  (free exercises that take 10 minutes or less a day that are transformative and life-changing if used on a consistent basis)

1.  Develop a growth mindset by turning dissatisfaction around by applying self-compassion for 5-10 minutes a day.What does that mean? Notice when you have a feeling of dissatisfaction with yourself or someone else, but instead of acting upon it or letting it build up, just watch it and let it go away.  The typical emotional will last up to 90 seconds, and learning to build constructive discontent, learning how to turn negativity around is very powerful. Click here to learn more about constructive discontent.

2.  Build a growth mindset by taking 5-10 minutes a day for positive reflection; time to look at every challenge you faced today as an opportunity for growth, learning and/or success.  Click here to for Carol Dweck’s outstanding book, Mindset:  The New Psychology of Success

3. Take control of your life by taking control of YOUR story. Your narrative, your personal dialogue and self talk will either empower your best self or disempower your greatest purpose and potential.  You are the captain of your thoughts, learning to change the way you think is coachable, doable and often life changing.  Click here to read more.

 



Thoughts for YOU to Consider:

YOU are the solution, the magic bullet and the secret to your own strength, stamina, satisfaction and success because what you think, what you believe and what you decide to feel has been scientifically proven to create YOUR reality.

Do you want to become a possibility thinker? Inspire greatness? Is it time to embrace your ability to become a success statistic, rather than a success statistic? Perhaps you want to put an end to overwhelm and introduce the empower, engagement and growth mindset that can change your life on a multiplicity of levels.  Carpe diem.

Seize this day knowing that change is not the problem, it’s the answer.  YOU can learn to develop a NEW way of thinking, a new way of communicating and even a new way of being that can change your life and the lives of others.



Actions for YOU to Consider:

Browse the blog, take a look at our new courses and programs and reach out because we will reach back!  I am passionate about our ability to not simply rise to the challenges before us, but to use them as a lever for our greatest potential because I did it, my clients have done it and it has become my life’s work to reach as many people as I can with the benefits of 3Q Personal Development and Leadership.

©Irene Becker 2018 

Irene Becker | Just Coach

 

 

Success Leaves Clues: Trailblazer Series Edition 5

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Our ability to make a positive difference, a transformational difference in society reflects the heart and soul of great leadership, and Cinnie Noble is a shining example of this leadership.  Her trailblazing, change-making and successful career include being awarded the highest achievement in Canada, The Order of Canada,  for making a social difference that made positively impacted society as well as the development of a unique conflict management system that is taught globally and 6 books.  Her many awards include:   The Diamond Jubilee Medal (Commemorative Medal in honour of the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II accession to the Throne) 2017 • Award of Excellence in Alternative Dispute Resolution from the Ontario Bar Association

 

 

Success Leaves Clues.  3 important questions, and equally important answers from Cinnie Noble

  1. What have been your greatest accomplishments as a trailblazer and change-maker?
    I developed the first travel agency in Canada for people with disabilities for which I was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1991. I became a lawyer, trained as a mediator, became a certified coach and developed a unique conflict management coaching model and one-on-one system that has helped people worldwide move through conflict while also developing competence in conflict resolution.  Authoring 6 books – 2 on conflict coaching   Conflict Mastery: Questions to Guide You (2014) and Conflict Management Coaching: The CINERGY™ Model (2011) has enabled me to extend my reach and create greater awareness for the imperative a tactics that help turn conflict around.

 

  1. What is your mission? My mission is to honour the skills I’m blessed with and those I’ve worked hard to develop to live a life of purpose – on purpose.

 

  1. What is your favourite quote?  “I don’t ask for the sights in front of me to change, only the depth of my seeing.” Mary Oliver

 

Cinnie Noble, founder of CINERGY® Coaching, a division of Noble Solutions Inc.  Cinnie is a  former social worker, lawyer, certified mediator (C.Med) and coach (PCC) who has studied and practised a range of conflict management services for over 20 years and developed her unique CINERGY conflict management/coaching model, coaching people worldwide and also, training  coaches, mediators, lawyers, HR, leaders, social workers, psychologists and others around the world, in her unique conflict resolution model.  Website:www.cinergycoaching.com

 

 

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach

 

3 Ways to Prime Yourself for Success in Disruptive Times (in 10 minutes or less)

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Do you want to improve key skills;  critical thinking, problem-solving, decision making, influencing skills, communication and conflict resolution, time and energy management, delegation skills, development and leadership of teams, giving and receiving feedback, empowering others while achieving greater focus, satisfaction, and success?

Image Credit:  Getty  Images

The aforementioned skills are the focus of executive coaching and are critical to your success, but at a time when change, challenges, uncertainty, and possibilities are occurring faster than ever before, we need to also develop new ways of thinking that take us forward faster, stronger and happier.

The Bad
If YOU not aware that the World Health Organization forecasts that stress/anxiety/depression will be the MAJOR causes of disability in the world by 2020 you should be.  Our dialogue around this topic is clearly avoidant, but it is those who put their heads in the sand who will be the most impacted and negatively impacted.  You can run, but you cannot hide from a silent, from an insidious problem that is destroying lives, organizations and businesses from inside out.

The Good
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is about taking small, but important actions to help you become what Nasim Taleb described as “anti-fragile” because the greatest technical knowledge and the best people/communication skills will not be enough to help you move from NOW to HOW in your life, your career, business or community.  A whole new world demands a whole new way of thinking that takes you forward faster, smarter and happier!


The Solution-A solution that is free, powerful and takes up to 10 minutes a day.
Emotional stuff, anxiety, depression…yes, the stuff we don’t want to talk about will in the end catch up with us, but before it does here are three steps you can take as a leader to become a success statistic and NOT a stress statistic.

Cool Tool #1: Disrupt negative thinking.

Instructions: Take 2 minutes a day to think of one positive experience that’s occurred in the past 24 hours. It works because the brain can’t tell the difference between visualization and actual experience. So, you’ve just doubled the most meaningful experience in your brain. Do it for 21 days, your brain starts connecting the dots for you. This tool, The Doubler is from the great work of happiness researcher, expert, and author, Shawn Achor

Cool Tool #2:  Take control by giving up control
What?  Yes, this counter-intuitive advice is powerful because it will help you develop a critical 21st Century life, leadership and success skill, emotional agility.  Do NOT numb down an emotion, do not force yourself to be positive or try to avoid what you are feeling.
Instructions: Let yourself feel what you are feeling, label the emotion and make the choice to move past it by spending 5 minutes journaling what you are feeling and the benefits of moving past this emotion.

 

Cool Tool #3:  Recharge and Reboot.

Gratitude can not only help us to feel better, focus on the positive, get empowered but it will also build emotional agility. What you focus on grows and science tells us that we cannot be grateful and angry at the same time.
Instructions: Prepare for this cool tool by distracting your brain (do anything that takes you out of the moment (wiggling your toes, pinching your arm, touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth) so that you can focus on 3 things you are grateful for.  Close your eyes and focus on 3 things that happened today that you are grateful for.  See them, feel them, make them foremost in your mind, then journal what you are feeling!

 

Try one or all of the cool tools this week.  Remember, consistency is key.  I would be delighted to hear your results, and invite you to comment on the blog because we do not need to be on a collision course with anxiety that can insidiously erode an organization, a business, a professional practice, a life and many lives.

Carpe diem!  

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach

3 Success Steps You Need to Take | Read this post in 5 minutes or less

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1. Optimize by leading change

Attitude is altitude, and keeping your attitude positive in the face of a myriad of challenges is a learned skill that can change your life. It means developing a critical “Q”  skill I call constructive discontent!  Constructive discontent refers to seeing the problems and challenges with new eyes that turn problems and challenges into friends/positive levers that create the mindset, skillset, and engagement that drives positive change.

 

 

2. Humanize by improving communication

The leader who communicates well succeeds well.   Humanizing communication, adapting your words, your tone, your body language for your audience and also learning to respond to feedback in ways that create engagement.  Humanizing communication will also help you build another key leadership competency-enhanced EQ/EI.   (emotional intelligence) that is equally important to wellness and personal success.

 

 

3. Monetize by failing forward faster and better than before.

Hone your ability and your people’s ability to fail forward, faster and better. Remember that a whole new mindset will produce new results that help you navigate the turbulence, changes, and challenges of 21st-century business and life with greater dexterity and success.

 

Anything else?  You betcha>>Click to learn about our new programs for leaders and managers!  Programs that are built for success at the speed of change!

 

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach

Success Leaves Clues-Edition 3

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Kate Nasser is an author,  people-skills and customer service expert whose work has been shared in major publications and she has also won numerous awards that speak to the excellence of her programs.  In addition to a 28+ year successful career, Kate is a social media influencer and the leader of two social media Twitter Chats People Skills and Lead Morale.

What has been your greatest accomplishment as a trailblazer and change-maker?  My greatest accomplishment as a trailblazing woman business owner and change maker is awakening *everyone’s ability to close the gaps between themselves and others. I have shown leaders and teams that everyone can learn how to work better together. They have taken this same workplace awareness and ability into the world at large.  The benefits are infinite.

What do you want to be remembered for?  I would like people to remember me for giving people the inspiration and people skills to close the gaps and build bonds for success in business and happiness in life.  I would like to be remembered for developing uncommon talent for developing common bonds.

What is your fav quote (by other than yourself)?  

“People will never forget how you made them feel.” ~ Maya Angelou

 

 

KATE’S BIO:

Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, is the founder and President of CAS, Inc.  Her keynotes, workshops, and consultations turn workplace interaction challenges into mega business success in leadership, morale, teamwork, and customer service. Kate is a workplace tested consultant & change partner whom clients around the world have hailed as highly effective.

See footage of her in action and testimonials from clients at https://KateNasser.com. Get Kate’s hallmark book — Leading Morale — the only book on that spells out how to *lead morale from the start instead of fixing it once it’s broken.

 

 

 

 

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach

 

Feel Happier in 10 minutes or less

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Reset your GPS, adopt new ways of thinking, communicating or doing that can change your life.

First do something to distract your mind, then try using a “cool tool” (3Q exercise that is free, takes 10 minutes or less and has been proven to work!).

Learning to cultivate happiness in good times and bad is critical and doable.

 

7  Cool Tools (3Q exercises that are free, and that you can do in 10 minutes or less a day!) and excellent happiness quotes!

Quote: “If you want happiness for a lifetime-help someone else.” Chinese Proverb
Tip One →Find the light and share it with someone else.
 Step out of sadness by helping another person feel better, or be there to listen when they want to share their thoughts. Try it, because it is scientifically proven to work!

 

Quote: “Happiness never decreases by being shared.”Buddha
Tip Two:  Share a joke or funny story with someone who will appreciate it because laughter is contagious and very good for mood, cognition, and health!

 

Quote: “Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can’t love and respect yourself – no one else will be able to make that happen.  Stacey Charter
Tip Three → Apply love.  Spend five minutes a day thinking about how you love yourself or learning to appreciate and love yourself.   Yes, think of all the qualities that make you special, because each human being is gifted with attributes that are truly lovable.  If you had a dysfunctional childhood, learning to re-parent yourself, learning to comfort the child within, to love him/her can be pivotal.  If you are going through a difficult experience or challenge the need to love, nurture and appreciate yourself is critical.

 

Quote:  “Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” Winnie the Pooh
 Tip Four →Take time out each day for blank time; time when you DO not worry, time when you are just at peace and at one with the universe. Ten minutes a day of blank time can be a life changer.

 

Quote:   “We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” Frederick Keonig
Tip Five →Adopt an attitude of gratitude. Think about 3 things you are grateful for because it is impossible to feel grateful and sad at the same time. 
Keep a gratitude journal or simply make a mental note before you go to bed and when you wake up of what you are grateful for.

 

Quote:  “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” Thich Nhat Hanh
Tip Six: → Smile because science tells us that the simple act of smiling will elevate your mood.

 

Quote:  “When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”  Helen Keller
Tip Seven →Beware of the abyss and search for the light.  The longer you stare at the darkness, the more it will overwhelm you.  Look for the good, no matter how hard it is to see it because if you force yourself to look for the good will help you reset your negative GPS.

 

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” Marcus Aurelius 

More on Happiness in Disruptive, Uncertain or Turbulent Times?  YOU Betcha!  Stay tuned for next week’s Wednesday Wisdom, and the site because there is a great deal of information and cool tools to help you feel happier!

 

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach

Rewire Your Brain: Get rid of negative thinking in 10 minutes or less

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Is it time to turn negativity around?  Become energized, empowered and solution focused at the speed of change, in the face of multiple challenges and on those days where the grind and stress are driving you silently crazy? Helping professionals in high stress, high change workplaces and careers minimize stress and optimize talent and success is core to my 3Q workBeat the stress trap.I have done it, my clients do it and you can do it do in less than 10 minutes a dayYes, here come the cool tools (exercises that take ten minutes or less and will help you rewire your brain by getting rid of default patterns of thinking and feeling that are impeding your greatest potential and happiness)

1. Delete:  Delete an energy stealer or inertia builder that is undermining your ability to transform challenges into solutions. Catch your self when you are thinking a negative thought, say stop or next and shift your focus.  Start right now by deleting one negative thought you have or had today that is not taking you forward.

2. Reboot: Stop the blame game,  let go of who did what, or who has what.  Reboot a better perspective by letting go of one thought that is causing you more pain than gain.  Let go, reboot and refocus on a positive goal and intention that takes you forward. The impact of one positive goal and intention is powerful.

3. Upload:  Take 2 minutes a day three times a day to be positive, to let go of any negative thoughts and beliefs. Click on the blue text for a simple,  but powerful exercise you can do almost anywhere.  An exercise that will help you build greater mindfulness, enhanced focus, improved resilience and also improves focus and ideation.

4. Repower: Schedule your day with blank time, time between meetings, time between commitments where you can simply recharge.  Science has documented the powerful benefits of blank time to cognition, health, focus and resiliency.  Diarize your blank time whether it is 5 minutes, 10 minutes or 20 minutes, because giving your brain a rest will only make you think smarter, feel better and increase your focus and effectiveness.

Carpe diem.  Delete-Reboot-Upload-Recharge in as little as 10 minutes a day.  You will be glad you did!
©Irene Becker, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

Success Leaves Clues | Edition 1

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Image Credit: Getty Images 

1. Embrace your ability to be the change and make a change.
2. Change is the answer. Human beings have survived due to their adaptability.
3. Become relentlessly solution driven, turn default negative settings around.  Build your 3Q Edge™, your greatest advantage in disruptive times.

 

Success leaves clues, and so does great leadership.  Enjoy this interview with James Strock, Trailblazer and Change-maker

James Strock is a trailblazer and change-maker who has made a profound difference in public organizations, government and companies through his work as an entrepreneur and reformer.  He is also a prolific writer who is the author of one of my FAVORITE leadership books, Serve to Lead 2.0, a book that should be the leadership manual for every 21st-century leadership curriculum.

  1. What has been your greatest accomplishment as a trailblazer and change-maker serving a higher purpose? I’ve been blessed to be granted multiple opportunities to start up and/or bring change to institutions and enterprises. My service as environmental secretary for California and chief of law enforcement for USEPA each involved reform and renewal of agencies during turbulent times. My added value was largely from identifying and supporting talented teams. That kind of entrepreneurial approach is the thread runs through my work over the years.
  2. At what age did you realize that you wanted to make a powerful difference in the world? Without according such generous characterizations to myself, I’ve always had an outsider’s vantage point. This prompted me to challenge, without the reservations of insiders, what I perceived to be disappointing elements in the status quo. Looking back, I think a decisive time in my development occurred at age 16. I sought and was granted the opportunity to produce and moderate a weekly television program on the NBC affiliate in New Orleans, where I was in high school. At that time, there were only three major networks and PBS. Digital technology and cable were in the future. Through this experience, I was exposed to a number of remarkable people who generously consented to be guests. They ranged from politicians to entertainers to journalists to medical pioneers. What they all had in common was leadership in their realms. This was an extraordinary education that fueled my capacity to serve.
  3. What has been the most important event in your life? This is an interesting question that one could take in any number of directions. Let me say that it’s the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This was part of a historical earthquake, arguably the beginning of the end of the wars and associated totalitarian ideologies that wracked Europe and then the world beginning in 1914. I had the privilege of witnessing this remarkable moment first-hand in Berlin during New Year 1989-90. This is the greatest historical event of my lifetime to-date, without a doubt. It has had a great effect in my life and work, even though I’m an American, geographically distant. There was a transcendent flash, when the consciousness of people simultaneously altered, transforming apparently impregnable realities. When the spirit of the peoples of Central Europe came together as one, the ongoing demoralization of the Russian occupiers and their vicious apparatus gave way. The massed armaments and organized violence that ruled ruthlessly, in some cases non-stop for decades under various flags, could not withstand the simultaneous awakening of the people. Among my personal takeaways is the confidence–the faith–that transformational change can occur, no matter how unlikely it appears. In the words of Nelson Mandela, architect of another historic moment, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
  4. What do you want to be remembered for? I would like to be a source of encouragement for others, helping them reach their potential. I strive to do that throughout my life and work. My work in leadership development is intended in large part to transmit and translate values and hard-earned wisdom from prior generations. Such history is very much a living thing and can provide actionable context for current challenges. Most importantly, it also links our efforts to rising generations, who should always be front and center in our minds and spirit. What is your favorite quote? As a voracious reader, I have many, many quotations that are favorites in various ways. If there is one setting where anyone must choose one sentiment over all others, it’s an epitaph. One of my favorites is from the English Labour Party leader, Tony Benn. To represent his ultimate service amid a wide-ranging, active life, Benn selected a concise message for his tombstone: “He encouraged us.” That is an ideal that I also strive for.
  5. What advice would you give your 20-year-old self? Strive to be the best listener not only that you know, but that you know of. Never miss an opportunity to be kind.

 

 


James Strock
is an independent entrepreneur and reformer in business, government, and politics. A prolific writer, James Strock has authored His most recent book is the second edition of Serve to Lead: 21st Century Leaders Manual.
website: https://servetolead.org  Wikipedia bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Strock

 

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach

Rewire Your Brain to be Positive and Achieve Success

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Image Credit: Getty Images

 

 

Let’s cut through complexity to the heart of your power, your potential, your ability to negotiate change, challenges and see the opportunities before you.  The following guest post by international leadership guru, author, and speaker, Professor Rao, speaks to our ability to rewire our brains for increased positivity and success.  It is a topic that I am passionate about as it is the foundation of my work, mission and 3Q model/philosophy.  Change is not the problem, it’s the answer and it is our ability to change and adapt that has paved the way for our growth and survival from our earliest historical beginnings to the present. (Scroll to the bottom for a link to Cool Tools, exercises you can do in 10 minutes or less a day to recharge, refocus, and rewire your brain for positivity and success!)


How to Rewire Your Brain to be Positive and Achieve Success by Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D

“Leadership means building a new bridge, a stronger bridge between what is and what can be because the future lies in the courage, integrity, and wisdom of those who dare to lead, learn, and succeed forward.” —Irene Becker, Just Coach It, 3Q Leadership Expert

Most problems in the world are the result of negative thinking and lack of empathy. Research shows that humans produce approximately 70,000 thoughts per day and most of them are negative.  We often find television channels and media bombarding with loads of negative information to pollute the minds of the viewers. The media highlights negativity to invite the attention of the humans quickly and exploits their weaknesses to ensure their survival. Even the people with positive thinking develop negative thinking assuming that the world is negative. It is only exceptional individuals and intellectuals who understand these facts and combat negativity. In this regard, we will explore tools to rewire your brain to be positive and achieve success.


Tools to Rewire Your Brain

“You cannot sit back and wait to be happy and healthy and have a great thought life; you have to make the choice to make this happen. You have to choose to get rid of the toxic and get back in alignment with God. You can be overwhelmed by every small setback in life, or you can be energized by the possibilities they bring.” ― Caroline Leaf, Switch On Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health

The people with high EQ (Emotional Quotient) are more successful than the people with high IQ (Intelligence Quotient) because they successfully rewired their brains by getting along with others and exploring opportunities with an open mind. Hence, developing high EQ helps greatly to rewire your brain. Here are some tools to rewire your brain to be positive. Strengthen your subconscious mind with a positive frame of mind. Give positive commands to your subconscious mind to evolve as a healthy individual. Practice for 21 days. Think positive instead of negative. Don’t look at the future based on your unpleasant experiences and events. Learn lessons from failures instead of brooding over them. Develop confidence and optimism. Believe in yourself. Change the way you perceive the world. Surround with positive people to create positive vibrations.  Reflect your thoughts regularly. Go for a walk or gym to energize your body and mind. Clear your mind from clutter through meditation. Be creative by following a different path or route. Avoid complaining, criticizing and condemning others. Instead, see positive in others. Praise people liberally. Make them feel important.

John B. Arden, in his book, Rewire Your Brain: Think Your Way to a Better Life offers four-fold sage advice as follows: Feed your brain now that you have a better idea of how the brain works, let’s focus on a method of rewiring your brain that involves the following four steps: Focus, Effort, Effortlessness and Determination (FEED). Focus allows you to pay attention to what’s happening here and now, and this starts the process of neuroplasticity. Effort shifts your attention from perception to action. Making a focused effort activates your brain to establish new synaptic connections. In the beginning, it takes focus, effort, and more energy in your brain, but after you make the swing or say hello enough times, it becomes effortless. Thus, to rewire your brain you’ll have to stay with the new behavior long enough to make it become fairly automatic. In time, practice will make it effortless. Your brain won’t have to work as hard once you reach this level. The final step in feeding your brain is staying in practice. Do the activity again and again. Being determined in this way need not be tiring and painful. If you practice the other three steps in feeding your brain, by the time you get to this one, it should come easily. That’s because effortlessness precedes it. Thus, determination simply means that you stay in practice. By being determined, you’ll complete the feeding process to rewire your brain.

Irene Becker, in her article titled, ‘Building And Sustaining Great Leadership In Disruptive Times Possibility Thinking, Communicating, And Doing: A 3Q Leadership™ Solution’ in Wiley’s Leader to Leader Journal offers some simple and powerful cool tools that you can easily integrate into your day such as identifying the path (walking/driving) you prefer, then taking a different one; experimenting with taking one old habit every week and tossing it out the window or changing it in your personal life; walking down a street you are familiar with and searching for something you have never seen or noticed before; uplifting your posture; stretching your strengths by applying them in new ways; writing a few sentences in the reverse direction, or with your opposing hand; embracing new experiences; changing at least one routine every day; pausing for ten seconds before you respond, taking your ego (need to be validated) out of the equation and refocusing your objective; taking charge of tension by releasing it, fast; clenching whatever part of your body is tense, and release it; practicing mindfulness for five to ten minutes a day; sipping ice water; moving more; and laughing more, and smiling more because laughing gives your brain an aerobic workout and is an excellent stress reliever and mood booster and smiling automatically elevates your mood.

Overcome your psychological and physical limitations by rewiring your brain. Some people are hardwired with superstitions. They find it difficult to overcome them. It is possible to overcome by rewiring their brains.  Take up one bad practice in a day and rewire your brain with good practice. After achieving success, take up another bad practice to overcome by rewiring. In this way, you can get out of your bad practices to excel as a healthy individual. Remember, rejections make you stronger in life. Just because people failed, they should not give up on their passions and endeavors. Eminent inventors and entrepreneurs are smart in rewiring their brains. That is why they succeeded in their lives and made a difference to the world. For instance, Edison invented the bulb and Colonel Sanders founded KFC by rewiring their brains.

Conclusion

“By focusing on possibilities, you can see more than a potential light at the end of the tunnel. The light doesn’t have to be at the end of the tunnel; it can illuminate an opportunity wherever you are.” ―John B. Arden, Rewire Your Brain: Think Your Way to a Better Life

People often complain that they cannot break their bad habits which is a myth. Breaking bad habits helps you unlock your hidden potential and acquire knowledge, skills, and abilities effortlessly. It is rightly remarked that below average people talk about individuals, average people talk about issues and above average people talk about ideas. Rewire your brain to explore ideas and insights to excel as a role model for others and stand out as a leader.  Everything is possible in this world and everything can be changed in the world by rewiring your brain. To summarize, don’t be influenced by outdated dogmas. When you want to overcome your bad practices, you must rewire your brain. When you want to learn, unlearn and relearn, you must rewire your brain. When you want to grow as a leader, you must rewire your brain.

“You are not a victim. You can control your reactions. You do have a choice.” ― Caroline Leaf, Switch On Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health

References
Rewire Your Brain: Think Your Way to a Better Life by John B. Arden (Wiley; 1 edition, March 22, 2010)

Building And Sustaining Great Leadership In Disruptive Times:  Possibility Thinking, Communicating, And Doing: A 3Q Leadership™ Solution by Irene Becker (Wiley; Leader to Leader Journal, March 2017)

Author Bio

Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D., is the Father of “Soft Leadership”, Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, C-Suite advisor, international speaker and the author of 37 books including the award-winning 21 Success Sutras for CEOs  He is passionate about serving and making a difference in the lives of others, he shares his wisdom and his 4 blogs and wants to build one million students as global leaders by 2030   Contact: msrlctrg@gmail.com.

 

Cool Tools-Ten Minute a Day (or Less) 3Q Tools to Recharge, Refocus,  Rewire Your Brain for Positivity and Success!

 

Irene Becker, Executive Coach  irene@justcoachit.com

 

 

 

 

Two Minute Reflection on Leadership, Failure and Success

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Make that critical shift forward.

Be a promise manager and leader who fails forward


Use every opportunity to model promise management

and leadership.

Build the DNA of all successful relationships, trust.

 

Do what you say, come through with the promises you make and when something goes wrong and you fail…


fess up to the error and teach your people the power of learning to fail forward. 

Model it, teach it, encourage it because the sheer velocity of change means that the best and brightest among us will fail, and those who fail forward will win.

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach It -The 3Q Edge
Grit, growth communication & greatness in disruptive times
My one word is #inspire.  My passion is #leadership

 

Empowerment and Success in Disruptive/Uncertain Times-10 Minute Cool Tool #2

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Inspire yourself, because doing so will take you forward faster than before.

If you want to benefit from the following cool tool(free and often life-changing exercise that can be done in 10 minutes or less), you need to practice it every day.  If you want to help contribute to the success of others and to inspire/motivate positive change, grit, and growth, I encourage you to post your comments and experiences on the blog.

Last week we learned about a ten-minute Cool Tool to prime yourself for a successful a day and build your 3Q Edge. Click here for last week’s post-10 minute cool tool by Anthony Robbins.

After or before you have primed yourself for success, it is critical to make sure that you have found your Happy spot (H spot) Everyone is different.  Some people need to tune into their H spot before their priming exercise, others prefer to do so after they have done their morning success priming.  Go with your gut and find out what works for you.

 

 

Cool Tool # 2:  Get Happy NOW!

Have you ever had one of those bad days that started with stubbing your toe, or some kind of negative experience that occurred the moment you got up?  We all have and we have also experienced days in which the negativity followed us throughout the day and everything that could go wrong seemed to do so.

What is the solution to this problem?  How can you set yourself up for success?  Build emotional intelligence, grit and a feeling of empowerment that takes you forward faster, smarter and happier?

After you have completed your priming exercise (read post 1) you need to make sure that YOU are feeling positive, empowered and ready to attack the day with enthusiasm.

Is it time to put on your invisible cape?  Create a space for greatness? Actualize your personal and professional ability in disruptive and uncertain times? Scroll down to enjoy this week’s  Wednesday Wisdom, a cool tool (ten minute 3Q exercise-free, simple and powerful) that you can incorporate into your daily routine.

What can you do before or after you have primed yourself for success?  Find your H Spot, your happy space.  Make yourself laugh, give yourself time to smile and feel confident.  Here are three different ways to accomplish this goal.  Three Cool Tools (exercises that take less than 10 minutes that you can incorporate in your day.

1.  As a round person, I have found that jumping naked in front of the bathroom mirror first thing in the morning is fabulous.  It is hard to keep a straight face or to hold energized feelings down when you are jumping up and down!

2.  Make happiness your focus.  DO one simple thing that will make you feel happy.  It does not matter how silly this thing is, what matters is that you find your happy spot before breakfast or coffee.

3. Get rid of toxic/negative emotions by writing them on a piece of paper, crumpling it and throwing it away.

Carpe diem.  It’s your time to shine!Try this cool tool out every day for the next week.  You will be very surprised at the important and powerful effect it will have on your life and work.

3Q  has helped executives, entrepreneurs and professions achieve breakthrough results in disruptive and uncertain times.  It began as a method that helped me successfully negotiate the type of life and career crises that changed my world as I knew it.  Whether you are facing a difficult challenge or you simply want to make yourself anti-fragile, bulletproof in a world of relentless change, I encourage you to follow the Wednesday Wisdom and try the cool tools I post on for size and fit!

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower your communication, leadership and life edge? We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

 

Empowerment & Success in Disruptive/Uncertain Times: 10 minute cool tool #1

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Paint a new picture-get a new result

Your ability to change your perspective, to develop cognitive and emotional dexterity is as real as it is critical.  And, building your 3Q Edge, your ultimate advantage, is both challenging, inspiring and fun!  Yes, you CAN recognize and engage your strengths while using challenges, changes, stressors, and frustrations to leverage your greatest potential.

New mindset = new result
Easier said than done?  Think again.  Change is your greatest strength.

You can do this and I am going to tell you how you can build Q strengths, strengths that help you build your best life and career.  Strengths that help YOU contribute to a better tomorrow. It is my mission to help as many people as possible not be part of the World Health forecast that anxiety and depression will be the major cause of physical disability in the world by 2020!

Uplevel your enthusiasm-prime yourself for success in your life and career;

Yes, you can achieve in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) world.  REALIZE your ability to develop a NEW relationship with change, challenges, uncertainty even failures that takes you forward faster, smarter and happier. It is my mission to help you empower, engage and transform what is into what CAN be in your life, leadership, and career; it’s my mission to help you build your 3Q Edge.

The way you start the day is critical to your health, success, and happiness!  Learning to prime yourself for focus, positivity, energy can be life-changing.

If you up on the wrong side of the bed, you need to turn this around as quickly as you can.  Upside, you have the power to change your mindset, you have the power to increase your ability to focus, and getting started is simple. Remember, new mindset-new result.  You cannot build a fire with WET wood.  You will not be able to have your best day, achieve maximum success or happiness with negativity or sadness holding you down.

 CLICK here for a 10-minute priming exercise from Tony Robbins, a great cool tool** to use and to share.  Try it out every morning and share the difference it has made in your life with us on the blog!

 

**I call exercises that are free, fantastic, build 3Q skills AND can be done in 10 minutes or less a day “COOL TOOLS“, and I will be sharing my Cool Tools and the cool tools of thought leaders and change-makers to help you achieve maximum value in minimal time**

Anything else?  Carpe Diem.  Here’s a 3-minute cool tool to turn your positive power up and on, no matter what kind of day you are having! Take a 3-minute break from whatever you are doing and simply think about 3 things you are grateful for and wiggle your toes!  This simple exercise will reset your mood.

 

Podcasts and interviews I’ve done that you may enjoy.
Interview on 3Q Leadership by #1 expert in Intelligent Leadership and #3 Executive Coach, John Mattone
Radio Interview by Deb Scott:  From Pain To Gain In Life And Career
Web TV Interview by Shannon Skinner:  Extraordinary Women Leading In The Face Of Challenges

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower? We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

The Power of YOUR Story-New Edition

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BEWill your story help you engage and sustain your best self or keep you stuck in a rut? Many of us have a problem looking at the challenges we face with new eyes, especially when the challenge me face is our own story. The way you see your life will determine whether YOUR story will empower you to achieve your greatest potential or keep you from truly achieving your heart’s desire. Read more

 

 

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 58,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

The stories we tell ourselves become our worlds.  Perspective is everything, consciousness drives our ability to evolve or devolve, and the desire to make sense of our personal story is something a task that our brain is hard-wired to perform.

The power of YOUR story must be mined because its power lies not in what you have accomplished or not accomplished, but  in the pivot points, the accomplishments that touch your heart, the wins that are milestone markers AND moments of challenge that (if properly used) can help you develop a new sense of self, a better view of your own potential.

From birth to death, the power of our own personal story follows us, and it’s ability to inspire our best self, our best work and help us build our best life is as real as it’s power to create disempowerment, underachievement, overachievement at any cost.

What is YOUR story?  How will you look upon your journey with eyes that will help you see your strengths with greater clarity, and use challenges, failures as a lever for your greatest potential? Q1: improved focus, ideation, innovative thought  Q2: improved resiliency, risk tolerance, empowerment, communication, collaboration  Q3: enhancement of the intrinsic motivators, the timeless values that drive sustainability-courage, integrity, purpose

The power of your story is the fire that can light the power of your greatest potential.  Your ability to see your story with new eyes, eyes that build on three Q skills starts with your desire to look at your story and the story of others with eyes that search a meaning and purpose that aligns with the courage, integrity, purpose, humanity required to take us all forward as one people sharing one planet. In a world of constant change, challenges, competition; at a time of titanic paradox where our ability to develop technological, scientific advances that are REMARKABLE remain dimmed by social, economic, environmental, organizational problems...Your story, my story, our stories and the way we choose to see them can either enhance or reduce our ability to build better lives, better organizations and contribute to a better world.

What is your story?  How will you use it to empower your greatest potential?  How will you listen to the stories of those you lead, work for, befriend and love?  The challenge to see our own stories with new eyes and hear the stories of others with new ears calls to us all!  The call to build new ways of thinking, new ways of listening that take us forward is upon us!  Answering this call is a powerful step forward.

More On  Personal Development-Empowerment-Optimization of Potential?  YOU BETCHA!
Posts, Podcasts, and Web TV Interviews!

There Is Only One Story That Matters
  I Will Not Be Broken
Lighting The Fire Of Human Potential:  Developing A Purposeful Life And Career
Building Essential Success Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change
Ten Ways To Lead Forward In Times Of Complexity And Change
Remove The Wall To Your Greatest Potential
Using Failure To SUCCEED-Practical Tips
The Secret To Personal Development And Growth
Constructive Discontent:  Building A Critical 3Q Life And Leadership Skill
Two Minute Tune Up For Over-Achievers And Under-Achievers

Podcasts and Interviews
Radio Interview by Deb Scott:  From Pain To Gain In Life And Career
Web TV Interview by Shannon Skinner:  Extraordinary Women Leading In The Face Of Challenges

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower? We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

There is Only One Story that Matters

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There is only one story that matters.

It’s not the story of who you are, where you have been or what you have acquired.

It’s the story that speaks to you in moments of wonder and awe; and whispers to you when you are at your lowest moments or facing your greatest failure, pain or loss.

It is a story that ignites YOUR purpose, YOUR ability, and YOUR courage because this story is bigger than you, and it is bigger than me.

It is the story that is the seedbed your greatest potential, your most heartfelt collaboration, your greatest innovations and a new type of communication that builds a bridge across cultural and generational divides.

It is the story of all that is great, purposeful and worthwhile and it is within your reach if you dare to care, if you realize your ability to adapt, evolve and thrive in ways that drive your best self, best work and best life.

And, I can tell you that when you find your story when you realize your ability to take control of who you are, of what you will share and contribute you will embrace a new day, a new path in life that will take you forward happier, smarter and faster than before.

A new path that is a path of gratitude, purpose, and commitment; a new path of enlightened leadership that will change and touch your life and the lives of others in ways you did not realize were possible.

It is a story that will help you become a possibility thinker who is taking a new path, exploring a new passion by learning to use what is to create what can be in YOUR life and the lives of others….

Because the way forward will be very different from the past, and the imperative to make it better than what was speaks to us all.

Next Monday I will start sharing thoughts of the day AND the biography and thoughts of real-life heroes, trailblazers and champions who are building better lives and futures for themselves and others.  Friends and colleagues, special people in business, the arts, the professions who are trailblazers; people like (in alphabetical order) Kare Anderson, Mark S. Babbitt, Michael Ballard, Wayne Clancy,  Peter Cook, Fields Jackson, Jr., Donna D. May, Kate Nasser, Tanveer Naseer, Cinnie Noble, Mark Persaud ,
Frank Sonnenberg,  
James Strock and more!

Enjoy the articles on this blog, articles that speak to our individual and collective ability to adapt, evolve and thrive; our ability to build three critical strengths that drive our best selves, communication, work and lives in disruptive times.  Click here to learn about 3Q benefits why I have dedicated my life to this work.

There is only one story that matters and it is the story of YOUR purpose, YOUR ability, YOUR courage to take back control of who you really are and what you have to contribute.  Carpe diem

© Irene Becker, 2018

 

 

3 Ways to Motivate Yourself During a Busy Week

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Post Views = 5363   Busyness has become a luxury and a status symbol in today’s fast evolving world. But while it makes us feel important and validated, not being able to turn off our “work mode” can more often than not, backfire. While we might think that it would impress our bosses, poor time […]

Motivational Monday: Happiness & Success

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Get inspired and motivated because science confirms that you can prime your brain for greater happiness and success.  Choose one step and try it out every day this week because you’ll be surprised at the difference one small step can make in your happiness and success!

Ten Tips to Prime Your Brain for Success (originally published on Jesse Stoner’s blog)

“I appreciated  this video of Irene Becker, first female CEO of a steel company in Canada, where she shared her personal story of great achievements and losses. Her experience uniquely positions her as an expert on the topic of the relationship between happiness and success. ” Jesse Lyn Stoner

 

10 Tips to Prime Your Brain for Success

➣ That’s right. Happiness must come before success. Staying stuck in a negative rut, dwelling on problems versus being solution oriented will not help you succeed, and it will contribute to what the World Health Organization tells us will be the major cause of disability by 2020—stress, negativity, disengagement.

➣ What exactly does brain science tell us? Most of us were trained to think that success leads to happiness. We now know, through neuroimaging and other longitudinal scientific studies, that achieving success in a rapidly changing and often chaotic world, workplace and marketplace demands a whole new skill set.

Here are

1. Talk nice to yourself! Celebrate every win in your mind’s eye no matter how small. Pay attention to the positive.

2. Connect, get social. Talk to people you care about; talk to people you work with. Make social connections.

3. Hug. Hugs stimulate oxytocin, the “love hormone,” spreading a feel-good boost.

4. Make love. Yes, it’s no surprise that lovemaking boosts happiness levels!

5. Keep a gratitude journal. Writing about what you are thankful for both helps retrain your brain to be more optimistic and positively impacts your health!

6. Get physical. Physical activity is a significant happiness booster. Exercising for 30 minutes a day can take up to 7 years off your chronological age! And, it eases stress, improves sleep, strengthens immunity, and increases happiness.

7. Help others. Altruism makes us happier and stronger. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, hospital, or shelter.

8. Go outside, spend time with Mother Nature. It will make you feel more alert, enthusiastic, energetic, and happy.

9. Take two minutes or less to be mindful! If you don’t meditate regularly, spend a few minutes several times a day being mindful of your breathing.

10. Get silly, embrace the kid in you. Enjoy a good joke, watch a funny video, smile, enjoy a great comedy. Laughing is a great way to exercise your brain and give your body a mini aerobic workout!

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  Priming your brain to be positive will help you achieve greater success and well-being. It is time to win the most important war we face; a silent war that is eroding purpose, potential and sustainability every day.  The World Health Organization says that anxiety and depression will be the leading cause of physical disability in the world by 2020. If you are not unhappy, and if your potential is not being limited, someone you know, work for, lead or love is stuck in a rut, a thinking rut, an emotional rut that can destroy their life.  Read about winning the silent war before us.

More?  You Betcha
Essential Reading for CEO’s and Leaders
Happiness Recovery:  Ten Actionable Steps
How to Survive and Thrive in Times of Uncertainty
The Secret to Personal Development and Growth
I Will Not Be Broken-The Call to Build a Better Future

3Q Leadership and Why I Have Dedicated My Life to this Work

Are you ready to use what is to create what can be in yourself, your team, your business or organization? Develop the 3Q Leadership strengths that move mountains and molehills? Bust toxic stress?  Recharge, refocus and repurpose with a lunch and learn, workshop or keynote?  Reach out and I will reach back:  irene@justcoachit.com 

Expert Interview Series:  How Leadership is Changing | John Mattone-Irene Becker


Executive Coaching, Consulting & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge
For Powerful Results in Disruptive/Turbulent Times
Irene (1) 416-671-4726  Skype:  beckerirene
Irene’s assistant, Drew Jones, (1) 737-5075
Email:  irene@justcoachit.com

 

Motivational Monday: Engage your greatest power

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Post Views = 3700 Embrace and engage your greatest power by taking one small, but important step out of your comfort zone. One step towards a better, stronger and happier you.  One step that will help you develop the cognitive and emotional dexterity you need to thrive in times of uncertainty and turbulence. Take this […]

How to Survive and Thrive in Times of Uncertainty and Chaos-Step 7/7

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Surviving and Thriving in Times of Uncertainty and Chaos-Step 5/7

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Creating a New Future Step 5 of 7 

How can you create a new future? A better tomorrow?  Survive and thrive in the face of uncertainty and chaos by developing 3Q strengths in as little as ten minutes a day. I have dedicated my life to helping others build their 3Q edge, with simple steps that are backed by science and hands-on experience.  Steps that have changed my life and the lives of my clients. This post is fifth in a series of 7.  If you have not read the previous four posts scroll to the bottom for links to these articles. Read more, click here for 3Q Benefits and why I have dedicated my life to this work.

Step Five is Resetting YOUR GPS in 10 minutes a day. Reset and reboot with “Cool Tools”, five to ten-minute daily rituals that keep you on your A-game, help you reset default patterns of thinking, communicating or doing that no longer work…AND, help you bust toxic stressYou can make a difference, but doing so means realizing that you CAN rewrite default patterns of thinking, feeling or executing. It means putting on your leadership shoes by engaging your ability think smarter and differently (IQ-Q1), feel, communicate and collaborate better (EQ-Q2) while developing your spiritual quotient-alignment with the highest values and purpose (SQ-Q3) that drive and sustain success. Read more

Carpe diem.  Take 5-10 minutes each day to reset your GPS, change a habitual way of thinking, communicating or doing!

  • Try writing a few sentences in the reverse direction, or with your opposing hand every day for the next week.
  • Uplift your posture and take a 5 or 10 minute time out from stress. Go for a walk, do “The Pause”, shift your thoughts to a pleasant location or experience. There are few more powerful ways to raise and sustain energy than to ease your posture upward, which frees your breathing and raises your energy level.
  • Change one routine every day.

Click here for more cool tools

What we face is nothing in comparison with our ability to empower, engage and transform; our ability to adapt, evolve and thrive by building our 3Q Edge.  The lessons I have learned on my journey, my studies and dedication to my craft have touched my head and heart with positivity, courage, and possibility thinking because our ability to use what is to create what can be in our lives and the lives of others is real.

More?  You Betcha
 Survive and Thrive in Times of Uncertainty and Chaos
Survive and Thrive-Step 1
Survive and Thrive-Step 2
Survive and Thrive-Step 3
Survive and Thrive-Step 4

Get inspired. Build your leadership,  career and personal edge in disruptive times! Contact us to find out about 3 to Thrive and other great new programs!

Coaching, Consulting & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge
Irene (1) 416-671-4726  Skype:  beckerirene
Irene’s assistant, Drew Jones, (1) 737-5075
Email:  irene@justcoachit.com    drew@justcoachit.com
Irene Becker | Just Coach It
Your Catalyst for Success at the Speed of Change

How to Survive and Thrive in Times of Uncertainty and Chaos Step 4/7

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Surviving and thriving in times of uncertainty and chaos is critical to our individual and organizational survival.  It has been the focus of a series of 7 posts sharing 7 simple but powerful ways to develop what I call your 3Q Edge-your ability to think, feel communicate and execute in new ways that drive and sustain your best thinking, improved emotional strengths, better communication and execution in disruptive or turbulent times.

If you have not followed the series, click here for step 1, click here for step 2, click here for step 3.

 

Step #4  is Self Awareness 

Self awareness is the first step in leadership development and critical to the emotional and cognitive adaptability, improved creativity, collaboration and a greater sense of purpose and fulfillment are critical to our individual and collective survival.

Dedicate 10 minutes a day to a better YOU! Pick a cool tool (10-minute exercise)  that works for you and use it daily for the next week.

1. Stream of consciousness writing.
Take 10 minutes to just write whatever comes to mind as soon as you get up in the morning.  Do not censor your writing, just write.  Not sure where to start?  Start with how you are feeling and continue writing for 7 to 10 minutes.

2. Keep a gratitude journal.

Keeping a gratitude journal will not only build self-awareness but greater happiness!  Take a few minutes before you go to sleep to write what you are grateful for.

3. Write a personal manifesto and read it to aloud or in your mind’s eye 2-3 times a day.

What things do you stand for? What are your strongest beliefs? How do you want to live your life? What do you want to accomplish? Your personal manifesto is a statement of focus/power and an excellent call to action. Delighted to share timeless steps to building your manifesto by Jone Bosworth  Read more

Repetition is the mother of success in terms of learning new skills or changing behaviours.

Self Awareness is critical to your personal, professional/business success, and it is a learned skill that can help you make positive changes that drive self-confidence, empowerment, a greater awareness/understanding of yourself and others.  Read more

An interview by #1 Expert in Intelligent Leadership and #2 Executive Coach in the world, John Mattone led to my doing a certification in Intelligent Leadership and Executive Coaching with the master!
Read more

It would be impossible to end the year without thanking John Mattone for his great work, books and the opportunity to study under his direction!   More about Intelligent Leadership and Executive Coaching next year! Read more

Carpe diem.  Take this moment to recognize your ability to survive and thrive, your ability to make a difference and be the difference in your life and the lives of others, because that is what 3Q leadership is ALL about! Read more

 

More?  You Betcha!

Find out where you stand with our 10-minute Career and Life Self Assessment.

 

 

Get inspired. Build your leadership,  career and personal edge in disruptive times! Contact us to find out about 3 to Thrive and other great new programs!

Live, Lead, Succeed to Purpose in Disruptive Times
Discover Coaching, Consulting & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge
Irene (1) 416-671-4726  Skype:  beckerirene
Irene’s assistant, Drew Jones, (1) 737-5075
Email:  irene@justcoachit.com    drew@justcoachit.com
Irene Becker | Just Coach It
Your Catalyst for Success at the Speed of Change

Survive and Thrive in Times of Uncertainty and Chaos-Step 3/7

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Survive & Thrive in Times of Uncertainty and Chaos-Step 1

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How to Survive and Thrive in Times of Chaos and Uncertainty

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How to Get Motivated In Disruptive Times

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Three Ways to Thrive

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How will disruption and turbulence impact your work, your life, your emotional and physical health; your ability to thrive? The World Health Organization tells us that stress and depression will be the leading cause of disability in the world by 2020. Yes, if you are not suffering from anxiety or depression someone you know, lead, work for or love is.  It is time to recognize that default patterns of thinking will not take us forward, times of great change demand leadership that helps us adapt, evolve and thrive.  Read more

You have the power and you are the answer because there is nothing you can buy or learn that will take YOU forward without changing the way you think.  I have run a successful business, been a trailblazer who lived a life many dream of, but I have also faced a litany of challenges (career, business, life, and health) that would have crushed many people.  The most important lesson of all is that only YOU have the keys to the kingdom, only YOU can change your perspective in ways that sustain the faith, hope, courage, integrity, and humanity that can help you keep going, help you survive and thrive. Read more

Here are 3 free steps to help you start thriving in disruptive times.
 Steps I call “Cool Tools” because they take less than 10 minutes.  I have a library of many steps, the following three steps are a great way to start building your 3Q Edge (IQ-EQ-SQ).   Pick ONE step and try it on for size for 7 days.  DO it consistently for a week, and post your results on the blog or send them to me privately (irene@justcoachit.com)

  1. Cultivate the power of the present moment, build your ability to be in the NOW. Start doing so by thinking of 3 things you are grateful for because we cannot retain negative emotions when feeling grateful.   Appreciate this moment because you are alive, you are here for a purpose that you were meant to fulfill.  Retrain your brain by developing an attitude of gratitude AND developing greater positivity.
  2. Give yourself 90 second window-3 minutes to optimize! Yes, we can all find 3 minutes and if you use these 3 minutes three times a day, you will see positive results within a week. CLICK here to try the PAUSE 3-minute exercise. Science confirms that taking a small amount of time each day to be in prayer, contemplation, meditation or chanting can change your life by making you more resilient, focused, positive driving improved emotional and physical health. (even longevity).
  3. Keep your flame going. Do something to help someone else.  Drown out what’s wrong and feed your ability to contribute by sharing a smile, helping a friend, colleague or a stranger, mentoring a team member.  The smallest things can make a powerful difference in the lives of others, and being of service will also make you feel GOOD.

Life presents us with choices.  Carpe diem, take this moment to recognize your ability to be the difference and make a difference!  Give one of these three tools a try consistently for a week and let me know your results.

Get inspired. Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower. Build your leadership, communication, career and personal edge in disruptive times!  Find out about 3 to Thrive and other new programs.
Reach out and we will reach back!


Irene (1) 416-671-4726  Skype:  beckerirene
Irene’s assistant, Drew Jones, (1) 737-5075
Email:  irene@justcoachit.com    drew@justcoachit.com
Irene Becker | Just Coach It
Your Catalyst for Success at the Speed of Change

Monday Motivation: Success school with Evan Carmichael

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53 Confidence Boosting Actions You Can Take Today

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Post Views = 7442 Originally published on Self Development Secrets | Rebecca Temsen  | Do check out their site because “being your own hero” is critical! One of the most important ingredients of a well-lived, enjoyable life is self-confidence. Confident people get what they want the way they want it, people enjoy being around them, and they’re […]

How to Build Strength and Success in Uncertain Times

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Team Building Toolkit-25 Tips!

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Success is NOT achieved alone. If your team is not effective, your results will be poor.    

What team building activities have worked the best for YOUR team?  What is the greatest team building challenge you face? Sharing 25 team building tips for your toolkit!

 

 

1. Have a clear mission. Start with the common anchor, the objectives and values you share.  Internalize them, mention them, and ignite them because they are the fuel for your greatest individual and collective potential.

2. Make sure that roles, responsibilities and accountability are clearly defined.  If you are working with an agile team/project team where roles change, this in itself is a new type of role that must be explained.  Clarity is king and buy in from members is queen.

3. Develop a team charter.  Team members need a strong sense of belonging to the group that will build trust and commitment. This sense of commitment is reinforced when the team spends the time to develop team norms or relationship guidelines together.

4. Lead, don’t micro-manage.
Make sure that all team members feel that they are a critical part of the team’s success. Make sure roles, responsibilities and accountability are clear, but do not micro manage. If process helps execution, use it.  Process used as a substitute for poor leadership, lack of trust will ultimately impede or undermine that potential of the team. Get the right people on your team, empower them, engage them; help them with their professional/personal development and hold them accountable.

Align & Motivate Empathize
Delegate & Monitor Plan & Control

5. Develop your ability to use care-frontation. Don’t shove problems or conflicts under the rug where they can fester, brew and explode in overt or covert ways.  Conflict is a healthy sign.  Use it to build connection.  Remember conflict that his not expressed, festers, brews and ultimately destroys everything in its path. Use shared values and objectives to break down barriers and to also help team members build strong intrinsic motivation so that they focus forward when times are tough.

6. Ready to react? Stuck in stasis?  Worried about driving in reverse?  Ready to go into fight or flight?  Try my R-E-A-C-H™ coaching method for better and faster results!  Go ahead change a default pattern of thinking, communicating or doing that is no longer working for you. Yes, brain science confirms that our brains are neuro-plastic (we can rewrite default patterns)

 

Redirect focus Don’t let your amygdala hijack you!  Pause.  Depersonalize and refocus on your primary objective.
Empower confidence Develop personal rituals that help you get empowered when times are tough.  Find ways to empower the confidence of team members because YOU cannot light a fire (yours or theirs) with wet wood. If you believe you can do it, you are arming yourself with an almost unstoppable weapon.
Actualize potential Put your best effort forward and execute.  Enable your best self and best work.
Communicate effectively Learn how to understand communication styles of others and how others perceive you so that you can speak/write in a way that opens their ears and send them a message that drives reach, resonance and results.
Harvest results Celebrate all wins, big and small and make sure to recognize the people who helped to make the win a reality.  Success is a group activity.  Build your team and they will reach back and help YOU grow.

 


7. Give your team a safe place to share their thoughts by developing team rituals that further transparent communication. 
Ask the right questions because developing your ability to not only ask the right questions, but ask them in a way that engages/empowers while also holding them accountable is critical.

8. Organize the team for excellent communication and execution by creating team rituals, regular meetings (face-face or virtually), team-building sessions as well as informal meetings that provide engagement, fuel focus and enthusiasm (lunch and learns, regular launches, social gatherings-fun time).  Never punish or castigate a team member for having a different opinion.  Open the door to different opinions they are the lifeblood of innovation and success.  If team membership changes during the project, or there are other important changes to deal with plan a short team building meeting to review forming and norming stages again (and/or to get the new team member up to speed).

9. Model failing forward.  Learn from successes and failures. Be honest with your team.  Do not try to buffer them from critical/difficult decisions.  Show them how to deal with challenges and turn them around. Show team members how to move from conflict to connection.

12. Championing learning, training and mentoring.  Help team members develop skills that help them improve interpersonal relationships, communication with all stakeholders (internal/external), presentation skills, career related skills AND skills that speak to their own personal development.

13. Hold pre-meetings (face to face or virtual review of meeting agenda so that you know if there are any questions or issues).  Pre-meetings are necessary ingredients of successful project meetings. Prime team members for a positive meeting.  Set the stage for fruitful results with a pre-meeting

14. Hang out with your team and also make sure there is fun time. Show them you are smart with heart. Sit with them and talk about their life/ambitions. Make sure that you humanize your relationship because you cannot lead heads without touching hearts. Let them know that you not only value their work and efforts, but enjoy them as people.

15. Model appreciation for efforts put forward and recognition for individual and collective achievements. One of the number one complaints of over 70% of USA employees is that they are not appreciated or recognized for their work.  Disengagement and presenteeism are rampant.  Nip them in the bud.

16. Be thoughtfully decisive. Take a stand that reflects 1.  Values   2.  Objectives   3.  The best course of action. “A leader always explains or fixes”. Explain your decisions to your team or go fix them.

17. Champion diversity.  Diversity of gender, race, skills and background makes a team stronger. Make sure to view each member as a unique and special component of the team with experiences, points of view, knowledge and experience to contribute.

18. Model leadership by creating an environment where team members are comfortable taking risks, communicating, advocating positions and taking action.  Do not punish, castigate or scoff at someone for disagreeing.

19. Model active listening.  Be a great listener and help team members improve their listening skills.  The most important part of communication is listening without judgment, without trying to guess what the other party is really trying to say or formulating your response while they are talking.

20. Expect and encourage creativity, innovation, and different viewpoints need to be expected and encouraged. Comments such as, “we already tried that and it didn’t work” and “what a dumb idea” should not be allowed or supported.

21.  Champion reflection and continuous improvement.  The team should regularly examine itself to improve processes, practices and interpersonal communication and interactions as well as an open discussion of team norms/practices that have become counter-productive in a changing environment. 

22. Work on team procedures for identifying, analyzing and resolving team problems and conflicts.  Again, use challenges as a positive lever to build better processes, communication and solutions. When you are having team building challenges focus on interpersonal relationships first!

                Goals
                Roles
                Processes
                Interpersonal Relationships

23.  Remember that trust is the glue that holds a great team together.  Shared values, objectives, honest communication, accountability and collaboration built trust and make it stick.  Frequent meetings, team rituals, social meetings (with and/or without family) community volunteer opportunities are all great ways to bond and share, wins and challenges are all opportunities to build trust.

24.  Identify toxic team members and get them off the team.  Make sure that you are not removing team members who have great potential and need coaching, training, mentoring but rather members who are NOT a fit for the team and who will not benefit from personal development initiatives.

25. Teach your team members to take breaks every 90 minutes for blank time in order to recharge.  Even the tightest schedule can grow to fit in 5 minutes of blank time every 90 minutes.  Stress is one of the most critical threats we face from an individual, business and organizational perspective.  Help yourself and your team members find ways to recharge. Explore and select personal rituals you can do in a couple of minutes a day that help you recharge, refocus and repower!

What team building activities have worked the best for YOUR team?  What is the greatest team building challenge you face?  We’d love to hear from you!


Irene Becker, Just Coach It for Breakthrough Results in Turbulent Times
Discover executive coaching, career coaching & personal coaching with a 3Q Edge
Email:  irene@justcoachit.com  (416-671-4726)  Skype: beckerirene
Irene’s assistant, Drew Jones, drew@justcoachit.com (416-737-5075)

Leadership, Success and Peace of Mind in Uncertain Times

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“The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.”
—John Sculley, former Apple CEO

We live in times of extraordinary disruption, and equally extraordinary possibility. Our ability to see the extraordinary possibilities before us, our desire to become possibility thinkers, communicators, and leaders is critical on a multiplicity of levels.

I discovered how to be a possibility thinker and doer by finding a way to transform pain into strength, challenges into courage, hope into faith, conflicts into communication and difficult problems into cognitive dexterity; a way, a path that speaks to life and business/professional leadership. And, as, is often the case, the genesis of my 3Q model and work started when I faced the worst of times; a time when my life and work hung in the balance by a very thin thread.  Read more-My story Against All Odds (over 49,000 views)

A recent McKinsey and Company article estimates that change is happening ten times faster and at three hundred times the scale and impact of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution altered life and work as we once knew it; our transition from the world of information to the age of innovation comes with a velocity of change, challenges, hyper-competition, and opportunities that our predecessors could never have imagined.   A VUCA (volatility-uncertainty-change- ambiguity) world demands a whole new focus and set of leadership skills that can take us forward faster, smarter, and stronger at a speed of change, challenges, and possibilities that will continue to accelerate. Read more-The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership (over 41, 000 views)

The 2015 Global Human Capital Trends report by Deloitte pinpoints four critical pivot points for success: leading, engaging, reinventing, and reimaging. What worked yesterday may be impotent today or tomorrow; the need to shift forward is critical, and it depends upon your attitude, your ability to reimagine, engage, reinvent, and LEAD forward.  It depends upon our ability to help men and women, people of diverse backgrounds develop the skills they need to transform what is into what can be.  Read more-Women and Leadership (over 59,000  views)

 Your ability to remove the barriers to your greatest potential is real, and the first step in moving forward is recognizing the incredible potential within;  your potential to think, feel, see, and learn faster and better than before.  I have dedicated my life to helping people build their 3Q Edge because a whole new world demands a whole new focus that helps us live, learn, communicate and lead forward faster, smarter and happier than before.  Read more-3Q Benefits and Why I Have Dedicated My Life to This Work. (over 59,000 views)

 Are you ready for a new focus?  Is it time to think differently?  Transform stress into success?  Make change your greatest ally? Stay tuned, for my next post, as we explore taking the road less traveled by using challenges, changes, and stressors as a powerful lever for your greatest potential and results!  In the meantime, check out three interesting, exciting innovations and a list of predictions by Bill Gates!



Irene Becker, CSO, Just Coach It: irene@justcoachit.com  (416-671-4726)
Irene’s assistant, Drew Jones, drew@justcoachit.com (416-737-5075)

Monday Motivation: Improve Your Day in 5 to 38 minutes!

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Can a 38 minute routine turn a negative day around or infuse your day with positivity? Do 5 minute Cool Tools work? Yes! Try them on for size and find out! Continue to read for a great morning routine. Scroll to the bottom of the page for 5 minute Cool Tools. I believe you will be positively surprised by your results!

How can you get happier and more focused? Turn blah into blossom? Transform negativity into a new positive way of thinking? Michel Schwantes, shared terrific advice in his column for Inc. I am sharing an abridged version of the key steps mentioned in his recent article because they are simple, practical and purposeful. You can also find my cool tools at the bottom of the article.

1. Fuel your brain with the good stuff. in 10 minutes
Whatever you do, don’t skip a healthy breakfast. Trade your bowl of sugary cereal for something healthy–like oatmeal or a protein berry smoothie (have all the parts cut up the night before and ready to be blended).
You’ll avoid being tired and hungry later when the sugar jolt wears off.

2. Have a quick 15 minute exercise session.
If you fear a grueling work out, don’t worry, this won’t require you to push play on the P90X video. Positive psychologist Shawn Achor says that a short burst of fun cardio activity (think hula hoops, jumping on the trampoline, a laser Zumba dance session, or a brisk walk with the dog) works wonders . All it takes is 15 minutes per day.

3. Breathe for 5 minutes
OK, now that your heart is pumping a bit. it’s time to switch it up. Sit in a comfortable spot (your “happy place”), and breathe. No, we’re not talking breathing normally but “conscious breathing,” a focused form of yoga-based, breathing meditation.
Click here for one of my favorite Cool Tools (exercises that take less than 5 minutes) The Pause. The Pause will help you breathe better and develop greater mindfulness.

4. Here’s what to do in 5 minutes or less: Before noise from the outside world or your smart phone (or the kids waking up) distract you and you’re off to the races, find a quiet space, take out your journal or a notepad, and write these questions down:

What will grow you personally or professionally, and improve you as a human being today?
What will excite you and give you more energy today?
What will set the stage for an epic-productive day?

5. Take maximum 5 minutes to reflect on three things you are grateful for in life.
Move to another quiet and sacred space, preferably outdoors (a swing bench, a dock, or under a tree). Close your eyes, breathe through your stomach and center yourself. Meditate on the good things of life for 60 seconds–your family,job, good health, community, religion, etc. Now open your eyes and for the next 2 minutes write on your notepad or journal 3 things that you are grateful for the previous day.

Whether you are down in the dumps, stressed or discouraged taking simple, positive and purposeful steps can make a world of difference! We all hit ruts in the road, challenges, detours that sadden us and make it difficult to engage the positive energy and focus required to have a successful day.

Recharge in 5 Minutes or Less. Here are some 5 Minute (or less) Cool Tools
3 Simple Powerful Ways to Turn Negativity Around
How to Inspire and Enable Your Greatest Potential
100 Stressbusters
The Happiness Course-7 Tips and More
The 18 Word Success Formula
The Pause

 

Build Your Career, Leadership & Personal Edge in Uncertain Times
Irene Becker | Just Coach It | Coaching, consulting, workshops and keynotes with a 3Q Edge
Face to Face, By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Programs and Service for a Better, Stronger and Happier Tomorrow


Tel:  (416) 671-4726  Skype: beckerirene

Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones:  (416) 737-5075

Success in Uncertain Times-A Small Favor & Thank You Gift

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The End of Jobs-Finding Money, Freedom & Meaning Without the 9-5

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Why Storytelling Skills Make You a Better Business leader

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Post Views = 7269   A guest post by Laura Montgomery originally published on The Economist Education Navigator “Storytelling” has become a ubiquitous buzzword in the business world as the marketers’ pursuit to weave the most creative and compelling narratives about their brands and products races on. Let’s take a look at why this has […]

Finding Happiness and Success in a Chaotic World

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Saturday Video: Presentation Secrets of the World’s Top Minds

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Public Speaking words on a box for training to give a big speech

 “There’s nothing more inspiring than a bold idea delivered by a great speaker,”  Carmine Gallo, the author of Talk Like Ted-9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds.The leader who communicates well succeeds well.  Whether you are presenting for 2 people or 2 hundred, the ability to sell your ideas is one of the most important business and professional skills you can acquire, and it is a skill you can learn and improve.   

In his book, Talk like TED, Carmine Gallo identifies and outlines 9 techniques used by the top TED presenters and shows how you can use them to improve your own presentations by making them more powerful and dynamic. The mission of TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is to spread ideas. The non-profit organization is best-known for its TED Talks, short, powerful talks of 18 minutes or less, delivered by experts drawn from the worlds of technology, academia, entertainment and beyond.

How can you improve your presentations skills and results by making your presentation more emotional, novel and memorable? What are the key secrets of great presenters?  Enjoy this 2-minute video summary of Talk Like Ted-9 Presentation Secrets of the World’s Top Minds. 

 

Gratitude to Carmine Gallo for his excellent book and to The Business Source for their excellent video summary. 
Photo Credit:  Big Stock Photo

More on Successful Communication?  You Betcha!
7 Ways to Turn Conflict and Communication Problems Around
How to Build Better Communication NOW
BOLD-4 Simple Steps to Enhance Ideation, Communication, and Results
Presence-Developing a Critical Success Factor (Video)
Using Your Voice to Inspire and Engage

 

Irene Becker Photo
Just Coach It |  Reach-Resonance Results

Irene  Becker, Founder and Chief Success Officer
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
irene@justcoachit.com         Twitter:  @justcoachit
 Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene   
Tel:  Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com


 

Saturday Video: Boost Your Results & Reduce Your Hours

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Extreme Productivity
How can you boost your results while reducing your hours?

In the book, Extreme Productivity, Robert C. Pozen shows us how to be truly productive, even when faced with a myriad of competing demands and multiple time-sensitive projects. During the 5 year period in which this book was written, Pozen held down two full-time jobs as a business leader and a Harvard teacher while also keeping a good relationship with his wife and family.   The book is based on his long-term, real-world experience and gives the reader excellent counsel on productivity, personal development, and relations.

What are the secrets to extreme productivity? Enjoy this 2-minute video
book summary of Robert C. Pozen’s book, Extreme Productivity by The Business Source.

 

More?  You betcha.
Here are  some of my favorite stress-busting techniques and a cool tool (2-minute solution) to help you recharge, refocus and repower.  Yes, stress is a 21st-century part of life that is eroding individuals and organizations from inside out.  Stress not only impairs cognition, productivity and also damages our physical and emotional health. Less stress-greater productivity and success!
100 Stressbusters
The Pause-A 2-minute cool tool, a transformational exercise anyone can learn to do.

 

Irene Becker Photo
Just Coach It | Recharge-Refocus-Repower

Irene  Becker, Founder and Chief Success Officer
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
irene@justcoachit.com         Twitter:  @justcoachit
 Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene   
Tel:  Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com

 

 

Leadership is Olympian | Practical Ways to Ignite Your Inner Olympian

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Saturday 2 Minute Video: Effective Leadership, Engagement & Results

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Leadership BS-Changing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time
Disengagement is a critical problem that is destroying organizations from inside out. The imperative to revisit our thoughts about what makes a good leader and how to develop effective leadership training is critical.

What if most of what you’ve been taught about leadership in college, business school, seminars and management literature is either wrong or useless?

In his intriguing and controversial book, Leadership BS-Changing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time, Jeffrey Pfeffer highlights five disconnects between contemporary leadership teaching and real world practice.

•What are the five disconnects that create ineffective leadership and dis-engagement?
•What can we NOW to develop good leaders?

Watch the Video
Watch this 2 minute video
synopsis of Professor Pfeffer’s book, Leadership BS-Changing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time by The Business Source and re-visit your beliefs about what makes a good leader.

 

 


Leadership MeansMore on Effective Leadership at the Speed of Change/Challenges?  Yes!

The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership

Enlightened Self Interest-6 Ways to Build a Resilient Thriving Organization

3Q Leadership™ Exposed-Realizing Leadership Magazine Cover Story

Free eBook-Leading and Succeeding in Disruptive Times-A 3Q Edge™ Primer

 

 

 

Take action NOW. Build Your Ultimate Advantage-Your 3Q Edge

Irene Becker, Founder, Just Coach It
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™

Contact:Irene Becker  irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
                                        Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

Contact: Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com

Build Your Ultimate Advantage in Turbulent Times

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 You have heard of EQ/EI (emotional intelligence) but what is 3Q, and how can building  three “Q” strengths change and improve your life, your communication, your leadership and the results you achieve in a VUCA* world?   Click here to learn all about 3Q skills  scroll down to take a free 3Q life and career self-assessment. (*volatility, uncertainty, change, ambiquity)

Here are 7 ways to start building YOUR 3Q Edge:

 

  1.  Build a community of purpose, because success in a connected world demands communication, collaboration with your direct reports, your boss, your colleagues and other stakeholders. Click for more info on developing YOUR Community of Purpose.
  2. Develop Greater Self Awareness  Your ability to find new ways, better ways to R-E-A-C-H (redirect, empower, actualize, communicate and harvest results) in yourself is the starting point, the pivotal determinant for your ability to inspire and engage the best in yourself and others in good times and bad.
  3. Increase your emotional intelligence, build the self-awareness, awareness of others, emotional mastery and resilience that is critical to effective.  Click here to learn more about EQ management, leadership and wellbeing. Learning about EQ/EI is important, but it is not enough. Emotional intelligence is honed in the practice, in using challenges at hand to build each critical area of EQ/EI that will allow you to live, lead and succeed more effectively, optimize and delegate purposefully and build the communication and strong relationships that are critical to success.
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  4. Embrace and nurture your strengths. Get in focus with what you do brilliantly, with your areas of excellence. Know what you do best, and use every challenge you face to engage and build you’re your intrinsic and learned strengths. Choose team members who have different strengths that give the sum total of your efforts more power. Team members whose values, integrity and dedication mirror yours but whose intrinsic and learned strengths are different and complimentary to your own.
  5.  See challenges in a new and different way that takes YOU and those you lead forward. Develop a new and different relationship with changes, stressors, difficult people/situations that will help YOU Fail Forward faster and better. Your ability to reset default patterns is the coachable moment. It takes awareness; it takes practice and consistent small positive steps or changes in perspective and behavior that will have a formidable impact.
  6. Develop your REACH coaching skills. Learn how to effectively coach others. Develop the coaching skills that can help you help others to optimize their potential, communication and results when the going gets tough by helping others R-E-A-C-H™ (redirect focus, empower, actualize potential, communicate effectively, harvest results). Apply systems theory, because even one small consistent positive change will impact the whole system in ways that can be pivotal and transformational.
  7.  Develop new ways, better ways of communicating that helps you build a bridge across cultural or generational differences that helps you to achieve the engagement and collaboration you need to succeed in our connected world.  Your ability to communicate effectively is one of the most important determinants of your personal and professional success.Do you want to play to strengths while transforming stressors, changes, challenges into a lever for your greatest purpose, potential and results?  Pie in the sky?  Think again.  The proof is in a 13 year track record of breakthrough results in high stress, high change environments.

Take action NOW…

Find out where you stand with this FREE 3Q Career and Life Self Assessment and contact me for a complimentary 15 minute consultation because the need to not only play to strengths, but to transform changes, challenges and stressors into a levers for your greatest potential, happiness and results is real and CRITICAL.

Irene Becker


Build Your Ultimate Career, Leadership and Life Advantage
Just Coach It with Irene Face to Face, By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing

Irene  Becker, Founder and Chief Success Officer
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™

Contact:  irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
                 Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene   
Contact: Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com

Self-Actualization, Happiness and Success in a Chaotic World

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Self LoveI share this post with you because I  believe in our ability to build a better tomorrow.  I wake up each morning striving to share more, to help more because I believe with all  my heart that courage, integrity, hope, humanity and faith can take us forward.  They are the values, the strengths, the greatest riches that no one can take from you.  Read more

Self-actualization, happiness and success start by knowing what you really want and adopting a fresh perspective that will help you learn, live and lead forward. What do you really want?  What is really bothering you today?  How can you engage your purpose, your passion, your ability to tap into your strengths and transform challenges into possibilities? Stop thinking about what is wrong, and start focusing on what is right. Read more

Will you choose greatness?  Will you choose to be a victim or a victor?  Do you want to let life happen to you or use what live gives you to tap into your greatest power and the heartfelt values that ignite and sustain your greatest power and happiness?  The greatest power we have lies not in what we have, but in who we are-who we choose to be. Become the director in YOUR movie/YOUR life.  Read more
Start now.  Start this moment by applying self-love.  We are all capable of greatness.  What this means to each individual is different, because our impact, our contribution to the world is different.  Each positive contribution, no matter how big of small, is a critical component in an evolution of self and society that will take us forward to face a brave new world with hope, faith, courage, humanity and integrity.   Read more

Every day is an opportunity to begin again.  Every day will present you with challenges and opportunities to transform the challenges you face into levers for your greatest potential.  Will you seize the day?  Will you recognize your power to make a difference in any way you choose?  Think carefully, because the greatest fulfillment, the only true happiness we feel is when we are contributing, when we are sharing, when we have touched the life of another. Read more

Where do you start?  Start here! Start with self-love and appreciation that is NOT founded on the need to be validated by others. Make a decision, a choice to appreciate your unique gifts, your unique potential, your unique fingerprint because YOU can make a difference in whatever way you choose, but making a difference means being grounded in love not fear or anger.  Apply self-love. Read more

Start this day with a fresh new perspective that will take you forward! Refocus, repurpose, repower! Get inspired by the person you really are because that person is the person YOU can choose to be. Feel your power to choose love over fear, humanity over anger, hope over despair, faith over uncertainty.  Build your 3Q Edge™, your ability to tap into your strengths while using challenges as a lever for your greatest potential and results. Read more

 

Irene Becker


Just Coach It.  Empower-Engage-Transform Your Next Challenge Into Possiblity Thinking, Doing & Results
Irene  Becker, Founder and Chief Success Officer
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene   irene@justcoachit.com 
Tel:  Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com

10 Quotes and Tips on Re-igniting Happiness

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How can you re-ignite happiness? Appreciating the value of true happiness and learning to cultivate happiness in good times and bad is critical and doable.
I can write these words because I have lived them and I have also worked with clients to help them achieve greater happiness and success for more than a decade.  Yes, I have been to the back of the dark forest to the edge of challenges, changes, defeat, despair, illness, tragedies to recognize that our ability to truly build happiness is not reflective of what we have, but who we are.  Our ability to reset the GPS, adopt new ways of thinking, communicating or doing is real and critical to our happiness and an evolution of self that will help us live our best lives and do our best work.

Here are 10 of my favorite quotes and accompanying top ten simple, powerful tips on feeling happier.

 

If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.” Chinese Proverb
Tip One →Find the light and share it with someone else.
 Step out of sadness by helping another person. Try it, because it is scientifically proven to work!


“Happiness never decreases by being shared.” 
Buddha
Tip Two→Share a joke or funny story with someone who will appreciate it.

 


“Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can’t love and respect yourself – no one else will be able to make that happen.  Stacey Charter
Tip Three → Apply love.  Spend five minutes a day thinking about how you love yourself.   Yes, think of all the qualities that make you special,            because each human being is gifted with attributes that are truly lovable.  If you had a dysfunctional childhood, learning to re-parent yourself, learning to                comfort the child within, to love him/her can be pivotal.  If you are going through a difficult experience or challenge the need to love yourself,
appreciate yourself is critical.

 

Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” Winnie the Pooh
 Tip Four →Take time out each day for blank time; time when you DO not worry, time when you are just at peace and at one with the
universe.

 

 “We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” Frederick Keonig
Tip Five →: Adopt an attitude of gratitude.  
Keep a gratitude journal or simply make a mental note before you go to bed and when you wake up of what         you are grateful for.

 

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” Thich Nhat Hanh
Tip Six: Smile because science tells us that the simple act of smiling will elevate your mood.

 

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”  Helen Keller
Tip Seven →Beware of the abyss.  The longer you stare at the darkness, the more it will overwhelm you.  Look for the good, no matter how hard it is to
do so.

 

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Aesop
 Tip Eight →
Be kind because there is not enough kindness in the world and one small drop can make a huge ripple in your life and the lives of others.

 

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Tip Nine→Get coached.  Learn to change your thinking by taking very small, consistent steps to think in ways that will help build
happiness and success.  Work with your coach to find the right small steps that work for you and actualize/integrate them in your
life/work.

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassions, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”  Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Tip Ten → Understand and appreciate your true beauty by moving past the abyss, through the struggle or pain by holding on to the

faith, hope, courage, integrity and humanity that  no one can ever  take from you.

 

I hope that this simple post will speak to your heart and soul, because nothing can be more important than preserving and cherishing them both. Your heart and soul empower your greatness, and ability to rise to the challenges before you and use them to do good, be good and lead in a way that makes a positive difference, an important difference in your life and the lives of others.  Carpe diem.

©Irene Becker, 2016

 

More on Happiness in Disruptive or Turbulent Times?  YOU Betcha!
How to Live Happier in the Midst of a Storm
The Secret to Peace and Prosperity
Refocus, Repurpose, Repower
I Choose the Road Less Traveled
The Happiness Course
Picking the Golden Apple
Recharge, Repower in 3 Minutes or Less
100 Stressbusters
True Happiness
Rediscover Your Genius

Not Enough?  Visit the drop down menu for more inspiring articles
Click here for 3,617 inspiring quotations

 

Do you want to get motivated and inspired?  Transform a people-centric leadership, business development, communication or career challenge into an advantage?  Transform an area of personal challenge into an asset? Build sticky coaching, training and mentoring initiatives? Take action now. Find out how we can help.

Irene Becker


Just Coach It.  Empower-Engage-Transform | Build a Better and Happier Tomorrow

Irene  Becker, Founder and Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene   irene@justcoachit.com 
Tel:  Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com

How to Live Happier in the Midst of a Storm

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iStock_000014644345XSmall-glass-half-fullHow can you live happier in the midst of a storm? What do I know about storms, happiness and success? More than most.  I can honestly say that my expertise in all three areas may be unchallenged.   Read More  and More.  This year I faced a tragedy of enormous proportion, today I face myself and I reach out to you with one message.  Choose life, choose happiness, find a way to ignite and inspire your best self because doing so is the only way forward.  Find a way to give and contribute, because doing so will ignite your heart, soul and help you engage your strength.  Be kind to yourself and pay kindness forward to others.

Let’s face it, negativity abounds, change, challenges, and upheavels are the norm.  Yes, we are living in a storm that is going to get worse before it gets better. Learning to extract happiness every day is a learned habit that starts with making a conscious decision to fight the negativity that surrounds us as we open our newspaper, turn on our radio or TV and interact throughout the day.    When negativity overtakes our consciousness we feel helpless and powerless.  Unable to see all that we have to be grateful for negativity blinds us to options, opportunities.  Psychological research indicates that a pessimistic cognitive bias makes you vulnerable to feelings of helplessness and depression.  Negativity also appears to compromise the immune system – optimists have been shown to have better-functioning immune systems and better health overall.  Optimists generally live 8-9 years longer than do pessimists.  It is clearly time to get happy, to get joyful.  Read more

Do you want to reduce the risk of depression, physical illness, and early death?  Start by reclaiming your personal power to be joyful.  Can we train ourselves to be happy?  You bet.  How can we start?  Start by preparing your consciousness to accept joy and to reject negativity.  Decide that you are going to spend one whole day, 24 hours refusing to be negative.  Stretch out of the comfort zone and decide to make today a positive day, no matter what!  Read more

Go ahead, just spend 24 hrs. being positive, drinking in life with your glass half full.
   Choose life, choose happiness, find a way to ignite and inspire your best self because doing so is the only way forward.  Find a way to give and contribute, because doing so will ignite your heart, soul and help you engage your strength.  Be kind to yourself and pay kindness forward to others.Reclaim your personal power to be joyful by taking making this day a purely positive one.  Reject all negativity for 24 hrs and decide to be happy.  Try it, you’ll like it!  Read more

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It

More on Getting and Staying Inspired?  YOU Betcha

The Secret to Peace and Prosperity
Refocus, Repurpose, Repower
I Choose the Road Less Traveled

The Happiness Course
Picking the Golden Apple
Recharge, Repower in 3 Minutes or Less
100 Stressbusters
True Happiness
Rediscover Your Genius

Not Enough?  Visit the drop down menu for more inspiring articles
Click here for 3,617 inspiring quotations

 

Do you want to get motivated and inspired?  Transform a people-centric leadership, business development, communication or career challenge into an advantage Transform an area of personal challenge into an asset? Build sticky coaching, training and mentoring initiatives?  Find out how we can help- call Irene (416)-671-4726  Skype:  beckerirene

Irene Becker

Just Coach It.  Empower-Engage-Transform | Build a Better Tomorrow

Irene  Becker, Founder and Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene   irene@justcoachit.com 
Tel:  Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com

Saturday Solution: 2 Minute Video on Designing Impactful Conversations

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Impactful Conversations
Are you spending untold hours in unproductive meetings?
  Statistics tell us that managers spend 50-85% of their time in meetings, and that the majority of these meetings are not fruitful.  Authors of Moments of Impact, Chris Ertel and Lisa Kay Solomon share a way to design conversations to energize your team and generate breakthrough insights so you can achieve real Moments of Impact.

Strategic conversations must elicit both analytical and emotional/creative responses and lead to definite action, while being flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances. They have to engage and inspire participants, often using novel techniques and tactics. And they have to be memorable so there’s meaningful follow-through. Such meetings, say Ertel and Solomon, must be built around five core principles.

What are the five core principles that can help YOU design strategic conversations that energize your team and create breakthrough insights?  The best way to find out is by watching this excellent video by The Business Source.  Thank you, authors Chris Artel and Lisa Kay Solomon for an excellent book, and The Business Source for an excellent 2 minute video summary.

Click here to access the 2 minute video.   Learn how YOU can design impactful conversations!

More on effective communication?  You betcha!
7 Ways to Turn Conflict and Communication Challenges Around
How to Build Better Communication NOW

5 Ways to Communicate and Lead Forward
3 Ways to Build Great Leadership Communication
How to Build 5 Benchmarks of 21st C Leadership Success

 

Do you want to get motivated and inspired?  Transform a people-centric leadership, business development, communication or career challenge into an advantage Build sticky coaching, training and mentoring initiatives?  We are here to help you lead, communicate and succeed forward in disruptive times;  face to face, by telephone, skype or video conferencing.  Call (416)-671-4726  Skype:  beckerirene

Irene Becker

Just Coach It.  Empower-Engage-Transform

Irene  Becker, Founder and Chief Success Officer
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene   irene@justcoachit.com 
Tel:  Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com

Saturday Solution: 2 Minute Video-Fixing Leadership and Careers One Truth at a Time

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success diceThe writing is on the walls of our organizations and workplace; the training received misses the mark a great deal of the time.  Hence the blunt title of this, the 14th book that the Stanford Business School professor Jeffrey Pfeffer  has either written or co-authored.  Jeffery Pfeffer shares his thoughts about the leadership industry, which he says is sucking billions of dollars out of corporate coffers by telling us things about leadership that are misleading, far removed from the real world and, sometimes, patently untrue.  “A provocative case that most leadership advice is baloney and the entire industry is broken. Pfeffer convincingly argues that we consistently give the wrong people power – and even when we get it right, authenticity is a recipe for disaster.” – Adam Grant, Wharton professor and New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take

 

Leadership BS-Fixing Leadership and Careers One Truth at a Time poses important questions:

→What if most of what you’ve been taught about leadership in college, business
school, seminars and management literature is either wrong or useless?

→What if  you’re being taught someone’s idea of how they think things should be, rather than
how they actually are?

→What are the five disconnects about what we are told about successful leadership and what successful leaders actually do?
The best way to find out is to click for an excellent 2 minute video summary by The Business Source

>>>Enjoy this excellent video book summary by The Business Source by clicking here <<<

More on Effective Leadership?  YOU Betcha.  Visit the drop down menu on this blog for a large collection of leadership articles.

 

Do you want to get motivated and inspired?  Transform a people-centric leadership, business development, communication or career challenge into an advantage Build sticky coaching, training and mentoring initiatives?  We are here to help you lead, communicate and succeed forward in disruptive times;  face to face, by telephone, skype or video conferencing.  Call (416)-671-4726  Skype:  beckerirene

Irene Becker

Just Coach It.  Empower-Engage-Transform

Irene  Becker, Founder and Chief Success Officer
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™

irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene   irene@justcoachit.com 
Tel:  Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com

 

Effective Leadership-How do you measure success?

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Effective LeadershipAs a leader how do you measure success? What are the most important values you demonstrate as a leader?  What is the difference between a leader and a boss?  How would you promote cohesion among teams who disagree? How do you motivate your team?  What leadership style do you use?  How do you resolve conflict?

Enjoy this leadership listicle from Villanova University around effective leadership.  How would you answer the aforementioned questions?  Your comments are valued and encouraged.  Please do not hesitate to share them on 3Q Leadership™ Blog

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Skip Prichard

President & CEO, OCLC, Inc.
Leadership Insights blogger

SkipPrichard.com
@skipprichard

What are the most important values you demonstrate as a leader?

It is always my goal to be seen first as a servant leader. Servant leaders think of others first. They encourage, they motivate and they are humble. I think they lead with others in mind.

What is the difference between a leader and a boss?

A boss manages through positional power, whereas a leader radiates personal power. Leaders can emerge from anywhere in an organization. They galvanize others with their ideas, energy and passion. People are swept into their vision and want to achieve results. A boss is a box on an organizational chart. With a position of power, the boss has an extraordinary opportunity to influence. That opportunity does not always equate to becoming a leader.

How would you promote cohesion among teams who disagree?

A team needs to align around a decision. You can and should disagree openly in a team meeting. Argue and debate within the team. Once the decision is made, then you need to align as a team publicly, or you will undermine the ability of the team to deliver. I think leaders often struggle with cohesion because they do not encourage debate and listen to the arguments on both sides. If people feel like they will be treated fairly, they may be more likely to support the final decision.

How do you motivate your team?

I hire motivated people. It’s very difficult to motivate someone to do something. I find it’s much easier to find people who are self-motivated. As a leader, my job is to provide an environment of encouragement mixed with challenge. After that, it’s up to the individual.

What leadership style do you use?

I’m a lifelong student of leadership. We all have preferred styles based on our personality and experience. However, successful leaders learn to adapt the style to the required situation. At times, a good leader needs to listen and influence in a subtle way. Other times, that same leader may be required to be on stage, up front and vocal. Still another time, the leader may be persuasive, influencing behind the scenes. The best leaders are constantly changing styles to serve others and to serve the intended goal.

As a leader, how do you measure success?

Through results – That usually implies financial results, but when I answer “results,” I think of them in a much broader way. It’s not only financial results or measureable metrics, but I make sure these questions are answered. Are we improving our skills? Are we better this year than last year? Are we influencing more people to take action? Jim Rohn said, “Success is something you attract by the person you become.” I’ve adopted his philosophy.

How do you resolve conflict?

It depends on the conflict. I never shy away from conflict because it can be a welcome learning experience. It can offer a window into an important issue, or it can provide an opportunity to develop personally and professionally. Francis Crick said, “The death knell to real collaboration is politeness.” In a civil, respectful way, encouraging conflict is important. It leads to better results. Hiding or avoiding conflict only pushes the real battles to the boundary.

Jon Mertz

Founder, Thin Difference
Speaker and Published Author

ThinDifference.com
@ThinDifference

What are the most important values you demonstrate as a leader?

The most important value I try to demonstrate is empathy. Everyone experiences joy, ordeals and uncertainty within the workplace and within their families. Having open, honest and understanding conversations can help set the stage for determining the right steps forward. Demonstrating empathy is not being weak. It is just the opposite.

Empathy is about showing strength as a leader to solve problems and support team members and colleagues in good and challenging times. The other key values I try to demonstrate are a problem solving and growth-oriented mindset. Going into any situation with an attitude and belief of “this can be solved” sets the stage for everyone to apply their talents together.

Being growth-oriented means we must always keep learning and get better at what we do. If my team members do not see me demonstrating these mindset values, then I have failed. Each of these values must always be grounded in integrity.

What is the difference between a leader and a boss?

Simply stated, a leader raises others up while a boss holds people in their place. Leaders empower the best in others, and the best comes out by how they use their talents. A boss tells others what to do and may even tell them how to do it. A boss puts people in a box. A leader unboxes the gifts each individual has.

A leader holds people accountable while giving them the responsibility and authority to do the work. A boss just holds people accountable with little corresponding responsibility and authority.

How would you go about getting cohesion from a team who disagrees?

I think Dr. Henry Cloud said it best. “Go hard on the issue and soft on the person.” What this means is to keep the focus on the issue and process. We need to be relentless in this focus. By doing so, eventually the true cause or challenge will be discovered and then can be resolved. If we get distracted on the personal stuff, the relationship may fray, and no progress made.

Another key element is empathy. Understanding another’s perspective may help begin to flesh out where the common ground is. Asking a lot of questions and getting confirmation on what we hear can also help determine how to collaborate together. One final point is to remember to lighten up the environment. A good laugh can help spark a refreshed perspective.

How do you motivate your team?

What I try to do is set the big goals each quarter and give people space to determine how to achieve them. Our goals align to our purpose. Staying focused on why our work is important will keep us motivated. Too often, the simplicity and power of these actions are missed.

I believe most teams are good, and they want to make the best decisions possible and put their best efforts forward as often as they can. Motivation springs from here.

What leadership style do you use?

My leadership style is designed around collaborative results. By working together with a focus on the higher purpose at hand and leveraging each other’s strengths, we can achieve many great things together.

As a leader, how is success measured?

Success is measured by how team members grow in the use of their talents and the new initiatives they undertake on their own. In our world today, there is more opportunity for horizontal growth than vertical. How team members gain new capabilities, take on new initiatives and demonstrate creativity in solving problems are how I measure success as a leader.

The added way is what we achieve as a department and a company. Within an organization, there is a higher purpose to realize. Success is measured in how well we perform in achieving that higher purpose.

How do you resolve conflict?

As difficult as it is, resolving conflict begins with an honest, open conversation. Staying focused on the issue and not the personality is vital, although not easy. Taking deep breathes and listening intently to what is being said – verbal and nonverbal – can also help a great deal.

I try to keep my emotions in check while remaining centered in calm resolution. In many ways, there is a sense of rising above the situation and observing how the conversation is unfolding. A new perspective is gained, and I stay focused on resolving the issue.

Irene Becker

Founder, Just Coach It – The 3Q Edge™
Leadership, Career and Communication Expert, Speaker and Writer
20+ years in Leadership and Executive Positions

JustCoachIt.com
@justcoachit

What are the most important values you demonstrate as a leader?

The most important values I demonstrate as a leader are character, competency, integrity, humanity and courage. These values are the anchors for seven timeless commitments that build and sustain great leadership:

  • The commitment to lead and not follow
  • The commitment to the empowerment of self and others
  • The commitment to purpose and vision
  • The commitment to communicating the vision
  • The commitment to courage
  • The commitment to integrity
  • The commitment to action ability

What is the difference between a leader and a boss?

A boss is a person who is responsible for workplace objectives being met. They are the individual that employees report to, and the individual who will set objectives and is responsible for seeing that they are met. Leaders are responsible for inspiring, guiding and enabling potential, collaboration and results. They set the vision, inspire the mission and create new pathways that drive reach, resonance and results.

How do you get cohesion among a team who disagrees?

It is important that team members bring different skills, strengths and a diversity of thought to the table. What unites a team is a common purpose and common values that are the linchpin for team development, growth and cohesion. I would use disagreement as a positive. Disagreement is not necessarily negative. Different opinions are important.

How is disagreement transformed into consensus and collaboration? By refocusing on the common objectives, values and goals and determining how to find a balance, an answer that uses areas of disagreement to come up with a new and better solution(s). In transforming disagreement into new solutions, one is also modeling and teaching the ability to build respect, resiliency and integrative thought (the skill of holding two opposing thoughts in one’s mind in order to come up with the best solution). Respect, resiliency, integrative thought and collaboration are critical 21st century leadership and team strengths.

How do you motivate your team?

You should motivate your team by helping employees develop their professional abilities and personal strengths. Your commitment to your people, your ability to help them build upon their strengths, learn new skills and develop new habits of thinking, doing and communicating is critical. Teaching and helping team members to fail forward (to use failures in a positive way to generate new ideas and results), making sure that every effort is made to grow communication/collaboration, as well as highlighting accomplishments of individuals and the team as a whole, are important motivators.

The balance in motivating your team lies between knowing each team member and understanding how to communicate in a way that motivates them as well as the entire team. Motivation comes from respect, understanding, communication and the feeling that the work one is doing is valued. Team synergy comes from a team that communicates and collaborates together toward a common goal with shared values that hold them together.

What leadership style do you use?

My leadership style is collaborative, but I believe that it is critical to adapt one’s leadership style to fit the people you are leading. To me, leadership is about character, competence and integrity and the style one uses must reflect all three values. Different groups, sectors and demographics require different leadership styles because the litmus test of great leadership is being able to inspire, engage and enable people, potential and results.

The ability to adapt one’s leadership style in terms of how one communicates is critical, especially in a new arena where diversity, generational and cultural differences demand a leadership style that can build bridges and drive consensus collaboration.

As a leader, how do you measure success?

As a leader, I measure success by my ability to not simply achieve objectives, but to champion and entrench the values, the mission, the organization as a whole and the importance of every individual who contributes to the greater goal. Success is measured not only by my ability to lead positive change, but to inspire, engage and enable others to optimize and engage their greatest potential and results in alignment with the objectives and common values that unite us all.

How do you resolve conflict?

The best way to resolve conflict to bring all parties to the center of the table. When conflict arises, even the best and brightest among us can get hijacked by emotions. It is imperative to pause and NOT react, but to respond. Focusing on the center of the table means focusing on the shared goals, objectives and values that tie everyone together.

It also means listening to another’s opinion without judgment and making sure the other party is heard and respected. It means reflecting back what they have said and using it to validate their opinion, so that everyone moves from conflict to connection.

Mark Fernandes

Chief Leadership Officer, Luck Companies
Keynote Speaker and Writer

MarkSFernandes.com
@marksfernandes

What are the most important values you demonstrate as a leader?

My personal core values are responsibility, accountability, discipline, excellence and significance. These are the ones that I feel are important to live my life by. However, this does not necessarily make them right for everyone. Each of us has our own set of core values, and our deeply held beliefs about what is right and good. What’s most important is that we do the hard work of understanding and embracing what our own core values are, then live our lives in alignment with them as this would be our authentic best self.

I also believe trust building and relationships are exceptionally important as a leader, and doing what you say, saying what you mean, and being what you seem (my definition of integrity) go a long way toward building both. Trust building and relationships take time, however, they can be lost in an instant of untrustworthy behavior.

There is also something to be said about grace, an ethic of kindness. Grace is not only something we need to extend to others but also to ourselves. As Ian Maclaren said, “Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” We could all benefit by giving each other and ourselves a break.

What is the difference between a leader and a boss?

Leaders serve others and often spend the majority of their time asking questions about how they can help or support those around them. Bosses are self-serving and spend most of their time telling others what to do.

How would you build cohesion among a team who disagrees?

Getting a team or group of people to agree on something can be a difficult task and generally divide team members even more. Oftentimes, alignment is a better desired state whereby team members agree to disagree, however move forward as one voice and/or in one direction. This is typically best accomplished through a collaborative approach to the solution, where everyone’s voice is heard, and a decision made through consensus building.

How do you motivate your team?

The best motivations are intrinsic or the self-desire to seek out new things and new challenges. It is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on external pressures or a desire for reward. As a leader, I see it as our responsibility to create the environment and conditions for our employees and teams to be self-motivated and use the characteristics of organizational climate (clarity, standards, rewards, flexibility, responsibility and team commitment) to do so.

Along with these characteristics, it is also the responsibility of the leader to use the appropriate leadership style that is best suited for certain situations to ensure the best conditions for motivation exist.

What leadership style do you use?

Tough love is the leadership style that has been most influential and impactful for me throughout my life. This is the style that I have carried forward from mentors, coaches and my parents, but over time I have adapted my application of this practice to meet the specific needs of each person I engage with.

While the “one size fits all” principles of tough love worked well for its time, I felt the need to redefine this approach for both myself and a transforming world of work that is asking for a very different kind of leader – a truly human leader. I have chosen to lead by employing a greater balance between “tough” and “love,” seeking to meet people where they are in any given situation and providing them with exactly what they need to, in turn, be influential and impactful for others.

As a leader, how is success measured?

In the early stages of my career (and life), I defined success much like most other Baby Boomers. Success was more about the accomplishment of goals and attainment of things, positions, honors, wealth and the like. Today, it is so much less about what I “get” and so much more about what I “give.”

My personal mission statement is to inspire people to believe in themselves, and become everything they are capable of becoming. On any given day where I may have inspired just one person to wake up to the limitless possibilities of their life, that would be a really successful day.

How do you resolve conflict?

My personal preference for resolving conflict is to focus on the problem not the personalities and to not let it get personal. Conflict is a normal part of any healthy relationship and learning how to deal with conflict – rather than avoiding it – is crucial. It’s typically best when emotions are diffused, as calmer heads often prevail, and attention is paid to the rational facts versus obsessing on the feelings.

Scott Mabry

Senior Operations Leader in Financial Services
Leadership Author and Blogger

Soul2Work.com
@soul2work

What are the most important values you demonstrate as a leader?

To me, the most important values are empathy, honesty, competence, inclusion and vulnerability. All of these values relate to building trust, and trust is at the heart of leadership.

What is the difference between a leader and a boss?

A manager is focused on doing things right. A leader is focused on doing the right things.

How do you improve cohesion among team members who disagree?

Listen carefully to the stories and pay attention to the underlying emotions. Is this really about the issue or about something hiding behind the issue? Refocus on the outcome both parties want to achieve and search for common ground. Find a path that best serves the needs of the team and work with them to build an agreement on the work load and how they will work together. Create opportunities to build informal relationships that break down barriers.

How do you motivate your team?

I don’t spend a lot of time directly trying to motivate the team. I focus on creating an environment where people will find their own internal motivations. People are motivated when they feel cared for. Care about your team members, get to know what inspires them on a personal level and create a culture designed to encourage both individual and team success.

What leadership style do you use?

I focus on an inclusive, connected and confident leadership style. I feel it is very important to bring others into the leadership process and to lead together, but I understand that I must also be decisive and directive at times when that is what the team needs from me. I seek to build positive relationships with each person in my direct team.

As a leader, how is success measured to you?

Success is measured by the degree to which I am able to lead the team to reach the objectives we set out to achieve. It is also the degree to which each person on my team grew as a person and a leader through our shared experiences. My goal is to help each person realize their potential and feel appreciated, supported and rewarded by their work. This isn’t the same as trying to make people happy. Sometimes, it means tough conversations and pushing people beyond their comfort zone.

How do you resolve conflict?

I help people work through their differences with a focus on finding common ground, and I help each person recognize how they can contribute to a better situation. I set the expectation that if the conflict is hurting the team, a way through it must be found. Disagreement and debate are acceptable, and even healthy as long as the discussion is over a common goal and the team is passionate about the best way to accomplish the mission. Conflict for the sake of individual pride, accomplishment and reward or professional dislike is not acceptable.

Dennis and Michelle Reina

Co-Founders of Reina, A Trust Building® Consultancy
Best-selling authors with nearly 25 years of experience strengthening workplace trust

ReinaTrustBuilding.com
@DrDennisReina
@DrMichelleReina

What are the most important values you demonstrate as leaders?

As leaders in workplace trust building, we know we have a responsibility not only to what we do, but how we do it. This means committing to do what we say we are going to do and working hard to deepen our own trustworthiness. This critical inner work is guided by demonstrating four core values:

  • Do the right thing and do it right
  • Push boundaries to learn and grow
  • Co-create for the greater good
  • Honor the mind, body and spirit

We find these values fuel us – daily – to give our best. Time and again, we attract colleagues and clients who’re willing to give us their best.

What is the difference between a leader and a boss?

People follow bosses out of obligation. They follow leaders out of inspiration. We’ve found that worldwide, across all industries and levels of responsibility, the key difference between bosses and leaders is their trustworthiness. People trust leaders to do what’s right, particularly in tough situations. Leaders build trust through focusing more on the people they’re supposed to be leading than the things they’re supposed to be doing. As a result, people can:

  • Feel confident in the direction they’ve set for the organization
  • Strive to produce extraordinary results, even in challenging circumstances
  • Support and nurture their leader’s growth – both as a leader, and as a human being

How would you get cohesion from a team who disagrees?

We’ve found the most effective method to forge consensus is to uncover the disagreement’s ‘why.’ Why are people divided within an issue? How are they seeing the future unfold differently if certain decisions are made? What impacts are some people anticipating that others may not have considered? The only real way to get at these insights is to create a safe container for people to talk candidly with one another in focused pursuit of the ‘why.’

In this space, people can unearth and test assumptions, pinpoint risks and opportunities and develop a clear path forward together. We find that through this process, team members begin to engage with one another. This engagement not only strengthens trust, it fuels optimal performance.

How do you motivate your team?

As team leaders, it’s our job to give people permission to slow down and pinpoint what’s holding them back. Could they use additional training, an outside perspective or a subtle shift in environment? Do they need time to rest and reboot? Or, are there dynamics that are diminishing the trust they have in themselves – or in other members of the team? In our experience, a breakdown in motivation can be a red flag for a breakdown in trust. Even in the highest performing teams, people practice behaviors that make trust vulnerable. Broken trust is the outcome of people doing business together.

In our team, when we notice energy levels declining, we give people room and space to pinpoint behaviors that may be breaking trust and clarify what’s needed to get back on track. This isn’t always easy – especially when our team needs to be firing on all cylinders. Yet, the time we invest in this process is always rewarded. Our relationships improve, our effectiveness increases and – most importantly – our ability to teach trust deepens because we’re living it, authentically.

What leadership style do you use?

Both with clients and in our team, our leadership style is highly collaborative. We believe the most effective, sustainable solutions are co-created, not dictated.

As leaders, how do you measure success?

Our clients refer to us as pioneering leaders in workplace trust building. For nearly 25 years, we’ve supported people at all levels of responsibility to shift behavior, optimize relationships and perform exceptionally, both as professionals and as human beings. Because trust work lives at the core of the human experience, we measure our work’s success in terms of impact. Other questions we ask include:

  • Has our approach to trust building supported people to transform their workplaces and lives?
  • Have the business results our clients achieved increased public awareness around the value of workplace trust?
  • Have we built a method to build trust that stands the test of time?

We’re thankful and proud that we’re enjoying success by these measures. Yet we’re more proud that our clients are enjoying success from trust building.

How do you resolve conflict?

In our work with thousands of leaders worldwide, we’ve found that conflict is rooted in compromised trust. We’ve developed a proven seven-step formula that supports people to resolve conflict, restore trust and work together again effectively.

  • Observe and acknowledge what’s happened. Recognize the impact of the conflict on both work and life outside of work.
  • Allow feelings to surface. Is there confusion, anger, hurt or shock?
  • Get support. Seek objective counsel to gain greater perspective.
  • Reframe the experience. Get curious. Consider the bigger picture, opportunities that may now be open, options that can be considered. Reflect upon what the experience may teach about personal development, relationships and life.
  • Take responsibility for moving through the conflict and restoring trust, even if not at fault. Learn the behaviors to practice that can keep the situation from happening again.
  • Forgive others. Release the weight of bitterness and resentment and approach others with compassion and understanding.
  • Let go and move on. Disengage from the grip of conflict and move forward.

Gail Angelo

Coaching and Consulting
26 years of Leadership Experience

GailAngelo.com
@GailCoaching

What are the most important values you demonstrate as a leader?

The most important values for me as a leader include service, compassion and supporting the greatest potential of those I interact with and lead.

What is the difference between a leader and a boss?

A leader inspires people to action regardless of position and/or subject matter expertise. They are strategic in their thinking. They are Agile in their approach to getting things done. Leaders create followership. They are self-aware people with integrity and character, and they actively influence cultures of the same characteristics. A leader is someone you ARE. A boss is something you DO. Bosses are often more about position than about character, and not all bosses are leaders.

How do you build cohesion among teams who disagree?

I start with what is working and where teams do agree. I look for common ground, which is typically around purpose. There will never be a team without disagreement. Consequently, I promote a culture of respectful disagreement. Oftentimes, it is out of disagreement that some of the most creative and best solutions arise.

How do you motivate your team?

I start by engaging them by explaining the purpose of the team. Why does the team exist? What can they connect with? I see them for who they are as people as well as professionals. I support them in seeing the value of each other. I play to their strengths. I ask what they like to do and what they do best. I maximize opportunities for leveraging their strengths. I thank them publicly. I provide balanced, clear, actionable and timely feedback. I communicate with transparency. I trust them.

What leadership style do you use?

My leadership style is inclusive and collaborative. I thrive on collective ideas and input. Ideas and input help make us better and more Agile in times of rapid and complex change.

As a leader, how do you measure success?

Bottom line results The team’s sense and/or feeling of fulfillment Engagement Serving as a model to/for other teams as to how to get things done well

How do you resolve conflict?

  • Get the facts
  • Encourage open dialogue directly with the person
  • Set an expectation that conflict is not always bad if dealt with constructively
  • Model what you want, and set the expectation that there will be no gossip, no rumor mill
  • Listen well, and encourage others to do the same!

Extending a big thanks to Villanova University for their commitment to leadership, education and for inviting me to participate in this leadership listicle.

Do you want to learn more about leading through change, effective facilitation or communicating for impact? Join me for three powerful workshops at Project Management and Business Analyst World, Toronto May 9-12

More on Effective Leadership?  You Betcha!

Counter-Intuitive, Powerful Formula for Change Leadership, Innovation and Success in Disruptive Times

Free Ebook:  Leading and Succeeding in Disruptive Times-A 3Q Primer

Lead Forward-The Revolution is Already Here

Leadership Is About Growth: 3 Ways To Adapt, Evolve And Thrive

The Essentialist Leader

Guts, Gusto, Integrity ( 1 post with over 350 leadership links)

 

Do you want to get motivated and inspired?  Transform a people-centric leadership, business development, communication or career challenge into an advantage Build sticky coaching, training and mentoring initiatives?  We are here to help you lead, communicate and succeed forward in disruptive times;  face to face, by telephone, skype or video conferencing.  Call (416)-671-4726  Skype:  beckerirene

 

Irene Becker

Just Coach It.  Empower-Engage-Transform

Irene  Becker, Founder and Chief Success Officer
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™

irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene   irene@justcoachit.com 
Tel:  Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com

Are You Running on Empty?

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Are you running on empty? Take this free quiz, enjoy this post AND…
Refuel! Scroll down for a our best practical tips and cool tools

Leadership, Personal, Talent Management, Career Transition and Inspirational Articles with a 3Q Edge™

Are you running on empty

Now, as you read these words someone you lead, work for or love is running on empty.  Are you running on empty?  Are your people running on empty? Increasingly stressful work environments, heavy work loads and dwindling resources, cynicism and negativity from coworkers adds fuel to the job dissatisfaction, frustration and negativity that destroys our greatest purpose and potential from inside out.

Is your work environment becoming increasingly stressful or frustrating?  Is negativity creeping or invading your thoughts and impacting your actions?  Do you have difficulty reflecting upon your day and finding rewarding, meaningful experiences that made you feel on purpose? Are you questioning your career or life? Do you get up in the morning with an increasing feeling of dread or stress? Are you doing ‘just enough’ at work and life to get by, hoping that the next “miracle” course or turn of events will bring hope and positive change?

If you answered yes to one of the aforementioned questions, you are not alone. Studies tell us that if you are not running on empty, someone you know, lead, work for or love is.  The World Health Organization forecasts that stress will be the major cause of physical disability in the world by 2030, and depression the most common malady by 2020. These are not new forecasts, and they deserve our attention.  You can only hit a target you can see, and dumbing or numbing down the rapid growth of smart, capable, great people running on empty is the path to ultimate dismay and defeat.  The engine of economic and social survival and growth in this century is not controlling the mode of production, but actualizing human purpose and potential to think better, communicate/collaborate better and stoke the fire of meaning and purpose that will keep us moving forward at the speed of change, in the face of challenges, stressors even failures.

Signs of Running on Empty

  • Exhaustion

  • Reduced ability to feel sympathy and empathy

  • Anger and irritability

  • Increased use of alcohol and drugs

  • Dread of working with certain clients

  • Diminished sense of enjoyment of career

  • Heightened anxiety or irrational fears

  • Intrusive thoughts

  • Hypersensitivity or insensitivity to emotional material

  • Difficulty separating work life from personal life

  • Absenteeism – missing work, taking many sick days

  • Presenteeism-being at work but not really contributing.

  • Problems with intimacy and in personal relationships

  • Changes in sleeping and/or eating patterns

Where do you stand?  Take a  free 5 minute self test of your life and career

What is the most important challenge you face?
Think about it, reflect upon it and decide whether your greatest challenge is other people, or yourself.  Do you need to change or shift a way of thinking, communicating or doing so that you can inspire yourself and others?  Is it time to start now to build a new skill set, a 3Q skill set that will help you think and lead smarter; feel and do better? Are you ready to fight negativity, fight depression, fight frustration by filling your tank?

Practical Advice!
Seize the day.  Make a critical shift forward by recognizing and actualizing your power to be the difference and to make a difference. I remain committed and dedicated to helping as many people as I can shift forward by learning to recognize and actualize strengths while transforming challenges into a lever for their greatest potential, happiness and success; their 3Q Edge™  Download Your Free E-book, Leading and Succeeding in Disruptive Times-A 3Q Primer

Tips and Tools to Refuel!  Best of the Blog!
Sharing the top five articles (multiple topics) on 3Q Leadership Blog that have had thousands of reads.  Pick a topic or title that speaks to you and know that I would appreciate hearing from you and knowing what you liked about the post, or what you would like to learn more about.

Top Five Cool Tools ( Tools that take 5 min or less)

Top Five Inspirational Posts

Top Five Leadership Posts

Top Five Personal Development Posts

  • Happiness & Success In The Face of Change And Challenges 

Top Five Posts-Misc. Catgories

 Top Five Talent Management Posts

 


Do you want
to get motivated and inspired?
 Transform a people-centric leadership, business development, communication or career challenge into an advantage Build sticky coaching, training and mentoring initiatives?  We are here to help you lead, communicate and succeed forward in disruptive times;  face to face, by telephone, skype or video conferencing.  Call (416)-671-4726  Skype:  beckerirene

 Re-invent, Re-Imagine, Engage and LEAD Forward

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Just Coach It.  Together we are smarter, faster and stronger.
Irene  Becker, Founder and Chief Success Officer
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™

irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene   irene@justcoachit.com 
Tel:  Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com
 Face to face, by phone, skype or video conferencing

Your Greatest Happiness

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© Irene Becker, Founder, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Coaching, Consulting & Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Future 

3Q Leadership™ Blog- 54,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing! Freedom or Slavery

The litmus test of your greatest happiness rests on your ability to find freedom from that which will only lead us down a path of instant gain and long-term pain. It is  easy to become a slave to our ego (the need to be validated by others), or to the demands of others.  It is easy to develop “soft addictions” to avoid areas of our life that run against our true purpose, our desire and nature to love and to share.  “ Soft addictions”  like getting hooked on t.v., focusing on negativity or being a workaholic are facile ways to distract us from what really matters to us.

When we choose to be addicted to that which helps us avoid that which is difficult or painful we lose touch with the fact that our greatest sense of purpose comes in sharing, contributing and giving.   Whether you are addicted to TV, video games or shopping your soft addictions are a trap. How can you gain the personal freedom to empower our best thoughts, engage our greatest actions and live our best lives when we are facing a change or challenges that has impacted the landscape of our life or work?

Happiness is a choice that starts with being grateful for the gift of life and to look at your glass as half full.  It starts with championing the faith, hope, courage, integrity and humanity that can lift YOU  from where we are to where we need to go.  We can start by learning to appreciate the present moment.  We can gain perspective by taking time to reflect, time to really live in the present moment so that we can be still and hear our inner voice.  

Mindfulness is something that is top of mind for leaders, as it helps drive cognition, ideation and resiliency.  It needs to be top of mind for us all!  Take nine minutes out of your busy day to be mindful-try the 3 minute Pause exercise three times a day, and you will see a difference in your state of mind, focus and the feeling of gratitude that elevates your consciousness and your soul.

We can make a choice to step back and see challenges, changes, even failures with new eyes that take us forward; new eyes that help us tap into our true power and acknowledge that we have a purpose that is bigger than the challenge, bigger than the change or failure are facing.

Our true power is the power to choose freedom over slavery, happiness over despair by refusing to be a slave to our thoughts, by pointing them in new directions that take us forward.  Is it time to recognize that every thought and action that feeds your need to be validated by someone else, makes you a slave to your ego and to the demands and expectations of others?  Is it time to re-awaken and re-inspire your best self and best thoughts?

Take a moment, take this moment to be still and reflect on what you truly want and need. You can choose to elevate this day by taking one small step that will bring happiness to another human being.  It can be a simple smile to a co-worker; it can be anything we choose.  Just one small, simple gift of goodness will add a drop of greatness to your day. Pie in the sky?  Think again!  Take a moment to spread a little goodness, because doing good feels good.

Choosing not to follow the crowd, choosing to empower and enable thoughts and actions that disable your best self and thoughts is to choose slavery over freedom, happiness over despiare. At a time when the World Health Organizations forecasts that stress related ailments and depression will become the major causes of physical and emotional disability in the world, the imperative to strengthen your resolve to focus on that which truly empowers and enables your best self, best thoughts and best actions is clear.

Seize this day, empower this moment by choosing freedom over slavery. Find your happy spot. Refuse to be a part of the silent war of negativity, discouragement, disengagement, depression and despair.  Tap into YOUR power to think differently, communicate differently and develop a NEW relationship with your strengths and challenges that takes YOU forward!

More on 3Q Personal Development and Growth?  YOU Betcha!
The Art of Deliberate Success by David Keane
Surviving Friendly Fire
True Happiness
The Happiness Course
Picking the Golden Apple
The Happiness Compendium
Against All Odds-A True story of courage and more!
The Secret to Personal Development and Growth
Turning Negativity Around
Refocus-Repurpose-Repower
7 Ways to Engage and Enable Your Greatest Potential
The Power of YOUR Story
Re-Charge-Inspire YOURSELF in 5 Minutes or Less!
100 Stressbusters

Do you want to get motivated and inspired?  Transform a people-centric leadership, business development, communication or career challenge into an advantage Build sticky coaching, training and mentoring initiatives?  We are here to help you lead, communicate and succeed forward in disruptive times;  face to face, by telephone, skype or video conferencing.

Empower-Engage-Transform


Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene
Tel:  Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com

 

Motivating People Beyond Money

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 Irene Becker, Founder, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Coaching, Consulting & Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Future
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 54,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

The imperative to make a critical shift forward is written on the walls of our workplaces.  Money is not enough, because in a world of increasing change, challenges, competition the litmus test, the NEW currency of success is providing YOUR people, YOUR bread and butter, the foundation of YOUR success, with a workplace that is purposeful, engaging and allows them to not only grow professionally but personally.  

Delighted to share a guest post by internationally acclaimed speaker and trainer, Chris Atkinson.  Thank you Chris for your important work.  I am sure that your upcoming seminar Transformational Leadership-Moving Beyond Money  at World of Learning, Birmingham, UK will be received by a captivate audience Sept 30th

 

Motivating People Beyond Money by Chris Atkinson
Motivating People Beyond Money

 

Despite a growing body of research to the contrary most organisations remain fixated on incentive and punishment as the key methodologies for employee motivation and engagement. Many leaders find it hard to imagine an organisational context where money isn’t the driving force behind the motivation of their people. Whilst money will remain the primary reason why most of us decide to work it actually isn’t an effective motivator nor is it actually very effective as a means to drive higher performance.

If you see organisations like an engine, any engine needs fuel. The traditional fuel that powers that engine was incentive and reward or punishment and fear. The features of this engine design were bonus schemes, performance awards, KPI based management, disciplinary processes and even anger/aggression. What we’re seeing today is that the current workforce is running on a different kind of fuel so the ‘engine’ of the organisation must now change in response. The workforce we have today is fuelled by wanting to do meaningful work, wanting to feel trusted, wanting to feel respected. Our organisations now need to change their design accordingly so that we are able to use that particular fuel.

Let’s move away from the analogy to real life. A simple way to understand this is to ask yourself, “When my boss asks me to do something, why am I agreeing to do it?” The answer will fall into two camps:

1) I’ve got to do it because it’s my job, because I’m contracted to do it, because I’m afraid of punishment or because maybe there’s a reward which I desire, it could even be that there’s some politics at play meaning I want to keep my boss happy.

2) Because I’d enjoy doing it, because I agree with it, it feels right to me, I want to support my boss, I see it as a positive challenge.

This is hugely important to organizations right now because the historical relationship between employee and employer is about, “I give you x amount of hours in return for a certain amount of salary.” The thing with this transaction is it has to be equal and fair. The problem becomes, as companies ask employees to do more, to give more hours, to put more effort in, most people aren’t seeing more salary so the transaction starts to look unfair .

Organizations are starting to realize that they need deeper relationships with their employees in order to rise above the wave of turbulence in the industry.

Simply put, the traditional methodology of organisational performance management ensured employees came to work for money and kept working by carrot or stick systems. The modern design of high performing organisations has taken a radical step away from this design and in doing so it seeing a radical shift in organisational performance.

The research is unequivocal; a 2013 paper by Gallup looked at 263 research studies across 192 organisations in 49 industries and 34 countries. In total, they studied 49,928 business units including 1,390,941 employees. Their findings showed that organisations with an average of 9.3 engaged employees for every actively disengaged employee experienced 147% higher earnings per share (EPS) compared with their competition.

I’m sure you recognise that what you enjoy in work, what gives you satisfaction in work, it’s not really about the pay cheque and benefits, those are very important to you but they don’t cause you to feel energetic, passionate, dedicated or absorbed. These words come from a different place; they come from intrinsic motivation, a feeling from inside ourselves rather than from external stimulus. With this in mind organizations today need to focus on how they create a sense of EMOTIONAL rewards and satisfaction for employees. The key influencing areas to drive emotional satisfaction in work are:

  1. i) Line manager personality

  2. ii) Characteristics of day to day work

iii) Organisational culture

  1. iv) Senior team qualities/traits

  2. v) Induction and orientation process

If we want to change the design of our organisations then we need to take a deep and hard look at these critical areas. We need to change the design of the organisational engine to promote intrinsic satisfaction from work, environment and our working relationships. This cannot happen through management, through process and systems. This is a human issue and needs human solutions.

In conclusion, I would emphasize that this doesn’t mean we can get employees to work really hard and not pay them. People are always going to want to be fairly and appropriately compensated for the work that they do and moreover it’s right that organisations reward people for their efforts, time and even sacrifices. But the key is, beyond these things we must find a more meaningful and a deeper relationship with our employees.

There is a wealth of motivation to be found once we move beyond money.

Image Credit:  Big Stock Photo

If you are noticing advertisements at the end of this post, we apologize as we did not post them and are working now to remove them from the blog!

 

Getting smarter, happier and taking control of your timeDO YOU want to beta test a big data, real time assessment that will give you a snapshot of where your organization is at?

Contact irene@justcoachit.com for more information.

 

 

 

More on Building the New Currency of Success in YOUR Organization…YOU Betcha!

•Enlightened Self Interest-Building a Resilient Thriving Culture
The Thriving Organization-10 Powerful Steps Out of Jurassic Park
Leadership and Enlightened Business
•The Purpose Equation
•The Leadership Equation:  Building Great Leadership
Performance Optimization and Success in Disruptive Times
•Smart and Fast are NOT Enough:  What YOU Need to Know about EQ

 

Author Bio: Chris Atkinson
Training Design Director, Elysian Training | International Speaker

Chris AtkinsonChris is a passionate business speaker who combines strong commercial and training focus with a deep psychological knowledge to inspire individuals and businesses. He travels internationally as speaker specialising in engagement, organisational culture and inspiring leadership. Starting his career in 2001 Chris has worked with diverse business sectors in more than 20 countries worldwide with 43 different nationalities. In April 2015 he was featured on the front cover of Realizing Leadership magazine.

 

Do you want to get motivated and inspired?  Transform a people-centric leadership, business development, communication or career challenge into an advantage.  Build sticky coaching, training and mentoring initiatives?  We are here to help you lead, communicate and succeed forward;  face to face, by telephone, skype or video conferencing.

 

Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge


Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer
Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene
Tel:  Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com

I Choose The Road Less Traveled

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© Irene Becker, Founder, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Coaching, Consulting & Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Future 

3Q Leadership™ Blog- 54,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

I Choose The Road Less Traveled

I choose the road less traveled.

•I love myself because from a place of self-love my ego is quiet, my awareness and compassion are restored.

•I serve with an open mind and heart because that which is closed withers and dies.

•I learn with passion and re-learn with vigour because each day is a blessing, an opportunity to learn, share and contribute.

•I know that my strengths are a gift, my challenges are a lever for my greatest purpose, potential and growth.

•I lead forward with faith, hope, courage, humanity and integrity because these are the only true riches we have; they are the virtues, the power within that no man can cast asunder.  They are the anchors for our best thoughts, best work and greatest contribution to a stronger, better future.

I choose the road less traveled because to lead is to serve, to be grateful is to grow, to know is to care…

 

My work does not and cannot speak to everyone. It touches smart, forward thinkers; people who have the courage to seek higher ground, people who know in their hearts that we each have a role to play in building a better world, a better future. I think this 182 word post says a lot, and my new site, revamped blog and a whole new terrific assortment of offerings, practical powerful simple ways to recharge-refocus-repower and LEAD FORWARD will say even more.

More?  You Betcha!  Sharing posts from 3Q Leadership Blog™ with thousands of reads and a couple of compendiums of inspiring quotes and information.  May they empower, inspire and lead you forward!

•Inspiring Posts 
The Secret to Peace and Prosperity
What Does Leadership Really Mean?
The Soul of Leadership-The Heart of Sustainability
I Will NOT Be Broken-The Call to Build a Better Future
Great Leadership and The Call to Lead Greatly
Against All Odds-A True Story of Hope, Courage and Leadership
Picking the Golden Apple
Five Ways to Lead Forward by Championing the Challenge

•Inspiring Compendiums of Quotes, Info-graphics and Information
Over 3,000 Inspiring Quotations
Over 400 Inspiring Life, Happiness and Success Posts/ Info-graphics
Over 300 Inspiring Science, Tech and Medical Advances
Over 400 Heroic Women Change-makers and Trailblazers
Over 700 posts and Infographics on NeuroScience and Brain Facts

 

Just Coach It-The 3Q EdgeRecharge, refocus and repower!  Are YOU ready to communicate, lead and succeed forward faster and stronger by using your next challenge, change or career transition as a lever for your greatest potential and results?  Take back YOUR power to make a difference and be the difference? Build YOUR 3Q Edge™?  We are here to help you lead, communicate and succeed forward face to face, by telephone, skype or video conferencing!” It is the small companies like Just Coach It that are leading the way, and Irene Becker is one of the finest runners in the race.”  Leon Benjamin, Author, Winning by Sharing
Tel: Irene Becker:  416-671-4726  Skype: beckerirene  
Tel: Irene’s Assistant, Drew Jones, 416-737-5075 
Email:  drew@just coachit.com


How to Build and Develop Business in 2015| Practical Tips and Insights

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 © Irene Becker, Founder, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Coaching, Consulting & Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Tomorrow

3Q Leadership™ Blog- 52,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

 

 

Business-as-Usual-Gaping-Void-300x225Building and Developing Business Requires a New Focus; because the velocity of challenges, hyper-competition facing all businesses is extraordinary. The rules of the game have changed; what worked in the past, may be irrelevant tomorrow.  The ability to focus forward, to learn, lead and succeed forward depends on your ability to recognize the new arena while using both strengths and challenges as a lever for new strategies, new ways of communicating, collaborating and growing business at the speed of change. Read More:  The Next Revolution is Already Here

 

How To Build and Develop Business in 2015Building Strong Entrepreneurial and Intra-Preneurial Skills is the Way Forward
The imperative for entrepreneurs, small and mid-size business owners to understand this new arena and negotiate it in ways that generate results is particularly important because the birth of more and more entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies will continue to swell. Courage, agility, communication influence, collaboration, integrity of purpose and products are integral to building, developing and landing business in 2015.  Interestingly, baby boomers are starting business at a 2:1 ratio compared with their millennial counterparts  READ more

A recent linked in post by Dr. Roshawnna Novelus on How to Fail like Barbara Corcoron inspired this post >>  Read the article in its entirety  

“Despite her $80 million net worth and tremendous success as a businesswoman and television personality, “Shark Tank” star Barbara Corcoran is no stranger to failure.” Ms. Corcoran’s recent course on the Fundamentals of entrepreneurship includes core philosophies that have been part of her success.  1.  Embrace Fear    2. Develop Immense  Optimism  3 Create Pressure and Don’t Overanalyze 4. Fake It Until You Are It Core philosophies that resonated profoundly, because the ability to fail forward is critical not only to entrepreneurship, but to enhancing resiliency, grit, focus on what counts, business skill/innovation. Read 2015 Global Trends and the Business of Success

 

Refocus, Reflect and Repurpose Your Greatest Potential and Results
Take time today to reflect upon what you are doing that is works (keep it) and what you need to change and what you want to transform in order to build, develop and land business.  Change is not the problem, it is the solution. Helping you shift your relationship with change and challenges so that we you can use both as a catalyst for your greatest potential and results is what my 3Q work is all about Learn more about 3Q-Listen to Leadership 3.0 Podcast stayed tuned for our new website, blog and podcast series!

 

The Soul of Leadership-The HHow Can YOU Build and Develop Business in 2015?
The importance of not only learning to Fail Forward but seeing our strengths AND challenges we face with new eyes that take us forward faster and stronger is critical.  Sharing a collection of insights and tips on doing just that!  Insights, tips and tools for entrepreneurs, small and mid-sized business owners who want to communicate, lead and succeed forward!

 More about what’s new, what’s hot and what’s not?  YOU Betcha!  
Over 400 articles on Business at the Speed of Change

 

Is is time to recharge, refocus and repower?  Use your next challenge, change or career transition as a lever for your greatest potential and results?  We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker, Founder , Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Coaching, Consulting and Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Tomorrow
Face to Face, By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
·
Contact Irene: irene@justcoachit.com  Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene 
·Contact Irene’s Assistant, Drew Jones drew@justcoachit.com
Tel: (1) 416-737-5075

 

The Soul of Leadership-The Heartbeat of Sustainability

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© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Building a Better, Stronger Tomorrow
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 52,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

 

A great conversation with Sunny Lee-Goodman, Director of Public Practice at Lapin International inspired this post.  We were speaking about purpose, about David Lapin’s excellent book Lead by Greatness and what greatness really means.  Sunny encouraged me to write the words that are etched on my soul. Thank you for encouraging me to write about the soul of leadership, Sunny!

 

The Soul of Leadership-The Heartbeat of Sustainability

Lead Forward Because YOU Can

Seize this day to ignite the power within, get inspired by the soulful voice that is the heartbeat of sustainability. Listen to YOUR beautiful voice, your leader’s voice, and hear its goodness, courage, integrity

and

humanity. It is the voice that lifts you when you see natural beauty, it is the feeling that touches you when you do something that helps another; it is the antithesis of the need, greed

and

ego that pulls at us all and beckons us to make an important choice between what we feel me need at the moment and what we know will help us build or contribute to a better, stronger future.
Read more:  Our Greatest Hope

 

The Soul of Leadership-The Heartbeat of Sustainability

Stronger Together

The soul of leadership is the heartbeat of sustainability.  It is the voice of courage and the strength of character that helps you do something that is difficult because you know it is the right thing to do and will, in the end serve the greatest good.  It is the spark of the Creator, the light of the infinite source of goodness that can change a life and many lives because it speaks to our best as human beings; our ability to put down our emotional or political swords and recognize that which is stronger than anything else, our ability to learn to adapt, evolve and thrive together.
Read More:  Building and Sustaining Great Leadership-7 Timeless Commitments

 

 

The Soul of Leadership-The Heartbeat of SustainabilityLeadership is found in those difficult and often dark times when we are caught between a rock and a hard place; those times doing the right thing is as critical as finding a new way, a different way to think, communicate or execute.  A way that helps you engage and grow your 3Q Edge™ by recognizing your strengths AND using the challenges, changes, stressors AND failures to BUILD your greatest potential and results:

 

Q1) IQ    Cognitive dexterity, focus, strategic thought, innovative thought and execution

Q2) EQ   Emotional intelligence, resiliency, communication, and  collaboration across boundaries

Q3) SQ   Integrity of spirit, purpose, values and the growth of intrinsic motivators that keep one leading forward in disruptive times.

 

The Soul of Leadership-The Heartbeat of Sustainability

 

My first name is grit. My journey through successful times, recessions, difficult, gut-wrenching and even life-threatening times taught me as much as many years of dedicated study and practical work with clients helping them optimize their leadership, communication, career and business potential by seeing strengths and challenges with new eyes.  Read More:  3Q Leadership Benefits and Why I Have Dedicated My Life to This Work

 

The Soul of Great Leadership-The Heartbeat of SustainabilityMy second name is determined.  I have dedicated my life to helping smart people and organizations build their 3Q Edge™ because the only way forward is together, the only way out of the morass of challenges that threaten our individual and collective social and economic well-being is have the grit and determination to think differently, communication and collaborate across boundaries while building the soulful, powerful, timeless anchors that tie us all together irrespective of age, stage, culture or any type of boundary. Read more: What Does Leadership REALLY Mean?

 

The Soul of Great Leadership-The Heart of SustainabilityMy third name is soulful; the desire to learn, share and contribute punctuates my days and my work. Take a moment right now to be soulful.  How are you building and growing soulful leadership?  How can you use what is to create what can be in your life and the lives of others?  Make a perceptual shift, develop a new relationship with strengths, changes and challenges the empowers YOUR best self and work?  What do you really want to create in this lifetime that will last after you are not here?  Read More:  The Secret to Peace and Prosperity

 

 

 

Seize the Day-Ignite Your Greatest Power!

Seize the Day-Ignite Your Greatest Power!

Seize this day to ignite the power within, because YOU can.  Get inspired by a soulful voice that cannot be cast asunder, and can take you forward in ways you cannot even begin to imagine.  True power lies not in what we consume or have, but in what we contribute.

More on Soulful Leadership, Sustainable Leadership and Staying Inspired?  YOU Betcha!

Ten Practical Ways to Re-focus, Re-Purpose, Re-Power
Re-Charge and Re-Power in 3 Minutes or Less:  List of 3Q Cool Tools
Building a Better Future: Mission, Vision, Values 
The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership™

 

Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges? We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer
Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Face to Face, By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Programs, Services and Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Tomorrow
Leadership Growth, Communication Influence, Career Optimization in Disruptive Times
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

Re-imagine, Re-Invent, Engage and Lead Forward in Disruptive Times

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“Employee engagement and culture are now business issues, not just topics for HR to debate. And there’s no place for organizations to hide.”  Deloitte University Press, Feb 2015

2015 Global Trends and the Business of Success
Practical Tips on Leadership, Organizational Development/Growth and Success in Disruptive Times | A 3Q Perspective

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ) | Building a Better, Stronger Tomorrow
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 52,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

Re-invent, Re-Imagine, Engage and LEAD Forward

Adapt, evolve and thrive…or die. The 2015 Global Human Capital Trends report by Deloitte pinpoints 4 critical pivot points for success; leading, engaging, re-inventing and re-imaging. You can run, but you cannot hide. The revolution is already here, and neutral is a negative.  What worked yesterday may be impotent today or tomorrow; the need to shift forward is critical and it depends upon your attitude, your ability to re-imagine, engage, re-invent and LEAD forward. Read More: Deloitte 2015 Global Human Capital Trends Report

 

 

Success means seeing things differently

Success means seeing things differently

Do YOU see the opportunity before YOU?  Look again.  It’s there.  Will you become a pioneer in a new world of work and business?  A solution driven champion who will inspire, model and engage their first customers (their people) by helping them optimize talent, potential, purpose and results?  Will you use what is to create what CAN be or become a victim of what was and what will NOT take you forward at a speed of change, challenges and competition that will continue to accelerate? Read more:  The Revolution is Already Here-Adapt, Evolve and Thrive

 


Build Your 3Q Leadership Edge

Build Your 3Q Leadership Edge

Leadership means making the critical shift forward and helping your people do the same. It means building YOUR 3Q Leadership™ Edge; your ability to think differently, communicate/collaborate across boundaries while building the anchors that drive leadership, engagement, purpose and sustainability. Being smart and fast are important, but they are no longer enough.  The imperative for smart, fast, forward thinkers to champion new ways, faster ways of optimizing great thought, communication, collaboration and results has never been greater.  The buck stops here, and it starts with you.  Read More:  The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership™

 

 

 

Optimize Your Potential

Optimize Your Potential

Words make worlds and the words you choose to think and share are the seedbed for what you will or will not create. Will you change your definition of winning so that victory speaks to the collaboration, the optimization of human purpose, potential and results that is critical to our individual and collective ability to not simply survive AND thrive?  Will you change your words, because the way you choose to think, the words you choose to share create your perspective.  Every time you think or say “change is difficult” you are strengthening a neural pathway, giving power to an outdated habit of thinking that will not and cannot take you forward.  Read More:  Worlds Make Worlds-Opening the Door to a Better Present and Future

 


Re-imagine, Re-invent, Engage and LEAD Forward
Change is not the problem; it’s the solution that drives great thought, great leadership and great organizations.  The ability of smart, fast, forward thinkers to USE change, challenges, stressors, even failures as a positive lever for their greatest potential and results is real and critical.  The imperative to stretch and grow, adapt, evolve and thrive by honing your ability to build cognitive and emotional dexterity (Q1 and Q2) while developing (Q3) the spiritual capital; the integrity of purpose, great leadership and intrinsic motivation is before you.   Read more:  Enlightened Self Interest:  Building a Thriving, Resilient Culture

 

 

 

Re-Imagine, Re-invent, Engage and LEAD Forward

Re-Imagine, Re-invent, Engage and LEAD Forward

Re-imagine, re-invent, engage and LEAD forward,  because you can. Adapt, evolve and thrive…or die. Celebrate YOUR ability to be the difference and champion the difference by making positive change and the development of all three Q strengths a living reality.  Find new ways, faster and better ways to think differently, communicate/collaborate across boundaries while building the anchors that drive and sustain leadership, engagement, purpose and results; ways that can help you, ways that can help your people build their 3Q Edge™.  Carpe Diem!  Read More:  Re-focus, Re-purpose, Re-power: Ten Practical 3Q Personal Development and Leadership Tips

 


More?  YOU Betcha!
Possibility Thinking, Doing and Results (Part 1) A 3Q Portfolio of Strengths
Possibility Thinking, Doing and Results (Part 2) 5 Success Benchmarks
A Growing Compendium of  475 Great Leadership and 3Q Leadership Articles

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts this month. Stay Tuned!

Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges? We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer
Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Face to Face, By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Programs, Services and Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Tomorrow
Leadership Growth, Communication Influence, Career Optimization in Disruptive Times
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

Re-focus, Re-Purpose, Re-Power

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New mindset = new result!

10 Practical Ways to Re-focus, Re-purpose, Re-power in Disruptive Times (and a BIG list of practical, inspiring 3Q personal development links and tips)

©Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 52,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

New Mindset-New Result

Take Back Your Power to Make a Difference-Because YOU Can

Who is writing this post? What do I know about this topic? More than most people.

I have been to the top of the mountain, and I have started again from ground zero with challenges and seemingly impossible odds staring me in the face.  You can read my story and the genesis of my 3Q Leadership work…you can read my bio OR you can reflect upon what causes someone to be passionate about your ability to not simply play to strengths but to transform changes, challenges, stressors AND even failures into a powerful lever for our greatest potential and results. Potential and results that speak to your talent, your purpose your ability to make a difference in a way that will positively impact your life and the lives of others.

Life and career were complicated enough before we entered this new VUCA (volatility-uncertainty, change, ambiguity) world.  Is there an upside?  Yes! 

Success means recognizing and accelerating your ability to learn/re-learn, rethinking and finding new ways of communicating, collaborating and executing that help you use what is to create what can be in yourself and in others.  It means actualizing your greatest potential, and this potential is ignited when you recognize YOUR ability to make a difference. New Mindset-New Result.

Here are 10 Ways to Re-focus, Re-Purpose-Repower!
New Mindset=New Result

 

Be Your Own Hero

Be Your Own Hero

1. Be Your Own Hero.  Focus on YOUR Greatest Power-YOUR True Power.

Whether you seek to lead your best life, lead your team, organization or country you will need to lead greatly. Leading greatly means understanding and enabling YOUR true power. It means championing yourself, rather than waiting for someone to champion you. True power is not the power of domination, exploitation, ego or arrogance; true power is the fire of faith, hope, courage, integrity and humanity; it is the spark plug that can help you be your own hero! Read more…

 

 

 

 

Ask the right questions

Ask questions that take YOU forward!

2. Ask yourself the right questions. What are YOU doing with your life? What do YOU really want to achieve?

What new personal rituals/habits of thinking are you developing to inspire, empower and engage YOUR best self?

How can YOU shut down YOUR negative self talk in ways that empower YOUR best thoughts and feelings?  Read more…

 

 

Build Mindfulness

Build Mindfulness

3. Make mindfulness part of your daily practice…in less than 10 minutes a dayNo time to meditate….Try The Pause-Yes, in 3 minutes you can put your brain in an alpha state, develop greater mindfulness and repower!

Click for the 3 minute Pause exercise Science confirms that mindfulness is critical to health, cognition, ideation, longevity, happiness, creativity.  Meditating, praying, chanting all build mindfulness…so does doing a simple exercise like The Pause.

 

 

Develop Self Awareness

Build Greater Self Awareness


4. Build self-awareness; develop a better, stronger relationship with yourself and others. 
How can you build a better stronger relationship with yourself?How can you build a better stronger relationship with others?

Take time to reflect and build self-awareness and your relationship with yourself because doing so is critical to establishing and building better relationships with others.  Read more...

 

 

 

 

 

Develop "Cool Tools" Five minute rituals to refocus, recharge and repower!

Develop “Cool Tools” Five minute rituals to refocus, recharge and repower!

5.  Use “Cool Tools” 5 minute rituals that bring out your best; personal rituals you can do almost anywhere that help you refocus-recharge and re-power.

Cool tools (5 minute rituals) you can use almost anywhere, and that will help you re-set the GPS so that you are empowered, solution focused and ready to do and feel your best!  Click for an excellent list of 5 minute Cool Tools…

 

 

 

Fail Forward!

Fail Forward!

6. Turn failure around by using it to succeed and to build the cognitive dexterity, emotional dexterity and resiliency that are critical. Crazy? Really? Think again. Being able to see them with new eyes, learning to use them as positive and powerful stepping-stones to your greatest potential and results is the way forward.

Yes, in the middle of failure there are many levels of opportunity and growth! Read more…

 

 

 

 

Inspire Yourself

Inspire Yourself

7. Inspire yourself.  The choice is before you, is before us all; you can choose to champion the best or be swept away by the worst.

Let’s face it, we are primally wired to be on the look out for predators; negativity and fear will catch our immediate attention. Yes, it is time to re-set the primal wiring!

You can feed your mind, your brain, your soul with intake that inspires, engages and challenges your forward or give in to the ongoing climate of volatility, uncertainty, change and ambiguity that characterizes this time of great paradox and transition.  Finding one simple way each day to feel inspired, developing personal rituals of inspiration is critical.  Read more…

 

 

 

 

Inspire Others

Inspire Others

8.  Inspire Others
Find a way each day to inspire another person forward. Just like volunteering your time makes you feel good, simply sharing a smile, a word or gesture that inspires someone else will positively impact your day. Mirror neurons enable us to sense the feelings of others. Pass positivity forward by inspiring another person and watch the inspiration ripple grow!   Read more…

 

9.  See your story with new eyes that help you appreciate your strengths/talents while transforming challenges into a lever for grit, greatness, potential and results.  Read more…

 

 

Build Your 3Q Edge

Build Your 3Q Edge-Use strengths and challenges as positive levers for your potential and results!

10.  Build YOUR 3Q Edge™ You cannot defy gravity, but you can learn to optimize strengths while also transforming changes, challenges, stressors (even failures) into a lever for your greatest potential and results- Neuroscience confirms that our brains are neuro-plastic; we have the ability to re-write patterns of thinking, communicating and doing. Read more…

More? Always! A selection of passionate, inspiring and practical 3Q personal leadership and personal development  posts and tips:

 

 

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts this month. Stay Tuned!

Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges? We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer
Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Face to Face, By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Programs, Services and Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Tomorrow
Leadership Growth, Communication Influence, Career Optimization in Disruptive Times
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

Five Truths and Business Development Best Practices

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Cheat Sheet:  Business Development | A 3Q Perspective
(Including over 400 bonus business links)

©Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 50,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

Hand writing word Success on transparent board

The imperative to hone your ability to communicate and sell your ideas, your products, your services/organization is more than the litmus test of sales people and those involved in business development.  We are living in a whole new world and marketplace where the ability to communicate and get buy in is critical.

Here are some business development truths and best practices for people who want to improve results by building their 3Q Edge™ as it relates to sales and business development:  Q1) Improved focus, creative and strategic thinking    Q2) Emotional mastery, relationship building, communication influence/buy-in   Q3)  Integrity of purpose, communication and execution.

Truth #1:     It is all about THEM.  

Best Practice #1: Refocus.  ASK Questions that demonstrate your interest and allow the prospect to talk about the challenges YOU will then demonstrate you can

Truth # 2:  Good business is built on trust; trust is built by developing good relationships.

Best Practice #2: Empower your confidence, so you can empower their confidence and engage them in a win-win relationship.

Truth # 3:  Focus on benefits, not features. Your prospect does not want to hear how great you are, they want to know that you care, understand and can solve their problem/pain point.

Best Practice #3:  Communicate Effectively. Learn how to open the ears of your prospect; speak their language and make sure they understand your message and your commitment to helping them solve their challenges.

Truth # 4:   You cannot light a fire with wet wood.  Emotional buy-in is critical.  Demonstrate that you understand and care before you back up how you can help solve their challenges with facts/logic/ data.

Best practice #4:  Hone your ability to understand, empathize and connect with your prospect. Great salesmanship is demands emotional intelligence.

Truth # 5:  Success means creating value for others; a 3Q equation that demands

Q1)   Focus, strategic and creative thinking

Q2)  Emotional intelligence, communication skills

Q3)  Integrity of purpose, communication and execution

Best Practice #5:   Harvest your best results by having:

1.      A goal.

2.  A commitment to listen, observe, understand and meet the needs of others.

3.   A process to prospect, monitor and follow up.

Business development is a 3Q Equation that can be achieved with REACH™-5 simple, powerful steps that form the basis for 3Q coaching, and can help you adapt, grow and build new skills and strengths!

Redirect focus (prime your brain for success)
Empower confidence (build engagement)
Communicate Effectively (trust and rapport)
Actualize (sales + relationship potential)
Harvest Results (and re-harvest)

More on Business Development?  YOU Betcha.  Here come the bonus links!

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog will debut soon!
Featuring expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders. Stay Tuned!

Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges? We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer
Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Face to Face, By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Programs, Services and Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Tomorrow
Leadership Growth, Communication Influence, Career Optimization in Disruptive Times
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

Get Smarter, Happier and Take Control of YOUR Time!  

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5 Practical Tips and More…
A Time Management Self Quiz and Over 1500 Great Infographics and Posts! 

©Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 50,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

 

Now Red Word And Clock

PsyBlog recently shared 20 Everyday Activities That Keep Memory and Thinking Sharp  If you have not read the post, it is a worthy read in that it details simple ways to stay sharp that are centered around crafts, artistic activities and socializing. Yes, that’s right you can enhance your memory and develop sharp thinking by engaging in activities that are FUN.

 

Getting smarter, happier and taking control of your timeWhat did you accomplish yesterday?  Did your accomplishments include an activity that fed your imagination, your emotions and brought a smile to your face?  Why is cultivating your imagination, your emotional wellbeing and your sense of happiness important?
1.  Health
2.  Cognitive ability
3.  Emotional well-being/resiliency
4.  Productivity-yes being happier increases productivity

How much time did you waste yesterday locked in a battle of frustration or stress that sucked your energy, limited your productivity? The imperative to start one’s day with not only goals, but intentions that take us forward is critical.  Time spent organizing your thoughts, your intentions and resetting your attitude so that you are prepared to seize the day rather than having the day seize you is time well spent.  How can you optimize your time?  Build a stronger brain, enhance emotional resiliency, improve your attitude, inject fun and human social time into your day?

Get smarter, happier and take control of your timeWhat’s stopping you?  Many people will say that they do not have time, but each day holds 24 hours, 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds that must be devoted to not simply work, but to the fun activities, the leisure time, the down time that helps our brain, our emotions and our souls survive and thrive!

 

 

 

Get smarter, happier and take control of your time

Here are five simple, powerful steps, a time management self quiz and some excellent posts and tips to help you get smarter, feel happier and take control of your time!


dwight-eisenhower1.  Prioritize and plan! Find a simple, practical way to get organized
. Developed by President Eisenhower, this simple matrix is brilliant and powerful. I have worked with many Project Managers with large portfolios and responsibilities.  Most of my PMP clients love the Eisenhower chart, and all clients who use it find it helpful because it is practical, simple and allows you to transfer areas of priority from one day to the next!

Eisenhower Chart:
Divide a sheet of paper into four columns, prioritizing what you must do now, need to do asap, can do in the future and other items that can wait.
Use a new chart each day.

Urgent                                                 Important

To Do                                                  Can Wait

 

 

Get smarter, happier and take control of your time2.  Start your day with the right attitude.  What YOU focus on grows! Attitude is altitude.  If you get up on the wrong side of the bed, find a personal ritual, a habit that will help you get positive and put a smile on your face.

Go ahead, find something that will make you smile, and get you to feel happier!

 

Get smarter, happier and control your time-image 63.  Words make worlds.  Watch your self-talk.  Close down the voice of negativity that follows you because your brain is wired to hunt out negativity and is the greatest conspiracy theorist you will meet.  Our primal wiring has us on the lookout for predators, and while it served us well when we were living in caves, it is in most cases a current day impediment because it directs our thoughts to all that is negative impedes our ability to see the solution, he caveat in the problem we are facing.

Get Happier, Smarter and Take Control of Your Time  4.  Stretch and grow! Be a change leader.  Embrace and grow your ability to change and evolve by doing simple things that build cognitive dexterity, emotional resiliency. Examples: Make one small change each day in a habitual routine.  Take a new way home.  Brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand.  Learn something new.  Start looking for the bright side in every change or challenge. Stretch and grow.

 

 

 

Get Happier, Smarter and Take Control of Your Time

5.  Understand your time management challenges and turn them around!  Adapt, optimize your time, your results and your ability live and lead forward!

Find the gap, understand where you are not optimizing your time and turn it around!  

 

 

quizTime Management Self-Quiz

Find one area you can improve and dedicate yourself to improving it for the next two weeks!   

1.  Do you separate urgent matters from other demands?

2.  Have you cultivated the art of remaining focused on what really counts, rather than being overloaded by extraneous information?

3.  Do you allocate one hour a day for ME time-time to think, read, plan, daydream, have fun or do something creative?

4.  Do you spend time each day cultivating relationships (business, personal, familial)?

5.  Are you focused on being the best you can be in the moment, rather than chasing some unattainable standard of perfection?

6.  Do you have a system that allows you to browse business or professional journals/articles you need to read in a way that is fast and effective without getting stuck in information overload?

7.  Do you make sure that you have regular holidays or work breaks that include experiences that are memorable and fun for you?

8.  Were you on time for all your appointments last week?

9.  Do you meet your work and personal deadlines?

10.  Do you return all phone calls and emails within 24 hours?

11.  Do you have a system for organizing and dealing effectively with emails?

12.  Are you working at a job you love or do you have a career plan to find a new/different position?

13.  Have you mastered the art of delegating?

14.  Do you have a 3 year personal and career objectives, and a system to help you transform goals into results?

15.  Do you spend time each day nurturing your soul; finding ways to tap into your highest power that inspire your best self?

Image Credits:  Big Stock Photo

Anything else?  You Betcha!  There is no time like the present to get smarter, happier and take control of YOUR time.  Here are some posts to help!

Cool Tools:  Exercises that take less than 5 minutes and can help you think, feel and do better!

Actualize Your Greatest Potential Now-3Q Edge™ Cheat Sheet

Best Self and Career-Ten Minute Self-Test

The Pause:  A 3 Minute, Simple, Powerful, Transformative Exercise

Get Re-inspired in Five Minutes or Less

Ten Ways to Build Happiness and Increase Productivity

The Happiness Compendium

Too Busy to Get Happy-Think again!

The Happiness Course

The Empowerment Compendium

Performance Optimization and Success in Disruptive Times

 Brain Food:  Over 600 Posts and Infographics

 Life, Happiness, Success:  Over 600 Infographics and Posts

 

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts end April 2015. Stay Tuned!

 Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges? We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer
Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Face to Face, By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Programs, Services and Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Tomorrow
Leadership Growth, Communication Influence, Career Optimization in Disruptive Times
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

Ten New Rules of Business Success

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Are YOU following the new rules of business success? New rules of business success will continue to grow as we move from the age of information to the age of innovation.  Here are ten new rules, and over 500 insightful and practical business and leadership links!

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 50,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

 

00Big fish, little fish, all fish swimming in this new world and marketplace must make a critical shift forward because changes, challenges, hyper-competition and the opportunities they present will continue to accelerate.  Every change, challenge or element of competition presents you with an opportunity to get unstuck; an opportunity to think, communicate or execute in a new way that takes YOU forward faster and better while helping you also build the cognitive and emotional dexterity, the ability to think differently/more creatively while building resiliency and grit is a winning combination! Success means thinking differently.

 


Ten New Rules of Business Success

1.  Champion the challenge by looking at your competition with new eyes! Study your competition to further determine what your clients and prospects want.  Discovering the WANT is critical in a crowded marketplace, as is finding new ideas and gaps in products and services that you can fill by finding a new, better or customized solution. The imperative to get innovative and entrepreneurial is critical. Read 3 More Lessons From Seth Godin: How To Build A Wildly Successful Business (Eric T. Wagner, Forbes 10/28/2014)

 

 

 

 

 

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2.  Be a red fish!  
Again, the imperative to be entrepreneurial, to adopt an entrepreneurial or intra-preneurial mindset is critical. Know your clients/prospects, get clear on your objectives and make sure that you are working every day to take them forward. We are in a whole new marketplace where bright upstarts are overtaking established brands; a new era of David and Goliath competition . Read Why Entrepreneurs Should Read Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath, Glen Tulliman, Forbes                                                                                                                                                

 

Ten New Rules of Business Success 3.  Pack a purposeful punch!  Build a strong an resilient culture by developing  enlightened self interest! Purpose equals profit on a multiplicity of levels. Purpose speaks to the shared values and objectives that drive great leadership, great strategy, great teamwork, great innovation and collaboration, great communication. Purpose that speaks to your commitment to excellence and to serving employees, clients, stakeholders and the community your serve. Read Enlightened Self Interest

 

044.  Create the right environment for collaboration. Build a community of purpose; external and internal alliances of like-minded people with complimentary and different skills sets who share your values and objectives. Raising a child demands a village, so does building a successful business, professional practice or organization .  Creating the right environment for internal and external collaboration is critical and it includes developing stronger and better client relationships that drive customer service/satisfaction and help build your digital community of purpose Read Leadership Means Developing A Community of Purpose

 

 

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 5.  Communicate for influence across social, digital and cross generational lines.  Hone your ability to develop a communication skill set that is bigger than yourself, bigger than your intrinsic communication style or pattern. Do not be limited by habits of communication, because you can learn to effectively communicate across social, digital and cross generational lines, and doing so is critical to your success . Read From Now To How: Building Social, Virtual and Cross Generational Leadership

 

 

 

Ten New Rules of Business Success

6.  Cultivate a growth mindset.  Follow, read the landmark work of Carol Dweck around building a growth mindset. Remember, YOU are in control of your thoughts, and YOUR thoughts, YOUR perspective, YOUR ability to choose to grow, evolve and flourish is the fire that can and will take you fire. No desire, no growth; and if you are not growing your business, professional practice or organization will ultimately crumble, stumble, sputter and fail.  Read How Can You Change From A Fixed Mindset To A                                                                                                            Growth Mindset (Carol Dweck,                                                                                                                               Mindsetonline.com 2010)

 

 

Ten New Rules of Business Success7.  Be a change leader and champion; make change leadership skills a priority for your executive team, managers and people because developing a new relationship with change, is critical to the development of an entrepreneurial l (or intra-preneurial) mind-set and culture.  Read Corporate Entrepreneurship And It’s Importance For Large Companies (Ryan May, Businessdictionary.com Sept 2014)

 

 

 

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8.  Cultivate FOCUS.  
Focus on what really matters. Developing your ability to focus on what counts because it will help you learn and re-learn faster and better while being able to direct your attention to that which will help you in optimizing your potential and achieving better results.  Watch This Video:  Daniel Goleman-Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence

 

 

 

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9.  Fail forward.  The sheer velocity of change and challenges means that we will all fail.
Failing forward means not only developing grit and resiliency but also a new relationship with failure that will allow you to find the silver lining behind the cloud (see point #1-because the greatest innovations and successes often are born of failures).  Read Using Failure To Succeed: 7 Powerful, Practical Tips

 

 

 

 

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10.  Build YOUR 3Q Leadership™ Edge. Build three essential strengths YOU CAN learn to grow at the speed of change, challenges, stressors and failures. Adopt a new 3Q mindset because YOUR brain is neuro-plastic; science confirms that YOU can re-write patterns of thinking, communicating or doing that are not taking you forward. That’s right, you are not defined by what was, and have the ability to use what is to create what can be! Learning to think, communicate and execute in new ways will make you stronger and better. Read 3Q Leadership Exposed, Realizing Leadership Magazine Cover Story

 

Are YOU pushing the right buttons? Thinking in a way that will optimize solutions and results at a speed of change, challenges, hyper-competition? Doing what is necessary to tap into the opportunities that are before you? Finding better ways of communicating that create engagement, buy-in and collaboration? Make the critical shift forward because there is no time like the present to turn things around. Carpe diem!

(Image Credit:  Big Stock Photos)
More? YOU Betcha
Free eBOOK: Leading and Succeeding in Disruptive Times-A 3Q Edge Primer

The Thriving Organization-10 Steps Out Of Jurassic Park

Enlightened Self Interest-Building a Strong, Resilient Culture

Consulting Success Tips by Seth Godin

Business Basics

Are YOU Leaving Business on the Table?

Finding New Sources of Profitable Growth

More than 350  Posts on Business at the Speed of Change!

 

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts end April 2015. Stay Tuned!

 Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges? We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer
Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Face to Face, By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Programs, Services and Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Tomorrow
Leadership Growth, Communication Influence, Career Optimization in Disruptive Times
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

Getting Unstuck: Empathy, Success and Living Well

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Getting unstuck means realizing that living well in a world of unreason is a commitment we must make to ourselves every day.

Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 50,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

We cannot lead, communicate and succeed well; we cannot take footsteps that  build a sustainable future without getting unstuck. Developing empathy for ourselves and others, while strengthening our resolve to live, lead and communicate to purpose is essential for our individual and collective survival. The economic, social and organizational argument for building empathy is addressed in a brilliant read, Born to Love:  Why Empathy Is Essential And Endangered by Maia Szalavitz and Bruce D. Perry, PH.d, M.D. 

 

Living Well

At a time when our access to knowledge, information and technology are unsurpassed in human history; and our standard of living is higher than ever before, few of us are truly living well. The World Health Organization forecasts that depression will be one of the most common problems by 2020. It is easy to be distracted by the growing demands of a life and career that charge forward and push us in ways we never expected.  It is easy to lose our footing, by forgetting what really counts.  Sadly, it is also facile to lose the human connection as we live and work in an exceedingly virtual world.  Human doing is not enough. When we forget to focus on human being better, we get stuck on a course of action that will undermine our greatest potential; potential to contribute, potential to make a positive difference, potential to find meaning and fulfillment in our lives and work.

 

Crazy ProfThe march of unreason has infiltrated our popular entertainment, music, and our lives. Too many of us ingest a regular diet of violence, discord, anger, fear that is cloaked in the guise of entertainment.  Living well is something that starts with personal transformation, with the realization that what matters most is not what happens to us, but what we choose to do with it.  The most difficult of circumstances or experiences can be transcended when we refuse to be a victim of what was, and start taking back our power to create and re-create what can be by striving to find our best self, our noblest thoughts, emotions and actions.

 

 

The secret to success is timeless. Create value for others, and you shall prosper and attain happiness.  Love yourself more, and you will feel greater tolerance and love for your fellow human beings. Build a fence around yourself that protects you from the greed and ego of those who are not able to share and seek only to take, because  sharing their company will not help you live well or create sustainable prosperity.


Every day presents us with a new opportunity to get unstuck, to remove the shackles that keep us bound to living and working on a collision course that is outstripping our energy, passion, purpose and potential.  Every day presents us with challenges that can be used help us build greater empathy for ourselves and others.   Take the free 3Q Life and Career Self Quiz!

More?  You Betcha!

Over 3,000 Inspiring Quotations and Words of Wisdom
99 Inspiring Posts, Podcasts and Radio Interviews
Get Inspired by World Changing Ideas and Innovations
Smart and Fast Are Not Enough-The Need for Better Emotional Intelligence ( EQ/EI)
Leading and Succeeding in Disruptive Times-Top Ten Posts 2014

 

 

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts end March!   Stay Tuned!
 Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges? We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Face to Face, By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Programs, Services and Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Tomorrow
Leadership, Communication Influence, Career Transition/Optimization in Disruptive Times

 

7 Ways to Inspire, Engage and Enable YOUR Greatest Potential

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Post Views = 6760 What is the value proposition that will fuel your purpose, passionate engagement and success? Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ) 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 50,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing! How can I share a simple, powerful and important message that is the focus, the raison d’etre of my life and […]

Recharge! Inspire YOURself ( in 5 minutes or less!)

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© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 50,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

iNSPIRE BY INSPIRED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stop.  Reflect.  The imperative to fill your emotional reservoir, light your own fire, re-motivate yourself is critical.  So many of us are focused on making more money, meeting the growing list of demands and responsibilities that make up the day that we forget to fill the emotional reservoir that keeps us happy, healthy.  Your reservoir that must be filled on a regular basis.  Frustration and stress create a biological reaction that attacks your immune system, emotional well-being, physical health and can also push even the best and brightest among us to say or do something that is counterproductive to personal or professional success.

I am here to remind you this second, this moment that YOU can develop personal rituals (I call them COOL TOOLS) that take less than 5 minutes a day; rituals that help you replenish your reservoir of personal power, resiliency….even happiness!

Here is a simple exercise from a workshop I did many years ago for executives and executive coaches called the Just Joy Workshop.  Try it, share it…and if you discover something new about your personal portal to more joy in life and at work, please write to me and let me know the new learning that has come from this simple exercise.

Instructions: Take a few second to relax, regroup and just take a pause from the mundane world.
Clear your head and write down the answers to three simple questions on a piece of
paper or in your journal.

Step One:
What is your name?  Not the name that you go by, a different name. I want you to find an emotion that describes you at your best and consider it your name for the day (i.e. joyful, caring, insightful, adventurous etc-that is going to be your new name.)  Write it down.

Step Two:
What is your job?  Not the title you have or the job description you fill but what you    really do every day.  i.e.  I sell high-end clothes.  Drill it down.  I help people look better so they can live  better and do better.  **If you are in career transition, here is a tome of info about successful career transition, and you can do the exercise by thinking about the job you enjoyed the most and what was YOUR job (as per step two)

Step Three:    
Write down how many times you did your job today.’

Step Four:
Write down what you can do on a daily basis to remind yourself of your answers
to step one and two because they are critical.  Purpose = profit on a multiplicity of levels.  Our ability to feel purposeful, our ability to build the intrinsic motivators (Q3 Strength-SQ) is critical.

Anything else?  If you get stuck…put the exercise aside and try another one!  Here is an excellent list of Cool Tools (Rituals you can do in 5 minutes or less to build YOUR 3Q Edge™)  Three Q what>>Click here to learn more!

Graphic Credit:  Hugh McLeod, Gaping Void Art

 

Efficiency to Effectiveness

More on 3Q Personal Development and Greater Happiness in Disruptive Times?  YOU Betcha!
The Power of YOUR Story
The Power of NOW
The Power of What
Actualizing YOUR Greatest Potential NOW
Best Self, Best Work-Ten Minute 3Q Focused Self Test!
The Happiness Compendium
The Happiness Course
The Empowerment Compendium
A Collection of Inspiring Life, Happiness and Success Infographics, Posts, Podcasts & Videos!

 

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts this soon.   Stay Tuned!
 Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges? We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Face to Face, By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Programs, Services and Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Tomorrow
Leadership, Communication Influence, Career Optimization in Disruptive Times
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

The Ultimate How To Post

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© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 50,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

 

The Ultimate How to Post:  A Compendium of Practical, Powerful Tips with a 3Q Focus for Results in Disruptive, Turbulent Times

 

The Biggest How To Post EverWhere?  Who? What? Why? How? When?  >> NOW!

Do you want to transform changes, challenges, turning points into levers for your greatest potential? Rethink your thinking?  Build improved communication, collaboration and results across internal or external boundaries? There is no time like the present to think, lead, communicate and succeed forward.  Yes, this may be the biggest “HOW TO” post ever.

 

Ten New Rules of Business Success Playing to strengths is no longer enough. It feels good, because we have all been trained to build upon our strengths, but the reality before us speaks to not only optimizing strengths but finding new ways, faster and better ways to use changes, challenges, turning points, stressors and even failures as levers for our greatest potential.  The reality before us speaks to building our 3Q Edge™, three strengths and a new mindset that help us grow, evolve, collaborate and succeed at the speed of change, challenges and turning points.

May you peruse the following articles, videos and radio interviews and choose topics and practical advice that speaks to your power, your potential and your ability to use what is to create what can be in your life, your work, your people….YOUR world.  Carpe diem.  We are all pioneers in a brave new world. Those who succeed will have the courage and insight to find new, faster and better ways forward.

 

Radio Interview:  Moving From Pain To Gain in Life and Career | My interview by Deb Scott, The Best People We Know Radio Show

Video Interview:  Leading and Succeeding at the Speed of Change/Challenges | My interview for Extraordinary Women TV by Shannon Skinner

Podcast:  Leadership 3.0  | My interview by JoAnn Corley on HR thought leadership and results

 

Change is a constant, using the changes and challenges we face as positive, powerful levers for our greatest potential and results is a new way of thinking, a better way of doing.  The velocity of challenges, turning points and opportunities we face individually and collectively will continue to accelerate, our ability to use all three to build smart leadership, strategic and innovative thought, communication excellence, collaboration and results is REAL and critical.

We are all pioneers in a brave new world. Those who succeed will have the courage and insight to find new, faster and better ways forward. Focus forward, develop your ability to become a possibility thinker and doer. Hone your 3Q Edge™, build your advantage at the speed of change, challenges and complexity because YOU can!  Start today.  Get inspired by what you can do, build and accomplish.

Image Credit:  Presenter Media and Big Stock Photo

 

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts end April.   Stay Tuned!
 Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges? We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | Face to Face, By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Programs, Services and Keynotes for a Better, Stronger Tomorrow
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

Enlightened Self Interest: 6 Ways to Build a Resilient Thriving Culture (Including 6 Bonus Links/Tips)

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Enlightened Self Interest by Irene Becker first appeared in People Development Magazine
 This Post Includes 6 BONUS links to action steps and tips!

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 50,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

(Enlightened self- interest is a philosophy in ethics which states that persons who act to further the interest of others (or the interest of the group or groups to which they belong) ultimately serve their own self-interest.)

How can you enlighten your self- interest and build a resilient, thriving culture in an environment of change, challenges and hyper-competition? Develop anchors that drive engagement, empowerment, communication and collaboration when the chips are down, the going is tough and best practices are made in the now?

Take a deep breath, get ready to stretch, because optimizing your potential and the potential of your people means unlearning much of what worked in the past and is irrelevant today. Learn and unlearn? Build adaptive thinking, improve empowerment, engagement and execution? YOU Betcha!

Here are six powerful, practical steps that will stretch you out of the comfort zone, inspire you with possibility and hopefully challenge you to build a resilient, thriving culture in disruptive times!  AND, if you click on each of the following steps, you  will find additional bonus articles-insights and tips!

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  1. Champion enlightened self- interest because success is a me to we equation. You are only as good as your people. A successful business is a human business. Today, more than ever before, purpose = profit. Success means creating value for your employees, stakeholders, shareholders and the communities you serve
  2. Improve recruitment, employee retention and productivity by building a happier, healthier workplace. Offer health benefits, family-friendly policies (job sharing, child care support, paid time off for family responsibilities), personal and professional development opportunities, and community based projects.
  3. Build essential 3Q skills that will grow at the speed of change. Help your people build their 3Q Edge™ by offering coaching, training and mentor initiative that help them optimize strengths while using/transforming changes, challenges, stressors (even failures) into Q1: Enhanced focus, strategic thought, ability to learn-relearn Q2: Enhanced EQ/EQ, emotional self-management, communication, collaboration, resiliency, risk tolerance Q3: Enhance purpose, integrity of communication, actions and the development of intrinsic motivators that work when the chips are down.
  4. Be a promise manager and leader who fails forward. Use every opportunity to model promise management and leadership. Build the DNA of all successful relationships, trust. Do what you say, come through with the promises you make and when you fail, fess up to the error and teach your people the power of learning to fail forward. Model it, teach it because the sheer velocity of change means that the best and brightest among us will fail. Learning to use our failures to help us lead forward is a critical life and leadership skill.
  5. Become relentlessly solution focused. Develop a new relationship with change, challenges and stressors. Neuroscience now confirms that our brains are set on automatic negative, a default from our days in the cave when being on alert for surrounding predators was critical. Yes, we pick up negative occurrences, random thoughts etc. with the greatest facility; yes, our brains are conspiracy theorists! The caveat is that we can learn to use simple steps that will help us reset the internal GPS, reset patterns, habits of thought that impede our being solution focused.
  6. Encourage learning, growth, collaboration and action! Get out of the comfort zone on a daily basis. There is nothing comfortable about the era in which we are living and leading. Learn to embrace and use moments that take you out of your comfort zone as opportunities to stretch, grow, learn and succeed. Getting out of the comfort zone in small ways, will help you develop greater emotional and mental adaptability in big ways.The imperative to challenge the status quo by developing new ways of thinking, communicating, collaborating and succeeding is written on the walls of our workplaces and organizations. There is no time like the present to champion enlightened self- interest, build your 3Q Edge™ and take your organization forward!

    More?  YOU Betcha

    Ten Ways to Build a Thriving Organization

     

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts this soon.   Stay Tuned!

 Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges?
We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™
Leadership, Communication, Career REACH-RESONANCE-RESULTS
We do it better at the speed of change, challenges and opportunities.
Programs, Services and Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ | Face-Face, Tel, Skype, Video Conf.
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

Best Self, Work and Life-10 Minute Self Test

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© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | Leadership, Communication, Career Reach-Resonance Results | 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 50,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

There is no time like the end of the year to reflect, re-charge, re-purpose and optimize!  

A Gift for YOU

 Instructions:

  1. Check the statement is consistently true for you.
  2. If the statement doesn’t apply to you, replace it with a different one that fits within that category.
  3. Add up sections and total scores.
  4. Understanding your strengths, while learning to USE changes, challenges as levers for your potential is the way forward.
  5. Build YOUR 3Q Edge™, see your strengths and challenges with new eyes that take you forward faster and better!

 
Family & Relationships:

___1. I am happy with my personal relationships.

 

___ 2. I am close to my family.

 

___ 3. I have a good circle of friends whom I enjoy.

 

___ 4. I have a best friend, a confidante, someone I can trust with all my heart.

 

___ 5. I am very close to my children/parents. There is nothing in the way.

 

___ 6. I enjoy my family/extended family; we have worked through any dysfunction and past problems.

 

___ 7. I am part of a professional network that stimulates me intellectually and emotionally.

 

___ 8. I get along well with my neighbors.

 

___ 9. I have at least 20 friends and colleagues who live outside of my country of residence.

 

___10. I am constantly learning how to build better relationships and develop good communication.  Meeting new people is something I look forward to.

 

___ Section score (Number of checked boxes)

 

 

Career/Work:

 

___11. My work/career is both fulfilling and nourishing to me; I am not drained.

 

___ 12. I am highly regarded for my expertise by my manager, clients and/or colleagues.

 

___ 13. I understand what I want to accomplish with and through my career/work and am on a positive career path to meet my personal, financial and emotional goals.

 

___ 14. I work in the right industry or field; it has a bright future.

 

___ 15. I look forward to going to work virtually every day.

 

___ 16. My work is not my life, but it is a rich part of my life and a source of personal and professional growth.

 

___ 17. I work with people I respect and admire.

 

___ 18. My work environment brings out the very best of me because it is stimulating and supports my career and personal development.

 

___ 19. At the end of the day, I have as much energy as I did when started the day; I am not drained.

 

___ 20. The work I do helps to meet my intellectual, social and emotional needs.

 

___ Section score (Number of checked boxes)

 

 

Finances

___21. I have at least  6 month’s living expenses in the bank or money market fund.

 

___ 22. I am on a financial independence track or am already there.

 

___ 23. I don’t have to work at financial success; money seems to find me with very little effort or pushing.

 

___ 24. I have no financial stress of any kind in my life.

 

___ 25. I invest at least 10% of my income/earnings in my ability to increase/expand that income.

 

___ 26. I do not carry credit card debt; I do not overspend.

 

___ 27. When I buy something, I buy the best possible quality.

 

___ 28. I don’t lose sleep over my investments.

 

___ 29. I am financially knowledgeable — I know how money is made and lost.

 

___ 30. I make money because I provide more than enough value to the people/customers who need what I have and I know how to organize, manage and optimize effectiveness in my career or business.

 

___ Section score (Number of checked boxes)

 

 

Resiliency & Happiness

___ 31. I spend my leisure time enjoying my interests; I am never bored.

 

___ 32. I take blank time every 90 minutes; five minutes time to just recharge and relax.

 

___ 33. I have positive waking up and going to bed rituals that help me realize my potential and de-stress.

 

___ 34. I have developed positive rituals that help me recharge, refocus and repurpose in a few minutes.  Rituals, cool tools I can use almost any place and that keep me centered and empowered.

 

___ 35. I am happy and energized.

 

___ 36. I am living the life I want, because my career and lifestyle fit my needs, my goals and purpose.

 

___ 37. I have at least 30 minutes a day that is exclusively for me and I spend it in a chosen way that makes me happy.

 

___ 38. I have developed good mindfulness habits and rituals; I am not excessively stressed or on cortisol/adrenaline overdrive all day.

 

___ 39. I have trained myself to take pleasure in small things and small wins, because they are very important.

 

___ 40. My home makes me happy.  It reflects who I am and where I want to be.

___ Section score (Number of checked boxes)

 

 

Optimize Your Time & Effectiveness 

___ 41. I recognize toxic people and do not spend time with people who drain my energy and time.

 

___ 42. I know how to pace myself and have developed personal rituals to really optimize periods of high energy as well as recharge when my energy is low.

 

___ 43. I am assertive and no how to ask for what I need.

 

____ 44. I have the right tools, equipment, computers, software and peripherals that I need to optimize my work.

 

____ 45.  I have developed good systems and processes to build greater efficiency.

 

___ 46. I am an excellent team builder and delegator.  I know how to optimize my time and the time of others.

 

___ 47. I have a system for answering emails that allows me to filter out what is not important, answer what is pertinent.

 

___ 48. I optimize my time by prioritizing what is urgent, important, can be done later and can wait

 

___ 49. I know what my goals are and reflect upon them on a regular basis to make sure that my goals, values and actions are in alignment.

 

___ 50. I recognize the critical importance of effective communication and have honed my ability to communicate for influence across generational and cultural boundaries.

 

 

___ Section score (Number of checked boxes)

 

 

Live YOUR Values

 

___ 51. I love my home and everything about it; it reflects who I am and represents a haven that makes me happy.

 

___ 52. My boundaries are strong enough that people respect me, my needs and what I want.

 

___ 53. I do not tolerate behaviour or communication that is not in alignment with my values, and address it immediately.

 

___ 54. I spend time to reflect upon the values I cherish and make sure that they are an integral part of my life and work.

 

___ 55. I have learned to nurture myself so that when difficult things happen, I can rely on the intrinsic motivators that will keep my moving forward in a positive way when things get tough.

 

___ 56. I understand my personal needs, have developed self-awareness, and am not held hostage by unmet needs or wounds that sabotage my true potential.

 

___ 57. There is nothing I am dreading or avoiding.

 

___ 58. My personal values are clear and present in my life and choices.

 

___ 59. I have resolved issues that held me back in the past, and use this growth to further empower my resiliency and focus.

 

___ 60. I don’t use avoidance as a way of not dealing with work, life problems or issues.  I address the challenge and have learned to use it to optimize and realize my greatest potential.

 

 

___ Section score (Number of checked boxes)

 

 

Thrive!

 

___ 61. I do not have any regrets.  If my life were to end tomorrow, I would be at peace with what I have done, contributed and accomplished.

 

___ 62. I march to my own drummer, and have learned to understand my purpose, know my values and clarify what I want and how I will get there.

 

___ 63.  I do not put off dealing with problems, and have found positive ways to see problems I face with new eyes that help me grow, stretch and succeed.

___ 64. I recognize and appreciate my strengths and am learning to use changes, challenges, stressors and failures as a lever for my greatest potential (my 3Q Edge™)

 

___ 65. I am the captain of my ship and have the motivation, inspiration and synergy that keeps me moving forward.

 

___ 66. I have learned to embrace change and challenges because they are part of my evolution and help me grow and optimize!

 

___ 67. I am aware of my beliefs, and have aligned my beliefs with the values and focus that will help me do my best and accomplish my goals.

 

___ 68. I feel that while I cannot control life, I can control the way I think, feel and communicate; doing so is important.

 

___ 69. I have learned to really appreciate myself, my accomplishments and the challenges I have faced and overcome.
___ 70. I enjoy my life because my purpose, values and sense of self worth continue to grow and expand.  Learning new things is something that excites me!

 

___ Section score (Number of checked boxes)

 

 

Take Care of YOURself

 

__ 71. I take regular vacations/time off.

 

__ 72. I address unresolved matters as soon as I recognize them,

 

___ 73. I take good care of my teeth, gums and health.

 

___ 74. I make sure that I have enough time for self care, self reflection and rest each day.

 

___ 75. I eat food for sustenance and pleasure, not for emotional comfort.

 

___ 76. I spend time to give back, to do volunteer work, mentor etc. because it is important to my sense of purpose and vitality.

 

___ 77. When faced with a health challenge, I address it and get effective care.

 

___ 78.  I keep a gratitude journal or have a personal process or ritual that keeps me focused on the positive in my life.

___ 79. I have positive daily personal rituals that reduce stress and help me feel empowered.

 

___ 80. There is nothing I am doing that is messing up my mind or heart.

 

___ Section score (Number of checked boxes)

 

 

Champion Your Happiness 

Please write down 10 situations, routines that make, or would make, you the happiest and most content.  Pick at least one that you will work on next month!

 

___ 81. _________________________________________________

 

___ 82. _________________________________________________

 

___ 83. _________________________________________________

 

___ 84. _________________________________________________

 

___ 85. _________________________________________________

 

___ 86. _________________________________________________

 

___ 87. _________________________________________________

 

___ 88. _________________________________________________

 

___ 89. _________________________________________________

 

___ 90. ________________________________________________

 

___ Section score (Number of checked boxes)

 

 

Learn & Grow

Please write down 10 activities that you would like to try; activities you have always wanted to try!  Pick at least one activity you will commit to doing next month

 

___ 91. _________________________________________________

 

___ 92. _________________________________________________

 

___ 93. _________________________________________________

 

___ 94. _________________________________________________

 

___ 95. _________________________________________________

 

___ 96. _________________________________________________

 

___ 97. _________________________________________________

 

___ 98. _________________________________________________

 

___ 99. _________________________________________________

 

___ 100. ________________________________________________

 

___ Section score (Number of checked boxes)

 

___ Total score (Number of checked boxes)

 

 

Scoring Key:

90-100. Awesome. Congratulations. Incredible.™
80-89. Excellent! Your score is very high — this is a tough test.
70-79. Very good. You’re definitely on track. Keep going
60-69. Pretty good, but there is some work to do.
50-59. Average score. Why not make best self-best work-best life a priority and score 10 more points in the next month?
40-49. You may need develop a new relationships with changes, challenges or failures that helps you actualize your potential!
30-39. Weak. Get re-engaged.  YOU can turn this around
00-29. Time to really focus on YOUR best self, best work and best life.  Carpe diem!

 

I hope you will use this quick self test to get empowered by where you are and where you can go in 2015!  There is no time like the present to develop a personal action plan that helps you engage your best self, best work and build your best life!

More?   YOU Betcha.  Lots of 3Q Edge™ posts and cool tools (3 min or less)  to share!

The Pause-A 2-3 Minute Mindfulness Tool  to Recharge, Refocus and Repurpose!
100 Stressbusters that Take  3 Minutes or Less!
The Empowerment Compendium
The Happiness Compendium
Ten Ways to Build Great Leadership in Turbulent Times (#1 Post for Elysian Training UK 2014)
Using Failure to Succeed (#1 Post for Elysian Training UK 2013)
Ten Ways to Lead and Succeed Forward in Times of Complexity and Change
The Secret to Peace and Prosperity

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts this soon.   Stay Tuned!


W
armest wishes to all for a wonderful Holiday Season and 2015!

 

 


Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges?

We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Leadership, Communication, Career REACH-RESONANCE-RESULTS
We do it better at the speed of change and challenges!
Programs, Services and Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ | Face-Face, Tel, Skype, Video Conf.
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

 

The Secret to Peace and Prosperity (Including 19 Posts and 98 Inspiring Podcasts & Interviews!)

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© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | Leadership, Communication, Career Reach-Resonance Results | 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 50,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

The greatest miracle is the miracle of life; our ability to use our life ( as opposed to spending it) by celebrating and realizing our individual and collective ability to build a better present and future is real….and critical.

If you enjoy this short, purposeful allegory, please take a moment to share it with others.

 

Conquering Self Doubt or Discouragement #4

The Secret to Peace and Prosperity
A Short, Purposeful,  Allegory

Three wise men and one wise woman were walking in the woods when they found a special box, a box unlike any other, hidden deep in the forest…

 The three wise men approached the most incredible treasure, the secret to peace and prosperity…

 

 The first wise man was too busy to see the treasure…

 

 The second wise man was too stressed to see the treasure…

 

The third wise man fell to his knees and wept because the greatest treasure, the secret to peace and prosperity was emblazoned on a simple blade of grass that sat between the river of his greatest desires and his most hidden weaknesses and fear…

 

  • Live and lead with faith in your highest power and dedication to following the universal values that sustain your world, and you will discover the secret to building your best self, best thoughts, best emotions, and best actions.

 

  • Live and lead with compassion and non-judgment towards yourself and your fellow human beings, and you will discover the secret to building humility, courage, tenacity, and resiliency in the face of change and pain.

 

  • Live and lead with love in your heart for the great gift of life, and you will discover that the secret to peace and prosperity lies not in what you can command, control or acquire but in what you can give, receive and share.

The third wise man turned to the wise woman with whom he shared his story,  and continued to cry because…

In reading what was written on that simple blade of grass between his greatest desires and his most hidden weaknesses and fears…

He had opened his head, heart, and soul to that eternal flame that can transform all that is into all that can be…

 

Today, as you are reading these words and digesting this simple story; think about the purpose of your life, pause and reflect upon the reality that life and the accouterments of success and comfort that you acquire on your journey are simply on loan to you.

When you leave this life, all that you have commanded, controlled and acquired disappears.

But, the faith, compassion, and love that you have shared with others becomes a legacy, an eternal, timeless treasure that will remain in the hearts and minds of those whose lives you have touched. A gift that they can, in turn, pass on to others who seek to realize their potential to make a difference in their world.

Seize this moment, this day to think about how you can build the faith, compassion, and love that can help you take your life from good to great by simply starting to activate your potential to make a difference in the life of another. 

Because, all that we have, all that we are, is nothing in comparison with what we have the power to become when we choose to live and lead from goodness to greatness.  Be the miracle, see your strengths and transform your challenges into your lever for a better present and future!
Carpe diem.

Yours in service,
Irene

More about Human Passion, Purpose, and Potential?  YOU Betcha.  Go ahead, get inspired.  Enjoy one or more of the following 19 posts and a Compendium of  98 Inspiring Podcasts and Interviews!

Against All Odds:  A True Story of Hope, Courage and Leadership
I Will NOT Be Broken
From Victim to Victor
The Empowerment Compendium
Look Within-You Are The Secret
The Best And Worst Of Times
Our Greatest Hope
Rising to the Challenge Before Us
Success Equals The Reach And Resonance Of The Human Heart
The Secret To Personal Development And Growth
Be The Miracle
Rediscover Your Genius
The 18 Word Success Formula
True Happiness-Transformational Joy
The Happiness Compendium
Live And Lead Forward-Connect And Contribute
Goodness to Greatness Leadership
A Collection of Favorite Quotations
Great Read Excerpt and Review of Dare Dream Do by Whitney Johnson

A Collection of  98 Inspiring Podcasts and WebTV Interviews

 

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts this soon.   Stay Tuned!


Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges?

We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Leadership, Communication, Career REACH-RESONANCE-RESULTS
We do it better at the speed of change, challenges and opportunities.
Programs, Services and Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ | Face-Face, Tel, Skype, Video Conf.
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

 

 

 

A Whole New World

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© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | Leadership, Communication, Career Reach-Resonance Results | 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 50,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

A Whole New World

 Courage lies in our ability to develop a whole new mind set, skill set and heart set that optimizes the unbridled passion, purpose and potential of humans to do better, rather than simply living or working faster than ever before.  Hope lies in the hearts and minds of those who recognize our ability to use what is to create what can be in our lives, workplaces and organizations.

♦A Whole NEW World. Last week I was struck by a conversation with a colleague who has a big footprint in the coaching and training community. In thinking about his words, this post was born. My colleague shared his opinion that those who train, coach and teach are not doing anything different, and that there has been nothing new since Aristotle…we just position things for the times.  In thinking about his words, I could not help but reflect upon a decade of working tirelessly to help people and organizations see things differently and why in 2014 this still remains an uphill battle, but a battle worth fighting.  Things are different today, and if we are inured to what is different and what must change we are seeing the forest and missing the trees.  While large organizations are particularly geared to entrenching the status quo, we will not lead forward, we cannot prosper by doing what was and expecting to create the foundation for a better futureIf we cannot see the differences before us, the whole new world we face, we will not be able to step out of a box that will ultimately limit or deride our potential.

♦What is different today?  Just about everything.  Change, challenges, hyper-competition and opportunities are the new normal. The values, the importance of asking the right questions and of championing dialogue, integrity and value are timeless…but the skill set we need NOW in order to live, communicate, lead and succeed forward IS DIFFERENT from what we learned in the past because it requires us to use what is to create what CAN be, rather than relying upon what was to take us forward.

♦Why is a new mindset important?  Because what was will not take us forward.  The writing is on the walls of our lives, our workplaces, our organizations; success about creating value for others and doing so means learning new ways, faster ways, better ways, different ways to open our minds, engage our ability to ideate, innovate, create and co-create while recognizing that the darkest, bleakest part of human nature is the desire to take for the self alone. The mechanism for education, for learning AND re-learning must be focused on optimizing our minds, recognizing our ability think smarter, better and more creatively while engaging our purpose as human beings doing better.

♦Why is developing a new skill-set and vocabulary important?  Because managing is not enough.  We cannot truly manage change, but we can count on a velocity of change, challenges, hyper competition AND opportunities that will continue to accelerate.  We can manage people, talent and performance, but unless we raise the bar with a focus on optimizing our potential we are managing a ship that will ultimately sink.  Our ability to use words, use phrases and change the language from a focus on managing to a vocabulary of optimization is important because in changing our words, we also change our focus. Our ability to develop our 3Q Edge™, to use our strengths as well as the changes, challenges, stressors and failures we face as positive levers for enhanced ideation, innovative thought, cognitive ability as well as emotional intelligence, resiliency and enhanced communication collaboration is not pixie dust…it is the way forward.  And, it is a way forward, a way of building IQ and EQ that is anchored in the purpose, values and development of intrinsic motivators (SQ)  that make us stronger, keep us learning, leading and living forward when the times are tough.

♦Why is a new heart set important? How do passion, purpose and potential fit into the business equation? Passion, purpose and potential are part of the new business equation because while controlling the mode of production was the litmus test of success, rising to the top means developing cognitive, emotional dexterity and engaging our ability to focus on value creation for ourselves, our people and the communities we serve.  What does not create value for others is doomed to ultimate failure, and this failure represents that downfall of every great nation in recorded history and is also the new battle ground for consumerism gone wrong, individual rights that are critically important but must be also aligned with the collective good.

I believe in our ability to think, learn, communicate and succeed forward.  It is this belief and the values that support it that has helped me move molehills and mountains in my life and the lives of others.  It is this belief that is the pilot light of all pioneers, of all those who feel the pull, the desire, the opportunity to build and contribute to a better world in what every way speaks to their lives, their purpose, their journey.  We can choose to be pioneers in a brave new world, ombudsmen and ombudswomen of our greatest purpose, our most important potential or wait for the next change, challenge or competitive dilemma to obscure our ability to develop new ways of thinking, communicating and doing that take us forward faster and better together.  People, passion, purpose, process and aligning all four to create better workplaces, better organizations and the type of engagement and commitment that drives results is critical on an individual and collective level. Carpe Diem!

More…YOU Betcha.  Some excellent links and pod-casts for people who want to optimize their potential, people who believe in our ability to learn, communicate, lead and succeed forward!~

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts this soon.   Stay Tuned!

 Are you ready to find a new way, a better and faster way to build strong leadership, communication influence and career success at the speed of change/challenges?
We are here to help!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™
Leadership, Communication, Career REACH-RESONANCE-RESULTS
We do it better at the speed of change, challenges and opportunities.
Programs, Services and Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ | Face-Face, Tel, Skype, Video Conf.
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

12 Important Things I Have Learned About Leadership, Success And Failure

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12  Important Things I Have Learned About Leadership, Success And Failure (Including 1700+ bonus links, audio and video clips)

© Irene Becker, CSO,  Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ)
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

3Q Leadership Insights And Action

  • Business success is not about the need, it is about the want.  

    Showing up with the greatest strategy, solution or program will not take you forward unless your audience, your constituency, your stakeholders recognize the critical area of need you serve as a WANT.  Some of the greatest inventions, ideas and strategies were never realized as great successes by their creators. The imperative to find and fill the want so that you can establish a footprint that will allow you to speak to the need is critical.

  • Competitive differentiation and success are about creating value.  

    Innovation is fueled by the desire to create value.  Competitive differentiation and success are about delivering this value.  What does not create value will not survive.  Success is a value based equation, and today part of that equation is the optimization of great thought, great ideas/innovations, great communication and collaboration.  The ability to innovate is born of a desire to create value, this desire must be part of organizational cultures, learning initiatives…it is part of the DNA of 21st century business success.

  • The biggest challenge we face is internal.  

    The greatest threat we face is internal; whether we are sabotaging our own ability/talent, working in the wrong culture or sector, trying to climb a ladder that no longer exists…It is our mindset, our ability to stand tall by recognizing our strengths and challenges and using BOTH to optimize and realize our potential that is the way forward.  It is our 3Q Edge™

  • Leadership is a tough road, but true leadership is not an easy journey, it is a road of purpose, commitment, courage and results.  

    What separates those who truly lead and those who do not is the ability to cleave to the courage, purpose and commitment to achieve results.  Results that drive great business, results that drive an evolution of self, of one’s people and positively impact the community in which one lives.  Our greatest hope lies in the hearts and minds of leaders who can inspire, empower and enable our greatest potential.  If you want to lead forward, be prepared for a tough road that is worthwhile because paving the road will be your biggest commitment and contribution.

  • Purpose Equals Profit on a Multiplicity of Levels.  

    You cannot destroy the power of purpose because it is the fire that lights our souls, our greatest thought, action and results. Purpose keeps us strong, focused and helps us develop the resiliency we need to lead, learn and succeed forward.  Purpose is the strength that kindles the human passion and resolve that can take us forward on a multiplicity of levels that impact the quality of our lives, our workplaces, our leadership and our world. Coaching, training, learning and development, mentor-ship initiatives that are not focused on tapping into the purpose of the organization in alignment with the individual and collective purpose of employees and teams will be unable to drive sustainable results in this new trajectory of change, challenges, hyper-competition and opportunities.  Purpose equals profit on a multiplicity of levels.

  • Being a change-maker is not an easy path, but it is worth it. We can all be change-makers in our own way. All positive changes big and small are critical.  

    I did not start out my career aspiring to be a change-maker, but I successfully led a steel company when there were few/no women in similar positions, helped to change the environmental law in a province, and took a landmark case for children’s rights to success and have faced and overcome gut-wrenching challenges.   None of these accomplishments were easy, and they required gut wrenching decisions and fortitude.  Was it worth it?  YOU betcha.  There is nothing that can replace knowing that one has in some small or large way contributed to a better future. We can look upon challenges we face and feel defeated, or we can pick challenges we have the courage and commitment to address and help resolve.  The former is tough, but in making the difficult choice, we make a right choice that drives our best self and best results forward.

  • Difficult challenges and failure are hard, but necessary.  

    I have had great success and I have also suffered great challenges and failures that humbled me, nearly destroyed my career and taught me that the only way to lead forward is to learn forward. The ability to develop a new relationship with one’s failures that optimizes our ability to learn and relearn, build resiliency and grit and also look at problems, solutions and failures with new eyes that take us forward is critical.  Using failure to succeed is a critical life and leadership skill.

  •  What you focus on grows. 

    Neuroscience and psychology have taught us that what you focus on grows. Our minds give direction to our brains, and the focus of our thoughts, the belief systems that underlie them will predetermine what and how we see things. Learning to do an internal re-set, to let go of default patterns of thinking that sabotage our greatest potential is critical and doable.  We can learn to take small, consistent steps that re-write default patterns of thinking (as well as communicating and doing) that take us forward faster and better.

  •  The ability to develop cross-cultural, cross generational communication, engagement and results is real, doable, teachable and critical. 

    We cannot break through barriers when our focus is the barriers that exist between us, because this mind-set automatically limits our ability to communicate, collaborate, ideate and work together towards a better future. Learning how to build bridges across cultures, generations, internal and external barriers is one of the most important communication and leadership skills.  I cut my teeth being a woman CEO in the steel industry many years ago because wearing the yoke of a visible minority who was discounted immediately, having to develop international and cross generational communication helped me realize that the way forward is a focus on what unites and resonates all parties regardless of culture or generation.

  • Seven commitments are critical anchors for great leadership.

    They are commitments that take us forward faster and better.  Commitments that ignite our best selves, best work, best leadership and best lives.  They can be used as part of learning, training or leadership commitment statements that are championed by the C-Suite and lived vertically and horizontally in the organization.  Leadership starts with a commitment that must be mirrored in our organizations, our lives and the employees, constituents and communities we serve.

  • Our greatest promise lies in re-setting the status quo because what worked in the past may be impotent in the future.  

    Learning, leading and succeeding forward means re-setting the gender divide, championing diversity, collaboration and taking active positive steps that drive new ways, better ways, faster ways to work better together.  The ability to stretch, to grow, to move past educational, generational, cultural silos that keep us transfixed on one point of view, rather than incorporating the power of shared viewpoints and complimentary strengths is the way forward. Leading forward means making a critical shift forward.

  •  Happiness and success are a value proposition. Life is a gift you can either choose to spend or use.

 We live in a world of paradox where some of the richest, most successful people are also bitter, disenchanted and unhappy. Once our survival needs have been met, the truest success is happiness; and true happiness can only be defined by self actualization and our ability to feel that we are contributing, giving, sharing and growing. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is timeless, because the human desire, the pilot light of purpose that lights our greatest purpose and happiness cannot be cast asunder.

 

Human effectiveness must be a critical focal point, because looking at efficiency without effectiveness, short-term results without long-term consequences, communication without engagement and buy-in will deter our greatest potential and results. The imperative to realize our ability to think smarter, communicate, collaborate and lead forward faster and better must be aligned with a focus on the actualization of human potential, purpose and the realization of results that take us forward better together.

 

More?  You Betcha!

Over 400 Articles on Great Leadership and 3Q Leadership in Disruptive Times
Over 400 Articles on Business at the Speed of Change
Over 800 Articles on Career, Workplace, Team-building
Free e-book:  Leading and Succeeding in Disruptive Times-A 3Q Edge™ Primer
And…A Compendium of Inspiring Posts, Podcasts and Videos

 

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts this soon.   Stay Tuned!

 4 - Team

Irene Becker, Founder, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | Smart Leadership-Communication Excellence Career/Talent Optimization | Smart Results in Disruptive Times
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)

Call: 1 (416) 671-4726   Skype beckerirene
Email:  irene@justcoachit.com Twitter:  @justcoachit

What Happens When A Toxic Leader Is In Charge?

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What Happens When A Toxic Leader Is In Charge? 

© Irene Becker, CSO,  Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ)
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

 

It’s tough at the top, and once you get their, staying there means developing a leadership footprint, a way of thinking, communicating and doing that takes YOUR people forward at the speed of change. The new ecosystem is a trajectory of change, challenges, hyper-competition and opportunities that have become the NEW normal and will only continue to grow. There are many reasons why the focus of my work is the optimization of human potential and results in disruptive times. My passion for 3Q Leadership™ is the fire that lights my day, my work and my commitment to helping those who lead, and those who aspire to greater leadership succeed.

What happens when a toxic leader is in charge?  What happens when those who lead are unable to adjust to the new reality; the new workplace where controlling the model of production, managing and directing people like cogs in a wheel is a recipe for failure. Toxic leaders poison the environment, the pollute the ability of even the best and brightest managers and employees to really excel and contribute. 

The only way to solve a problem is to recognize it. 
•Do you know a toxic leader?
•Do you work for a toxic leader?

•Is it time to help someone who struggles with a leadership style that can and will sink the whole ship get the coaching he needs to shift forward, learn and lead forward?

toxic-ceos-infographic

Source: Reuben Yonatan, Get Voip

 

The imperative to light a fire, to kindle engagement, collaboration, innovation must be the mandate of every organization and business that wants to survive and thrive.  There is no room, no place for leadership toxicity in an organization that wants to lead and succeed forward. Great business is all about people. Controlling the mode of production, organizing people to take their place as cogs in a standardized wheel with rigid protocols that impede their ability to think, collaborate, innovate and contribute is the path to decline and death. Toxic leaders who push their employees and managers into silent submission will be left with a perfect storm that will erode the people, the potential that is the only hope for a business sustainability and growth.  Is it there hope for toxic leaders?  Yes, if they have the desire to make a critical shift forward. Helping leaders make the behavioral and communication changes that optimize their potential and the potential of others is one of the most critical benefits of excellent executive coaching.

 How do we begin to develop organizational cultures that drive human passion, purpose and potential?  Stay tuned for next week’s post, and a few thoughts on the subject!

 

Anything Else?  YOU Betcha! Insights and practical tips on Performance Optimization, 3Q Leadership™ and Business Success.

Optimizing Potential and Business Results in Disruptive Times
Possibility Thinking, Doing and Results
Turning Around the Greatest Individual and Organizational Threat We Face
Ten Ways to Build Great Leadership in Turbulent Times
How to Inspire and Enable Your Greatest Potential
3Q Leadership Exposed: Cover Story Interview, Realizing Leadership Magazine
Building a Thriving Organization:  10 Power Steps Out of Jurassic Park
Benefits of 3Q Leadership and Why I Have Dedicated My Life to This Work
Making the Critical Shift Forward
The DNA of Business Success in Disruptive Times

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded collaborators, programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts this soon.   Stay Tuned!

 4 - Team

Irene Becker, Founder, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | Smart Leadership-Communication Excellence-Smart Results in Disruptive Times
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)

Call: 1 (416) 671-4726   Skype beckerirene
Email:  irene@justcoachit.com Twitter:  @justcoachit

Realizing Leadership Magazine-3Q Leadership Exposed

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Realizing Leadership Magazine Interview
3Q Leadership™ Exposed

 Actualizing Results at the Speed of Change and Challenges
A 3Q Leadership™ Perspective | 
(Including more than 800 bonus links)

 © Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!
 

 “Irene is without doubt a powerful and passionate thought leader – her drive and commitment can lift the energy levels of a group within minutes! Her belief in the power and impact of attitude echoes the thoughts of great writers over history. For organisations Irene is able to challenge people to assess not just their competence in role but also their STYLE, she is a great driver for change.” Chris Atkinson, Training Director, Elysian Training, UK

realizing leadership mag

I was honored to be the cover story for Realizing Leadership Magazine, Aug 2014.  I am sharing the interview with you, because I think that it contains interesting and I hope equally valuable information about surviving and thriving in a new non linear eco-system where change, challenges, hyper-competition and opportunity are the new normal. The editor of Leadership Magazine, Laurie Wilhelm, has done a superlative job of not simply continuing the leadership conversation, but spotlighting change-makers, thinkers and doers, ombudsmen of a better way forward.  If you do not subscribe to Realizing Leadership Magazine, you should.  Great read. I hope you enjoy the interview and welcome your comments!

LW   Welcome to Realizing Leadership in Conversation. I’m Laurie Wilhelm and today, we’re speaking with Irene Becker.   Executive Coach, Consultant and Author of a triple award-winning blog, 3Q Leadership™, Irene is also a speaker whose 3Q message of not simply playing to strengths, but using our ability to transform changes, challenges, failures and stressors into a catalyst for potential and results inspires and engages audiences in a new way of thinking, communicating and doing that has come of age.   Irene, thank you so much for your time today to speak with us.

IB   You’re so welcome, I’m delighted to be here, Laurie.

LW   You have a very interesting leadership model; you’re the creator of 3Q Leadership™  and that’s going to be new to a lot of people listening and reading today so I’m wondering if you could please describe to us what is 3Q Leadership™.

IB   With pleasure, Laurie. I think it will be new to most people because 3Q is the model I created that is both a coaching and training model; it’s also a philosophy. It speaks not only to playing to strengths but to learning how to use changes, challenges, stressors even failures to build three really critical areas that can grow in the face of change. I think that 3Q leadership™ , or building your 3Q Edge™, speaks  not only to people who are leading organizations or companies but to all people who want to be able to really optimize their potential in a sea of changes, challenges, ambiguity that’s going to continue.

LW   Could you please briefly describe each of the Q’s so we have an understanding of what each one is?

IB

Q1: IQ is enhancing your ability to learn and relearn, focus under stress, strategic thought, really optimizing the power of your mind and intellect.
EQ: Q2 is emotional intelligence, which means self-mastery, communication, collaboration, resiliency, risk tolerance, the things that we all need very badly today.
SQ: Q3 spiritual quotient, refers to purpose, integrity of thought, communication, action, and also learning how to use and build intrinsic motivators that keep you going when the going gets tough.

LW   If we take a look at the first one, IQ, can we look at focus – an enhanced focus. What is that and how do we achieve an enhanced focus?

IB   Well, I think that we learn how to really grab hold of the power of our mind, of our brain to focus on what’s important. A lot of people are really deluged with information overload and instead of being empowered or enabled by the amount of information; you really become disengaged. You can train yourself to think better, to have greater focus on what’s important to you, to your work and that’s a critical skill because what we focus on grows. I believe that the ability to develop laser focus in high change, high stress environments is really critical.

LW   You’ve also spoken in the IQ about learn and relearn. What does that mean, to learn and relearn?

IB   I think that we’re in a whole new time where learning isn’t enough. We’re going to have to relearn and we can train ourselves to learn and relearn, to rewrite patterns of thinking, increase our ability to learn faster, to really help us get smarter.

LW   So why do we need to ‘relearn’?

IB   Because a lot of what we learned in previous eras no longer applies or what we are going to be doing now, or what was a best practice in the past may be irrelevant in the future. Life and work and all the different parts that make up our journey are moving faster than ever before. We can’t just get a degree and go on with our jobs and presume that things are going to go well. That model worked in the past. It’s defunct today.

Our ability to really optimize learning and relearning is so critical and it’s doable – there’s a huge advantage in making this exciting. When you can really develop greater focus on what’s important, when you can optimize your ability to learn and relearn, you’re not suffering from information overload, you become inspired, you become engaged, you become empowered and more successful by what you learn and relearn.

LW   With the EQ, there’s the emotional intelligence and social intelligence. What do you mean by social intelligence?

IB   Social intelligence is part of emotional intelligence. Social intelligence is learning how to build relationships across boundaries whether they’re internally or externally, different cultures, different people in the hierarchy. We need to build relationships. I think that, you know, the term “global village” was coined in the 70’s. Marshall McLuhan was visionary because we certainly weren’t living in a global village then but we are now. We need to build our social quotients, we need to know how to verbally communicate, digitally communicate with all kinds of people and social quotient also refers to not only communication but also collaboration.

One of the things that I think is even more important now and in the future is building what I would call communities of purpose. People who come together with the same values and objectives because no one can become successful alone. There’s an expression, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Well, it takes a village to build a success. And today, our village may be global, our partners may be virtual, but we will not succeed alone. Building your social quotient, communication, collaboration is really critical.

LW   With the communication and collaboration element and being a leader – how is that actually important? If you’re the leader, people should be doing what you’re saying. Why would you have to work on these relationships and communication?

IB   The model of leadership – if you’re the leader, people should be doing what you’re saying – worked really well in different periods of time when the equation for building success was different. Command and control leadership, saying, “I’m the leader – you have to do what I want,” that will work with a lot of people who have to retain their jobs. But are you going to get the best out of your people? Are you going to have an executive team that will be innovative and where you will have transparent and honest communication? Are you going to be able to reach vertically and horizontally within your own company or globally to prospects and constituents? No.

Command and control leadership worked in the past because success was always about controlling the mode of production, producing more, efficiencies. To me, success is now about human effectiveness. It’s about our ability to innovate, to articulate, to communicate, to collaborate and those things are not built through command and control leadership. They’re built by a leader who, yes, can steer the ship, but knows how to empower, engage and actualize the best in his people. That’s not by telling people to “do it because I’m the leader.” It’s about empowering, enabling and showing people a better way forward.

LW   And you mentioned a few minutes ago about purpose and that’s SQ, part of the third Q. How does purpose impact leaders and how they’re achieving the goals of the organization?

IB   Before we talk about purpose, let’s talk about success. What is success? Success is creating value for others, whether it’s in your business or in your life, that’s the bottom line. Why has there been only one company that has been on the Fortune 500 for more than forty years? If we don’t create value for others, we tumble and we fall.
Purpose is critical. An organization has to have a purpose to thrive. Also, individuals are purpose driven. If we feel that our work is purposeful, that we’re contributing, we go the extra mile. So purpose is two-fold. We need to individually be purpose driven, and in order to optimize our potential, we need to be working in organizations where we really feel that we’re contributing to the greater whole.

Also, today, I think we’re in a whole other arena where purpose equals profit. You could call it enlightened self-interest, but there are more people in the marketplace, we’re in what I would call the consumer age now where consumers are informed, they know what they want, there’s more competition, and there is a huge demand for companies to create value for not only their clients, but for the communities they live in and I don’t think that’s going to change. And I think that CSR initiatives, while they might have been lip service to corporate social responsibility initially, they’ve changed the culture of organizations.  Organizations that will survive and thrive are organizations that are purpose driven and that are led by 3Q leaders who are not only great thinkers and communicators but are values driven, purpose driven people who can really engage and empower, that help those they serve create greater value.

LW   Thank you for clarifying that. Now, I’d like to move on to another phrase that I’ve read in some of your writing and you’ve mentioned about “failing forward.” What is that?

IB   Failing forward is seeing a failure with different eyes – seeing it as a positive thing. In every failure, there’s a huge amount of positive learning and out of some of the greatest failures have come some of the greatest inventions.

Today, we all have to be more creative and innovative and we can’t do that without failing forward. If you’re afraid of failing, you’re never going to innovate. We need to look at our failures differently because what we want to do is extract that which is going to make us more successful, that which is really going to make us optimize our potential. When you learn to fail forward, it not only changes your relationship with failure, which is a good thing, it removes a stressor, but it also frees you to become more innovative and more creative and to see solutions.

I think another part of failing forward is that to a large extent and even in the educational system even now, we look for what’s wrong. We need to be solution focused. We live in times of great challenge but also extraordinary opportunity. Neuroscience teaches us that our brains are set to automatic negative. No matter how optimistic you are, negativity is going to attract you. It’s going to be the first kind of primal response. We need to rewrite that and become solution focused.
When you learn to fail forward, you’re building emotional and intellectual dexterity and that’s so important today. Every time you fail forward, you’re building a stronger brain and you’re also building greater resiliency.

LW   Is that a bit of the ‘relearn’?

IB   In a way, it could be. It’s interesting because when I work with clients, relearn becomes a really exciting thing for them so I don’t think of it as failing forward, but you could say that relearning as failing forward. But sometimes relearning is a different take on something you’ve learned or something additional. It really depends on the context, but you brought up a good point.

LW   Interesting. Now, looking into servant leadership, I just wanted to get your take on that. You’ve written on your blog a post titled, The Call to Serve, Lead and to Lead Greatly, and within that post, you wrote, “Service is not servitude.” Can you elaborate on this and how this relates to being a leader and being in service to others?

IB   Servitude is really being dis-empowered. Service, is being empowered by how you can create value for others. To me, leadership is about creating value for others. It’s about having a greater vision, a greater purpose. It’s about being able to negotiate dark corners. And when we talked about purpose – leadership is all about purpose. Can you really lead if you don’t have courage and integrity and you’re not purpose driven? Not in the true sense of the word. I think a lot of people think about service or serving in the wrong way. Our ability to evolve, is our ability to ultimately serve the greatest good. That’s leadership.

LW   And going beyond ourselves in order to get that done, that takes courage. To put your ego aside to focus on others.

IB   Ego, in my mind, is energy going out. The more we can distance ourselves from ego – and by ego, I’m talking about the need to be validated by others – when you need to be validated by others, it is the worst form of servitude because you will never get enough validation.
It’s ironic that we live in a time of technological and scientific wonder. Yesterday, I read two articles that blew my mind about what’s being done in medical science. It’s extraordinary. On the other hand, we’re in a time where selfishness has been glorified, in a way. We’re not better alone. We don’t work better alone – I’m not saying everyone has to be selfless, I do think that great leaders are those rare people who do have that selfless component and they remain a hope for those they serve.

LW   I have one more question for you, Irene, and it’s about something that you’ve written, “Goodness is the conduit for greatness.” What does that mean for leaders?

IB   That you really can’t be a great leader unless you do good work. Good work that speaks to the optimization of human potential. Good work that speaks to not exchanging integrity or humanity for anything else. Good work that speaks to making a positive difference. Goodness is certainly the conduit for greatness. If you look at a great leader, they had a greater purpose and given the times in which we live, our ability to champion really what counts: courage, faith, hope, integrity, humanity and intelligence is critical. So goodness is the conduit for greatness.

LW   Irene, I’d like to thank you for your time today – it went by extremely quickly. You provided us a lot to think about: your 3Q leadership™ model, what that is and how we can be successful with it, and offering some of your thoughts and insights on failing forward and servant leadership have been very valuable. I really want thank you. I’d like to direct all the listeners and readers to sign up to your Twitter feed, you blog and to follow you because we can learn from you about being a good leader and lead a purpose-driven life.

IB   You’re welcome, Laurie, and if I could say one thing. I really appreciate what your magazine is doing and if I could leave the listeners and readers with a thought, it would be: Change is not the problem – it is the solution. When you can change your relationship with change, challenges, stressors and failures, you not only lead forward, you learn and live forward. Our ability to do so is extraordinary.

LW   That is beautiful, Irene – thank you.

IB   You’re so welcome.

___________________________________________________________________

3Q Leadership™ is more than a model; it is my commitment to a better future. Sharing 3Q with people and organizations is a mission that resonates profoundly.  I believe that the importance of NOT ONLY continuing the leadership conversation but embracing new ways, faster and better ways of optimizing our potential at the speed of change, in the face of challenges and opportunity is the way forward.  There are a myriad of links below, over 800 on 3Q Leadership™ and great leadership articles to browse.  I hope that you find them of value.  

 

More on Realizing Leadership Magazine?  Click here to read for this month’s issue of Realizing Leadership Magazine and an excellent cover story interview with leadership thought leader, author, teacher and great, Jim Kouzes  Realizing Leadership Magazine is an outstanding publication that is on the web and iTunes.  As mentioned, subscriptions are still free for the first 3 months.  I recommend subscribing.  Great Read!

 

More on Great Leadership and 3Q Leadership™ at the Speed of Change?  YOU Betcha!
A Growing Collection of More than 400 Articles
Download YOUR free eBook: Surviving and Thriving in Disruptive Times-A 3Q Edge™ Primer
Performance Optimization and Business Success in Disruptive Times
Possibility Thinking, Doing and Results
3Q Leadership Benefits and Why I Have Dedicated My Life to This Work
What Does Leadership Really Mean?
Our Greatest Hope

 

Podcast
HR Leadership 3.0 an Interview by JoAnn Corley

 

Anything else?  YES.  Our new website and blog  with expanded programs and services for individuals, organizations and emerging leaders debuts this November.   Stay Tuned!

 4 - Team

Irene Becker, Founder, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | Reach-Resonance Results
Leadership, Communication, Career and Talent Optimization 

Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Call: 1 (416) 671-4726   Skype beckerirene   Email:  irene@justcoachit.com
Twitter:  @justcoachit

Guest Post: Go BEYOND Excellence!

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Go Beyond Excellence by Abel Laureano

 Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

Honored to host this article by Professor Abel Laureano, lawyer, educator, thought leader  who has published over 20 books on European Union Law and International Law.

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It may look a bit awkward to talk about going beyond excellence, since we are used to the idea that excelling is reaching a top. But the truth is that there is something higher: making a pattern.

When you excel, it means that you managed to reach one step further in a certain path, so you achieved the best in that path. But if you succeeded in making a pattern, it means that you were able to create a discernible regularity in the world.

Are people remembered for having excelled? Sure. But who is even more remembered? It’s those who generated new patterns.

Let’s think about means of transportation. For long, men used horse-pulled wagons. And these certainly went on being improved. But do we remember the inventors who contributed to such incessant evolution? Did they leave an outstanding remembrance?

Then someone came and shifted the paradigm. The new idea was to abandon reliance on animals for doing the transportation job. Out came the motor-car project, a self-moveable device. Out came the car industry. And who doesn’t remember Ford?

This new pattern was so strong, that it still stands. Today’s cars are quite different from the initial ones, but they are still industrially manufactured and in a similar way. So, we still live according to Ford’s pattern, be it immortal or not.

Want another impressive and older example? History tells us that, for centuries, it was believed that the Sun orbited around the Earth: this was the scientific pattern. But, when Copernicus said exactly the opposite, a different thinking pattern emerged. Before Copernicus, several men tried to contribute to a better astronomical knowledge, and some excelled in their endeavors. But Copernicus changed the path and shook the world: a new pattern, still remaining; and a place for Copernicus in Universal History. Of course, not all are roses… Copernicus’ end was a bad one.

But there’s more, as to nasty news: even if you manage to generate an idea worth to become a new pattern, you can’t take it for granted. There are, namely nowadays, various factors that can prevent such destiny: economic conditions, political conditions, social conditions, etc. And still something else: today’s life acceleration is bound to turn down patterns more quickly than in previous eras.

So it may require a somewhat tough approach. But don’t be too disappointed. If you really want to fully stand out of the crowd, don’t merely try to excel. By excelling, you may innovate, but your audience is limited. Change your scope and, if you have the guts to do it, try to establish a new pattern. Who knows, you may eventually earn your own place in Universal History books!

1Abel Laureano-2Author Bio: Abel Laureano is an Assistant Professor at the University of Porto in Portugal. He holds a Master’s Degree in Law, as well as a Diploma of Advanced Studies, European Studies, and a Postgraduate Certification in European Law. He has published over twenty books and academic publications focusing primarily on areas of European Union Law, European Law and Public International Law.

More on creating new patterns; new habits of thinking, communicating and doing that take YOU forward faster and better?  YOU Betcha!

Possibility Thinking, Doing and Results in Disruptive Times
How to Build 5 Benchmarks of 21st Century Leadership and Success 
Using Failure to Succeed: A Key Life and Leadership Skill (7 Powerful, Actionable Tips)
Ten Ways to Build Great Leadership in Turbulent Times

 Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?  Build 3Q leadership skills that GROW at the speed of change? Successfully negotiate a career transition? Optimize your talent and results? Communicate effectively with new constituents? Get an assessment, debrief and action plan that puts you on the right track?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Leadership Growth, Communication and Talent/Career Optimization in Disruptive Times
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing 
Twitter @justcoachit

Building a Better Future | Values, Mission, Vision

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Building a Better Future | Values, Mission, Vision
A 3Q Leadership™ Manifesto
(Including-Over 400 bonus leadership articles/infographics)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!
  

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Values | Mission | Vision
Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™

 

Values:  To guard the hope, faith, courage, integrity and humanity that can lead us forward, because they are the foundation for our greatest thoughts, actions, and the hope for our individual/collective sustainability and can never be cast asunder.

 

Mission: To build a better world, one person, one organization at a time. It is this mission of service and commitment that was the genesis of my 3Q Edge™ model (3 essential strengths that grow in the face of change/challenges).  It is the heartbeat, focus and imperative behind every service, program and keynote we provide.

Individuals:  To help our clients actualize their greatest potential to learn/relearn, communicate, collaborate, lead and forward at the speed of change/challenges.

Organizations: To help executives, senior managers and teams develop new ways of thinking, doing and communicating that optimize potential, engagement, empowerment and results in high stress, high change environments.

Emerging Leaders: To help emerging leaders develop the 3Q Leadership™ skills that can help them to rise beyond the challenges before them by inspiring and actualizing the best in themselves and those they serve/lead.

Portfolio of 3Q Services/Programs:  To provide programs/services that stick and grow while also planting the seeds for a new, powerful relationship with change, challenges, innovation and the actualization of one’s potential. Boundary-less, customized programs deployed face to face, by Skype, telephone or video-conferencing.

Partners:  To partner with those who share our mission/passion for developing new ways, new strategies of optimizing/actualizing human potential and results; drawing upon the combined integrity, experience and skill set of people and organizations dedicated to a better future.

Planet: To build a better world one person, one organization at a time; championing our ability to use what is to create what CAN be in our lives, our workplaces, our organizations and our world. Purpose equals profit on a multiplicity of levels.

Productivity: Dedication to a level of service and productivity that mirrors the 3Q skill set and mind-set that we teach.  Productivity is effectiveness.  We are dedicated to both.

 

Vision:  To develop a community of great thinkers/doers dedicated to the actualization of our greatest individual and collective potential; a Global Consultancy for 3Q Leadership™ that will become the springboard for a 3Q Leadership™ Foundation dedicated to coaching, mentoring, training and teaching the underserved.

 

Over 400 Bonus Leadership Articles and Infographics:

Great Leadership-3Q Leadership at the Speed of Change
Ten Ways to Build Great Leadership in Turbulent Times (# 1 Article for Elysian Training UK 2014)
Possibility Thinking, Doing and Results-Building 3 Skills That GROW at the Speed of Change
How to Build 5 Benchmarks of 21st Century Leadership and Success
Free eBook:  Leading and Succeeding in Disruptive Times | A 3Q Edge™ Primer

 

More? Almost done.  

 British-FlagDelighted to be speaking in the UK on Leading in Turbulent Times. There are 25 more places available at the October 3 Leadership Event in Bristol, UK. Delighted to offer subscribers/followers a 30% discount on remaining seats! Email kate@elysiantraining.com if you would like to secure on of the remaining seats at this fantastic discount, while they are still available!

 

 

Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?  Build 3Q leadership skills that GROW at the speed of change? Successfully negotiate a career transition? Optimize your talent and results? Communicate effectively with new constituents? Get an assessment, debrief and action plan that puts you on the right track?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Leadership Growth, Talent/Career Optimization, Business Development in Disruptive Times
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing 
Twitter @justcoachit

 

How to Build 5 Benchmarks of 21st Century Leadership & Success | Possibility Thinking, Doing and Results, Part II

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How to Build 5 Benchmarks of 21st Century Leadership & Success
Possibility Thinking, Doing and Results, Part II

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

5 Benchmarks

Recap of Part 1 of this 2 Part Series: Part  1 focused on “the what” three essential strengths you can GROW at the speed of change (your 3Q Edge™). 3 strengths that breathe life and momentum into your greatest potential because they s are built with your strengths as well as the changes, challenges, stressors (even failures) you face.

Counter-intuitive?  You betcha, but the imperative to find new, better and faster ways to realize our greatest potential is real, critical…and counter-intuitive! Change is not the problem, it is the solution.  Our ability to develop cognitive, emotional and social adaptability is critical and doable! 


Five benchmarks of 21st century success (empowerment, engagement, ideation, innovation and collaboration) are important results of building 3Q skills. In addition to building these career and business success benchmarks, developing your 3Q Edge™ can help you build greater resiliency, courage, grit, self-confidence while also developing critical intrinsic motivators that keep your values, your vision and your purpose in alignment when times get tough!

What re the five steps in my 3Q Edge™toolkit/methodology? How can they help you build empowerment, engagement, ideation and collaboration in disruptive times? Become an integrative thinker who can use two opposable ideas to create solutions?  Feel better, communicate across internal and external boundaries, grow courage, resiliency and grit in the face changes, challenges, hyper-competition or ambiguity? Enable and actualize better results?  Inspire the best in yourself and others?

5 Benchmarks of Success

Ten years of study, application with clients and a passion for fast, quick, actionable steps that drive results helped me hone in on five steps that build 3Q skills.  Five steps that are part of my coaching and training methodology because they are simple and they can be applied to in a cross-disciplinary, cross sector, cross functional basis.  Can you use R-E-A-C-H™ as a guideline for other than building 3Q skills?  Yes!  Try it out, and send me your feedback.  Most importantly, consider the potential of building your 3Q Edge™.

Taking 3Q to as many people remains a mission that punctuates my work and life, because the imperative to use the challenges we face to realize our greatest potential is critical and doable!  (image credit for this blog:  Presenter Media)

 

More on achieving breakthrough results?  YOU Betcha!

Ten Ways to Build Great Leadership in Turbulent Times (#1 Post for Elysian Training 2014)
Using
 Failure to Succeed (#1 Post Elysian Training 2013)
Rising to the Challenges Before Us (#1 Post Jesse Lyn Stoner’s Blog 2012)
Possibility Thinking, Doing and Results, Part I
The DNA of Business Success in Disruptive Times
3Q Leadership™/REACH™ Benefits and Why I Have Dedicated My Life to This Work

WebTV and Podcasts…
Extraordinary Women Web TV Interview by Shannon Skinner
Leadership 3.0 Podcast Interview by JoAnn Corley
From Pain To Gain Radio Interview by Deb Scott
Switch and Shift WebTV Interview by Ted Coine

Anything Else? Just one more thing! Delighted to be speaking in the UK October 3, 2014 

If you are in the London/Bristol, UK area I hope you will join me for an Elysian Training Leadership Event and Presentation on How to Lead Through Turbulent Times

 

Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?  Develop leadership skills that GROW at the speed of change? Successfully negotiate a career or leadership transition? Optimize talent and potential?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Leadership, Communication,  Talent/Career Optimization in Disruptive Times
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing 
Twitter @justcoachit

Possibility Thinking, Doing & Results (Part I of 2)

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Possibility Thinking, Doing and Results | Building Your 3Q Edge™ 3 critical strengths that GROW at the speed of change/challenges (Part 1 of 2)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

“The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.” John Sculley

Three Leadership Heads

Image Credit:123RF Stock Photos

I have learned that what does not break you can only make you stronger if you recognize and optimize your ability to think, feel, communicate and execute in new ways that both expand and anchor possibility thinking and doing. What does this have to do with your life, your career, your people and your future?  If you are not feeling broken, someone you know, work for, lead or love is.  The World Health Organization forecasts that stress will be the major cause of physical disability in the world by 2030.  Empowerment, engagement and the ability to ideate, innovate, communicate and collaborate are the benchmarks of 21st Century success, and they are being undermined and eroded from inside out. Will you become a possibility thinker and doer?  It is an important choice you have the freedom and power to make.  It is as choice that should be top of mind for those who lead and those who aspire to greater leadership because leadership is about making the impossible possible.  Our ability to remove the barriers to our greatest potential is real, and the first step in moving forward is recognizing the incredible potential within; potential to think, feel, see and learn faster and better than before.  Potential to develop a fire in one’s belly, a longing and appreciation of embracing one’s passion for the possible and using it to lead forward.

My passion for the possible evolved over time. Possibility thinking grew as a results of a wicked melange of success, accomplishments and equally great negative events that challenged every aspect of my life and work in ways that took me from the mountain of success to ground zero fighting to survive on the most basic level. As a child, I lived in a world where the worst of human nature punctuated my daily existence and caused me to recognize that faith, hope, courage, integrity and humanity were the only true riches we can obtain in this lifetime.  As an adult, my fascination with transformation, neuroscience, psychology, leadership and human potential  took me down another path that helped me recognize three critical areas of strength that we can GROW and EXPAND in the face of change and challenges.

Thinking, Feeling, Communicating and Doing Better | 3Q strengths that build and reinforce YOUR greatest potential 

The 3Q Edge™ Cognitive Portfolio
Q1: IQ
Emotional Portfolio
Q2: EQ
Purpose Portfolio
Q3: SQ

Optimizing human potential
at the speed of change, in the face of challenges.
Learning Style | Ability to Flourish Feeling Style | Ability to Flourish and Reach Past a Personality Type/Barrier Being Style | Ability to Flourish
Empowering Great Leadership Leadership Style |  The leader as a learner Leadership Style |  The leader as a communicator Leadership Style | The Leader as a champion of the greatest good.
Actualizing Great Results Possibility Thinking: Intention, Focus, Adaptability of Thought, Ability to Learn-Relearn, Design Thinking, Strategic Thinking. Emotional Intelligence: Self Awareness, Self-Perception-Perception of Others, Effective Communication, Collaboration, Improved Risk Tolerance and Resiliency Motivational Anchors Driving Purpose, Values and Integrity-Purpose.  The identification of your greatest purpose and the key intrinsic motivators that keep you empowered, engaged and moving forward when the going is tough.
Enhanced Thinking, Feeling, Communicating and Doing Awareness, Discovery |
Enriched Thought, Greater ability to see, express and expand possibilities.
Empowerment, Engagement | Enriching Self-awareness, Self-compassion, awareness of others, compassion for others- empathy. Rethinking, rewriting incongruent belief systems (habits of thought) that are impeding your greatest potential while building strong intrinsic motivators.
Simple, powerful 3Q techniques that inspire/empower/enable
your greatest potential.
New ways to Refocus, Repurpose-Repower in disruptive times New ways to Refocus, Repurpose-Repower in disruptive times. New ways to help you Refocus, Repurpose-Repower in disruptive times.

 

3Q Coaching and Consulting Benchmarks: Self Actualization and Actualizing the Potential of Others Recognizing/enhancing strengths while using what are typically seen as negative factors (change, challenges, stressors, failures) as positive levers for each Q strength

Q1:  IQ Thinking Differently: Solution Focused Problem Solving | Ideation-Cognitive Adaptability-Possibility Thinking | Using mistakes, challenges or failures to fail forwardPriming Your Brain:  Setting feelings for optimization of thoughts | Enhanced Ability to Learn-Relearn | Improved Decision Making | Simplification of the Complex | Optimization of Time/Ability
Q2:  EQ Feeling Differently:  Self-Awareness and Management, Empowerment, Relationship Management, Effective Communication Across Internal/External BoundariesPriming Yourself: Increased Resiliency/Risk Tolerance, Emotional and Social Adaptability, Greater Happiness
Q3:  SQ Doing Differently: Innovation-Autonomy-Interdependence-Accountability-Purpose-Results  (critical as strengthening SQ also strengthens right hemisphere of the brain which is typically weaker)

Priming Yourself and Others to Flourish:
  Anchor for Q1 and Q2 is SQ; spiritual quotient:  The values, enhancing purpose of thought, communication, action and intrinsic motivators that keep YOU learning, living and leading forward when the going gets tough.

I remain passionate, I remain devoted to taking 3Q Edge™ Skills to as many people as possible because I believe that the imperative to find new ways, faster and better ways to recognize and actualize our greatest potential is critical.  How can you develop your 3Q Edge™?  Click here for Part 2: How to Build 5 Benchmarks of 21st Century Success

 

More?  YOU Betcha!
A Growing Collection of over 350 Articles | Great Leadership and 3Q Leadership
Free eBook: Leading and Succeeding in Disruptive Times- A 3Q Edge™ Primer
My Personal Story and Genesis of my 3Q Work:  Against All Odds

 

Just one more thing! Delighted to be speaking in the UK October 3, 2014 

British FlagIf you are in the London/Bristol, UK area I hope you will join me for an Elysian Training Leadership Event and Presentation on How to Lead Through Turbulent Times

 

 

Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?  Develop leadership skills that GROW at the speed of change? Successfully negotiate a career or leadership transition? Optimize talent and potential?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Leadership, Communication,  Talent/Career Optimization in Disruptive Times
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing 
Twitter @justcoachit

Ten Ways to Build Great Leadership in Turbulent Times

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Ten Ways to Build Great Leadership in Turbulent Times
(Including Over 600 Bonus Links)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

Delighted to be speaking on this topic at Leaders Connect UK Conference October 3, 2014.  If you are a leader or emerging leader, please join us.  Registration for the event is still open!

 

10 Ways to Build Great Leadership in Turbulent Times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know as much about change, turbulence and failure as I do about success.  I did not start my career aspiring to run a steel company, nor did I plan to be a rather relentless breaker of barriers in business and in the community at large. What I have studied, what I have learned, and what I have lived in my journey and through the journey of my clients has given me a perspective that is resoundingly counter-intuitive because it is not focused on playing to strengths, but on using strengths, changes, challenges, stressors (even failures) as a lever for our greatest potential and results.

 

Science confirms that our ability to inspire, empower and actualize our potential has never been greater; remember this, empower it, use it! Neuroscience confirms that we can rewrite default patterns of thinking, communicating and doing; we can build new emotional set-points that take us forward faster and better while also enhancing our ability to focus, ideate, learn and relearn.

 

Common sense tells us that we should be integrating this knowledge in the way we learn, teach, coach, mentor and work; but habits of thinking, communicating and doing that made us successful in the past are often our greatest barriers to the optimization of our potential in the present. Those who aspire to great leadership must recognize that achieving it means changing the set point resetting the individual and organizational GPS to fast forward in ways the inspire, empower and actualize the fire of human potential at a speed of change, challenges and opportunities that will continue to accelerate faster than ever before. McKinsey & Company research and client experience suggest that half of all efforts to transform organizational performance fail either because senior managers don’t act as role models for change or because people in the organization defend the status quo.

 

Here are 10 ways to reset the GPS, refocus, repurpose and reboot potential; ten ways to build great leadership in turbulent times:

Step 1.  Build YOUR 3Q Edge™ by drawing upon your strengths and transforming changes, challenges, stressors and failures into a lever for your greatest potential; start building three essential leadership strengths that GROW at the speed of change/challenges.

Q1:  IQ Enhanced ideation, focus, strategic thought, ability to learn-relearn.

Q2:  EQ Self-awareness, awareness of others, self-management, relationship management, communication, resiliency, risk tolerance.

Q3:  SQ Purpose, values, integrity-the timeless anchors of true leadership, sustainability and the grit to forge ahead when the going gets tough!

To quote Professor Charles O’Reilly, Stanford Graduate School of Business,  “Staying competitive, then, means changing what you’re doing.” Our ability to change what we are doing means developing the intellectual and emotional dexterity Q1 and Q2 that drive innovation while further developing Q3!

 

Step 2: Resolve to evolve and re-define winning. Purpose equals profit on a multiplicity of levels. Reset the internal and organizational GPS by championing purpose, integrity, values (Q3-SQ) that are the only consistent anchors of comfort and sustainability we have and will have.  Make purpose = profit your mantra, and the mantra of your organization.  “By encouraging employees to both seek and provide help, rewarding givers, and screening out takers, companies can reap significant and lasting benefits.”  Adam Grant, Mckinsey & Company April 2013

Step 3.  Do not wait for great ideas to collide, empower them. Create active, thriving spaces for positive change.  Celebrate diversity. Develop new ways, better ways to build creative hubs; ways for people to come together, ways that drive vertical and horizontal communication and collaboration. Create virtual and actual spaces where new ideas to be discussed and shared.

 

Step 4. Take one step every day that will invigorate the motivation of others.Perform a random act of kindness each day by reaching out to someone outside your team, outside your usual network and championing their work and potential.  Perform a random act of kindness by helping someone who but in their best effort and failed to fail forward by helping them find the solution amid the problem.

 

Step 5. Build NEW touch points. Get out of your box.  Building a strong executive team is critical, but so is visiting the front line.  Find front line champions with whom you can build relationships.  Model and develop resiliency, empathy, risk tolerance and grit.  Inspire your people to recognize and harvest their ability to fail forward by seeing changes, challenges, even failures in new ways that guide and empower them forward. Make your town hall meetings exciting, empowering. Unpack the knowledge by using stories of your people, examples of great thought, great commitment, great purpose and results that come from all levels in your organization.  Find active ways to not only share information, motivate and to end every town hall meeting with a challenge that you can throw out there for the most purposeful to catch and throw back.  Determine how you will use your next town hall meeting to cast a challenge that will drive innovative ideas and solutions.

 

Step 6.  Build enlightened self-interest.  Develop new ways to champion working better together because success means creating value for those you lead, work for and serveWhen people begin to understand that creating value for clients,  stakeholders, direct reports, colleagues and the communities you serve is the way forward, doing so becomes top of mind and drives results.  People are deeply motivated by their ability to contribute to a greater whole, a greater purpose.  This motivation often starts with first seeing how it benefits them.

 

Step 7. Embrace change as a lever for your potential and the potential of your people by focusing on the human side. Build blank time, happiness time, relaxation time, empowerment time into your schedule and the schedules of your people because it will help them flourish.  Create small important spaces of time that are critical to ideation, innovation, collaboration and wellness.

 

Step 8. Learn to connect the dots by building a better relationship with yourself and with others. Leadership begins with self-awareness, self-appreciation and a relentless desire to grow, evolve and contribute.  It is about embracing your strengths and using your challenges to take simple, purposeful, powerful steps that will help you evolve forward in ways that impact your life, your work, the people you serve and your sense of personal fulfillment and meaning.

 

Step 9.  Find new ways to unpack knowledge, transform complexity into simple, purposeful powerful steps that are understood and integrated outside our peer group, outside the personal or organizational silos is which we dwell because success is not achieved or sustained alone.  Develop actual and virtual communities of purpose that are learning, doing hubs where people exchange ideas, empower growth and learning in new ways that help them motivate and inspire each other.

 

Step 10.  Develop a leadership code of ethics that you can model and integrate in your organization.  Champion 7 leadership commitments that drive great leadership.  Make them visible, make them real, and make them grow!

1.  The commitment to lead at the speed of change, in the face of challenges and failures; the commitment to build YOUR 3Q Edge™

2. The commitment to the empowerment of self and others.

3. The commitment to purpose and vision

4. The commitment to communicating the vision and purpose.

5. The commitment to courage.

6. The commitment to integrity.

7. The commitment to action-ability.

 

Great leadership is about success, and success is not about taking, it is about serving. Those who lead will be those who serve by developing their ability to empower, inspire and actualize their potential and the potential of others by kindling the fire of courage, integrity and humanity that keeps them on track and fuels the determination and resiliency many lack because it is easier to manage than to lead. Great leadership is a 3Q equation supported by courage. Courage grows each time we align IQ (intellect), EQ (humanity), and SQ (integrity).   Carpe diem!

Image Credit:  123 RF Stock Photos

 

More on Great Leadership and 3Q Leadership in Turbulent Times?  YOU Betcha!
A Growing Collection of Over 400 Articles
My Personal Story and Genesis of my 3Q Work:  Against All Odds
Realizing Leadership Magazine Interview and FREE subscription

 

Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?  Build 3Q leadership skills that GROW at the speed of change? Successfully negotiate a career transition? Optimize your talent and results? Communicate effectively with new constituents? Get an assessment, debrief and action plan that puts oyou on the right track?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Leadership Growth, Talent/Career Optimization, Business Development in Disruptive Times
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing 
Twitter @justcoachit

How to Inspire and Enable Your Greatest Potential

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How to Inspire and Enable Your Greatest Potential
At the speed of change and challenges? Yes!
12 Tips That Take 5 Minutes or Less

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

How to Inspire and Enable Results

This post is for leaders, emerging leaders, and ALL people who want to find NEW ways, faster ways, better ways to feel, work, do and live better at a speed of change, challenges, opportunities and failures that will continue to accelerate.

 

What makes me an expert in optimizing potential and results in the face of change, challenges, failures? Building communication and leadership strengths that GROW?  Years of study, first hand experience, experience with clients and a fortunate or unfortunate history (depending on your point of view). First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, a gal with a track history of excellence and success working in USA, Canada and Europe; I am also the survivor and thriver who has faced critical illness, poverty, racism, sexism and a litany of other challenges that would have perhaps broken many people.  The model I developed (3Q) is not simply a model for me, it is a passion, a mission to help others realize their greatest potential that punctuates my days, my weeks and my commitment to the integrity and value of my work.

What does not break YOU will only make you stronger and better if you take a counter-intuitive approach by developing a mind set and skill set that transforms changes, challenges, stressors, even failures into into a catalyst, a lever for your greatest potential; potential you can learn to access when the going gets tough.  You cannot light a fire with wet wood.  Tapping into your potential and helping others tap into theirs means getting inspired and empowered while developing a mindset and skill set that takes YOU forward!

 

Here are 12 ways to inspire and enable results in yourself and others; each tip can be accomplished in less than five minutes.  One tip, done consistently drives BIG results while helping you build one, two or three essential strengths that GROW at the speed of change, challenges and ambiguity (YOUR 3Q Edge™)

 

  1. Embrace the fact that YOU are not limited by your personality type or MBTI; do not let your personality type keep you stuck in a box. Neuroscience confirms that we can rewrite default patterns, and doing so begins with desire.  Will you be limited by a personality type or will you look at it in new ways that will help you optimize strengths and build areas of challenge? Step out of the box by determining the qualities you want to have and model.  Your ability to move past a personality type is real. Take every opportunity to build greater self awareness, while refusing to be limited by habits of thinking, communicating or doing YOU can change.  Don’t believe everything you believe!
  2. Make one small change in the way you think, feel or communicate.  Go ahead, embrace your ability to do so, because it is the quickest way you can start developing cognitive and emotional dexterity, and adaptability.  One small  change, done consistently is not difficult and no matter how small the change it will help you re-write default patterns that are no longer working and build new neural pathways.
  3. Embrace your ability to break through intellectual, organizational or personal silos; because doing so will inject new thoughts, ideas into your life and work. We are all partnered with our peer groups, and while it is important to have a community of purpose, breaking out of that community to refresh the blood is also critical.
  4. Build greater resiliency, risk tolerance and grit by building Q3:  Spiritual Quotient-The values, purpose and intrinsic motivators that will sustain YOU when times are tough, and motivate you when others are deterred.
  5. Use YOUR story as a motivator for your potential.  Perspective is everything, and your perspective around your story, your journey, your strengths, triumphs and failures will either maximize or minimize your true potential.  Find a new way of looking at the pivot points in your story that empowers you forward.  See your story with new eyes.
  6. Find personal ways, strategies to inspire yourself because doing so is critical to the optimization of not only your potential but those you lead and work with. Neuroscience now confirms that we must prime our brains to be happy in order to fully optimize our cognitive capabilities.  Finding ways to be and get happier is not only critical to cognition, and to modelling positivity for others it is important for your health and longevity.
  7. Embrace enlightened self-interest as a catalyst for your potential and the potential of others.  Enlightened self-interest is doing what is good for persons other than yourself. Remember success will be determined by your ability to make others successful.
  8. Build at least one relationship of total trust and confidentiality with someone who does not have a personal or political agenda.. If you are an executive, CEO or business owner the imperative to find someone you can trust, speak to and consult is critical on a multiplicity of levels. If you are going through a life, career or leadership transition, having a trust partner will be extremely powerful and valuable in helping you move from now to HOW.
  9. Find one way a day to do good in less than 15 minutes;  share your thoughts, your mentorship, your kindness or just listen to someone who needs your earDeveloping your human side. Building empathy, reaching out and helping another person does not have to be a huge time commitment; it can be realized in small ways that do good and will make you feel good too.
  10. Give yourself permission to take time each day to just blank out-Joy time, happiness time, relaxation time.  Remember that a car cannot run without fuel.  Your body, your mind, your soul needs to re-charge and re-purpose!  Taking even five minutes every 90 minutes can have a big impact on your life, your work, your health.
  11. Learn to adapt your default communication style. The best communication is lost of you are speaking to another person who reacts badly to the way you communicate, or whose ears are not open.  Communication does not occur without trust, rapport and using language, body language that resonates with the receiver of your communication.
  12. Develop a personal mantra; a few words that inspire, engage, motivate you and set you on the right track when you are faced with a challenge.  Simple, cost free and it works.  Put an elastic band on your wrist, and gently snap yourself and say your mantra to yourself when you face a challenge.  Yes, it works!

Lastly, stop saying that change is difficult because each time you do you reinforce the neural pathway, you reinforce this thought and it is not one that will help you lead or succeed forward. Words make worlds. Use words when you talk to yourself and to others that help you communicate, ideate and lead forward.

Do these tips work?  YOU Betcha.  I invite you to write to me and share your experience trying or using one of the aforementioned tips for a week. Get in the flow, download YOUR Free copy of Leading and Succeeding in Disruptive Times – A 3Q Edge™ Primer

Image Credit: 123RF Stock Photo

 

More? YOU Betcha!

Laughter gives your brain a mini-aerobic workout.  It improves cognition, ideation, health and longevity.  Laugh more.  Here are over 700 Funnies. Pick one you like and pay it forward!

 

Just one more thing! Delighted to be speaking in the UK October 3, 2014 

British FlagIf you are in the London/Bristol, UK area I hope you will join me for an Elysian Training Leadership Event and Presentation on How to Lead Through Turbulent Times

Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?  Build 3Q leadership skills that GROW at the speed of change? Successfully negotiate a career transition? Optimize your talent and results? Communicate effectively with new constituents? Get an assessment, debrief and action plan that puts oyou on the right track?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Leadership Growth, Talent/Career Optimization, Business Development in Disruptive Times
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing 
Twitter @justcoachit

A Gentle/Important Rant: Surviving and Thriving

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A Gentle/Important Rant: Surviving and Thriving
Optimizing Our Individual and Collective Potential
(Including 700+ Bonus Links)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

A Gentle Rant

 

I did not start out the day expecting to write a rant. Firstly, I am not a ranter, but I  believe this topic merits a gentle rant because the way forward is different; it will not look like or be like what we have experienced in the past.

 

The way forward will be negotiated by those  who have the courage to lead forward around dark corners, where best practices are made in the now and evidence based knowledge may not be enough. The way forward demands a vertical and horizontal alignment of minds, purpose and potential; the development of communities of purpose that cross internal and external boundaries in new ways that expand our intellectual and emotional bandwidth.

 

1.  Three “silos” limit our individual and collective potential. 

Recognizing them and breaking through them is the way forward. There are iconoclasts among us who will say that they live at the edge of creativity and that they are not in their comfort zone.  Think again.  We all rest, sojourn and linger in our individual and collective comfort zones, the imperative to see them and break through them has never been greater.

Intellectual silos that champion the brilliant ideas and thoughts of members of an elite club, and do not translate complexity into simple, powerful ideas that will be actualized by other than peers, cannot truly inspire and drive positive change.  Unpacking the knowledge is critical and it means stepping out of the silo!

Organizational silos that impede vertical and horizontal communication, collaboration, empowerment and engagement will limit and/or erode the strongest and biggest corporations among us.  New ways of breaking through barriers, of developing vertical and horizontal communities of purpose must be championed and realized.

Personal silos
, adherence to strategies, beliefs, ideas that worked well in the past are the most insidious form of self-sabotage; sabotage that limits our incredible power to learn/relearn, optimize potential, actualize results…our ability to re-write neural pathways, re-set default patterns that no longer work.

The desire to create value is what drives innovation.  Competitive differentiation and success are about delivering this value.  Delivering this value means taking a bold, positive step out of  your comfort zone/silo; a step that will expand your ability to learn/relearn, empathize, collaborate and innovate!

 

2. Growth does not occur in a vacuum. 

Shuffle Your Deck.  Mix it UP! Change your environment.  Get out of your peer group, inject new and different blood into your arena.  Break through a silo!  I do it every day, I push myself to do it everyday  because I am passionate about building three essential strengths (3Q Edge™) that GROW at the speed of change, challenges and ambiguity, I am passionate about our individual and collective potential to learn-relearn, communicate, collaborate and LEAD forward faster and better than ever before.

 

3. Stop Taking Selfies-Start Empowering and Enabling Others

Empowering the potential of others is at best one of the noblest things you can do, at worst it is enlightened self interest that serves our individual and collective ability to survive and thrive. What does it take to notice the great work or talent of another person?  What does it take to reach out and help someone else grow, evolve?  It can take a lot of time OR it can take a few minutes a day.  In just a few minutes a day you can notice and applaud great work, and in so doing you are championing the potential of another human being; you are lighting a fire that will hopefully inspire them forward.  Why is this important?


Anything else?  YOU Betcha. The Best!
In 20 minutes a day YOU can take your potential and the potential of others forward in ways you perhaps never imagined

Will you get sidetracked by busyness, stressors and the myriad of challenges you face each hour, each day, each week?  Of course!  Change this pattern by taking five minute breaks every 90 minutes for down time; time when you do not think, do not stress.  Time when you just get into a personal zone of peace.  Try it.  If you continue to try it, you will be able to do it.  Identify an entrenched habit of thinking or communicating that NO LONGER WORKS, and find a small way to change it (then repeat this small step in a different way for the next 7 days).  Once a day, take a few minutes to connect/ learn from someone outside your silo and another few minutes to recognize or champion the work of another. Yes, in less than 20 minutes a day you can take simple powerful steps that will help you optimize your potential and the potential of others. Carpe diem!

More on surviving and thriving?  YES! Over 1700 Bonus Links
Pinterest Collections-Posts and Infographics from a wide variety of sources, authors

Great Leadership and 3Q Leadership
Career, HR, Teamwork, Talent Optimization
Creativity and Innovation
Brain Food

More? Almost done.  Just one more thing!
Delighted to be speaking in the UK October 3, 2014 

British FlagIf you are in the London/Bristol, UK area I hope you will join me for an Elysian Training Leadership Event and Presentation on How to Lead Through Turbulent Times

 

Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?  Develop leadership skills that GROW at the speed of change?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Leadership Growth, Talent/Career Optimization, Business Development in Disruptive Times
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing 
Twitter @justcoachit

Stepping into Leadership for the First Time

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Stepping into Leadership for the First Time
A Guest Post by Marwa Hijazi, University Alliance
(Including over 400+ Bonus Leadership Links)

Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

Leadership

Excitement. Anxiety. Trepidation. Uncertainty. These feelings are perfectly natural when you are called into leadership for the first time. After all, there is a lot riding on you – and your team will be closely watching your every move. Naturally, you want to hit it out of the park and impress them, as well as your supervisors.


So, let’s review
what makes a great leader, and show you how to get there
.

 


Great Leadership Improves the Workplace

It’s clear that every business relies on solid leadership in order to succeed. Staffers want to work for people they trust and admire. When they find a great leader, their productivity and morale improves. They are engaged in the company’s mission and inspired to help meet its objectives. They’re self-motivated to meet their deadlines and to come up with new ideas and solutions. They rarely miss a day of work and customer service improves.

The bottom line: great leadership means a more successful business, with higher sales, lower costs, less turnover and happier people.

Working Through Struggles

Every leader struggles at times. Here are some tips for working through difficult times:

  • Make the tough decisions: That’s exactly what people need you to do. Learn by watching leaders that you admire and keeping abreast of industry news. Don’t be afraid to change your mind when necessary.
  • Don’t worry about being liked: Your job is to do the right thing, not the most popular thing. Be respectful and fair, but willing to make difficult decisions.
  • It’s okay to be human: Remember that you’re working with people who have outside lives and stresses to deal with. Your team should be able to approach you and know they are appreciated.
  • Believe in what you’re doing: If you don’t believe in it, nobody else will. A faltering leader can be difficult to follow, so stay strong.

 

Simple Efforts That Make You a Better Leader

When you step into leadership, everything changes. You’re perceived differently. You may even walk a little taller!  But don’t make the mistake of resting on your laurels. Being a great leader means making a consistent effort to improve. Try these simple efforts that make a big difference:

  • Keep listening, but also observe: Listening is the number one attribute of great leaders. Just quiet your mind and truly hear what people are saying. And keep your eyes open to see what’s going on around you. Being observant can help you head off trouble before it begins.
  • Step out of your comfort zone: Try something new, like traveling to a new place. It’s a great way to expose yourself to learning opportunities. Take a new route to work, or try a different mode of transportation. Make an effort to talk to people you don’t usually interact with.
  • Take responsibility: You’ll earn the respect of your peers and team when you’re accountable for results, good or bad. Own mistakes, even if they aren’t your fault (but especially when they are). Then, move on.
  • Empower yourself: Recognize your own power, and stay above others’ opinions of you.

 

Lead Your Team – Don’t Control Them

Team members are motivated differently, but nobody likes to feel controlled. The workplace of the past might have been filled with overzealous bosses and disempowered employees, but that won’t fly today. Create a positive company culture and you’ll have happy, engaged and creative people who produce, sell and contribute to the bottom line.

Keep in mind these three guidelines for leading – not controlling – your team:

  1. Everyone is important: Recognize that every team member is contributing to the project. Give public praise for a job well done.
  2. Everyone is creative: Instill an entrepreneurial spirit in your team. Ask for ideas and encourage brainstorming.
  3. Everyone is heard: The importance of feeling heard cannot be overstated. Whether an idea is acted upon or not, appreciate the person and their effort.

Knowing What to Expect Will Help You Prepare for Leadership

The best time to prepare yourself to become a leader is before you are called into leadership. You can expect people to look to you for answers while watching your every move. Stay focused, keep listening and learn how to work through the struggles that every leader faces. You’ll be well on your way to becoming a trusted, respected leader.

Marwa Hijazi

AUTHOR BIO:  Marwa Hijazi | University Alliance | Notre Dame

Marwa Hijazi writes about leadership and negotiations
on behalf of University Alliance, a facilitator of
leadership and management programs online
,
and conflict resolution training.

 

 

 

 

More on Leadership Skills and 3Q Leadership Skills for New/Emerging Leaders….YOU Betcha!  Over 400 Bonus Links!

10 Ways to Build Your 3Q Leadership Edge (IQ-EQ-SQ)

Smart and Fast are NOT Enough:  The Need for Better EQ

The Leadership Equation:  Building Great Leadership at the Speed of Change

Women and Leadership:  Ten Steps Forward for Women AND Men

The Essentialist Leader: Unforgettable, Exceptional Remarkable

The Transformative Power of Positive Leadership by General John Michel

10 Principles of 21st Century Leadership by James Strock

AND….Over 400 Articles on Great Leadership at the Speed of Change!

 

More? Almost done.  Just one more thing!
Delighted to be speaking in the UK October 3, 2014 

British FlagIf you are in the London/Bristol, UK area I hope you will join me for an Elysian Training Leadership Event and Presentation on How to Lead Through Turbulent Times

 

Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?  Develop leadership skills that GROW at the speed of change? Successfully negotiate a career or leadership transition?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Leadership Growth, Talent/Career Optimization, Business Development in Disruptive Times
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing 
Twitter @justcoachit

Leading and Succeeding in Disruptive Times – Part 4 of 4

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Leading and Succeeding in Disruptive Times: Part 4
Series Conclusion-Connecting the Dots

(Including a Free ebook, Parts 1, 2, 3 of this series, a free subscription to Realizing Leadership Magazine and a compendium of great posts from thought leaders in leadership, hr/career/workplace/teamwork and business)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

Leadership is a 3Q equation supported by courage. Courage grows each time we align intelligence (IQ)-humanity (EQ) + integrity (SQ).

 

A Gift for YOU

The conclusion to this series is a short, practical, free guidebook championing our ability to learn-relearn, lead and succeed in disruptive times by developing 3 essential strengths at GROW at the speed of change (your 3Q Edge™) I had every intention of  sharing what was supposed to be part 4 in this series, It’s All In Your Mind; a post simplifying what neuroscience confirms  about our capacity to optimize our brain power not only by strengthening cognition, but by re-writing default patters of thinking, communicating and doing that do not take us forward.

My intention did not go forward because of the  tremendous support of my interview on 3Q Leadership-Building Your 3Q Edge™ in Realizing Leadership Magazine yesterday and today from colleagues and friends whose integrity, intelligence and contributions to a better workplace and world I respect.  People who took time to support my article in Realizing Leadership on Twitter yesterday and today!  I realized the need to express my gratitude for this support, and upon reflection I believe the best way to conclude this series on Success in Disruptive Times is in extending thanks to colleagues/friends (innovators, change-makers), and by providing a guidebook/eBook that will help you connect the  3Q dots!

Innovation is fueled by the desire to create value.  Competitive differentiation and success are about delivering this value.   

Gratitude (in alphabetical order) Michael Ballard (@resilientmichae), Canadian Institute of Management (CIM_National) Elysian Training (@elysiantraining), Shashi Bellamkonda (@shashib), James Braunstein (@continuitycloud),  Bill Butler (@wiarbu), Lyn Boyer (@lyn_boyer), Bishop Bowden (@GPBCNYC), David Burkus (@davidburkus), Catherine Anne Clarke (@acelebrationofw) Ted Coine (@tedcoine),  Trevor B. Lee (@TBlepi) ,  LDRLB (@ldrlb), Barb Jemott (@skillsclick) Mike Howard (@mikehowardmsgs) Shawn Murphy (@shawmu), Karlene Petitt (@karlenepetitt) Deb Mills Scofield (@dscofield  @bluelobsternets), Switch and Shift (@switchandshift), Deb Scott (@greenskydeb), Tarak Rindani (@tarakrindani), Esta Singer (@sheconsulting), Jesse Lyn Stoner (@jesselynstoner),  James Strock (@servetolead), Cyndy Trivella (@cyndytrivella), Amit Verma (@amitv_tweets). (If inadvertently missed someone, or did not catch a tweet, please let me know so I can amend this list:-).

Why am I giving this book away as a conclusion to this series?  Because it is my gift to YOU.  A Practical, Purposeful Guidebook-A 3Q Edge™ Primer on Leading and Succeeding in Disruptive Times (←click link for eBook)

This ebook’s purpose is to challenge and inspire you to realize your power, power to develop a whole new relationship with changes, challenges, stressors (even failures) that takes you forward faster and better than before; a relationship that helps YOU build your 3Q Edge™.    I hope that you will take the time to browse the book…because, change is not the problem…our ability to change and adapt while enfranchising the values, the purpose, the courage that can lead us forward is the way forward. It is a simple book, because I believe that our ability to simplify and make the complex actionable, doable and real is critical! 

 

Enjoy it, select chapters to YOU. Check out my list of 3 minute 3Q tools/exercises you can do almost anywhere. Send me your comments.  My passion for championing our ability to build Q skills, to realize our ability to learn, re-learn, communicate, collaborate and LEAD forward at the speed of change, in the face of challenges, stressors, even chaos cannot be deterred because it is the heartbeat of my commitment to learn, share and contribute every day, in every way I can.  I hope that you enjoy the E-Book, and welcome your feedback! 

                        

More.  Yes! Thank you Laurie Wilhelm, CEO of Realizing Leadership Magazine for your important work and contribution to the leadership conversation!  Get a free 3 month subscription to Realizing Leadership Magazine, no strings, no automatic renewal.  YOU will be glad YOU did! 

 

More?  YOU Betcha!  Parts 1, 2 and 3 of this Series:
Part 1  |  What is the DNA of Business Success in Disruptive Times? 7 Insights
Part 2  |  Empowering and Actualizing Great Leadership
Part 3  |  From Now to HOW:  Efficiency to Effectiveness

 And…Excellent Compendiums of articles by a wide variety of experts that you can browse and to subscribe to for free (justcoachit on Pinterest!)

A Growing Collection of over 350 Articles | Great Leadership and 3Q Leadership
A Growing Collection of over 250 Articles  | Business at the Speed of Change
A Growing Collection of over 650 Articles  |  HR, Teamwork, Career, Talent Optimization

 

More? Almost done.  Just one more thing!
Delighted to be speaking in the UK October 3, 2014 

British FlagIf you are in the London/Bristol, UK area I hope you will join me for an Elysian Training Leadership Event and Presentation on How to Lead Through Turbulent Times

 

Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?  Develop leadership skills that GROW at the speed of change?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Leadership Growth, Talent/Career Optimization, Business Development in Disruptive Times
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing 
Twitter @justcoachit

 

Free Leadership Summit- Crack the Leadership Code & 1250 bonus articles/links

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FREE Leadership Summit-Crack the Leadership Code & 1250 bonus articles (Scroll to the bottom of this page for article links & free subscription)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

Leadership WORDLEI never promote conferences or series on my blog-this is the exception because I am sharing a free valuable event you can attend  where you are!  Crack the Leadership Code hosted executive coach and organizational psychologist, Dr. Michelle Pizer, is a virtual event, a series of conversations with thought leaders is an exception because it is a valuable and FREE way to learn from leadership experts and thought leaders including : Jim Kouzes, Les McKeown, David Grossman, Kevin Eikenberry, Jodi Womack..  I am delighted to also be presenting at Crack the Leadership Code Summit, and thank Dr. Pizer for organizing this valuable initiative.

Here are just some of the important topics/takeaways from the summit running from July 21, 2014 for 21 days with 21 speakers!

        • Using change, challenges, stressors to optimize empowerment, engagement, potential and achieve results-Yes, I am speaking on building
          YOUR 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
        • Critical communication skills
        • How to build trust and credibility
        • Confidence and capability for rising women leaders
        • Work/life balance
        • Productivity and smart networking
        • Conversational intelligence
        • Finding your charisma and connecting with your audience
        • Executive style
        • How to cultivate talent in a changing business environment
        • Crafting the right story
        • How to cultivate talent in a changing business environment

Click here to reserve your seat! www.cracktheleadershipcode.com  I would welcome the opportunity to hear how you enjoyed the Summit through my blog or by email irene@justcoachit.com

 

More on Great Leadership in Disruptive Times?  YOU Betcha 1250 Bonus Links!  Excellent Compendiums of articles by a wide variety of experts that you can browse and to subscribe to for free (justcoachit on Pinterest!)

A Growing Collection of over 350 Articles | Great Leadership and 3Q Leadership
A Growing Collection of over 250 Articles  | Business at the Speed of Change
A Growing Collection of over 650 Articles  |  HR, Teamwork, Career, Talent Optimization

More?  Just one more thing!  Delighted to be speaking in the UK October 3, 2014 

British FlagIf you are in the London, UK area I hope you will join me for an Elysian Training Leadership Event and Presentation on How to Lead Through Turbulent Times

 

Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?  Develop leadership skills that GROW at the speed of change?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Leadership Growth, Talent/Career Optimization, Business Development in Disruptive Times
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing 
Twitter @justcoachit

Now to How!

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NOW to HOW! Efficiency to Effectiveness
The DNA of Business Success, Part 3
(Parts 1 and 2 of this series are included in the links at the end of this post)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

“There’s a new world struggling to be born. It’s a world of greater creativity, higher purpose, and deeper fulfillment.” Marty Neumeier, Metaskills

Now to How

Struggle is necessary to make us aware of what no longer works, but it is the determination, the conviction to build, evolve, grow and create that transforms struggle into empowerment, disengagement into motivation, challenges into solutions, failures into a new way to learn and lead forward while improving cognitive, emotional and social adaptability.  Smart and fast are no longer enough. Surviving and thriving means embracing our ability to use/transform changes, challenges, stressors (even failures) into the enhancement of three strengths that GROW at the speed of change; 3Q strengths that build cognitive, emotional, social adaptability while preserving the timeless anchor of  sustainability (Q3):

 

Q1 IQ  Enhanced focus-strategic thought-design thinking-ability to learn-relearn)
Q2 —EQ— (Enhanced emotional intelligence; emotional mastery-self management-relationship management-risk tolerance/resiliency, communication, collaboration)
Q3 —SQ— (Enhanced values alignment/positive purpose, integrity of thought communication and action; development of intrinsic motivators that keep us going when the going is tough)

 

Will you champion a better way forward or remain transfixed by the ambiguity, changes, challenges, chaos and opportunities that punctuate our lives, work and world?  Will you be fearful or fearless?  I believe the imperative to be fearless in the face of change is not simply the mark of leadership, but critical to those who recognize that the only way we can move past struggle is by using it as a guide post that takes us forward; a guidepost that speaks to the unbridled power of human ingenuity, humanity, courage and leadership at the speed of change.  “Whenever you “see” an issue or “understand” a concept, be conscious of the lens through which you’re viewing the subject. You should assume you’re introducing bias. The challenge remains to identify and let go of that bias or the assumptions you bring, and actively work to see and understand the subject anew.” Edward B. Burger, Michael Starbird, The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking, Princeton University Press, 2012.

How can you get past your own bias, your own filters, so that you can see the problem or challenge anew?  Start by recognizing that any habit of thinking, communicating and doing that leaves you entrenched and boxed in will not take you forward.  The power to move from now to HOW will not be found in bastions of great thought, because until we unpack the knowledge we have and make it real it remains shrouded and un-lived.  The power to move from now to HOW will not be found in struggling against change, because the way forward starts with seeing the changes, challenges, stressors and failures with new eyes that take us forward faster and better.

Start by making Now To HOW your mantra and use it to break down habits of thinking and communicating that no longer work. Many of us are working with a mindset that cannot help us move from Now to HOW. The Age of Industrialization and the Age of Information became a fulcrum for process driven systems, increased bureaucracy and adherence to one size fits all models of thinking and doing.  Quantitative results became our focus forward.  Meanwhile,a new Consumer Age an age where the more informed consumer, the realities of hyper competition and the David and Goliath Syndrome (small agile start-ups threatening established brands) is here and it is NOW. Embrace your ability to develop pragmatic optimism while fueling an avid curiosity for transforming challenges into solutions. The imperative to nurture ideas before you kill them, the ability to train our minds to be solution focused is the quickest way to a better way forward.

There is a new world being born.  You can struggle with it, or you can help to build it. The imperative to focus on effectiveness; to champion human ingenuity and collaboration is before us.  Will you see the challenges you face with new eyes?  In an era of massive change and challenges, we need to focus on human effectiveness as it relates to creativity, innovation, communication, collaboration and the purpose driven anchors that will help us negotiate ambiguity with vigor and confidence.   Is it time to recognize and embrace your strengths while transforming changes, challenges, stressors and failures into your 3Q Edge™? Carpe diem!

 

More on moving from Now to HOW?  You Betcha Stay tuned for the next Installment (The DNA of Business Success in Disruptive Times Part 4):  Competitive Differentiation

More Yes!

The DNA of Business Success, Part 1

The DNA of Business Success, Part 2

Over 300 Articles on Great Leadership and 3Q Leadership in Disruptive Times

The Collaboration Imperative by Carl Wiese and Ron Ricci

 

Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?  

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Leadership Growth, Talent/Career Optimization, Business Development in Disruptive Times
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing 
Twitter @justcoachit 

Empowering and Actualizing Great Leadership NOW

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Empowering and Actualizing Great Leadership NOW
The DNA of Business Success in Disruptive Times, Part II  (Part I)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 42,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

 

21st C Leadership and Success is NOT About Being Better

Good bosses, bad bosses, productive bosses can all learn to be better leaders, but the litmus test of 21st century leadership is not about learning to  lead better, it is about learning to think, communicate, collaborate and LEAD differently.

Best practices are made in the now. Leadership development that rests upon what worked in the past may be impotent tomorrow. The imperative to create NEW leaders and to champion new and better ways of developing leadership, learning and life skills that grow, expand in disruptive times is real and critical.  GREAT leadership is about using what is to create what can be in ourselves and in those we lead and serve.

Let’s take a brief look at where we have been and where we are heading, a quick review of what makes 2014 different, and what speaks to the need for the development of 3Q Leadership skills that grow at the speed of change, challenges and ambiguity. Leadership skills whose seeds are planted and harvested in our schools, colleges, universities and workplaces because the new reality is a reality where every individual must develop greater autonomy, resiliency and improved thinking, communicating and collaborating skills.

 

Age of Industrialization    Production drives success (process).  Mastering the mode of production becomes the success engine. Taylorism. Beginning of 9-5 workday/structured hours.

 

Age of Information            Organizational effectiveness and size drive success (people and process-emphasis on process, production. Growth of big enterprise, silos, bureaucracy).

 

Age of the Consumer        Bigger, more inclusive and competitive marketplace, outsourcing, cheaper access to products.  Client experience drives success–people, process &
perception of value.  Growing impact of women in the workplace and taking a larger role globally contributes to a purpose-centric viewpoint focused on creating value for all stakeholders and communities

20,000 human years to build first billion consumers
The past 20 years have created 2 billion consumers
The next 5 years will create 1 billion consumers (emerging nations leading the way)

Where we are now>>>    In transition between the age of the consumer and the age of innovation. A disruptive, uncomfortable place for many because ambiguity,
changes, challenges as well as opportunities fuzzy our focus and test our ability to be possibility thinkers and doers.

                                     

Age of Innovation             Human potential: Creativity, collaboration, innovation, adaptability and the ability to create value for shareholders, stakeholders, employees, communities (all constituents) determines success.  Project based teams become the quid pro quo in most organizations.  Traditional bricks and mortar schools are reinvented, as is the large enterprise as we know it is transformed from inside out.  Systems of thinking, doing and executing that expand creativity and innovation grow and evolve.

 

The human, social and business imperative to develop a new and different balance between process, production, people and value creation that drives possibility thinking and establishes new benchmarks for our best thoughts, communication and actions is critical. 21st century success rests in the thoughts, communication and actions of pioneers and trailblazers; real people, thoughtful, purpose driven people, great leaders who have the courage to challenge the status quo; people who recognize that what created success in the past will not and cannot take us forward smarter, faster and happier in a whole new world, workplace and marketplace where changes, challenges, opportunities and ambiguity will continue to grow and stretch us.   Will you embrace the changes and challenges you face as levers for your greatest potential build YOUR 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)? Is it time to re-set the internal GPS in ways that empower possibility thinking and success in disruptive times of change, challenges & ambiguity?  Stay tuned for Part Three in this Series: From Now to HOW-It’s All in Your Mind


 

More on Leadership and Success in Disruptive Times?  YOU Betcha
First post in this series:  The DNA of Business Success in Disruptive Times
Building Ten Essential 3Q Skills that GROW in the Face of Change/Challenges
Over 300 posts on Great Leadership and 3Q Leadership at the Speed of Change
Failure:  The Secret to Success-7 Powerful, Practical Tips
The Thriving Organization:  Ten Power Steps Out of Jurassic Park
A Collection of Interesting Posts on Business at the Speed of Change
Women and Leadership:  Championing the Power of Women Leading Forward (229 posts and interviews)

Podcasts & Interviews
Podcast:  HR Leadership 3.0 Series-My interview with JoAnn Corley
The Linchpin to Your Company’s Success:  WEBTV interview by Ted Coine, Switch and Shift TV

 

Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?

 Build YOUR 3Q Leadership, Career or Talent Optimization Edge?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Leadership Growth, Talent/Career Optimization, Business Development in Disruptive Times
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing 
Twitter @justcoachit 

The Call to Serve, Lead and Live Greatly

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The Call to Serve, Lead and Live Greatly Reflections on Optimizing Our Greatest Potential in Disruptive Times (Including 10 bonus links)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 3Q Leadership™ Blog- 41,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

determination

I used to sign all my emails, yours in service, because we are each our brother’s keeper; we are part of a greater soul, a greater whole. My decision to use a more conventional  salutation was the result of people not understanding what I meant.  Service is not servitude, service is the linchpin of growth, the fire of evolution, the foundation for great leadership.  Service is something that we can embrace and use every day to make a greater impact in our world, our work, our relationships.  It is the call to live greatly.

You count, your words and actions count.  How will you use them?  How will you change them to face a better day, to build a better future? How will you decide to serve today? We can talk about collaboration, we can speak about ethics, values and building flatter, better organizations.  We can talk about community, we can talk about sharing and caring. Speaking helps.  Speaking is important, but doing is better.

In “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team:  A Leadership Fable”, author Patrick M. Lencioni, speaks to five problems I believe deride not only teams but our individual power and ability to rise to the challenges before us. If you are not suffering from one of the following dysfunctions, someone you lead, work for, know or love is.

  • Absence of trust.
  • Fear of conflict
  • Lack of commitment
  • Avoidance of accountability
  • Inattention to objectives

The greatest hope before us lies not in burying our heads in the sand, but rather in facing these five dysfunctions with the knowledge that we can transform them, the conviction that we can rise to the challenges before us with courage, integrity and humanity.

What do I know about courage, integrity and humanity? I know that they are the building blocks, the foundation of all that is good, meaningful and sustainable.  I know that we each have the ability to cleave to our courage, embrace our integrity and push forward each day with humanity if we so choose.  I know that I have held on to my courage, integrity and humanity when there was nothing else before me and when the temptation to close my eyes to that which matters most would have been the most expedient course of action.

Great leadership starts with the fire of courage, integrity and humanity that is timeless because the call to serve is the call to lead.  If you listen, if you are still you will hear it. Great leadership is a 3Q equation that starts with courage.  Courage to optimize our intelligence/ideation (IQ), build our emotional capacity/strength/communication (EQ) and cleave to the purpose, integrity, humanity (SQ)  that can and will take us forward better and faster.

Some of us will use our courage  to build new organizations and discover solutions that serve constituents, stakeholders and communities in new and better ways.  Others will use their  courage to stand tall and stand strong in their lives, in their relationships, in their families when times are tough and the five dysfunctions of a hyper competitive, volatile world and workplace are before them.  All of us can use our courage, integrity and humanity to make a positive difference in whatever way we choose.

The secret to peace and prosperity is within our hearts, it is the echo of our deepest wisdom and it calls to us all.  Take a moment this day to harness your courage and use it to make one positive change in thought, action or communication that will help you serve more, serve better and lead forward!  Savor your power to make a difference and be the difference in whatever way you choose because the call to serve, the call to lead is also the call to live greatly.

Yours in service, Irene   More on building a better path forward?  More on embracing and optimizing our greatest potential?  YOU betcha The Secret to Peace and Prosperity:  A Short, Passionate, Purposeful Allegory What Does Leadership Really Mean? 3Q Leadership Benefits and Why I Have Dedicated My LIfe to This Work Our Greatest Hope Rising to the Challenges Before Us Against All Odds I Will NOT Be Broken-The Call to Build a Better Future Leaders-Be the Miracle or Miss the Miracle Podcasts/Interviews Extraordinary Women: Conquering Formidable Life and Leadership Challenges Webtv Interview by Shannon Skinner From Pain to Gain in Life and Career Radio Interview by Deborah Scott A Great Read-Great Book:  Serve to Lead by James Strock

 Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower? Build YOUR 3Q Leadership, Career, Business Development or Talent Optimization Edge?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™ Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ Leadership Growth, Talent/Career Optimization, Business Development in Disruptive Times Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726 Skype: beckerirene

Team-building Toolkit for Disruptive Times

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Team-building Tool Kit-25 Ways to Work Smarter Together in Disruptive Times
Empowerment + Engagement + Accountability=Results!
(Including 15 bonus links)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 41,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!
  


Toolbuilding Toolkit

It was a pleasure to present on Effective Team-building at Project Management and Business Analyst World.  Given the importance of team-building and the growth of project based teams, I hope that this toolkit-a  of  team-building tips, REACH™, 3Q Edge™ and bonus links will be of service.

Project Manager or Leader?  Both! Here are 25 Team-building Tips for Working Smarter Together!

 

1. Have a clear mission. Start with the common anchor, the objectives and values you share.  Internalize them, mention them, and ignite them because they are the fuel for your greatest individual and collective potential.

 

2. Make sure that roles, responsibilities and accountability are clearly defined.  If you are working with an agile team/project team where roles change, this in itself is a new type of role that must be explained.  Clarity is king and buy-in from members is queen.

 

3. Develop a team charter.  Team members need a strong sense of belonging to the group that will build trust and commitment. This sense of commitment is reinforced when the team spends the time to develop team norms or relationship guidelines together.


4. Lead, don’t micro-manage.
Make sure that all team members feel that they are a critical part of the team’s success. Make sure roles, responsibilities and accountability are clear, but do not micro manage. If process helps execution, use it.  Process used as a substitute for poor leadership, lack of trust will ultimately impede or undermine that potential of the team. Get the right people on your team, empower them, engage them; help them with their professional/personal development and hold them accountable.

 

Align & Motivate Empathize
Delegate & Monitor Plan & Control

 

 5. Develop your ability to use care-frontation. Don’t shove problems or conflicts under the rug where they can fester, brew and explode in overt or covert ways.  Conflict is a healthy sign.  Use it to build connection.  Remember conflict that his not expressed, festers, brews and ultimately destroys everything in its path. Use shared values and objectives to break down barriers and to also help team members build strong intrinsic motivation so that they focus forward when times are tough.

 

6. Ready to react? Stuck in stasis?  Worried about driving in reverse?  Ready to go into fight or flight?  R-E-A-C-H™ reset default patterns of thinking, communicating and doing that are no longer working for you.  Yes, brain science confirms that our brains are neuro-plastic (we can rewrite default patterns).  Bonus, every time you R-E-A-C-H™, you are also building your 3Q Edge™/Advantage. Read more

Is Your Potential Engaged or Derailed? | Cheat Sheet and Self Test

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5 ways to optimize your potential…AND a self-test to determine if your potential is engaged or derailed. (Including 10 Bonus Links)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 41,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!
  

 

Chillies

  1. Reach.  Use tools, strategies that help you redirect focus, and focus faster in the face of change, challenges and opportunities. Focus is the mother of success and creativity is its kissing cousin. Like money or nuclear power focus can be used to optimize or derail potential.  Simple tools, geared to your personality, your learning style, your career or organizational objectives can help you focus faster, better on what really counts while helping you learn, ideate, communicate and collaborate faster and better. Build reach, focus on what will help you learn, collaborate and succeed forward.
  2. Empower. Ideation, communication and collaboration are the new anchors of success. Take control over your potential. Find a collaborative partner, an executive coach or advisor whose only agenda is your success; and whose skills and experience can help you not only get greater clarity around your potential while helping you also see the potential in people and ideas/opportunities around you. Develop new ways of thinking, communicating, doing and failing forward that will drive empowerment and engagement at the speed of change. Recognize that your power to learn and relearn is pivotal to your success and the success of those you lead. Teach-Learn-Do-Lead.
  3. Actualize potential by seeing the forest for the treesSee the bottom line. Potential is optimized by our ability to feel that we are contributing.  Understanding your own purpose, and helping those you lead see the purpose in their work, their skills their abilities is critical to leading forward both in terms of employee engagement, stakeholder engagement and the csr initiatives that will continue to become more important to successful organizations and their footprint in the marketplace and community. Remember that purpose = profit
  4. Communicate more effectively across competitive lines, cultural lines and in the face of conflict or challenges in communication and career. Put your money where your mouth is.  Your verbal, written and digital/social communication counts.  Learn how to best position your words in a way that empowers, engages others.  Start developing communication skills that will help you optimize your potential and the potential of others. Develop the communication skills and marketing collaterals that can help you move past career transition or other blips in the road, faster and better.  Use your self talk, your thoughts, your words to build better relationships, improved collaboration with yourself, your direct reports, colleagues, bosses, vendors, and stakeholders.  Use YOUR words to communicate, collaborate and LEAD forward
  5. Harvest your potential and the potential of others.  See your challenges, strengths, wins and failures with new eyes that optimize and catalyze your potential. Let go of anger, frustration, reactivity or stasis.  Embrace your ability to harvest the best in yourself and others.  Communicate, collaborate and LEAD forward by developing 3Q strengths that drive reach, resonance and results at a speed of change. Learn to use not only your strengths but challenges and failures to build three key strengths that you can actualize under stress:  Q1 IQ (Intellectual capacity-Ideation)  Q2 Emotional Intelligence (Perceiving, Reasoning, Understanding and Managing Emotions | Self Awareness and Awareness of Others) Q3 Spiritual Quotient- The alignment with and to your highest values, purpose and power. )

 

Quick Self-Test: Is Your Potential Derailed or Engaged?

Derailed Engaged
  • Easily fatigued or exhausted?
  • Working   in a messy or disorganized space or fashion?
  • Disinterested   or frustrated by our job?
  • Easily   stressed, angered or in a constant internal state of strife?
  • Frustrated   with your direct reports, and stymied by teambuilding problems, turf wars or   passive aggressive behaviors that derail team dynamics and results?
  • Stuck   in a negative rut, seeing no way to improve your performance or the   performance of others?
  • Easily   confused or frustrated by the actions of others?
  • Focused   on who is against you rather than how you can build collaboration,   cooperation and results?
  • Frantically   putting out fires and reacting to emergencies?
  • Disengaged   unable to think of ways to drive greater engagement and productivity?
  • Energized, motivated?
  • Working   in a neat organized space and with a modus operandi that maximizes results?
  • Engaged,   empowered and challenged by your work?
  • Using   challenges and strengths to learn, lead and communicate better and faster?
  • Helping   those you lead optimize, humanize and monetize results by finding new ways to   improve ideation, learning, communicating, collaborating…doing.
  • Constantly   looking for ways to use both strengths and challenges to improve the way you   learn, communicate and collaborate?
  • Focused,   energized and ready to meet goals and objectives?
  • Developing   the reach and resonance you need to succeed through verbal/inter-personal,   written/ digital -social communication?
  • Responding,   rather than reacting to challenges using them to develop new ways of   thinking, communicating and doing that help prevent emergency situations?
  • Do   you have good ideas for increasing engagement and productivity; ideas you   will build upon, use and execute?

If you answered yes to one or more of the derailment questions it is time to optimize your potential! Go back to the five steps, and find the most important step you can actualize now. The importance and imperative to see your strengths and challenges with new eyes that can help YOU optimize YOUR potential is real, doable and critical!

 

More on optimizing your potential in disruptive times?  YOU Betcha!

Remove the Wall to Your Greatest Potential
The Empowerment Compendium

The Purpose Equation
How to Build Better Communication NOW!
From Now to HOW:  Building Social, Virtual and Cross Generational Communication

Ten Ways to Lead and Succeed in Times of Complexity and Change

More?  Yes!
I Will NOT Be Broken-The Call to Build a Better Future (Intro to my forthcoming book)
Extraordinary Women  (Extraordinary Women TV-Shannon Skinner)
From Pain to Gain in Life and Career (The Best People We Know Radio Show-Deb Scott)
Against All Odds:  A True Story of Courage, Hope and Success 

 

Enough?  Almost!  If you are in Toronto, I hope you will join me for the following events.  If you are in London and NYC…stay tuned, coming to you later this year!

Effective Teambuilding in One Hour |  Project World,  June 10th  Metro Convention Centre

3Q Leadership | Canadian Institute of Management Symposium, June 13, Sheraton Four Points

 

 Are YOU Ready to…

Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?
Build YOUR 3Q Leadership, Career, Business Development or Talent Optimization Edge?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726
Skype: beckerirene

Actualize YOUR Greatest Potential NOW! Cheat Sheet of Practical, Powerful 3Q Tips

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Empowering, Engaging, Actualizing Your Greatest Potential NOW!
A 3Q Edge™ Cheat Sheet of Practical, Powerful, Tips  (Including bonus posts and 3 minute tools!)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 41,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

Q2

Challenge the status quo, because ways of thinking, communicating and doing that worked so well in the past may be impotent.  Change is the greatest constant we face, and our ability to USE the changes we face to optimize our potential is real…and critical.  Success at the speed of change means embracing a mind-set and skill-set that can help YOU play to strengths, AND USE changes, challenges, stressors, even failures to ideate, communicate, collaborate, lead and succeed forward by building three essential strengths:

 

Q1 IQ (intelligence-focus-strategic thought-design thinking-ability to learn-relearn)
Q2 —EQ— (emotional mastery-self management-relationship management-risk tolerance/resiliency, communication)
Q3 —SQ— (values alignment/positive purpose, integrity of thought communication and action)

STEP 1:Embrace change, embrace your incredible ability to adapt, learn and relearn.  See change with new eyes, eyes that help you reset default thinking patterns thinking.  Recognize that change is not a problem; it is our greatest opportunity to adapt, learn, re-learn, evolve and lead forward. Our intrinsic or automatic response is to fear change, react to change, balk at change.  So what?  When we recognize that while this pattern served us well in the caves but will not take us forward today, we can embrace change with positivity.  Push yourself to make a positive change in thinking, doing in a routine action every day.  A small change made consistently is powerful and leads to BIG changes.

 

STEP 2.  Refuse to be a victim or a victimizer.  Victims cannot recognize their own power;  victimizers feel truly powerless and can only get empowered by abusing others.  Our ability to be a victim or victimizer is the easiest course of action, the default pattern that arises when we are confronted by fear, stress or challenges.  Resetting this default pattern is doable for most people. We all slip into the victim or victimizer role at times, because it is perhaps an automatic default, a need or desire to have someone give us all the answers, or to quell our own fear about not being able to by in total control of our lives.  Realizing we are slipping, and make a thought course correction that allows us to become free of the victim or victimizer role is transformational.


STEP 3.  Turn failure, challenges and stressors around by making everything a learning and growing experience. Change your head space, think counter-intuitively because success is often born of failure or challenges.  Develop an attitude for gratitude, not only for what you have but for the very challenges you face.  Human history tells us that our greatest inventions were the results of our greatest challenges.  Personal history tells us that more often than not our greatest learning, our most important personal evolution occurs when we have faced an incredible struggle or challenge and come out the other side with our head, heart and values intact. Cultivate the art of failing forward!  Model failing forward, use it to transform failures into positive learning experiences.

 

STEP 4. You are your thoughts.  Use them carefully to live, learn and lead forward.  Get provocative with your thoughts by turning them around! Refocus, repurpose.   See challenges and strengths with NEW eyes.  Learn how to R-E-A-C-H™ (Redirect focus-Empower Confidence-Optimize Potential-Harvest Results) Understand that your world is your thoughts; your consciousness creates your world.  Most of us have the ability to control our thoughts, to develop our minds and give orders to our brain that help us live, communicate and lead forward smarter, faster and happier.  Neuroscience is teaching us that neuroplasticity; the ability to rewrite our brains is real.  Neurogenesis has been located in the hippocampus and we are at the cusp of discovering new ways of tapping into the incredible ability of our minds to help our brains optimize their potential.

 

STEP 5. Drown out the noise and refocus on what is truly important.  What is your end game?  What do you really want from your life, your relationships, your job/your career?  Dig deeper in order to get clarity on YOUR purpose.  Find it, embrace it and use it to lead forward.  We each have a unique purpose that drives our best thoughts, best actions and best outcomes. Every purpose is important to our individual and collective success and happiness.  Take time to reflect upon what you really want.  I believe that what we all truly want is love and a sense that we have something important to contribute.  Find out what love really means to you, and remember that your true purpose is a purpose that is founded in sustainability, in the ability to do something that creates value for yourself and others.  The value you contribute can be as simple a smile and empathy for others that contribute to a happy home or workplace or as complex and challenging as leading an organization or country.  What remains critical is finding your true purpose and recognizing it in your daily thoughts and actions.


STEP 6. Get happier and more fulfilled by taking your ego out of the equation and getting rid of toxic inputs, environments and people.  By ego, I mean that sense of having to be validated by external things and people. Servant leaders serve the greatest good, and leave footprints that will be followed by others are not driven by ego, but by greatest good. If you are a servant leader, lead forward by finding new ways to inspire and engage the best in others.  If you are not a servant leader, find a leader whose work resonates with your heart and fill your thoughts with the thoughts of an actual or historical leader whose words speak to your highest power and greatest good.  Start focusing on the words of people whose highest values and words resonate with your truest purpose, your highest values.  Focus forward, and you will start to discover and get rid of toxicity in your thoughts, environment and relationships. Brain science now tells us that we have to prime our brains to be happy in order to optimize our potential; common sense tells us that this is also the path to improved health, happiness and wellbeing!

 

STEP 7.  Develop a community of purpose.  In a social world, in the new age of innovation success is achieved through and with the collaboration of others.  Whether you want to do well at your job, build your career, department, business unit, organization, community or country you are impotent without the collaboration of those you can trust and those who share your values and objectives.  On a personal level we all need a community of purpose, a core group of friends and advisors in who share our values, understand and applaud our objectives and will be there to add the critical human touch, the human heart to our daily lives. We all need a community of refuge where we can tell our truth, share our wins and challenges in total candor, knowing that we will be accepted with the confidentiality and empathy we need to lead forward.  On a macro level communities of purpose represent employees, constituents and stakeholders who share our values and objectives; people who will help us champion the cause and lead forward.

 

STEP 8. Celebrate your ability to be the difference and make a difference, nothing is more important. Building a better self, better team, better business unit, better organization and a better world starts with YOU.   We each have a critical role to play in our best life, best work environment and best world.  A role that starts when we decide to win the race with the wolves that are chasing us, one positive purposeful step at a time.  A role that is solidified when we decide to become part of the solution by living, learning and leading forward every day in every way!  Yes we can!

Try one of the following steps.  Integrate it slowly, consistently in small ways that will lead to BIG Results! 


More on Building Your 3Q Edge™-Empowering-Optimizing and Actualizing YOUR Talent and Potential in Disruptive Times?  YOU Betcha

3Q Leadership Benefits and Why I Have Dedicated My LIfe to This Work
From Victim to Victor
Using Failure to Succeed
Remove the Wall to Your Greatest Potential
The Essentialist Leader
The Purpose Equation
The Happiness Compendium
Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose
The Empowerment Compendium

Bonus:
Recharge-Repower: Whole Brain Leadership in 3 Minutes a Day!

 

Enough?  Almost!  If you are in Toronto, I hope you will join me for the following events.  If you are in London and NYC…stay tuned, coming to you later this year!

Effective Teambuilding in One Hour |  Project World,  June 10th  Metro Convention Centre
3Q Leadership | Canadian Institute of Management Symposium, June 13, Sheraton Four Points

 

Are you ready to actualize your greatest potential?

 Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?
Build YOUR 3Q Leadership, Career, Business Development or Talent Optimization Edge?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q  Edge™
Leadership Growth, Talent/Career Optimization and Business Development in Disruptive Times
 Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726
Skype: beckerirene

Unforgettable | Exceptional | Remarkable

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Unforgettable | Exceptional | Remarkable
21st Century Success Markers
With 308 bonus links!

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 35,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

Unforgettable-Exceptional-Remarkable

The imperative to be unforgettable, exceptional and remarkable is clear, and doing so takes guts, gusto and integrityIt takes the courage of a lion, the heart of a servant and the values of a champion to thrive in a marketplace where info-besity,  competition, challenges, chaos AND opportunities reign supreme. You are YOUR brand and the solution starts with YOU.

Will you be shaped by the environment before you, or use what you have to create a new internal environment that drives your greatest potential? Is  it time to inject new blood, new ways of thinking, doing, communicating and executing that help you raise the bar, up the game, champion and realize the best in yourself and your people?

 Q1

Be unforgettable.  Build Q1: IQ (Ideation, Innovative Thought, Strategic Thought, Focus on What Counts)  Change the way you think, become an abductive thinker who can use challenges to see solutions, create new ideas, drive collaboration in new ways that take you and others (those you serve)  forward faster and better.  Get gutsy. Transform the way you think, transform the results you achieve.

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Q2Be Exceptional:   Build Q2:  EQ (Emotional Intelligence, Social Intelligence, Communication, Collaboration, Resiliency, Risk Tolerance) Use changes, challenges, stressors and failures to grow EQ/EI. Develop a new relationship with typical stressors and frustrations that ignites your ability to grow, evolve, lead and live better at the speed of change.   Stretch and grow with gusto.  Expect a bit of discomfort that will translate into emotional strength and capacity that will transform stress into greater success.

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Q3Be Remarkable:  Build Q3: SQ (Values, integrity of purpose, communication, action while growing intrinsic motivators that will LEAD your forward when times are tough!).  The timeless anchor for sustainability is creating value for others; doing so means guarding your values, your integrity of purpose, action and communication.  Build Q1 and Q2-optimize your intelligence and your emotional power, increase creativity, adaptability, communication, collaboration. Champion integrity.  Embrace and actualize the values and purpose that creates value for all constituents and the communities you serve.

Will being unforgettable, exceptional and remarkable become your mantra?  Lead forward with guts, gusto and integrity? Plant seeds that drive new ways of thinking, seeing, communicating and acting that break through barriers, empower engagement, vitalize creativity, drive human centric  business results?  Growth does not happen in the comfort zone, so get out of it and champion the opportunity before you to learn/relearn, grow, expand and lead forward. You can be shaped by the environment before you, or you can decide to shape your environment and build your future by optimizing your greatest potential. 


The greatest opportunities lie in looking at things the way no one else does
.  Will you see the present and future with new eyes that help you develop the organization of tomorrow, build a better career path, empower the best in those you lead and serve, or be stuck in a mindset that may have worked in the past but cannot help you empower, engage and achieve your greatest potential? Carpe diem.  Each day is a new opportunity to learn, share and contribute.  Start building  3Q success skills that grow at the speed of change.  Use them, share them and watch them grow!

[Image Credit: 123RF Stock Photo]

More on 21st Century Success and 3Q Leadership?  You Betcha!

Guts, Gusto and Integrity: 3 Qualities You Need to Succeed
From Pain to Gain:  Ten 21st Century Leadership Lessons Learned
Building the Thriving Organization
The DNA of Business Success in Disruptive Times
The Individual and Organizational Imperative to Do Good in the World
Sneak Peak:  Intro to my forthcoming book!

More?  Yes!
Over 300 articles on Great Leadership and 3Q Leadership
Audio Interview by Ted Coine  : The Linchpin to Your Company’s Success 
Video Interview by Shannon Skinner:  Extraordinary Women TV

Enough?  Almost!  If you are in Toronto, I hope you will join me for the following events.  If you are in London and NYC…stay tuned, coming to you later this year!

Project Manager’s Success Summit | April 25-27 (Virtual, Free Event with PDU’s)
Effective Teambuilding in One Hour |  Project World,  June 10th  Metro Convention Centre
3Q Leadership | Canadian Institute of Management Symposium, June 13, Sheraton Four Points

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?

 Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower? Build YOUR 3Q Leadership, Career, Business Development or Talent Optimization Edge?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726
Skype: beckerirene

18 Ways to UP YOUR Conference/Networking ROI

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18 Ways to UP YOUR Conference/Networking ROI
3Q Business Development-Networking Best Practices

©Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 35,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

Let’s face it, even the most experience business people and networkers often DO NOT optimize conference/networking ROI.  Here are some practical, actionable tips from my toolkit and from a book called Conference Crushing by Tyler Wagner.

 

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1. Know who  YOU are!  Know the skills, talents, and knowledge you bring to the table.

2. Focus on YOUR objectives for this conference-collectively and individually.

3. Get strategic.  The more you know about everyone attending and sponsoring the conference  the better you will be. Do your research. Research the coordinator( s), influential speakers,   influential attendees. Track any commonalities you have.

4. Focus on maximum three goals for the conference or networking event.

5.  Develop your before, during and after strategy Conference Smart Goals/ Follow Up   (see  # 6) 

 

6. Conference (Smart) Goals and Follow Up!

Action
Steps
Desired
Outcome
Next
Step(s)
People
I Met
How I
Can Help
Them
How They
Can Help
Me
Follow
Up
Method

Source:  Conference Crushing Wagner, Tyler (2014-03-11)

7.  Connect with the speaker (s).  Send an email to the speaker showing appreciation for their work, and mention that you hope to meet him/her at the conference.  Mention how their work has  helped you.  Open the door to building a relationship.

 

 8.  visualize success and use personal tools that put you in the groove! If you do not have a personal tool kit of visualization and personal tools, start building one!

 

 9.  Don’t get cold feet-don’t be a barrier to your potential. Cold feet can be warmed!  Knowing that you can improve your communication and business development skills can make even the coldest feet warm.

 

10. Really listen.  When you talk use similar language, cadence and body language.Listen                 reversed spells “silent”. Give the other person your undivided attention.

 

11.   Get them to talk about their work, career, interests,  opinions.  People tend to remember
a conversation as a good one if they get to talk about  themselves.

 

 12.   Understand what NOT to do!

·Don’t let fear keep you from talking to other people.

·Don’t focus on quantity when networking, be strategic!

·Don’t be distracted by food or drink.

·Don’t hand business cards to people you haven’t had a conversation
with yet.

·Don’t ask yes or no questions.

·Don’t ask only work related questions.

·Don’t forget to keep track of people you intend on following up with.

· Don’t waste time on your phone or computer.

·Don’t gossip about others at the event.

13.  Stay focused, don’t zone out.  
Your MVP (most valuable player) is the person you are
interacting with.  Each individual knows at least another 300 people.  Every time
you interact you are representing yourself, your career and your organization.
Every conversation is an opportunity to build a relationship that can positively
impact your career and organization.

 

14.  Get out of your comfort zone, it’s the only way to grow! You will not improve your communication, networking; your business development skills in YOUR comfort

·Grow your 3Q Edge™ expand your skills, by seeing challenges with new eyes!

·Communi-great!  If you feel nervous, pretend you are acting the role of a confident,
expert  connector and networker.  Fake it till you make it!

 

15. Give added value, because building and maintaining a relationship is all about creating           value  for others.

·Validate the other person.

·Do/say something helpful

·Focus on them; listen, connect and show them you are interested and care about what they have to say.

·Use the right communication style that opens their ears, resonates with them.

·Be authentic because it builds trust.

 

16.  Check out the vendors. There is a lot that can be learned from visiting vendor booths.  It also
provides an additional way to network.

 

17.  Don’t just collect business cards. Follow UP. Pick the right way to follow-up, select what/how   you will follow-up and do it the next morning.

 

18.  Book a pre AND  post conference meeting and de-brief with team members.

·Discuss your goals, how you will share the room pre conference/networking event.

·Hold a post conference meeting to share what you have learned, connections
you have made, business development  ideas that sprung up as a results of the
conference.

More?  You Betcha.  Sharing a handy list of links on communication-one of your key business, career and life success anchors!

Communicating for Success | A Collection of More Than 80 Articles
Build Better Communication NOW!
The DNA of Business Success in Disruptive Times-7 Insights
Business/Sales Development at the Speed of Change

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?

 Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower? Build YOUR 3Q Leadership, Career, Business Development or Talent Optimization Edge?

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It
The 3Q Leadership Edge™

Ideation-Communication-Leadership and BD Growth at the Speed of Change
 Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing
Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726
Skype: beckerirene

 

What is the DNA of Business Success in Disruptive Times? 7 Insights

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What is the DNA of Business Success in Disruptive Times? 7 Insights (Bonus: Latest KPMG Report on Business Transformation, Harvard Business Review Article and Over 1,080 bonus links!)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 35,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

C Suite

What is the DNA of business success in disruptive times?  How can you sift through complexity and focus on what will create ideation, innovation, traction, business development and growth? Develop a balance of engagement, empowerment and accountability that drives results?  Optimization of talent and potential at the speed of change is mirrored in my 3Q Leadership™ model, articles, work and the results my clients achieve.  I believe in the power of human being better, the power of building 3Q skills that GROW with every win, challenge, stressor and even failure.  Counter-intuitive?  You betcha, but the road forward is a new path.  Here  is an infographic and seven insights on business success in disruptive times.  

Untitled!

Step 1.  Systematize!  Align your business strategy with objectives (KPMG Transformation Survey: Business Transformation and the Corporate Agenda ©2014) and make sure that your financial/business reporting systems AND the systems you use to monitor hiring/training/rehiring/talent optimization as well as suspect, prospect and strategic partnership pipelines are well oiled and working. Make empowerment, engagement, financial and business accountability real. Your horizon can change in a bleep, being prepared means an alignment of strategy, objectives and real time information; a 360 degree snapshot of each area of business importance!

Step 2.   Build Your 3Q Leadership Edge™-Essential skills that grow at the speed of change.

Build three critical areas of strength that are modeled by your leadership, honed by your management, taught to your employees and used to reach, engage and satisfy your clients, prospects and the communities you serve.  3Q Leadership™ Strengths built by optimizing talent/potential and learning how to USE changes, challenges, stressors and failures to build and optimize IDEATION Q1: Ideation, strategic thought, focus on what counts, ability to learn-relearn. EMOTION Q2: Emotional Intelligence: Communication, collaboration, resiliency, risk tolerance   INTEGRITY Q3:  Integrity of Purpose, Communication & Action:  Values, integrity and the using intrinsic motivators as anchors.  Optimize, humanize, monetize with ideation, emotion and integrity.

Step 3. Get the info YOU need, go to the source! (©2012 Harvard Business Review “Listen to Your Frontline Employees” by Anthony K. Tjan)   The  best sources of information are the employees who are at the front lines of your business actively dealing with your clients.  Do you get regular input from employees at the front line?  Have you established a great system of vertical and horizontal communication, of employee engagement and participation?  Do you have a system of surveying and engaging current clients, of reaching out to find out what they like, what they need and how you can help in a greater way. Do you have a social media program (internal, external or both) that is meeting your growing needs and objectives? The human bond, the human relationship whether planted and cared for person to person or through social media channels is the most important bond you have.

Step 4.  Develop a Community of Purpose:  Business sustainability and YOUR attractiveness factor rely upon shared values and objectives.  What are the values and business objectives that your company lives and breathes?   Are YOU using your values, your objectives, the integrity of your purpose and commitment to ALL constituents (employees, clients, prospects, strategic partners, stakeholders, the actual and virtual communities you serve) to build a strong community of purpose?

Step 5.  Don’t Just Train-Retain and GROW Skills!  The best training in the world helps, but it is not enough.  Training that sticks is training that is accompanied by coaching, or a form of follow-up to make the training stick.  Cookie cutter sells, but if you want to train and retain it is critical to find not only a high integrity, excellent provider who understands your needs, goals and objectives but a person or organization that will go the extra mile by providing the collateral support you need to make the training stick!

Step 6.  Engage with MBWA.  Peter Drucker coined the term: Management By Walking Around decades ago, and while command and control leaders often ascribe this to taking a stroll through the general office and peaking in cubes to make sure everyone is working; MBWA is an exercise is humanization, in reaching out to the people who work for you and developing rapport.  Success is a human factor, and it begins with the people you lead and manage.  Do they know you?  Do they like you?  Do they trust you?  If you can answer yes to all three questions, the imperative for MBWA is still critical because you need to maintain employee relationships in disruptive times where rampant disengagement is a workplace pandemic.

Step 7.  Do More Good Work.  Put your great company, products and services in the limelight. Give back in a way that differentiates your company.  Feed the souls of your people and your community.  Find a new way to involve more of your staff in a CSR initiative, or find a community project that a department or business unit can champion.  Pick a charity, cause or community development project and partner with them!  Show your community that you care and they will care back!

Yes, your business is all about creating value for others, and doing so in disruptive times means getting clear about what really matters. Corporate governance and financial management are bedrocks, but they will not generate business, they will not fill your pocketbook without a value proposition that hits the heart and soul of your clients, your prospects and furthermore engages new strategic partners and alliances as well as the community you serve, and the digital community that follows you.

 

 More on 3Q Business, Leadership Development and Talent Optimization?  YOU Betcha!

Great Leadership at the Speed of Change | A Collection of Over 300 Leadership and 3Q Leadership™ Articles

Business at the Speed of Change |  A Collection of  Over 200 Articles

Talent Optimization |  A Collection of Over 500 HR, Teamwork, Workplace and Career Articles

Communicating for Success | A Collection of Over 80 Communication Articles

 

MORE?  YOU betcha!  Had to include a link for fellow marketing and social media buffs!
An Excellent Collection of Over 900 Social Media and Marketing Articles & Infographics

 

 Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower? Build YOUR 3Q Leadership, Career, Business Development or Talent Optimization Edge?

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Leaders: Be The Miracle OR Miss The Miracle!

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Leaders:  Be The Miracle OR Miss The Miracle!
(Including 11 bonus links and videos)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 35,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  



“Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” Peter Drucker

 

Leadership WORDLE

Leaders, it is our duty to inspire, engage and empower the best in ourselves and our people by finding new ways, better ways to balance effective processes and systems with  skills that GROW at the speed of change (  3Q Skills>> Q1:  Ideation, Strategy Thought, Enhanced Ability to Learn-Re-learn   Q2:  Emotional Intelligence, Communication, Collaboration, Risk Tolerance, Resiliency    Q3:  Integrity of thought, purpose and action; intrinsic motivators that are the anchor for individual, collective and business sustainability) 


3Q Leadership™ Skills that grow at the speed of change start  with recognizing that we can either see our potential to learn, grow, contribute and evolve as a miracle, or miss the miracle completely. It is facile to get swept away by challenges, stressors and the contagion of negativity that infiltrates our minds, our workplaces and our world.  Mirror neurons pick up the emotions of others and they travel like viruses, impacting everything we do.  Developing a mind-set that appreciates the miracle of our individual and collective potential is critical to learning, communicating, leading and succeeding forward.

Do you want to build leadership skills that GROW at the speed of change? A recent article in Harvard Business review speaks loudly to what you see and its impact on what you get! Start by recognizing the miracle before you.  What do I know about miracles?   As much as I know about great success and equally great challenges.  Some might call me a survivor, but I prefer the term THRIVER! My journey has taken me from being first woman CEO of a steel company, to facing a myriad of substantial successes, challenges and failures; life, career and business lessons that have taught me that smart and fast ARE NOT enough.  Our ability to rise to the challenges before us, our ability to actualize our greatest intellectual, emotional, business and social potential all start with the mind-set we embrace.

We are  hardwired to survive, but the primal responses that help us survive can hinder our ability to thrive in disruptive times. The caveat in a hormonal cocktail and neural pathways that are preset for fight or flight, is that we can retrain our brains to respond versus react.  We have the ability to rewrite default patterns of thinking, communicating and doing that served us well when we were living in caves surrounded by predators or when we were in a different time and place where command and control leadership worked well and was the quid pro quo for success.  21st Century leadership and success is a people-centric equation that demands leaders who can stretch, grow and evolve while tying a knot around the values, integrity and purpose that are the timeless anchor of business success and sustainability.  Best practices are made in the now, and those who will lead forward boldly and successfully will be courageous pioneers who rise to the challenges before us because they believe in the miracle of human ingenuity, potential and purpose at the speed of change.

Great leadership means embracing the miracles before you and stepping out of the comfort zone by shedding habits of thinking, doing and communicating that may have worked well in the past, but will not take you/ your people forward in the future.

Here are Three Simple Action Steps that reflect upon miracles in the natural world and can help you step boldly out of the comfort zone!

 

  1. The bumblebee-the insect who defies the laws of aerodynamics by flying.Action Step: Take ONE simple step today to defy the odds, one step out of the comfort zone to try a new way of thinking or doing that takes YOU forward!
  2. The caterpillar reaches maturity by shedding the skin that no longer fits.Action Step:  Mentor one member of your team by not simply empowering them, but helping them to use a perceived challenge or stumbling block to build their potential, enhance their 3Q Edge™.  Teach them, help them to see problems, challenges as important guideposts to skills development and solutions.
  3. The butterfly flapping its wings in Tokyo is scientifically recognized to have an impact on the weather patterns across the globe.Action Step:  Change the way you communicate.  Find a new way, a dynamic way to be more positive about a project, initiative or person and watch positivity grow.  Build one really positive human touchpoint today.

There is no time like the present to reset the GPS and flash forward in ways that drive your best thoughts, best actions, best communication, best collaboration….best results in disruptive times.  Ways that push you out of the comfort zone and also help you develop your 3Q Leadership Edge™ at the speed of change, in the face of challenges!  Great leadership starts with seeing the miracle.  Carpe diem.

More on seeing the miracle?  Actualizing great leadership in disruptive times?  Building your 3Q Leadership Edge™?  YOU Betcha!

Posts:
3Q Leadership Benefits and Why I Have Dedicated My Life to This Work
Leadership and Success in Disruptive Times (Top Ten posts 2013)
Ten Ways to Lead and Succeed in Times of Complexity and Change
Against All Odds:  A True Story of Hope, Courage and Leadership
Sneak Peak:  Intro to my forthcoming book |  I Will NOT Be Broken-The Call to Build a Better Future
Purpose:  Actualizing a Leadership and Management Must
Building Ten Essential Success Skills That GROW At the Speed of Change

Videos:
The LinchPin to Your Company’s Success ( Web tv interview with Ted Coine)
Extraordinary Woman Interview (Web TV interview by Shannon Skinner)
3Q Leadership and Enlightened Business (Interview by Dr. Amit Nagpal)

More…You Betcha!
A Collection of 300+ Articles on Great Leadership At the Speed of Change

 Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower? Build YOUR 3Q Leadership, Career, Business Development or Talent Optimization Edge?

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Purpose: Building/Actualizing A Leadership and Management Must

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Purpose: Building/Actualizing A Leadership & Management Must

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 30,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

Purpose-Building A Leadership And Management Must

The importance of meaningful work to you success and the success of you people cannot be minimized.  Old school: work=profit. New school: purpose=profit.  The information is clear, a whole new generation of employees will look for and ultimately demand meaningful work.  And, the shift and importance of meaningful work to all people is critical.  After our survival needs are met, meaning and purpose are the key drivers of potential, innovation, ideation…successful results.

Meaningful work is critical to agile and effective leadership & management. Finding meaning and purpose in your work is critical not only to the results you achieve, but to the attitude and the emotions that are picked up by your people.  Yes, brain science tells us that mirror neurons make what we are feeling contagious, viral.  Can YOU lead forward if you do not believe in what you are doing?  Can you inspire and empower the best in others if you do not feel that your work and theirs is important?  Will you be able to engage and retain your people? NO.

The importance of meaningful work to you success and the success of you people cannot be minimized.

What is the Secret to Meaningful Work?

I am going to share something that is counter-intuitive. Yes, you can have your cake and eat it too.  It is possible to find meaning and purpose in your work, and the caveat is not only improved focus, management and leadership but a feeling that will be shared with your colleagues, your direct reports, your clients…your people and constituents.  Finding meaning and purpose in your work starts with self awareness, with total candor and with a place to share your truth and use it to move forward. Yes, that’s right. The things you love about your work and the things that frustrate you can be used and transformed into personalized tools, simple strategies that help you reset or rewrite default patterns that no longer work.  Yes,  you can probably have your cake and eat it too!

Success Story: Having your Cake and Eating it too!

Executive comes to me disenchanted with new position, executive team etc.  We work on key areas of focus, determine meaning and purpose for the client as well as gaps, areas of improvement in communication, collaboration that could be built with the executive team, managers and in the organization as a whole.  Result, we use what is to create a new way of seeing and using challenges that not only reinvigorates meaning and purpose for the executive and causes a pivotal shift in the Executive Team and ultimately senior managers; a shift that creates momentum, empowerment, engagement, improved communication and an organizational spirit of motivation that infuses the leaders and managers with a NEW CAN DO attitude and emphasis.  Result:  An improved foundation, an important, vibrant seedbed for improved and agile management and leadership.

The things you love about your work and the things that frustrate you can be used and transformed into personalized tools, simple strategies that help you reset or rewrite default patterns that no longer work. Yes, you can probably have your cake and eat it too!

The cake is meaning, purpose-your true potential; eating it is the coachable moment.  A moment that is pivotal to turning challenges around and using them to communicate, lead and succeed forward forward! Ask YOURSELF… Is it time to find greater meaning and purpose in your work?  Do you want to inspire meaning and purpose in your executive team, your managers, your people?

Get in the Know & Start to Grow.

Think about having your cake and eating it too.  Making the decision to embrace the meaning and purpose of your work, finding new ways to do so can change your life and the lives of your people…yes, you can shift and LEAD forward!

 This post first appeared on Switch and Shift.  

 Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower? Build YOUR 3Q Leadership, Career, Business Development or Talent Optimization Edge?

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Guest Post: How Ordinary People Can Achieve Extraordinary Results

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Guest Post
How Ordinary People can Achieve Extraordinary Results by Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha,
Author of Overcoming the Challenges of Life

 

 Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 30,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

lion walking

Success is not money, cars, fame or material possessions but the lives you touched positively.
Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

Ifeayni Enoch Onuoha has touched my life and the lives of so many others because of the integrity and purpose in his mission.  At a time when the incredible scientific and technological advances have blessed our world, the inequities, need, greed and ego-the lack of humanity that can lead us to the darkest abyss is real.

As we stand on a glass cliff, facing the greatest renaissance humankind has known, or a decent into the abyss of need greed and ego, there are those of us who stand valiantly at the edge of this cliff crying out to the world…we can do better, we must do better; and, doing so means opening our hearts and minds to our individual and collective potential to learn, live and lead forward.

Sharing a beautiful article from a beautiful soul.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!  And, Ifeayni, I am touched and humbled by your mention at the end of this article. My goal, my purpose remains to serve by helping change-makers lead change.  Change that takes us forward towards our greatest potential.  Potential to build better lives, organizations and contribute to a better world!

How Ordinary People can Achieve Extraordinary Results by Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha, 

To achieve anything of value, you must be intentional about it. As
humans, we are unlimited; the only limitation we have is the one
created by our imagination. The truth is that: nothing is impossible
to them that believe
. Extraordinary people are those who do a little
extra than the ordinary folks do and extraordinary result manifests
when we go beyond what is ordinarily obtainable.

Since 2004, I consciously began to study the life of great
businessmen, inventors, leaders, activists and artists and I can
authoritatively tell you that they have common denominators –
qualities that set them apart from the crowd. In other not to bombard
you with information’s, I will be bringing to your knowledge four
of the many secrets I discovered in my study. Take a deep breath, and
let’s embark on this life-changing trip. Are you ready?

1. Self-mastery
It’s very funny that in life, many of us spend time to study and
become masters in things like rats, dogs, chemistry, mathematics,
religion, medicine, physics, biology but we have not taken time to
study and master ourselves. One who has not mastered self is not fit
to lead others. Self-mastery helps you know your strengths and
weaknesses. It’s makes you selfless and this is what helped great
souls like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa
to live their dreams which are still influencing lives today. Now is
the best time to seat at the driver’s seat of your life, take charge of
your apple cart and be a master of your glorious being.

2. Innovative Mindset
Innovation is the ability to bring into existence something that has
not been. An innovative mind is what one needs to have an edge in this
competitive age. Innovative mindset helps you dream dreams, come up
with cutting edge ideas and see new ways of doing things. This is the
novelty spirit which helps you birth novel things.

3. Communication
This is one essential skill you must master if you truly want to
achieve great results. I know this guy, whom when you write a question or problem on
paper and give him, he will solve it but when you ask him to answer or
teach you using words, he can’t. One day while we were together, I asked
him, “Do you know you are very intelligent?” He was just steering at
me till I left the scene. The next day he met me in cafe and told me
that the problem is how to put those ideas into words rightly because
this is causing him to lose relationships and promotions. I have to
take him on a course of self-confidence and how to put ideas into words and
today this dude is enjoying a beautiful life, teaching people
mathematics and other sciences and can now talk to females and even
speak before a crowd. As a leader, mastering the art of communication
helps you in communicating visions and goals to your people. As an
inventor it helps you pass across the use of the device you invented
to your buyers and users. You need good communication skills to sell
yourself and your products right to the market. The essence of communication is for people to understand you.

4. Teamwork
Teamwork is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon
result
. Successful people always work as a team, subordinating
personal prominence to the teams’ goal. Usain Bolt is the world’s
fastest man, yes! Do you think he achieves success alone? No! He has a
formidable team that consists of trainer, physician, dietician, life
coach, psychologist, PR manager and many more and these
people give their best for Bolt to emerge a winner. On studying about
Apple and Google’s innovative prowess, I found out that it’s their
team that causes their outstanding success and not an individual
effort. No one can achieve success alone. When you pass an
examination, you didn’t do it alone; someone thought you and someone
wrote the materials you studied. When you share an idea or dream with
a fellow great soul, the idea/dream becomes finer. Always be grateful!

These four secrets I shared with you are very simple but rewarding if
diligently applied in your life and living. Every great person I have
met online or offline embodies these qualities. These qualities
helped ordinary men like Moses, Aaron, Gideon, peter, Mathew etc., in
the Bible. These qualities made great souls like Abraham Lincoln, Barack
Obama, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Bishop T. D. Jakes, Oprah
Winfrey, Obiageli Ezekwesili, Don Moen, John C. Maxwell, Steven R. Covey, Joel Osteen
Mathew Ashimolowo, Jeff Bezos, Michael Hyatt, Ambrose Ehirim, Jack Dorsey, Nelson Mandela, Ted Coine, Irene Becker and many more to be successful and am sure will help you too. Go to
work on them now!

© Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

More On Ordinary People Achieving Extraordinary Results?  YOU BETCHA

Overcoming the Challenges of Life by Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
Zowie!  328 Life, Happiness and Success Posts
81 Inspiring Posts, Video and Audio Interviews
Against All Odds-A True Story of Hope, Courage, Leadership
I Will NOT Be Broken-The Call To Build A Better Future
From Victim To Victor
The Power Of YOUR Story
Our Greatest Hope
The Secret To Peace and Prosperity

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower? Build YOUR 3Q Leadership, Career, Business Development or Talent Optimization Edge?

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Ten Ways LEAD and SUCCEED In Times Of Complexity And Change-New Edition

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Ten Ways To Lead And Succeed In Times Of Complexity And Change-New Edition (Including 30 Bonus Links)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 30,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

Last year, Ten Ways to Live and Lead Forward In Times of Complexity and Change had thousands of views on my blog, and I believe the steps I wrote a year ago are even more critical today.  In order to further address our ability to LEAD and SUCCEED  in times of complexity and change, this NEW edition includes a compendium additional links outlining practical, powerful ways to transform pain into gain, complexity and change into the optimization and actualization of potential; ways you can build YOUR 3Q Leadership Edge™ as it relates to your life, your career, your people, your business….YOUR ability to develop 3Q skills that GROW at the speed of change/challenges!

Ten Ways To Lead Forward In Times Of Complexity And Change

 It is time to realize that we must also use the changes we face to develop the solutions, optimize the potential, that can help us live and lead forward. Doing do is counter-intuitive, but it is NOT impossible.  It is real, it is doable, and it is accomplished in ten simple but powerful steps you can decide to take…or not.

 

1.  Cultivate the power of the present moment.

Do not be a victim of what was, or what is not.  Stay focused on this minute in time, and your ability to use whatever you are facing to embrace your best self, optimize your true potential by becoming relentlessly solution focused.  Our greatest individual and collective strides forward are always the by-product of our most difficult challenges.  Before you can use/transform a challenge, before you can develop a solution, you must become empowered by the present moment and its possibility.  We cannot see the possibilities before us when we are mired in stress.  The solutions we seek are buried in the challenges we face.  Finding solutions, optimizing our potential starts by learning to embrace the present moment as a window to possibility by embracing the NOW.

2.  Give yourself a 90 second window-3 minutes to optimize!

Learn how to use it to catalyze mindfulness, whole brain thinking and the power of reflection.  Developing what I would call a more androgynous brain, improving whole brain skills and really optimizing your potential means taking time to reflect, time to put your brain in an alpha state.  Doing so, whether my prayer, meditation, chanting, time to simply reflect and stop the clock for 2-3 minutes is critical. Take time each day to pause.  Here is a simple, but powerful technique, The Pause, that anyone can learn and incorporate.

3.  Refocus on what really counts.

Get rid of toxic thoughts & reconsider relationships with toxic people and team membersStop focusing on complexity.  Drown out extraneous noise.Start realizing that the anchors, the timeless wisdom that can help us translate complexity into simple powerful solutions is real. Retrain default patterns so that you can start using what is to create what can be. Our brains are automatically trained to focus on the negative (a vestige from our days in the cafe, when were surrounded by predators).  What really counts?  The sum total of your accomplishments can only be seen in light of your own personal happiness; and true happiness can only be found in what we contribute, not what we acquire. Learning to determine your purpose and engaging it means feeding your head, heart and soul with what counts.  Garbage in, garbage out. The negativity that saved us from predators when we were living in caves, will now hinder our potential.  Refocus on what YOU can do.  Get empowered forward.  Our ability to contribute, our ability to use both our strengths and our challenges to build a better self, better world is real.

4.  Put your brain in the KNOW & Go Forward.

Understand that YOU can re-train your brain!  There are many excellent books to read.  A recent GREAT READ is Super Brain by Deepak Chopra and Rudolph E Tanzi.  Spend a weekend reading this book and exploring ways that you can use your mind to optimize your brain.  Understand that the power to circumnavigate change and challenges is real.  We have only touched the surface of our individual and collective ability.  Living and leading forward means understanding the power of your mind to learn, relearn and develop new ways of seeing, doing and communicating that drive amazing results in your life and the lives of others.

 

5.  Stop searching for security in the same old places

Security cannot be found in what you acquire; it is a by-product of what you believe not simply what you achieve.  It is your ability to walk, talk and act in alignment with your highest power; the greatest good that is your ultimate goal and greatest triumph.  Purpose = profit on a multiplicity of levels from our own personal well-being to the survival of organizations and our society as a whole.  Need, greed and ego have destroyed every life, fiefdom and empire in recorded time.  History teaches us, life also teaches us that the only security we have is in taking the road less travelled, the road that will help us optimize our ability to realize our true purpose to live, learn and contribute.

 

6.  Use the changes you face to LEAD forward-Yes, use them to catalyze potential!

Develop coaching skills because they are a critical management, self management and leadership competency.  If you want to optimize your potential and the potential of others you need to develop R-E-A-C=H.  Learn how to redirect focus, empower confidence, actualize potential, communicate effectively and harvest results.  Embrace new ways, better ways to help you optimize your true talent and ability.  Invest in yourself, invest in your people because hope lies in the power of people living and leading forward; hope lies in our ability to innovate and create solutions that drive results.

 

7.  Build a Community of Purpose.

You need a community of purpose ( social, digital, person to person) to succeed.   A global marketplace demands real and virtual/digital/social communities that interact and collaboration together towards shared objectives.  Our individual survival amidst a sea of change, challenges that could make stress the number one worldwide source of disability means building strong relationships with kindred spirits, relationships with people whom we can trust and whose values and vision are in alignment with our own.  Leadership means building a community of purpose.

 

8.  Integrity, humanity, courage.  Say them, use them, and incorporate them in your life and work; use them to fail forward (a critical 21st Century Life and Leadership Skill!)

Leadership is a 3Q Equation.  Integrity, humanity, courage are the only fabric that will hold together our lives, our work, our organizations and our world. You can pay lip service to all three and manage; but you will never lead forward without making integrity-humanity and courage the mantra that guides your life and your work.

 

9.  Remember, going forward:  Purpose = profit.

Sustainability will only be achieved through our ability to know that success means creating value for others. Corporations will be forced to embrace corporate social responsibility, because our definition of success and the way in which we develop customer, client and constituent engagement and loyalty will be based on the purpose=profit equation.  Use it, embrace it.


10.  Traditional might does not make right, it often makes wrong.

The might we need now, more than ever before is not the might of brilliance, or the might of physical force; rather it is the might of a collective consciousness, an awareness that we can become victims to what has felled every great life and empire or we can make RIGHTEach day is a powerful opportunity to right the wrongs we face, because our ability to evolve, grow, learn, re-learn and collaborate forward is real..  The Secret to Peace and Prosperity is timeless.   We have a choice to reach past the victimization of need, ego, greed; we have the ability to stretch ourselves past complacency or reactivity to a new set point where Might=Purpose.  Purpose=Profit and Leadership=Creating Value for Others.  Each individual is part of a greater whole.  Your complacency, reactivity or stasis will make you part of the solution, or help you become complicit in the problems we face on an individual and collective basis.  One small positive step towards integrity, humanity and courage can make an august ripple in the world. Ripple forward!


More On Surviving & Thriving In Times of Complexity And  Change?  Building 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change And Challenges?  YOU Betcha!

3Q Leadership Development
Top Ten Posts 2013 On Leadership And Success In Disruptive Times
The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership Development
From Pain To Gain:  Ten 21st Century Leadership Lessons Learned
Inspiring, Insightful Leadership Quotes And Posts
Ten Ways To Build Essential Success Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change
The New Leader
From Now to HOW:  Building Social, Digital And Cross Generational Communication/Leadership
The Leadership Equation
The Individual And Organizational Imperative To Do GOOD
Leadership Means Developing A Community Of Purpose

Building A Thriving Organization

3Q Talent Optimization and Team-Building
Evolve Or Devolve-Manage Performance OR Optimize It?
Ten Ways To Build Essential Success Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change
From Now To How:  Building Social, Digital And Cross Generational Communication/Leadership
How To Build Better Communication NOW
Resolve To Evolve And Redefine Winning
Ten Ways To Build Employee Engagement
Words Make Worlds
Courageous Teambuilding
Meaningful Work
The Purpose Equation:  Building Intrinsic Motivation

3Q Personal Development
The Power Of YOUR Story
Winning The Race With Wolves
Five Steps To Successful Career Transition
Five Ways To Take Control Of YOUR Potential
Ten Ways To Build Essential Success Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change
From Victim To Victor
The Empowerment Compendium
The Happiness Compendium
Happiness And Success In The Face Of Change And Challenges
The Fire Of Human Potential:  Developing A Purposeful Life And Career

Image credit: lightwise / 123RF Stock Photo

 

 Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower? Build YOUR 3Q Leadership, Career, Business Development or Talent Optimization Edge?

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I Will NOT Be Broken~The Call To Build A Better Future~And 20 Bonus Leadership Links!

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Post Views = 35973

How To Build Better Communication NOW!

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How to Build Better Communication NOW!
Four Steps AND  Five Tips You Can Integrate Immediately!
AND 10 Bonus Links!

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results 
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 30,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

How To Build Your Communication Quotient

Time to turn conflict around,  re-establish trust, re-build and build stronger relationships? How well do you adapt to different listeners and audiences?  How well to you negotiate and resolve challenges, problems and conflicts?  Do you excel at building horizontal and vertical communication?

Communication is the linchpin for personal development, growth, organizational development, engagement, performance and sales growth; and today, building your communication quotient means learning how to develop a bridge between social, digital, cross generational and cross cultural divides.

Yes, 21st century success means building a new set of communication skills that help you leap forward, help you learn forward, and help you collaborate and lead forward with actual and virtual constituents.

A new set of communication skills that help you leap forward, help you learn forward, and help you collaborate and lead forward with actual and virtual constituents.

Step One:  Awareness

Stop thinking about what you want.  Refocus.  Who are you communicating with?  What are the common objectives and values you share?  What do THEY want from your communication?  I know this sounds simple, but when our emotions get involved (and they do), simple goes out the window and is replaced by the automatic fight or flight response that jeopardizes effective communication.  Pause, reflect and search for information, for clues that tell you what your audience/listener wants and of equal importance, the common objectives and values you share. The words you use and the statements you make count.  Trust, transparency and the ability to always underscore common objectives and values must punctuate whatever you say.

Step Two:  Interest

Listen more, talk less.  You cannot light a fire with wet wood.  Gaining the interest of your audience/listener means listening to what they are really saying by hearing, seeing and feeling. Make sure you mirror back what they say for confirmation, or alternatively, if addressing an audience, ask questions to evoke answers that not only peak interest but develop a relationship bridge – a common thread between your values/objectives and theirs.

Step Three:  Desire

As the communicator, one of your goals is to light a fire, a fire of desire; desire to build a relationship.  Nothing is achieved alone.  Effective communication is critical.  You can lead a horse to water, you can force someone to do what you are saying, pay lip service to what you are communicating, but the results you achieve will be short term gain and long term pain.  What is not built upon shared objectives and values will ultimately crash and burn.

Trust, transparency and the ability to always underscore common objectives and values must punctuate whatever you say.

Step Four:  Action

Action is not reaction, rather it is a thoughtful response that drives the relationship forward, or alternatively terminates a relationship where values and objectives are not aligned in the best way for all. Take control of your communication by focusing on what counts.  Do not let the plethora of information before you create communication corrosion.  Re-focus on the information that is critical to the realization of shared values and objectives. Your brain, our brains are idiot savants that seek out what our mind focuses them on.

Daily In-Office Tips To Build Communication

Tip OneDevelop Communication and Collaboration. Actively solicit input, build transparency of communication by seeking input from not only team members but employees at the front lines of your organization.  Find new ways, better ways to strengthen your presence, your brand – the shared objectives/values you and your people cherish by taking the time to get involved.

Tip Two: Empower Others. Validate.  Take time each day to notice and point out how your team members and employees are contributing to the overall plan, how there work, their input is critical to shared success.

Tip Three:  Don’t Run Away From Tough Questions or Conflict. Address tough questions rather than running or hiding from them. Tough questions and conflict need to be answered and addressed in a way that refocuses yourself and others on shared values and objectives, on your ability to turn challenges and problems into the focus and collaboration that drives solutions.

Leadership is a commitment to empower, enable and actualize the power of others

Tip Four:  Respond, do not react.  Build your 3Q Edge™ developmental skills like constructive discontent, so that you will not be influenced by the auto-matic fight or flight response that derides effective communication because you have learned to circumvent it.

Tip Five: Walk your talk.  Sustainable success is built upon shared values and objectives, is the end product of relationships of trust, demands leadership that can be trusted, and is modeled and counted upon during the good times and bad.

Leadership is a commitment to empower, enable and actualize the power of others; doing so means developing a communication playbook that opens the heads, hearts and minds of others.

This post was originally published as How To Build Your Communication Quotient  on Switch and Shift  Blog November 2013  |  Image Credit:  Jorganmac/123RF Stock Photo

 

More on Effective Communication?  YOU Betcha!

From Now To How:  Building Social, Digital and Cross-Generational Communication/Leadership

7 Ways To Turn Conflict/Communication Problems Around

Words Make Worlds:  Opening The Door To A Better Present And Future

Ten Ways To Build Employee Engagement

Are YOUR Ears Open?

Lead Forward:  Seven Power Words-Seven Power Posts

Five Ways To Communicate And Lead Forward

Self Talk-7 Powerful Tips

Self Test Your Learning And Communication Style

Great Read Excerpt:  The Power Of Communication by Helio Fred Garcia

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower? Build YOUR 3Q Leadership, Career, Business Development or Talent Optimization Edge?

Irene Headshot

 

Inspiring Quotes: Leadership & Success At The Speed Of Change

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Inspiring Quotes:  Leadership & Success At The Speed Of Change

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 30,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

The imperative to get re-inspired by what we CAN do is critical. Sharing some inspiring  quotes/excerpts  from my Top Ten Posts of 2013.

 ♦♦♦

From Now To HowLeadership And Success In Disruptive Times
Success at the speed of change is the mantra of courageous pioneers, avid learners and doers, pragmatic optimists and change-makers, transformational catalysts…
leaders and builders of a better way forward.


From Pain To Gain-Ten 21st Century Lessons Learned
Leadership is a 3Q equation supported by courage.  Courage grows each time we align IQ (intelligence) EQ (humanity) SQ (integrity).


Ten Practical Ways To Build Essential Success Skills At The Speed Of Change
Embrace your ability to make a difference and be part of the difference by using your strengths and challenges to learn, communicate, collaborate and lead forward. 

 


3Q Leadership Benefits And Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work
Our ability to rise to the challenges before us means developing a mindset and skill set that takes us forward in ways that help us evolve and grow. A mindset and skill set that helps us build communities of purpose that thrive at the speed of change.  A mindset that helps us build and grow our 3Q Edge™.

 ♦♦♦

Ten Ways To Lead  Forward In Times Of Complexity And Change
A great man once said that we must become the change we seek.  It is time to realize that we must also use the changes we face to develop the solutions, optimize the potential that can help us live and lead forward.

♦♦♦

Women And Leadership: Ten Critical Steps Forward For Women And Men
The most important fire we can light is the fire of human potential, and I believe that women have a critical role to play.

 ♦♦♦

From Now To How: Building Social, Digital and Cross Generational Leadership
The need to go from NOW to HOW is critical. Leadership starts with our ability to imagine, inspire, innovate and communicate forward.

Hope lies in not simply playing to strengths, but to seizing every challenge, change, stressor and failure as an opportunity to grow, evolve and expand the power of our minds, the strength of our brains and the capacity of our hearts.

Courage lies in our ability develop a whole new mind set, skill set and heart set that optimizes the unbridled passion, purpose and potential of humans to do better, rather than simply living or working faster than ever before.

Strength lies in finding a common language, a common message that touches the heads, hearts and mind of many.

 ♦♦♦

Using Failure To Succeed: 7 Practical Powerful Tips
Learning to fail forward is not only the stepping stone of those who will lead greatly, it is the pivot point for everyone and anyone who wants to grow, evolve, adapt and succeed in the 21st century.

♦♦♦

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Build Your 3Q Edge™? Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?

Irene Headshot

Leadership & Success In Disruptive Times: Top Ten Posts 2013

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Leadership & Success In Disruptive Times
Top Ten 2013 Posts 3Q Leadership™ Blog
Bonus Reading List-Great Books of 2013

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 30,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

Success at the speed of change is the mantra of courageous pioneers, avid learners and doers, pragmatic optimists and change-makers, transformational catalysts…
leaders and builders of a better way forward.

Out Of The Box

Leadership and success in disruptive times is a 3Q Equation.  An equation that is different because it speaks to USING your strengths AND challenges, stressors, even failures to build:

Q1: Ideation, focus on what counts, ability to learn-relearn

Q2: Emotional intelligence; self-awareness, relationship building, resiliency, risk tolerance, communication, collaboration

Q3: Purpose, integrity, courage, humanity; intrinsic motivators that are the glue of great leadership and the linchpin of sustainability.

 

Are you ready to optimize your talent, your purpose, your potential by looking at the challenges and opportunities you face with new eyes? Eyes that take you forward faster and better.  Eyes that help you optimize your potential and the potential of others?  Will you remain entrenched in ways of thinking, doing and communicating that may have worked well in the past, but will not take you forward? 

I challenge you to see the titanic opportunity before you.  It is an opportunity that should not be missed, because our individual and collective ability to enfranchise the intrinsic motivators, the universal values that drive sustainability, while building NEW ways of thinking, communicating, leading is real and critical.  Will you build your 3Q Edge™?  Is time to optimize your potential?  Carpe diem!  May 2014 be a year of outstanding learning, living and leadership!

Top Ten Posts, Podcasts & Interviews 2013 :  Leadership & Success In Disruptive Times

From Pain To Gain-Ten 21st Century Leadership Lessons Learned

Ten Practical Ways To Build Essential Success Skills At The Speed Of Change

3Q Leadership Benefits AND Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work

10 Ways Lead Forward In Times Of Complexity & Change

Women & Leadership: Ten Critical Steps Forward (for women & men)

From Now to HOW:  Building Social, Digital and Cross Generational Leadership

Using Failure To Succeed: 7 Practical, Powerful Tips

Switch and Shift TV Interview The Linchpin To Your Company’s Success – by Ted Coine  http://bit.ly/1aKsCBe

A Podcast With Transformational Catalyst, Irene Becker by JoAnn Corley

Radio Interview by Deb Scott : From Pain To Gain In Life And Career http://bit.ly/18xhtUk


Top Ten Books: Leadership & Success In Disruptive Times
 ( A selection of my 2013 favorites)

The End Of Competitive Advantage by Rita Gunther McGrath

Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Adam M. Grant Ph.D

Flash Foresight by Daniel Burrus

Design Works: How to Tackle Your Toughest Innovation Challenges through Business Design (Rotman-UTP Publishing) by Heather Fraser

Focus by Daniel Goleman

Disrupt.  Think Epic.  Be Epic by Bill Jensen

The Myths Of Creativity By David Burkus

Personal Ecology by William Powell

The Influential Leader by Rebel Brown

Awaken Your Authentic Leadership by Tana Heminsley

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Build Your 3Q Edge™? Get re-inspired by what you can achieve at the speed of change/challenges? Recharge, refocus, repurpose, repower?

Irene Headshot

Great Leadership: The Call To Lead Greatly

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Great Leadership:  The Call To Lead Greatly
It is time to get inspired by what we  can be, do and achieve.

 © Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
Building 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change Is My Commitment To A Better Future
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 30, 000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  


“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson


Leadership CompassMy passion for leadership began with the epic speech, I Believe, by a great man, leader and Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Martin Luther King.  His words, I believe, still echo in my heart, because I think and feel that great leadership is the reflection of our deepest beliefs and commitment to a higher power, a great way forward, a better life, workplace and world.   Our beliefs inspires us to reach past what is and create what can be.   In writing about something I believe in with all my heart, Great Leadership,  I could not begin or continue without my own personal statement of belief.  I share it with you, because the call for Great Leadership has never been greater.

I believe in the power of great leadership.  Leadership that speaks to human purpose, potential at the speed of change, in the face of challenges and crises.  3Q Leadership that helps us champion the values that take us forward, while building new ways of seeing, doing and communicating the optimize our greatest potential.

 

I believe in using our strengths, challenges and failures to build three critical areas that drive great leadership at the speed of change.  Q1: IQ (ideation, strategic thought, focus)  Q2: EQ (self awareness, relationship management, communication, resiliency, risk tolerance)  Q3:  SQ (courage, integrity, purpose-the intrinsic motivators and timeless anchors for sustainability)
I believe in the power of human being better, not simply working harder than ever before because human potential and our ability to optimize it has personal and professional area of study, and has also been something reflected in the enormous challenges I have faced and overcome.  Challenges that helped me hone my courage, my commitment to the power of human being better.

 

I believe in the power of personal leadership, because our ability to use failures, challenges, even crises to optimize our greatest potential is real.  Our ability to adopt a new perspective, a new way of seeing what was in order to optimize our greatest purpose and potential is the fire that can illuminate and empower us in the face of our greatest challenges.

 

I believe in the power of communication that builds social digital and cross generational bridges, communication that speaks to the common goals, the common purpose that unites us all; building better selves, better families, better workplaces, better organizations one word, one sentence at a time.

 

I believe in the power of women and others who have been traditionally dis-enfranchised to let go of the yoke of what was, and work with those who hold the reigns of power to create what can be when we develop the evolution of spirit, thinking and doing that takes us forward together as one people sharing one planet.

 

I believe in the power of thriving organizations that champion a better way forward for shareholders, stakeholders, employees, clients, communities because I believe the purpose = profit, and the greatest purpose we have is creating value for others.  Value creation is litmus test of surviving and thriving in a bold new century where everything is changing faster than ever before.

 

I believe that great leadership speaks to every man and woman who hears the call, who feels the desire to contribute to a better future. Some of us with lead great organizations, some of us will lead great businesses, some of us will lead great personal relationships, families.  We all have important roles to play in a better future, and our ability to do so lives within our hearts, within our minds, within our desire to reach past what is so we can create what can be.

 

I believe we can meet the challenges before us, challenges that impact us all in different ways, by starting a New Year with one resolution; a resolution to evolve by seeing our strengths and our challenges with different eyes that take us forward faster, better and smarter, because our ability to align our heads and hearts in ways that create Me to WE solutions, ways that align our highest purpose with our greatest potential. The writing is on the walls of our lives, our workplaces, our organizations; it is time to lead greatly.

 

I believe it is time to get inspired by what we can be, do and accomplish.  

Very best wishes for a New Year of growth and success~

 

More? You Betcha!
3Q Leadership Benefits And Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work
A Growing Collection Of 328 Leadership and 3Q Leadership Posts
From Now To How:  Building Social, Digital and Cross Generational Communication/Leadership
What Does Leadership Really Mean?
Leadership Means Winning The Silent War
The Purpose Equation
The Leadership Equation
Our Greatest Hope
From Pain To Gain:  Ten 21st Leadership Lessons Learned
A Collection Of Heroic Women Changemakers
Against All Odds:  My story of courage, faith, hope leadership
Women and Leadership:  Ten Critical Steps Forward For Women And Men

 

Irene Headshot

Business/Sales Development At The Speed Of Change

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Business and Sales Development At The Speed Of Change The 3Q Edge™ |  Insights and Tips

 © Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
Building 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change Is My Commitment To A Better Future
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

“Thank you Irene for great sessions.  I recommend 3Q Leadership for Business Development-Brilliant!” Donya Germain, Director of Consumer Research ACCE International

Business Development and Growth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The Business/Sales Development Playbook Has Changed.  
While sales and business development still revolve around the three P’s (Planning – Process – People) the arena in which we work has changed dramatically.  Yes, you still need to hunt, gather (info), plant and harvest, but the way you farm and harvest is different because challenges, erratic changes, opportunities, failures are the new reality.

Learning to adapt, innovate, build your 3Q Edge™ is critical to business/sales development and the engagement and retention of a healthy, empowered workforce. Client retention, development of new product/service lines, new strategic alliances, stronger communities of purpose depend upon your ability to optimize strengths while transforming challenges into 3Q Skills and solutions that can take you forward. Doing so means refusing to be daunted by what is, because you recognize that you have the ability to create, develop what can be.

[pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”30%”] “Irene is a nearly unstoppable force for the Human Side of Business. Her 3Q and REACH™ models are nothing short of brilliant.” Ted Coine, Co-CEO Switch & Shift[/pullquote]

3Q Edge™ Recap: A counter-intuitive and critical coaching/training/mentoring focus that has helped my clients USE strengths AND changes, challenges, even failures to optimize three critical areas:

Q1: IQ > Ideation, Focus, Strategic & Innovative Thought, Ability to Learn-Relearn | Intellectual Potential                                               

Q2: EQ > Emotional Intelligence, Self Awareness, Awareness of Others,
Relationship Management, Communication, Resiliency, Risk Tolerance | Emotional Potential


Q3: SQ > Values, Purpose, Integrity of Thought, Communication-Action | Intrinsic Motivators that drive Q1 & Q2 when the going gets tough!


REACH™ Recap
:  A coaching/training/mentoring methodology that has helped my clients use strengths, changes, challenges, stressors, even failures to build their 3Q Edge™ while addressing specific leadership, communication, business development, sales development objectives and skills enhancement by

                                                Redirecting Focus
                                                Empowering Confidence and Engagement
                                                Actualizing Potential In High Stress, High Change Environments                                                               Communicating Effectively (socially, digitally, cross-generationally)
                                                Harvesting (and re-harvesting) Results

[pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”30%”] “Sales has changed from a world of caveat emptor (buyer beware)  to caveat venditor.” (seller beware-you are responsible!) Dan Pink, To Sell Is Human    [/pullquote]

The New Business Development And Sales Playbook Contains Three Important Steps That Align With 3Q:

1. Sustainability of Purpose:  A relationship that is right on the outside must be right on the inside first. Purpose = profit.  Purpose demands an alignment of authenticity, integrity,  values and objectives.  Who are YOU?  Who is YOUR company?  How do your value propositions align?  Sustainability of purpose demands alignment!

2.  The Right Goals/Commitment And Skills: A great sales person needs three things:  A goal/commitment to understand and meet the needs of others, and the skills development to make this commitment real. Business and sales development are not about YOU/YOUR company, rather they are about your clients, employees, colleagues,  prospects and constituents.  You can have the greatest product or service in the world, but if what you say, what your clients read does not open their ears, does not resonate with their heads and hearts, you will not get the engagement, traction and results you seek?  You can be the sharpest pencil in the pencil case, but what happens if you cannot develop engagement, collaboration with employees or colleagues?

3.  A 21st Century Definition of Business Development/Sales.
 Business and sales development are about creating value for clients, employees, prospects, prospective strategic alliances, partners and constituents by developing communities of purpose; communities of shared values and objectives that drive reach, resonance and results! Learning how to communicate effectively, turn conflict into connection, refocus yourself and others when you hit a rut or wall is critical…and all are important 3Q skills.


The writing is on the walls of our lives, workplaces and organizations:  Change is not the problem, it is the solution.
 Our ability to build resiliency, risk tolerance, adaptability while guarding the values and integrity that drive sustainability are the litmus test of a better present and future.   We can talk about change being difficult, we can deepen the neural pathway and make change impossible, or we can make a critical shift forward and embrace our ability to think, learn, communicate, collaborate, grow and LEAD forward.

Make the critical shift forward.  Is it time to get empowered by how YOU can optimize strengths while also using changes, challenges, stressors, even failures to build your 3Q Edge™?  Pie in the sky?  Think again.
  My commitment to taking The 3Q Edge™ and REACH™ to as many people and organizations as possible is based on a decade of research, practical client experience and a personal and career journey that has taken me through the trenches from the mountain of success to the bottom of the abyss and back again.  I champion 3Q because our ability to lead forward, our ability to develop new ways of thinking, communicating, collaborating and succeeding is linchpin for success; the linchpin for building ME to WE cultures, organizations, collaboration in an age of rapid change, challenges, volatility and opportunity.  Carpe diem, make the critical shift forward!

More on 3Q Business and Sales Development?  You Betcha!

Back to Business Basics
From Now To How:  Building Social, Digital Cross Generational Communication/Leadership
Building The 3Q Leadership Skills You Need Now
The Linchpin To Your Company’s Success | Switch and Shift TV Interview by Ted Coine
How To Build Your Communication Quotient
Seven Ways To Turn Conflict/Communication Problems Around
Constructive Discontent-Building A Key 3Q Life and Leadership Skill

 

Author Bio:  Irene BeckerIrene Headshot
Executive Coach, Consultant, Trainer, Speaker and Writer, Irene is a trailblazer whose unique 3Q Edge™ model has helped forward-thinking people and organizations in Canada, USA and Europe develop communication, leadership and career skills that GROW at the speed of change and challenges.  First female CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene has a track record of accomplishments in business and in the community at large. Passionate about the integrity of her work, Irene goes the distance for her clients face to face, by telephone, Skype or video conferencing

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW? Time to get re-inspired?
Build 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change/Challenges?
Irene Becker |  Just Coach It -The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Coaching-Consulting-Training and Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene

 

 

 

Resolve To Evolve And Re-Define Winning

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Resolve To Evolve And Re-Define Winning
Building Success At The Speed Of Change/Challenges
(Including 12 bonus links/practical and inspiring tips!)

 © Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
Building 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change Is My Commitment To A Better Future
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

Is one of your people stuck in a box/rut/overdrive or stasis? Are you stuck in a box/rut/overdrive or stasis because YOU want to find a new way, better way to generate results at a speed of change, challenges, hyper-competition and opportunity that is accelerating?

In the Box

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You are not alone!  Statistics tell us that employee engagement and stress caused physical, emotional problems are at an all time high.  Is there an upside?  You betcha.  Resolve to evolve and re-define success. Starting building the Q skills that can take you/your people forward faster, better and happier by helping them optimize strengths while also using changes, challenges, stressors, even failures as a catalyst for their greatest potential.  (Happier?  Yes, neuroscience confirms that we need to prime our brains to be happy to optimize their potential. )

 

Resolve to Evolve

Do not get sidetracked by the symptoms of disengagement, frustration, stasis we face can take you off the beaten path, fighting symptoms rather than addressing the root cause of the problems you need to transform into effective solutions. Fighting the symptoms of what is not working may give you temporary satisfaction, but it will not help you ideate, communicate, collaborate and succeed forward.  The need to build a new mindset and skill set that helps us optimize talent and potential at the speed of change/challenges is real and critical!

 

Resolve to evolve.  Get the right people on your bus and help them to build essential skills, skills that grow at the speed of change and challenges by using strengths, changes, challenges, stressors and failures to build their 3Q Edge™:

Q1:  IQ Enhanced ideation, focus, strategic thought, ability to learn-relearn
Q2: 
EQ Self awareness, awareness of others, self management, relationship management, communication, resiliency, risk tolerance
Q3: 
SQ Purpose, values, integrity-the timeless anchors of true leadership, sustainability and the grit to forge ahead when the going gets tough!

Resolve to evolve. Take the automatic fear response out of change,  by focusing on the only thing that is sustainable and timeless…Q3  Reset the internal and organizational GPS focusing  on the purpose, integrity, values that are the only consistent, stable course of comfort and sustainability we have and will have.  Make purpose = profit your mantra, and the mantra of your organization.

Resolve to evolve. Stasis is a recipe for disaster, rigidity of thought, communication and action is a time bomb ready to explode and destroy your potential and the potential of your organization from inside out. Big organizations, SMEs, professional services providers, start-ups, entrepreneurs, solo-preneurs all face the critical imperative to re-examine and re-gig how they motivate, empower, optimize, recognize, optimize and realize talent and results.


Redefine Winning

WINNING means developing the business mindset and agility of a gazelle by developing face –face, virtual and digital teams that respond (not react) to changes and challenges in ways that nurture and drive innovative, collaborative solutions.

WINNING means building a Me To WE culture where traditional silos are disbanded and replaced with better ways that drive vertical and horizontal communication, engagement and results by recognizing and enabling communities of purpose/new ways of communicating and collaborating that take you and your people forward!

WINNING means replacing theory with practice and collaborative action because neurons that wire together, fire together and our ability to ideate, innovate, collaborate, communicate faster, better and happier is real and critical.

Most of all…

Winning means having the courage to recognize the pain we share and using to to transform pain into gain by using problems to generate the fire of human potential. Start using problems to drive  innovative solutions that take us forward individually and collectively. The problems that unite us in a new non-linear eco system, a new world and workplace where changes, challenges, stressors, complexity and opportunity will continue to accelerate faster than ever before are as great as our potential to USE them to LEARN-RELEARN, COMMUNICATE, COLLABORATE and SUCCEED Forward.

Resolving to evolve  means realizing your ability to ignite, engage and stoke the fire of human potential, because nothing could be more important!  Get the right people on your bus, and work with them to optimize, humanize, monetize in ways that take you forward. REACH Forward and the future will REACH back to YOU!  Is it time to build your Q strengths? Are you ready to use what is to create what can be?  Carpe Diem!

 

More On 3Q Leadership, Talent Optimization and Success At The Speed Of Change?  YOU Betcha!

3Q Leadership Benefits And Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work
From Pain To Gain:  Ten 21st Century Leadership Lessons Learned
Building Essential Success Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change/Challenges
The Purpose Equation:  Intrinsic Motivation
From No To Go:  Success At The Speed Of Change
Evolve Or Devolve? Manage Performance OR Optimize It?
Organizational Development: The Thriving Organization>>Ten Power Steps Forward
The Fire Of Human Potential:  Developing a Purposeful Life and Career
The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership
Women and Leadership:  Ten Critical Steps Forward for Women And Men
Disrupt the Status Quo:  Making The Critical Step Forward
Ten Ways To Build Employee Engagement

 

 

Author Bio:  Irene BeckerIrene Headshot
Executive Coach, Consultant, Trainer, Speaker and Writer, Irene is a trailblazer whose unique 3Q Edge™ model has helped forward-thinking people and organizations in Canada, USA and Europe develop communication, leadership and career skills that GROW at the speed of change and challenges.  First female CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene has a track record of accomplishments in business and in the community at large.

Passionate about the integrity of her work, Irene goes the distance for her clients face to face, by telephone, Skype or video conferencing

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW? Time to get re-inspired?
Build 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change/Challenges?
Irene Becker |  Just Coach It -The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Coaching-Consulting-Training and Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene

 

 

The Happiness Course-7 Simple, Practical, Powerful Tips And More!

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The Build Your Own Happiness Course:  7 Simple, Practical, Powerful Tips! Including 16 Bonus Links

 © Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
Building 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change Is My Commitment To A Better Future
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

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I appreciated by this video of Irene Becker, first female CEO of a steel company in Canada, where she shared her personal story of great achievements and losses. Her experience uniquely positions her as an expert on the topic of the relationship between happiness and success.”
Jesse Lyn Stoner

Brain science tells us that being positive is critical to success, health, optimization of talent/potential and longevity.  Common sense tells us that at a time when the World Health Organization forecasts stress will be the MAJOR cause of physically disability in the world by 2030, the imperative to find ways to get happy, ways to re-focus on the positive is critical.

Perspective is everything, it is essential the world we see and experience. Did you know that the human brain is automatically set to negative?  Yes, no matter how optimistic you are the automatic default is negative.  While being drawn to and focusing on the negative was essential when we lived in caves, surrounded by predators it is often our greatest impediment in a whole new eco-system where thriving and surviving means being relentlessly solution focused!

 Here Are Seven Simple, Practical, Powerful Tips And An Excellent Happiness Reading List To Help You Build Your Own Self Directed Happiness Course 

1.  Live With Gratitude And Love-Believe In Miracles And Watch Them Grow In Your Life. Know that every day is a miracle.  Make that miracle an expression of gratitude and love. Small  miracles happen all the time; noticing them is critical to living your best life.

2. Begin Again Now By Choosing Happiness.  A strong tree bends to a strong wind, but it never breaks. Choose happiness, find even the smallest spark of positivity in a difficult day and let it shine!

3. Learn To Love Your Mistakes And Use Them To Fail Forward.  Find ways to see your glass as always at least half full.  Recognize that the greatest lessons we can learn or those we find in our mistakes.  It is all good.  Sometimes it can even be great, because our greatest insights and ideas are often born of our greatest challenges or mistakes. Each time you fail forward, you strengthen your resiliency, enhance optimism, build a stronger solution focus and optimize your ability to find innovative solutions!

4.  Know What Really Makes You Happy.  Determine what really makes you feel happy and share this with someone you love. Let go of the “GOO” (“good opinion of others”) and focus on your inner voice, inner wisdom and joy.

5.  Dream Loudly.  Do not let your dreams gather dust.  Keep them alive.  Journal them, think about them; allow them to breath and grow

6.  Create Your Own Personal Happiness Mantra.  Use your mantra, use words that resonate with you to ignite your personal passion and joy.  They can be simple, silly or sentimental.  Choose words which make your heart, mind and soul sing with joy.  Repeat these words to yourself on a daily basis, or post them on a post-it note on your bathroom mirror.

7. Give And Share Something Every Day.  Relationships are the seedbed of our energy; they are the flowers of our personal and professional growth and success.  Fertilize and water your flowers daily.

8. Put On A Happy Face.  Yes, smiling (even forcing yourself to smile)  will automatically make you feel better.

9. Get Moving!  Yes, physical action/exercise is critical to a positive attitude. Integrate physical activity throughout your day.

10.  Set Your Daily Intention.  Setting your daily intention is as important as setting goals.  YOU are the master of your ship.  Start you day be leading forward, start you day by setting your intention and deciding what kind of cay you are going to have.

 There are no ordinary moments.  Life is a gift we chose to live or spend.  We can see each day as an opportunity to learn, share and contribute, or as a block of time, a marker in life that we use and cast away. Living our lives, making our greatest contribution starts with finding our happy spot; finding ways to get positive when the chips are down, falling or cannot be seen at all! It means using daily rituals that work for us to build our own personal happiness course.


More on Happiness?  YOU Betcha!

The Happiness Compendium
What Brain Science Tells Us, Guest Post for Jesse Lyn Stoner, Seapoint Center
Too Busy to Get Happy? Think Again. 4 Ways to Kickstart Happiness
True Happiness-Transformational Joy
Ten Steps to a Happier YOU
Get Energized, Empowered & Solution Focused-Three Steps
The Empowerment Compendium
A Collection of 75 Inspiring Posts, Podcasts and Videos
A Collection of  2000+ Inspiring Quotes and Posters

Great Reads On Happiness
What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness by Dan Baker
Authentic Happiness by Martin E. P. Seligman
The Ultimate Happiness Prescription: by Deepak Chopra 

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
Positivity:  by Barbara Fredrickson
Happier: Learn the Secrets by Tal Ben-Shahar

 

Author Bio:  Irene BeckerIrene Headshot
Executive Coach, Consultant, Trainer, Speaker and Writer, Irene is a trailblazer whose unique 3Q Edge™ model has helped forward-thinking people and organizations in Canada, USA and Europe develop communication, leadership and career skills that GROW at the speed of change and challenges.  First female CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene Becker has a track record of accomplishments in business and in the community at large.

Passionate about the integrity of her work, Irene goes the distance for her clients face to face, by telephone, Skype or video conferencing

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW? Time to get re-inspired?
Build 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change/Challenges?
Irene Becker |  Just Coach It -The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Building 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change Is My Commitment To A Better Future
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene

 

Evolve Or Devolve: Manage Performance OR Optimize It?

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Evolve or Devolve?
Manage Performance OR Optimize It?
Stay Stuck In The Past OR Build A Better Future?
(including 9 bonus posts, 4 interviews)

 © Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
Building 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change Is My Commitment To A Better Future
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

Evolve by Cassaw Creative

 

(Photo:  Cassaw Creative)

Dateline 2013:  Evolve or devolve!  The times are a changing, and the faster they change the more critical it comes to adopt new ways of seeing the challenges before us.  Ways that can help us, make the critical shift from Now to HOW.  A shift that means resetting default patterns of thinking and doing in order to not simply manage performance, but to optimize it.

Will your organization be insidiously eroded by disengagement, communication and collaboration challenges, inability to ideate, innovate and actualize new solutions that impact organizational development, management, leadership development, sales and business development?

Is it time to take a new look at getting up to speed by championing your ability to evolve forward?  A new look at raising the bar, championing the ability to empower, enable and actualize potential?  Will you grab the gauntlet and start optimizing performance rather than managing it?

What’s the big deal? Why is performance optimization critical?  Because a focus on post WW2 management, an optic of putting round pegs in round holes the same way we did it before will ultimately endanger the power of your people, the power of your employees to learn and relearn faster, develop better ways of transforming problems into solutions; ways that drive engagement, empowerment, innovation, communication and collaboration are REAL and CRITICAL.

Performance Optimization Means Changing Your Playbook in ways that take YOU forward faster, more creatively, smarter…and happier at a speed of change, challenges and opportunities that will continue to accelerate.  Ways that involve, engage, enable human purpose, potential and the actualization of improved communication and collaboration.  Ways that use what is to create what can be in your workplace, your management, your leadership~ways that help you build YOUR 3Q Edge™.

Here are Four Practical Steps!

Step One:  Get in touch with the fact that what worked in the past will not take you forward in the present or future.  Managing talent is not enough.  Optimizing talent means seeing your strengths and challenges with new eyes; eyes that take you forward faster, smarter…and yes, happier!  Neuroscience confirms that priming our brain to be happy and positive is critical to ideation.

Step Two:   Build YOUR 3Q Edge™-Start learning to use strengths and challenges, changes, stressors (and failures) to build three essential strengths:

Q1: Enhanced focus, ideation, ability to learn-relearn
Q2: Emotional Intelligence-Resiliency-Communication, Risk Tolerance
Q3:  Integrity, Values, Purpose-Critical Intrinsic Motivators Driving True Leadership.

Step Three:  Build Best Practices in the NOW.  Start developing and growing your ability to REACH™, reset the individual and organizational GPS from NOW to HOW by using a REACH™ focus to build your 3Q Edge™

Redirect focus
E
mpower confidence and engagement
A
ctualize leadership potential
C
ommunicate effectively (socially, digitally, cross-generationally)
H
arvest results

The choice is clear, the choice is critical.  Build a NEW performance optimization playbook.  You can continue to develop great systems (critical) while using the same training/coaching/learning styles that worked in the past and will become increasingly impotent in the present and future OR YOU can change the performance playbook by optimizing performance rather than simply managing it.  You can raise the bar, or wait for the next ax to fall, the next wave of competition, employee disengagement and the silent attrition of innovation, commitment, potential to creep through every nook and crevice of your organization.

Evolve or Devolve?  Manage performance or optimize it? Stay stuck in the past or build a better future?  There is no time like the present to champion your ability to build a new Performance Optimization Playbook.  What does it look like? Stay tuned for my next article, Building YOUR 3Q Performance Optimization Playbook ™

More On 3Q  Performance Optimization At The Speed of Change?  YOU Betcha

From No to GO!  Optimizing Potential, Results & Well-being At The Speed Of Change
The Thriving Organization-Ten Steps Out Of Jurassic Park
Winning The Race With Wolves:  (Part 1-Meet the Wolves)
Winning The Race With Wolves:  (Part 2-Solutions) 

Ten Practical Ways To Build Essential Success Skills At The Speed Of Change
Ten Steps To Building Employee Engagement
Winning The Silent War Destroying People and Organizations From Inside Out
Words Make Worlds-Opening The Door To A Better Present And Future
The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership Development

Podcasts and Video Interviews

Building Your Leadership Capacity-21st Century Leadership Lessons Learned (Audio)
(Interview by JoAnn Corley, Leadership 3.0)
From Pain To Gain In Life And Career (Audio)
(Interview by Deb Scott-Blog Talk Radio)
The Linchpin To Your Company’s Success (Video) 
(Interview by Ted Coine, Switch and Shift TV)
First Woman CEO-Conquering Challenges
(Interview by Shannon Skinner, Extraordinary Women)

 

Author Bio:  Irene BeckerIrene Headshot
Executive Coach, Consultant, Trainer, Speaker and Writer, Irene is a trailblazer whose unique 3Q Edge™ model has helped forward-thinking people and organizations in Canada, USA and Europe develop communication, leadership and career skills that GROW at the speed of change and challenges.  First female CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene Becker has a track record of accomplishments in business and in the community at large. Passionate about the integrity of her work, Irene goes the distance for her clients face to face, by telephone, Skype or video conferencing

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW? Time to get re-inspired?
Build 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change/Challenges?
Irene Becker |  Just Coach It -The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Building 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change Is My Commitment To A Better Future
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene

Using Failure To Succeed: 7 Practical, Powerful Tips

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Using Failure To Succeed:  7 Practical, Powerful Tips
Ways To Build Your 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
Building 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change Is My Commitment To A Better Future
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

Using Failure To Succeed

What do I know about failure?  A great deal.  What do I know about failing forward?  A great deal more than most! The gamut of failures I have faced and used to grow, learn, innovate and extrapolate my own potential, the failures I have helped others use to understand and optimize their potential are written on the walls of my life and my career. I have failed in just about every successful area of my life and career.  Some of my failures have been spectacular, many of them have been the normal journey of skinning my knees, of falling down and doing something wrong so that I could learn how to do it right.

 

Today, one of the things I do best and most is help others recognize failures and use them as a lever for their greatest potential by building three essential Q strengths that grow at the speed of change

Q1: IQ-Learning and relearning faster, being able to think strategic and creatively in high stress arenas, using challenges as levers for solutions.

Q2: EQ-Building communication, collaboration, resiliency through emotional self awareness, awareness of the feelings of others, using/transforming what we feel into our ability to build communication, collaboration and resiliency.

Q3: SQ-The intrinsic motivation that holds together the fabric of our greatest potential:  Values, integrity and an alignment with the greatest good that defines true leadership and sustainable success.


Here are seven simple, powerful and practical ways to turn failure around.  Ways to use failures and challenges to grow, evolve and expand your potential to succeed!

Let Go Of Denial.  DO not deny, do not react, respond to a failure by refusing to chase your loses, refusing to beat yourself up or berate your ability.  Champion the failure by using it as a learning tool, a growth tool that can help you see your strengths and areas of challenge with new eyes.

Don’t try to get it right, focus on doing the right thing.  In the face of failure the greatest question we can asks is whether our decision, whether our state of mind and actions were in alignment with the values, integrity and purpose that are the underpinning of all sustainable success.  If your SQ was in alignment, it is time to take another look at the failure before you and decide if it is an acceptable loss or a learning tool that can help you grow your ability to ideation, think, solve and develop emotional power and resiliency in new ways, powerful ways that will help you optimize your true potential.

Reinterpret your loss or failure by training yourself to see the failure as a stepping stone to your personal growth and success. Every failure is an opportunity to reflect (rather than react), tame your ego (need of external validation), apply health self love and respect so that you can learn to adapt, grow and decide whether the idea you had, the decisions you made will help you evolve and move forward or get stuck on and with what you feel you cannot do and must deny.

Expose yourself to new ideas. Experiment, push yourself to try new ways of thinking and doing that can help you improve and enhance your ability to learn/relearn while keeping SQ (values, purpose, integrity firmly in place).

Remove toxic emotions from the equation.  Remove negative emotions that drain your self confidence, attack your self esteem. Use the perceived failure to become more self aware and make decisions around whether there is a new way of thinking, doing, learning, adapting that can catapult your success or you need to extrapolate the positive learning from this experience and move on.

Don’t get too attached to your plan, get attached to the SQ (values, integrity, purpose) behind your plan.  Attach yourself to the intrinsic motivators that can help you grow, adapt, evolve and decide how you are going to use the failure before you to either find a new and better way to succeed or to decide that you need to focus on a different horizon.

Self validate. Get empowered by who you really are, by your ability to survive and even thrive in the face of failure.  Focus  not on the failure, but on what you can learn, how you can grow and your ability to use each failure or challenge to build the intrinsic motivation the SQ (integrity, purpose, values) that will help you grow, evolve and adapt in ways that are purposeful and positive.

We cannot stop the wave of change, challenges, opportunity and competition before us, but we can learn to use challenges and failures as lever for our  greatest potential.  Learning to fail forward is not only the stepping stone of those who will lead greatly, it is the pivot point for everyone and anyone who wants to grow, evolve, adapt and succeed in the 21st century. We are all touched by the wave, and learning to ride it means developing a new relationship with changes, challenges and failures that helps us reach past what is to create what can be.

Link to post  on Elysian Training Blog 

Irene Becker PhotoAuthor Bio:  Irene Becker
Executive Coach, Consultant, Trainer, Speaker and Writer, Irene is a trailblazer whose unique 3Q Edge™ model has helped forward-thinking people and organizations in Canada, USA and Europe develop communication, leadership and career skills that GROW at the speed of change and challenges.  First female CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene Becker has a track record of accomplishments in business and in the community at large. Passionate about the integrity of her work, Irene goes the distance for her clients face to face, by telephone, Skype or video conferencing

.
More on using change, challenges and failures to BUILD and OPTIMIZE Potential?  YOU betcha!

3Q Leadership Development

•  Winning The Silent War That Is Destroying People & Organizations From Inside Out

• Success At The Speed Of Change-Essential Strengths

• 3Q Leadership-Reach Benefits And Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work

• 10 Steps To Building The 3Q Leadership Skills You Need Now

• Ten Ways To Lead Forward In Times Of Complexity And Change

• Women And Leadership-Ten Powerful Steps Forward For Women And Men

• Constructive Discontent:  Building a critical leadership and life 3Q skill

• Why Smart And Fast Are Not Enough:  The Need For Higher EQ/EI


3Q Organizational Development:

•  Winning The Silent War That Is Destroying People & Organizations From Inside Out 

• The Thriving Organization-Ten Power Steps Out of Jurassic Park

• From Now to HOW:  Building Social, Digital and Cross-Generational Leadership

• The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership

• The Leadership Compendium

• Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose

Ten Steps to Employee Engagement

3Q Personal Development
• Breaking Through A Performance Plateau

• Five Ways to Take Control of Your Potential

• From Victim to Victor

• The Empowerment Compendium

• The Happiness Compendium


Videos:

• Extraordinary Woman Interview

The Linch Pin To Your Company’s Success

• From Pain To Gain In Life And Career (Audio)

 

More?  You Betcha
•  Collection of 3Q Leadership and Leadership Articles

•  Collection of Great Read Books

•  Collection of Career-HR-Workplace Articles

•  Collection of Life-Success-Happiness Articles

AND

•  Collection of Inspiring Posters an Quotes because getting re-inspired is critical to our individual and organizational health, success and well-being!

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW? Time to get re-inspired?
Build 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change/Challenges?
Irene Becker |  Just Coach It -The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Building 3Q Skills That GROW At The Speed Of Change Is My Commitment To A Better Future
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene

 

 

The Leadership Equation: Building Great Leadership At The Speed Of Change

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The Leadership Equation:Building Great Leadership At The Speed of Change | Practical Tips and Insights 

(If you missed parts 1-4 in this series, scroll down to the bottom for links)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

 Leadership is a 3Q equation supported by courage. Courage grows each time we align intelligence (IQ) + humanity (EQ) + integrity (SQ)

The Leadership Equation by Irene BeckerLeadership equation is a 3Q equation that starts and grows with courage.

Leadership means having the courage to build the IQ (intelligence-strategic thought-ability to learn/relearn ) EQ (emotional strength-communication-resiliency) and SQ (values-purpose-integrity of vision/action) that can help us use what is to create what can be; better lives, better organizations…a better world.

 

What happens when we lose sight of what is truly important?  What happens when we detach ourselves from the SQ, the intrinsic motivators (Values-Purpose-Integrity of Vision/Action)?  Take a look around.  Could the USA government come to a halt without those in positions of power becoming inured to the intrinsic motivators the SQ (vision-values-purpose) that are the underpinning of true leadership?

What will happen if we remain entrenched by what worked in the past but may be impotent in the present or future? The need for great leadership abounds as does the reality that we struggle to develop leaders to can guide us out of the paradoxical morass we face, help us develop the mindset and skill set we need to transform the challenges and failures we face into innovative solutions that can take us forward.

We are living in times of paradox where the need to kindle the fire of human purpose and potential has never been greater.  We talk about leadership, we train leaders but we do not question who wants to lead and why? 
The need for each individual to develop personal leadership skills is obvious and critical, the reality that not everyone wants or aspires to be the captain of the ship is equally true.  It take courage, it takes vision, it take the relentless desire to serve the greatest good, to make difficult decisions and learn relentlessly from both the successes before us and our challenges and failures to lead.

Many are called, and the minority who hear the call will truly want to lead.  We do not need each individual to be a leader, we need people to develop personal leadership skills so that they can recognize the integrity of great leadership and play a part in helping great leaders take us from where we are to where we need to go.  Our ability to develop stronger personal leadership, better thinking, communicating and doing skills while recognizing those unique individuals who have the courage, intelligence and integrity to assume positions of leadership has never been greater.

The call for a new type of leader who can balance male and female intrinsic strengths with a more androgynous focus, a skill set that is not mired or limited by gender, ethnicity or past markers of power but thrives on the integrity, vision and value is critical. The new leader, the new generation of leadership must embrace a more androgynous focus that will build upon three critical pillars:


Pillar Number One:  The Purpose Equation
Optimizing, humanizing, monetizing our potential means making the purpose equation real in a new non-linear eco-system where change, challenges, competition and opportunities abound.
 

The Purpose Equation:                                 Purpose = Profit

______________________

Success = Creating Value For Others

 

Our ability to use the changes, challenges, stressors, even failures we face to build 3Q Skills that stretch and grow at the speed of change is real; doing so starts with championing the purpose that can help us learn, live and lead forward.

 

 

Pillar Number Two: Building Our 3Q Edge™-Resetting The GPS
Resetting the individual and organizational GPS from NO TO GO by not simply playing to strengths, but by using changes, challenges, stressors, even failures to develop three essential power clusters, three essential skills that GROW in the face of change/challenges:
Q1-IQ (intelligence-focus-strategic thought-ability to learn-relearn)  Q2-EQ (emotional mastery-self management-relationship management-risk tolerance/resiliency, communication) Q3-SQ (values alignment/positive purpose, integrity of thought communication and action)

 

Pillar Number Three: A commitment to a better present and future by empowering, enabling and actualizing our individual and collective potential A commitment that begins with the words we choose to think, speak and share; words that build bridges across digital, social, cross generational/culture lines because they speak loudly and boldly to the values and objectives we share irrespective of gender, ethnicity or other differentiators.

 

Leadership starts in the hearts and minds of all men and women who push themselves to envisage a better present and future.  It starts with the heart beat of hope, faith, integrity, humanity and courage that can change one life and many lives. The leadership equation is a 3Q equation that starts and grows with courage. Leadership means having the courage to build the IQ (intelligence-strategic thought-ability to learn/relearn ) EQ (emotional strength-communication-resiliency) and SQ (values-purpose-integrity of vision/action) that can help us use what is to create what can be; better lives, better organizations…a better world.    It begins by taking responsibility for our life, our growth our ability to contribute to a greater whole in ways that will stretch us, test us and also help us to grow individually and collectively.  

Some of us will lead great ships, others will simply lead our lives more effectively by learning to re-inspire the best in ourselves and others. We all contribute in different ways to a leadership equation, a balance of power, talent and collaboration that can take us forward smarter, faster and better than before.  Each role is important, each person is an important spark in the foundation of new lives, new organizations and a better path forward.

More?  You Betcha…Parts 1-IV in this series, Success At The Speed of Change

Part 1:  The Success Ladder Is Gone
Part 2:  Words Make Worlds:  Opening The Door To A Better Present And Future
Part 3:  From No To GO:  Optimizing Potential, Well-being and Success
Part 4:  The Purpose Equation:  Building Intrinsic Motivation

More on Building 3Q Communication & Leadership Skills That Grow At The Speed of Change? YOU Betcha!
Benefits of 3Q Leadership And Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work
Winning The Silent War Destroying People And Organizations From Inside Out
From Now To How: Building Social, Digital and Cross Generational Communication/Leadership
Women and Leadership:  A Post For Women and Men
Building The 3Q Leadership Skills You Need NOW

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Build Your 3Q Edge™? Get re-inspired?
Click for a list of 2013 Programs, Services, Professional Fees
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene 

Irene Headshot

 

From Pain To Gain-Ten 21st Century Leadership Lessons Learned

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From Pain To Gain:  Ten 21st Century Leadership Lessons Learned >>>>A New Course Based On This Course Debuts Soon.  Enrollment Limited.  Contact Us for more details!

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

Leadership is a 3Q equation supported by courage. Courage grows each time we align intelligence (IQ) + humanity (EQ) + integrity (SQ)

 

From Pain To Gain-Ten Leadership Lessons Learned

If you are a trailblazer  who wants to not simply optimize strengths but transform changes/challenges into a lever for your greatest ability; I hope this post will motivate you.

If you are a leader who aspires to building an organization where purpose, engagement,  innovation, communication, collaboration (the fire of human potential shines and grows); I hope this post will inspire you.

If you are working/living on over-drive, stuck in a rut/stasis or feeling lost;   I hope this post will motivate you to look within and reclaim your power.

If you are a  member of any ethnic group/gender that has traditionally be disenfranchised;  I hope you will recognize your ability, our ability to light a candle that can drive unity and strength among all people sharing this earth.
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Since writing my story,  Against All Odds, my journey has included some of the greatest challenges I have ever faced; I guess the pivot points in my journey were pain points that would have compelled most people to simply give up.  As a young child, on a journey that encompassed tragedy, abuse, pain and a myriad of  challenges I discovered that the greatest power we have is in the hope, faith, courage, integrity and humanity that lights a fire in our soul.  I learned that the values we cherish are the formula for our greatest success or a descent into an endless trajectory of ego driven illusions that never really help us achieve our greatest purpose. I learned that we each have a unique footprint, a unique gift/contribution to share in our lifetime; each positive step forward that is alignment with hope, faith, courage, integrity and humanity takes us all forward.

Success is a journey towards a greater goal; a courageous hike on a path replete with many challenges and failures.  
From Pain To Gain:  Ten Lessons Learned 

Lesson One:  Leadership is about thought and action; it is also about nurturing the greatness in others. We can all learn to lead forward in different ways, those who lead in a BIG way will be guided by a vision, a purpose and a commitment that is larger than themselves and speaks to the values/spiritual quotient that can guide us forward individually and collectively.

Lesson Two:  Those who abuse power, position to get ahead or dominate others may win in the short term, but their playbook will never give them the sense of fulfillment they truly desire. After our survival needs are met, we all seek to be loved.  Love is what drive us all.  We crave it, we need it, and those who abuse power will never truly find it.

Lesson Three:  Success is a me to we equation. Life, business and success are all human equations that rely upon the strength and integrity of the relationships we build and nurture. The global village that Marshall McCluhan spoke of in the 1970’s is now a reality, the social, digital and virtual landscape of our lives, our business and organizations is based on the relationships be develop.  Success is a me to we equation.

Lesson Four:  The best business idea is impotent without the business strategy, financial capital, human capital to transform what is into what can be. Building a business, an organization, a professional practice requires not only courage and tenacity but the knowledge, collaboration and focus that are the building blocks of success.

Lesson Five:  If you want to be a change-maker expect to be tested and challenged at every corner.  Every step of the journey will be challenged by those who see you as a threat to the status quo.  You will be unable to lead forward, to move forward without building a community of purpose, a constituency of those who share your values and objectives and will support your journey against the flow of what is.

Lesson Six: Bad things, terrible things, totally unfair things happen to good people; (great interview with a survivor and thriver, Resiliency Expert, Michael Ballard). It is our spiritual quotient, our belief in a greater power, a bigger picture and purpose we cannot see or understand that can take us through the most difficult of times.  If you are a survivor, you must become a thriver.  Those who thrive in the face of terrible adversity, illness, life/career challenges are those whose are purpose and values centered.  Their values and purpose are a pilot light that keeps their hope, faith and courage shining brightly in the darkest night.

Lesson Seven:  Hope must spring eternal, because without it we are lost.  When we lose hope we lose our power to make a difference, be a difference and to contribute to a better life, better organization and a better world. Keeping hope alive does not mean wearing rosy colored glasses, it means cleaving to the values, the spiritual quotient, the heartbeat of human innovation and potential that glows and grows from within.

Lesson Eight:  Purpose makes profit; what does not create value for ALL constituents will ultimately crash and burn.  The secret to success is simple and timeless; create value for others; the imperative to do so has never been greater.  Organizations who survive and thrive will be communities of purpose who align vision, values, purpose with the engagement of human potential. Our ability to communicate, collaborate and build solutions that take us forward is a group activity.  The members of your group, your team, your community of purpose must be shareholders in the values and objectives that transform me into we!

Lesson Nine: Adaptability-Resiliency-Creativity-Ingenuity rooted in courage, integrity, humanity are the strengths and values that will take us forward individually and collectively.  We must embrace change while guarding the values that are the anchor for a better present and future. The words we use, the thoughts we think impact our potential, optimizing our ability means embracing change and using it to build the adaptability, resiliency, creativity and ingenuity that turns problems into solutions.

Lesson Ten:  Perspective is everything.  What you focus on grows; your perspective is your reality.  Developing a perspective and honing the skills that can help us optimize strengths AND use changes, challenges, stressors, even failures to build IQ (intelligence, strategic thought, ability to learn-relearn faster)  EQ (self awareness, awareness of others, resiliency, social/communication skills)  SQ (values, integrity, purpose, leadership strengths-spiritual quotient) is CRITICAL.

More?  You Betcha!  The need to get re-inspired by what we CAN do is critical!  AND….a new course From Pain To Gain-Ten 21st Leadership Lessons is on its way.  Contact us to learn more.  Enrollment is limited!  irene@justcoachit.com 

My Story:  Against All Odds

A Collection of Leadership and 3Q Leadership Posts

A Collection of Inspiring Posts

A Collection of Inspiring Quotes and Posters

A Collection of Inspiring, Heroic Women/Changemakers

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Build Your 3Q Edge™? Get re-inspired?
Click for a list of 2013 Programs, Services, Professional Fees
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene 

Irene Headshot

What 3Q Leadership Means | Insights And Action Steps

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What 3Q Leadership Means | Insights & Action Steps (Including 5 bonus posts, a reading list of 10 Leadership Great Reads and 2 inspiring videos)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

Leadership is a 3Q equation supported by courage. Courage grows each time we align intelligence (IQ) + humanity (EQ) + integrity (SQ)

 

3Q Leadership Insights And ActionI believe in our ability to lead forward, our ability to cleave to the noblest ideals, the highest values while learning new ways, better ways, faster ways to optimize our talent and potential that will take us forward towards a better present and future.

If you do not hear the call, listen.  The echo of our true potential is written on the walls of our communities, our organizations and imprinted on our souls.  Most people will bury their head in the sand, some will run and hide, but the minority of people who rise to the challenges before them form a lever that can change one life, many lives…and the world for the better.

 

Sharing leadership quotes and links to posts/practical advice on 3Q  Leadership that I hope you enjoy as well as five bonus posts, a reading list of great leadership books and 2 inspiring videos!

 

• Leadership means negotiating dark corners w/ the integrity-courage-humanity + wisdom to see thru + past the fog!     ( What Does Leadership Really Mean?  http://bit.ly/TqxT6e)

 

 Leadership means finding new ways, better ways, faster ways to build a learning organization, but a living, thriving organization where adaptive communication, management and leadership thrive.  ( The Thriving Organization:  Ten Power Steps Out Of Jurassic Park http://bit.ly/16RgPjM )
• Leadership means growing women leaders; developing new, faster better ways for women and men to draw upon/learn from each other  ( Women And Leadership:  Ten Power Steps Forward For Women And Men bit.ly/17L4kE7 )

 

• Leadership means great leadership development that empowers, enables and actualizes our ability to win.  (Mission Critical: Championing-Empowering-Enabling Our Individual and Organizational Ability to WIN  http://bit.ly/1400T0F ) 

 

• Leadership means building essential strengths that optimize potential and drive results at the speed of change  ( Ten Practical Ways To Build Essential Success Skills At The Speed of Change  http://bit.ly/145DUBw )

 

• Leadership means choosing to be part of the human solution by feeling your real power and using it empower the best in yourself and others.  (The Empowerment Compendium http://bit.ly/16RhbqA )

 

• Leadership means building the 3Q skills that can help you optimize resiliency, leadership, communication, collaboration, social responsibility, problem solving, creativity, and self-actualization.  (3Q Leadership and REACH Benefits-And Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work http://bit.ly/15BMwv8 )

  Leadership means failing forward by using failure to build resiliency, whole brain thinking, creativity, innovation & results  (The Secret to Success Is Failing Forward:  Mastering A Critical Life And Leadership Skill http://bit.ly/19q4rLV )

• Leadership means empowering, enabling, actualizing our greatest individual and organizational potential and results  in the face of change, challenges, crises( Leadership Means Winning The Silent War That Is Destroying People And Organizations From Inside Out  http://bit.ly/13ZXlLS   )

 

 Leadership means finding simple, practical and powerful ways to start moving from NO to GO, by resetting default patterns that perpetuate reaction vs response, stasis vs growth, slipping into reverse vs optimizing potential.  ( Leadership Means Moving From No to GO By Optimizing Potential, Results And Well-Being At The Speed Of Change : http://bit.ly/12IuGIg )

 

• Leadership means achieving success in a new, non-linear eco-system by recognizing, embracing and building our incredible ability to adapt, learn-relearn and grow(The Success Ladder Is Gone:  Insights On Succeeding Without It In A Non-Linear Eco-System  http://bit.ly/13ZQTVh )

 

• Leadership means developing environments where meaningful work and engagement thrive has become critical on a multiplicity of levels that impact the business bottom line( Ten Steps To Building Employee Engagement http://bit.ly/13ZQP7T )

 

Leadership means integrity, humanity, courage; say these words, use them and incorporating them in your life and work because purpose = profit on a multiplicity of levels. ( Ten Ways To Lead Forward In Times Of Complexity And Change http://bit.ly/16Rihm7 )

 

 Leadership means understanding what emotional intelligence is and why it is critical to your life, your career and the optimization of human potential.  ( Smart And Fast Are Not Enough:  The Need For Better EQ http://bit.ly/16RgTQz )

 

  Leadership means building our ability to use strengths and challenges to R-E-A-C-H™:  Redirect focus, Enhance confidence, Actualize potential, Communicate effectively, Harvest results  ( Disrupt The Status Quo: Make The Critical Shift Forward: http://bit.ly/UdSn7y )

 

• Leadership means building a community of thought and action; a community of purpose because success is a me to WE equation.  ( Leadership Means Developing A Community Of Purpose  http://bit.ly/16RgHRj )

 

• Leadership means taking every opportunity to reinforce the foundation of your house by building a culture of integrity and engagement.  ( Ten Steps To Building Employee Engagement http://bit.ly/16RiINe ) 

• Leadership means understanding the secret to personal development and growth. ( The Secret To Personal Development And Growth  http://bit.ly/13ZQphV )

 

• Leadership means building social, digital and cross generational communication  ( From Now To How:  Building Social, Digital And Cross Generational Leadership  http://bit.ly/16NbEC6 )

•  Leadership means opening the door to a better present and future.  (Words Make Worlds: Opening The Door To A Better Present And Future http://buff.ly/13CfqPN )

 

More?  You Betcha.
Goodness To Greatness Leadership-7 Steps from Me To We
The New Leader
Against All Odds:  A True Story of Hope, Faith, Courage And Leadership
The Leadership Compendium:  Leading Forward In The Face Of Change, Complexity, Crisis
The Individual And Organizational Imperative To Do Good In The World

More?  Yes, some Great Leadership Reads From Leadership Experts!

HBR’s Ten Must Reads On Leadership
A Real Look at Real World Corporate Governance by David Larcker, Brian Tayan
The Esssential Bennis by Warren BennisThe Essential Drucker by Peter Drucker
The Leadership Engine by Noel Tichy
Building The Bridge As You Walk On It by Robert Quinn
Serve To Lead by James Strock
The Truth About Leadership By James Kouzes and Barry Posner
Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, Anne McGee
Servant Leadership by Robert Greenleaf

More?  Yes, Two Hopefully Inspiring Videos About Leading Forward In The Face Of Challenges!
Extraordinary Women Interview
Interview With Resiliency Expert Michael Ballard On Resiliency And Success

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Build Your 3Q Edge™? Get re-inspired?
Click for a list of 2013 Programs, Services, Professional Fees
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene 

Irene Headshot

From No to GO! Optimizing Potential, Results & Well-being At The Speed Of Change

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From No To GO!  Optimizing Potential, Results and Well-being At The Speed Of Change (Including 26 bonus links, two videos and a list of great books)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

This post is part three of a five-part series on Success At The Speed Of Change; success in a new non-linear eco-system where best practices are made in the now, and our ability to empower, enable and actualize human potential is critical. Stay tuned for Parts 4 and 5 in this series; The Purpose Equation and The Leadership Equation.

From No to Go-Success At The Speed Of ChangeThe past two installments, The Ladder To Success Is Gone:  Insights On Succeeding Without It and Words Make World: Opening The Door To A Better Present And Future  set the background for a whole new world, workplace and market place where being smart and fast are no longer enough.  The imperative to build the Q skills that can take us forward is critical, because the velocity of change, challenges, competition and opportunities will continue to accelerate. Today’s topic is going from No to GO

Are YOU ready to move from NO to GO? Do you want to be a hostage of default patterns that do not optimize your potential/the potential of your team members? Is it time to find new ways, better ways to learn/relearn, communicate, collaborate and lead that take you/your team members forward smarter, faster and happier?

How important is recognizing the negative default and resetting the individual and organizational GPS from no to GO?  It may be one of the most critical enablers of our potential to survive and thrive in a non-linear eco system where best practices and made in the now, and the changes, challenges, competition and opportunities.

Here are ten simple, practical and powerful ways to start moving from NO to GO!  Ten ways to reset default patterns that perpetuate reaction vs response, stasis vs growth, slipping into reverse vs optimizing potential.

1.  Focus Forward.  Neuroscientists now believe that our brain only selects what is important to us for storage in our conscious or subconscious.  Yes, what you FOCUS on GROWS! Start your day the right way.  Get happy.  Yes, the way you start your day will infiltrate what you perceive, how you think, communicate all day long. Develop a quick, practical toolbox of simple things that can help you get happy, even if you wake up on the wrong side of the bed.

2. Set Your Intention. Setting daily goals is great, but you must also set your intention for the day.  Go ahead, set your personal intention and empower your team to also set an intention for their week, their day.  Making intentionality a regular success step and habit.

3. Build Resiliency and Divergent Thinking.  Start building“Constructive Discontent”.  Constructive discontent?  Yes, a core 3Q competency that will help you deal with discontent and stressors more effectively and see solutions you may have otherwise missed.  Caveat, building constructive discontent is a must have in your communication, relationship building and conflict management toolkit. Read this post for practical steps/tips on building Constructive Discontent

4.  Enhance Creativity, Innovation and Resiliency. Change a routine, a pattern at least once a day.  The pattern or routine you change, can be as small as brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand.  Find something to do differently every day. Take a one or two minute stretch out of the comfort zone.

5. Turn Negativity Around.  Re-empower and increase your ability to see solutions amid problems/challenges.  Reset default patterns by making a focused effort to seek out and find the positive.  Remember, most of us have an automatic negative default, learning to see the positive is important. It does not mean walking around with rosy glasses, but it does mean using your mind to search for positivity, because in so doing you will start to look for solutions.

6. Optimize your potential, enhance productivity, decrease toxic stress and negativity by scheduling blank time, alpha time and fun time into your day.  Yes, put them in your calendar.  Take a 5-10 minute break every 90 minutes for just blank time, take a 2 minute break three times a day to develop mindfulness and recharge by putting your brain in an alpha state AND make sure that fun time, laughter time is part of your daily routine.

7.  Find new ways, better ways to organize and optimize your time.  I am particularly fond of the Eisenhower graph, as are my clients. Find a way to organize and prioritize your time and let go of micro managing or being focused on details that may be irrelevant so that you can focus forward.

8.  Fail forward by using perceived failures as positive linchpins that can help you optimize your ability to learn-relearn, adapt and excel. Try it!  Here are some practical insights and tips

9.  Exercise your mind, body and spirit every day.  Do something physical, enjoy a puzzle or challenges that stretches your brain power, develop a routine that puts you in touch with your highest power and builds your SQ.

10. Build essential strengths for success at the speed of change; strengths that will help you lead and communicate forward smarter, faster and happier!  Start using strengths, changes, challenges, stressors, even failures to optimize your potential; potential to build your 3Q Edge™

Q1-IQ (intelligence-focus-strategic thought-ability to learn-relearn)

Q2-EQ (emotional mastery-self management-relationship management-risk tolerance/resiliency, communication)

Q3-SQ (values alignment/positive purpose, integrity of thought communication and action)


Practical, powerful steps?
  Yes!  And, if you go through the list  and pick one to try each week, and do so consistently you will see an optimization of your potential, your attitude and results that will help you reset default patterns and optimize your ability to move from No to GO in a positive, purposeful, powerful way!

Stay Tuned for Parts 4 and 5 in this series: 
Part 4: The Purpose Equation | Success At The Speed Of Change
Part 5: The 3Q Leadership Equation | Success At The Speed Of Change

More on Success At The Speed Of Change?  You Betcha!

3Q Personal/Career  Development
• The Success Ladder Is Gone: Insights On Succeeding Without It 

• Success At The Speed Of Change:  Essential  Strengths

• 10 Practical Ways To Build Essential Success Skills At The Speed Of Change 

• Picking The Golden Apple:  Happiness And Success At The Speed Of Change

• The Fire Of Human Potential:  Developing A Purposeful Life And Career

• Constructive Discontent:  Building A Critical Life And Leadership Skill

• Remove The Wall To Your Greatest Potential

• How Do YOU Spell Success?

• The 18 Word Success Formula

 

3Q Leadership Development
• Words Make Worlds: Opening The Door To A Better Present And Future 

• Winning The Silent War Destroying People and Organizations From Inside Out

• 3Q-REACH Benefits AND Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work

• Women and Leadership-10 Power Steps Forward (A Post for Women & Men)

• Constructive Discontent:  Building A Critical Life And Leadership Skill

• Men and Women Leading Forward: 10 Steps to 3Q Leadership

• The NEW Leader

• Disrupt The Status Quo:  Make The Critical Shift Forward

• The Agile Leadership And Management Toolbox


3Q Organizational Development
• Winning The Silent War Destroying People and Organizations From Inside Out

• The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership

• Mission Critical:  Championing Our Individual and Organizational Imperative To Win

• Constructive Discontent:  Building A Critical Life And Leadership Skill

• From Now To HOW: Building Social, Digital and Cross-Generational Leadership

•Ten Steps To Building Employee Engagement

• Meaningful Work:  Building A Leadership And Management Must

• The Leadership Compendium

More?  Yes!  Two Videos I Hope You Enjoy!
• 
Extraordinary Women Interview:  Crashing Through Cement Ceilings!
• My Interview With Resiliency Expert Michael Ballard

More You Betcha!   Eight Great Reads on Motivation, Happiness, Brain Power, Success & Business Strategy At The Speed Of Change

• Mindset:  The New Psychology Of Success by Carol Dweck

• The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

• Positivity: Top-Notch Research Reveals the 3 to 1 Ratio That Will Change Your Life Barbara Fredrickson

• Super Brain by Dr. Deepak Chopra and Dr. Rudy Tanzi

• The End of Competitive Strategy by Rita Gunther Mcgrath

• The Spirit of Kaizen:  Creating Lasting Excellence One Small Step at a Time by Robert Maurer

 

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?  Build Your 3Q Edge™? Get re-inspired?
Click for a list of 2013 Programs, Services, Professional Fees
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene 

Irene Headshot

 

 

The Success Ladder Is Gone-Insights On Succeeding Without It!

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The Success Ladder Is Gone-Insights on Succeeding Without It In The Non-Linear Eco-System! | Part 1 Of 5 In A Series About Success At The Speed Of Change 
(This post includes 21 bonus links and 2 videos!)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

shutterstock_114480370Are you trying to find or climb the ladder to success?  Look again.   Focus on the NOW because the ladder is gone.

Where did the ladder go?  Well, it was knocked down in the last decade by a velocity of change, challenges, access to info/communication, increasing competition, opportunities and the ongoing transformation of life, commerce and culture as we once knew it.

 

How can we rise to the challenges before us without a ladder? How do we succeed in a non-linear eco-system?  What do we need to adjust to see our lives and careers in a non-linear fashion while retaining the purpose, human creativity, initiative that can take us forward towards greater personal and organizational success? We must start at the beginning by looking at our definition of success.  Sustainable success has never had anything to do with ladders, but reflects a common human thread and need. Success is creating value for others, value that not only speaks to the human need to contribute, but  the commercial/business reality that if we are not creating value for others our success will be limited, curtailed, minimized and ultimately eroded.

Success at the speed of change, success without a ladder,  begins by embracing and building our incredible ability to adapt, learn-relearn and grow.  We have the ability to adapt, learn, inspire, engage, collaborate and grow faster and better than ever before.  Our potential may be limitless, but optimizing this potential means recognizing that critical importance of adopting new ways of thinking, training, learning and doing that take us forward faster, smarter AND happier.  The importance of faster, smarter results is obvious, and neuroscience now confirms that in order to optimizing our brain power we need to prime our brain to be positive/happy.

Success is a 3Q Equation that if applied can take us forward in a non linear world, workplace and marketplace. It is an equation focused not only optimizing our strengths, but using changes, challenges, even failures to build, enhance and align three essential strengths that drive ideation, communication, collaboration, leadership and success at the speed of change:

Q1-
IQ (intelligence-focus-strategic thought-ability to learn-relearn)

Q2-EQ (emotional mastery-self management-relationship management-risk tolerance/resiliency, communication)

Q3-SQ (values alignment/positive purpose, integrity of thought communication and action)

What are the benefits of developing YOUR 3Q Edge?  Read about the benefits and learn why I have dedicated my life to this work.  No smoke, and mirrors.  I am committed to helping as many faster forward thinking people and organizations build their 3Q Edge.

The success equation starts by changing our language and thoughts in a positive, purposeful way that helps engage all 3Q’s.  The more we say or think that change is difficult, the more we create a neural pathway, a mindset that will impede our ability to do exactly what is required to succeed.  Taking simple steps to embrace our ability to adapt, learn, re-learn and grow must become a commitment, because this commitment will help us reset the internal and organizational GPS in ways that open up new thoughts, new ideas, new paths, new potential….new ways to succeed in a non-linear eco-system.

Stay tuned for the next 4 installments of Success At The Speed of Change:

Part 2: Words Make Worlds | Success At The Speed Of Change
Part 3: From No To Go | Success At The Speed Of Change
Part 4: The Purpose Equation | Success At The Speed Of Change
Part 5: The 3Q Leadership Equation | Success At The Speed Of Change

More About Success At The Speed of Change AND Building 3Q Strengths? YOU BETCHA!

3Q Personal Development
• Success At The Speed Of Change:  Essential Strengths

• 10 Practical Ways To Build Essential Success Skills At The Speed Of Change 

• Picking The Golden Apple:  Happiness And Success At The Speed Of Change

• The Fire Of Human Potential:  Developing A Purposeful Life And Career

• Constructive Discontent:  Building A Critical Life And Leadership Skill

• Remove The Wall To Your Greatest Potential

• How Do YOU Spell Success?

• The 18 Word Success Formula

3Q Leadership Development
• Winning The Silent War Destroying People and Organizations From Inside Out

• 3Q-REACH Benefits AND Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work

• Women and Leadership-10 Power Steps Forward (A Post for Women & Men)

• Constructive Discontent:  Building A Critical Life And Leadership Skill

• Men and Women Leading Forward: 10 Steps to 3Q Leadership

• The NEW Leader

• Disrupt The Status Quo:  Make The Critical Shift Forward

• The Agile Leadership And Management Toolbox


3Q Organizational Development
• Winning The Silent War Destroying People and Organizations From Inside Out

• The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership

• Mission Critical:  Championing Our Individual and Organizational Imperative To Win

• Constructive Discontent:  Building A Critical Life And Leadership Skill

• From Now To HOW: Building Social, Digital and Cross-Generational Leadership

•Ten Steps To Building Employee Engagement

• Meaningful Work:  Building A Leadership And Management Must

• The Leadership Compendium

More?  Yes!  Two Videos I Hope You Enjoy!
• 
Extraordinary Women Interview:  Crashing Through Cement Ceilings!
• My Interview With Resiliency Expert Michael Ballard

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW? Time to get re-inspired?
Click for a list of 2013 Programs, Services, Professional Fees
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene 

Irene Headshot

 

Picking The Golden Apple: Happiness & Success In The Face of Change And Challenges

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Picking The Golden Apple:  Happiness & Success In Times Of Change And Challenges (Including 18 Bonus Links)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

Picking The Golden Apple: Happiness And Success In Times Of Change And Challenge

We live in challenging times of relentless change and challenge.   If success is a golden apple, it is the apple that hangs at the very end of the tree branch; the most difficult fruit to touch and pick. It is the fruit that is farthest from our grasp. We cannot reach out and pick the golden apple because our vision is obscured and shrouded by a thick opaque fog.

Constant assaults on our time, our lives and livelihoods can dim our clarity of vision because our automatic response is one of fight or flight.  We become so caught up in what is not, that we are unable to see what can be.

The golden apple is before us, but we cannot grasp it until we can see it through the fog of change, challenges, stressors and opportunities that cloud our vision. The need, greed and ego have felled every empire, fiefdom and corporation in recorded history.  What does not create value for others is destined to crash, burn and die.  Purpose equals profit on a multiplicity of levels.  Our ability to connect with our best selves, do our best work, develop strong relationships, communities of purpose and collaboration is the way forward because success is a ME to WE equation.

Our human need to contribute, to be purposeful, to feel that our lives, our work counts and makes a positive difference is a need we must acknowledge and fed.  It is the timeless flame of human being better, the flame of humanity that burns brightly at times, and may also flicker and waver when we are confronted by changes, and challenges.  It is the magnet that attracts others and helps us develop communities of purpose, communities of shared values and objectives.  It is the fruit at the end of the tree branch that is closest to the golden apple.

Old models of how to live and work will be replaced.  The shift is happening every day.  We cannot survive and thrive the shift without the mindset and heart set that makes the golden apple real. The noblest of words can inspire us, but it is our ability to make these words real that is the fastest way through the fog.

The golden apple at the end of the tree is an apple of connection and contribution.  Picking the golden apple demands more than clarity of sight, it requires clarity of heart, intention and action. The most effective and advanced learning will not take us forward without the courage, faith, humanity and integrity that can help us make the important shift from ME to WE. The apple is before us, seeing it and reaching for it are the most important things we can do!

 

More?  You Betcha!
Our Greatest Hope
Success Equals The Reach And Resonance Of The Human Heart
How Do YOU Spell Success?
The 18 Word Success Formula
The Secret To Peace And Prosperity
Against All Odds-A True Story of Hope, Courage & Leadership
Extraordinary Woman Video Interview
What Does Leadership REALLY Mean?
Goodness to Greatness Leadership-7 Steps From Me to WE
Benefits of 3Q/Reach And Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW? Time to get re-inspired?
Click for a list of 2013 Programs, Services, Professional Fees
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene 

Irene Headshot

Ten Practical Ways To Build Essential Success Skills At The Speed Of Change

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Ten Practical Ways To Build Essential Success Skills At The Speed Of Change
(Including 20 Bonus Links-Practical Tips, 3 Videos & More)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

Success At The Speed Of Change-10 StepsSuccess at the speed of change means embracing a mind-set and skill-set that can help YOU play to strengths, AND USE changes, challenges, stressors, even failures to ideate, communicate, collaborate, lead and succeed forward by building three essential strengths:

Q1-IQ (intelligence-focus-strategic thought-ability to learn-relearn)

Q2-EQ (emotional mastery-self management-relationship management-risk tolerance/resiliency, communication)

Q3-SQ (values alignment/positive purpose, integrity of thought communication and action)

Use not only strengths but changes, challenges, stressors, even failures to optimize potential? YES!  Here are ten ways, ten practical, powerful ways to start building your 3Q Edge™: 

STEP 1:Embrace change, embrace your incredible ability to adapt, learn and relearn.  See change with new eyes, eyes that help you reset default thinking patterns thinking.  Recognize that change is not a problem; it is our greatest opportunity to adapt, learn, re-learn, evolve and lead forward. Our intrinsic or automatic response is to fear change, react to change, balk at change.  So what?  When we recognize that while this pattern served us well in the caves but will not take us forward today, we can embrace change with positivity.  Push yourself to make a positive change in thinking, doing in a routine action every day.  A small change made consistently is powerful and leads to BIG changes.

STEP 2.  Refuse to be a victim or a victimizer.  Victims cannot recognize their own power; victimizers feel truly powerless and can only get empowered by abusing others.  Our ability to be a victim or victimizer is the easiest course of action, the default pattern that arises when we are confronted by fear, stress or challenges.  Resetting this default pattern is doable for most people. We all slip into the victim or victimizer role at times, because it is perhaps an automatic default, a need or desire to have someone give us all the answers, or to quell our own fear about not being able to by in total control of our lives.  Realizing me are slipping, and make a thought course correction that allows us to become free of the victim or victimizer role is transformational.

STEP 3.  Turn failure, challenges and stressors around by making everything a learning and growing experience. Change your headspace, think counter-intuitively because success is often born of failure or challenges.  Develop an attitude for gratitude, not only for what you have but for the very challenges you face.  Human history tells us that our greatest inventions were the results of our greatest challenges.  Personal history tells us that more often than not our greatest learning, our most important personal evolution occurs when we have faced an incredible struggle or challenge and come out the other side with our head, heart and values intact. Cultivate the art of failing forward!  Model failing forward, use it to transform failures into positive learning experiences.

STEP 4. You are your thoughts.  Use them carefully to live, learn and lead forward.  Get provocative with your thoughts by turning them around! Refocus, repurpose.   See challenges and strengths with NEW eyes.  Learn how to R-E-A-C-H™ (Redirect focus-Empower Confidence-Optimize Potential-Harvest Results) Understand that your world is your thoughts; your consciousness creates your world.  Most of us have the ability to control our thoughts, to develop our minds and give orders to our brain that help us live, communicate and lead forward smarter, faster and happier.  Neuroscience is teaching us that neuroplasticity; the ability to rewrite our brains is real.  Neurogenesis has been located in the hippocampus and we are at the cusp of discovering new ways of tapping into the incredible ability of our minds to help our brains optimize their potential.

STEP 5. Drown out the noise and refocus on what is truly important.  What is your end game?  What do you really want from your life, your relationships, your job/your career?  Dig deeper in order to get clarity on YOUR purpose.  Find it, embrace it and use it to lead forward.  We each have a unique purpose that drives our best thoughts, best actions and best outcomes. Every purpose is important to our individual and collective success and happiness.  Take time to reflect upon what you really want.  I believe that what we all truly want is love and a sense that we have something important to contribute.  Find out what love really means to you, and remember that your true purpose is a purpose that is founded in sustainability, in the ability to do something that creates value for yourself and others.  The value you contribute can be as simple a smile and empathy for others that contribute to a happy home or workplace or as complex and challenging as leading an organization or country.  What remains critical is finding your true purpose and recognizing it in your daily thoughts and actions.

STEP 6. Get happier and more fulfilled by taking your ego out of the equation and getting rid of toxic inputs, environments and people.  By ego, I mean that sense of having to be validated by external things and people. Servant leaders serve the greatest good, and leave footprints that will be followed by others are not driven by ego, but by greatest good. If you are a servant leader, lead forward by finding new ways to inspire and engage the best in others.  If you are not a servant leader, find a leader whose work resonates with your heart and fill your thoughts with the thoughts of an actual or historical leader whose words speak to your highest power and greatest good.  Start focusing on the words of people whose highest values and words resonate with your truest purpose, your highest values.  Focus forward, and you will start to discover and get rid of toxicity in your thoughts, environment and relationships.

STEP 7.  Develop a community of purpose.  In a social world, in the new age of innovation success is achieved through and with the collaboration of others.  Whether you want to do well at your job, build your career, department, business unit, organization, community or country you are impotent without the collaboration of those you can trust and those who share your values and objectives.  On a personal level we all need a community of purpose, a core group of friends and advisors in who share our values, understand and applaud our objectives and will be there to add the critical human touch, the human heart to our daily lives. We all need a community of refuge where we can tell our truth, share our wins and challenges in total candor, knowing that we will be accepted with the confidentiality and empathy we need to lead forward.  On a macro level communities of purpose represent employees, constituents and stakeholders who share our values and objectives; people who will help us champion the cause and lead forward.

STEP 8. Celebrate your ability to be the difference and make a difference, nothing is more important. Building a better self, better team, better business unit, better organization and a better world starts with YOU.   We each have a critical role to play in our best life, best work environment and best world.  A role that starts when we decide to win the race with the wolves that are chasing us, one positive purposeful step at a time.  A role that is solidified when we decide to become part of the solution by living, learning and leading forward every day in every way! Yes we can!

STEP 9.  Find and trust your positive purpose because purpose = profit, and profit can only be attained through trust. Trust in self builds our ability to learn and relearn faster and better.  Trust in self allows us to develop trust in other people, people who are trustworthy. When we understand our positive purpose, we are attracted and attract others who are on the same path.  When we develop enhanced EQ (emotional intelligence) we build stronger social intelligence. Stronger social intelligence leads to enhance engagement, ideation, collaboration. When we develop stronger social intelligence that is aligned with our highest purpose, we build stronger SQ and start to develop relationships with people who inspire us, people whom we inspire because we share values and objectives that take us forward together, and help us leap tall mountains and small mole hills of challenge that would otherwise break our spirit or determination.

STEP 10.  Build constructive discontent. Hone your ability to feel something difficult (even painful), while taking on the role of the participant observer. There is a body of research supporting the power of re-framing, but building constructive discontent is more than re-framing.  Constructive discontent is also learning to use what you are feeling and thinking to become the participant observer by witnessing what you are feeling but not being held hostage by the feelings.  Taking the role of the participant observer can help you step out of the immediate situation, watch the emotions, let them pass, and re-focus on your true goal or objective.  Learning to be the participant observer in your life, in your relationships and your career is a critical skill that can change your life.

Embrace your ability to make a difference and be part of the difference by using your strengths and challenges to learn, communicate, collaborate and lead forward.  Understand the power of women leading forward, and the imperative for men and women to LEAD forward together. Success is a team sport that requires a focus forward.  A focus that can help you get re-inspired by what YOU can do, be, create and contribute. If you get discouraged, remember that discouragement, and hardships are part of the human journey.  They are difficult parts, they are painful parts, but they are stepping stones that you can help you actualize your greatest purpose and potential.  Carpe diem!

More On Personal Development, Leadership Development and Organizational Development At the Speed Of Change?  You Betcha…

3Q Leadership Development

•  Winning The Silent War That Is Destroying People & Organizations From Inside Out

• Success At The Speed Of Change-Essential Strengths

• 3Q Leadership-Reach Benefits And Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work

• 10 Steps To Building The 3Q Leadership Skills You Need Now

• Ten Ways To Lead Forward In Times Of Complexity And Change

• Women And Leadership-Ten Powerful Steps Forward For Women And Men

• Constructive Discontent:  Building a critical leadership and life 3Q skill

• Why Smart And Fast Are Not Enough:  The Need For Higher EQ/EI


3Q Organizational Development:

•  Winning The Silent War That Is Destroying People & Organizations From Inside Out 

• The Thriving Organization-Ten Power Steps Out of Jurassic Park

• From Now to HOW:  Building Social, Digital and Cross-Generational Leadership

• The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership

• The Leadership Compendium

• Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose

Ten Steps to Employee Engagement

3Q Personal Development
• Breaking Through A Performance Plateau

• Five Ways to Take Control of Your Potential

• From Victim to Victor

• The Empowerment Compendium

• The Happiness Compendium


Videos:

• Extraordinary Woman Interview

• Successful Career Transition Interview

• Developing Reach | Leadership Training for PMP’s

 

More?  You Betcha
•  Collection of 3Q Leadership and Leadership Articles

•  Collection of Great Read Books

•  Collection of Career-HR-Workplace Articles

•  Collection of Life-Success-Happiness Articles

AND

•  Collection of Inspiring Posters an Quotes because getting re-inspired is critical to our individual and organizational health, success and well-being!

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW? Time to get re-inspired?
Click for a list of 2013 Programs, Services, Professional Fees
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene

 

Irene Headshot

Success At The Speed Of Change-Essential Strengths

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Success At The Speed Of Change-Essential Strengths
(Including 15 Bonus Links-Practical Tips, 3 Videos & More)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

Golden EggDateline 2013. Best practices will be created in the now. Workplaces that are mired in a post industrial mindset of playing to strengths and developing rigid silos of talent and expertise will flounder and fall. C Suites that lack gender and ethnic diversity will not take us forward.

Purpose equals profit. Organizations that do not create value for ALL internal/external constituents (employees, clients and community) will wither and die.

 

Developing environments where meaningful work and engagement thrive has become critical on a multiplicity of levels that impact the business bottom line. Developing learning, living, healthy collaborative, creative work environments (workplace, from multi-locations and virtually) must be reflected in new ways of coaching, training, mentoring that take us forward, faster, smarter and happier. New ways of championing, enabling and actualizing our potential at the speed of change, in the face of challenges, opportunities and crises that will continue to abound.

Social media, transparency, a very informed consumer population, global marketplace,  and a new age of information and innovation
have  changed what it takes to achieve and sustain success. And, as we move into the age of innovation our own definitions of success will also change, because meaning, purpose and the ability to contribute to goals and objectives that fill both our pocketbooks and our souls will become increasingly important.

Employee engagement, customer engagement and the development of relationships that build a bridge of trust and value are the new building blocks of business success.  Business is a human equation, and our ability to optimize and catalyze human potential starts with building strong communities of purpose (actual, digital, social).

Stop.  Reflect.  How often to you read or say that change is hard?  How do you feel frustrated, challenged or stressed by what is?  How often do you feel truly engaged, purposeful and inspired by your work?

Stop.  Reflect.  What would happen if you could reset the internal GPS by enabling your ability to not simply play to strengths, but to use changes, challenges, stressors even failures as a positive lever for your potential and the potential of others?

Stop.  Reflect. Do you want to build a workplace environment where human purpose, potential, creativity, communication, collaboration and success thrive?  Is it time to champion the potential of human being better, not simply working faster than ever before?

Stop.  Reflect. Will you embrace your ability to adapt while championing the values and integrity that can help you LEAD forward?  Is it time to move from overdrive, stasis or complacency by developing the mind-set, skill set and heart set that can take you and those you lead forward?

Our ability to adapt, our potential to engage strengths and transform changes and challenges into a lever for our greatest potential is real.  Is it time to adapt, lead and evolve forward?  Are you ready to reset the individual and organizational GPS by using not only strengths but changes and challenges to REACH?  Is it time to go from NOW to HOW?

Redirect focus
E
mpower confidence and engagement
A
ctualize leadership potential
C
ommunicate effectively (socially, digitally, cross-generationally)
H
arvest results
____________________________________________________________________________

Build Your 3Q Edge:  Reset the GPS by USING strengths AND changes, challenges, stressors, even failures to build your greatest potential:  Q1: Enhanced focus, ideation, ability to learn-relearn  Q2: Emotional Intelligence-Resiliency-Communication  Q3:  Integrity, Values, Purpose.  Our ability to use what is to create what can be is real AND critical.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Here are some practical insights and tips to help!

3Q Leadership Development

•Ten Practical Ways To Build Essential Leadership and Success Skills In The Face Of Change, Challenges and Complexity

• The Real Deal: 7 Powerful Results

• 10 Steps To Building The 3Q Leadership Skills You Need Now

Ten Ways To Lead Forward In Times Of Complexity And Change

• Women And Leadership-Ten Powerful Steps Forward For Women And Men

Constructive Discontent:  Building a critical leadership and life 3Q skill

Why Smart And Fast Are Not Enough:  The Need For Higher EQ/EI


3Q Organizational Development:

• The Thriving Organization-Ten Power Steps Out of Jurassic Park

• The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership

• The Leadership Compendium

• Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose

Ten Steps to Employee Engagement

3Q Personal Development

Breaking Through A Performance Plateau

• Five Ways to Take Control of Your Potential

From Victim to Victor

• The Empowerment Compendium

• The Happiness Compendium


Videos:

• Extraordinary Woman Interview

• Successful Career Transition Interview

• Developing Reach | Leadership Training for PMP’s

 

More?  You Betcha

 Collection of 3Q Leadership and Leadership Articles

•  Collection of Great Read Books

 Collection of Career-HR-Workplace Articles

•  Collection of Life-Success-Happiness Articles

AND

•  Collection of Inspiring Posters an Quotes because getting re-inspired is critical to our individual and organizational health, success and well-being!

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?
Click for a list of 2013 Programs, Services, Professional Fees
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene

 

Irene Headshot

 

 

100 Stress-busters

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100 Stress-Busters, Ten Bonus Links and 1 Important Infographic (#18)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 26,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

100 StressbustersThe World Health Organization forecasts that STRESS will be the leading cause of physical disability in the world by 2020.  My take on stress management is somewhat counter-intuitive in that I do not believe we can simply manage stress.  The reality of a marketplace, workplace and personal environments/situations that will change and continue to change faster than ever before is real.  Learning to not only play to our strengths, but use changes, challenges, stressors and failures to optimize our individual and organizational potential is critical.  Impossible?  Think again, because that is what 3Q Personal Development, Leadership Development and Organizational Development are all about!

While you are thinking about the benefits of changing your relationship with strengths and challenges and using it to optimize YOUR greatest 3Q potential ( Q1:  IQ Enhanced focus, ideation and ability to learn/relearn  Q2:  EQ  Emotional Intelligence-Self Management-Relationship Management and Q3: SQ  Purpose, Integrity, Courage ) here are some quick stress-busters you can start using today!

1. Forgive yourself for every mistake you have ever made.
2. Forgive others for their offenses against you.
3. Do not obsess over things you can’t control.
4. Take breaks often to clear you mind.
5. Focus on one thing at a time.
6. Stop over analyzing and start doing what is really important.
7. Stop judging what others do or don’t do.
8. Learn to say no and really mean it.
9. Only add to your “to do” list after crossing 2 things off.
10. When you buy something new, get rid of something old.
11. Give yourself an old fashioned pat on the back.  Self approval is important
12. Stop being a perfectionist it is a recipe for heartache and stress. Be the best you can be in the moment!
13. Let go of trying to control everything, it does not and will never work
14. Don’t get emotionally invested in every little thing; pick your battles wisely
15. Quit agonizing over decisions you have made.  Focus on what you can do now.
16. Remember that almost everything is temporary.
17. Ask yourself: Will it matter in 3 years? If not, let it go.
18. Find reasons to laugh out loud several times a day. Take fun breaks because they not only give your brain a mini aerobic workout~they are good for your heart and soul! (CLICK for INFOGRAPHIC)
19. Stop taking things personally, because most of the time other people are reflecting their stuff, their issues and not yours.
20. Remember your brain and all our brains are set to automatic negative, start retraining your brain to be more positive.
21. Don’t compare yourself to others, measure yourself by the values you cherish and your alignment t these values.  If you are out of whack, re-adjust!
22. Smile often, it is an automatic mood elevator and also gives the brain an aerobic workout
23. Start every conversation with a positive thought.
24. Don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet-Stay in the present moment!
25. Don’t catastrophize because not everything is an emergency
26. Exercise your head, heart, soul and body every day!
27. Don’t trade sleep for work.
28. Eat for nourishment not for comfort.
29. Express gratitude for the small things you appreciate, they are important!
30..Choose walking over driving whenever possible, and take quick walks to diffuse negative energy, stress!
31. Do things that connect you with the earth and nature they will feed your soul.
32. Take a musical or poetic moment every day.  Music and poetry are great for our heads, hearts and souls!
33. Don’t watch TV when you are eating.  Enjoy your meals, savor each bite.
34. Develop positive habits that promote mindfulness.  No time to meditate?  No problem, start by doing a 2 min Pause.  It works!
35. Take blank time breaks every 90 minutes at work, to recharge your brain and spirit.
36. Establish a positive routine before bed and when you get up in the morning.
37. Go to the beach or river and soak up the negative ions.
38. Do something nice just for you every single day.
39. Do something nice for someone else every single day.
40. Tell the people you love how you feel daily.
41. Keep a gratitude journal. Write in it daily before bed.
42. Eliminate unnecessary commitments because time is our most important declining asset.
43. Don’t allow others to make you feel pressured.
44. Remove toxic people and extraneous drama from your life.
45. Take 5 slow, deep breaths every hour on the hour.
46. Help others whenever it is within your power to do so.
47. Consciously relax every muscle in your body at bed time.
48. Turn off the “problem solver” 2 hours before bed time.
49. As soon as you wake up, do something that energizes you and puts you in a positive mood.|
50. Rekindle your inner child every day.
51. Laugh at yourself.
52. Be a bit early for everything so you don’t feel rushed.
53. Make peace of mind a high priority in your life.
54. Find ways to express your creativity regularly.
55. Do morning, mid day and before bed brain dump for 30 seconds. Let it all go.
56. Surround yourself with positive people and images.
57. Never complain. If something bothers you take action.
58. Use words that empower you because our words make our world.
59.  Wiggle your toes!  Go ahead.  Impossible to feel stressed when wiggling toes!
60. Maintain you energy levels and you will stress less.
61. Reduce spending and debt loads
62. Lighten your material load. More stuff = more stress!
63. Practice unplugging from the electronic world once a day.
64. Read for pleasure and relaxation.
65. Remember that laughter; funny movies boost the immune system!  Enjoy them.
66. Inhale calm, exhale tension.
67. Identify and eliminate energy drains.
68. Build relationships with people who energize and inspire you.
69. Actively interact with positive people as much as you can.
70. If it’s not your problem get out of the way (like tailgaters).
71. Get a hobby that completely captures your focus.
72. Never respond to or repeat gossip, it will backfire.
73. Only project positive thoughts into your future.
74. Be realistic with the demands you put on yourself.
75. Take care of your health and remember that 90% of illness is stress related.
76.  Set your intention every day.  Decide, choose what kind of day you will have!
77.  Set three major goals for  yourself each day and keep them!
78. Don’t sweat the small stuff.
79. Be reasonable about scheduling your time.
80. Accept that everything takes longer than you think.
81. Spend one hour a week to strategize your week.  Make it your power hour.
82. Stop trying to do everything yourself. Get help where you can.
83. Never argue with ignorance it will only frustrate you.
84. Adopt a stress free attitude because it’s all perception.
85. Embrace your ability to fail forward!  Change your attitude about failure and use it to empower you!
86. Counter stress with positive words, affirmations and actions.|
87. When you’re feeling down take time to help other people.
88. Get rid of things/people that make you miserable.
89. Learn to really listen to yourself and know what you really want.
90. Do something silly every day, and enjoy it.
91. Don’t stress out trying to get everyone to agree with you.
92. Minimize negativity in terms of what you read, music you listen to, people you socialize with.
93. Seize every opportunity to encourage yourself and others!
94. Live in the present.
95. Let go of stressors that are not really important.
96. Embrace your formidable ability to learn, relearn and grow!
97. Believe in yourself because YOU are awesome.
98. Learn to recognize and silence your inner critic.
99.  Don’t dumb down your emotions, learn to feel them but not be held hostage by them.  Build constructive discontent.
100. Remember each day is a unique gift that we can spend or use! Carpe diem.

More on Life, Happiness and Personal Development?  YOU Betcha!
Turn Negativity Around:  3 Powerful, Practical Ways to Reset the Internal GPS
From Victim or Victor | New Edition
The Empowerment Compendium
The Happiness Compendium
The Secret to Personal Development and Growth
True Happiness
Motivations for the Self Starter by William A. Butler
Failing Forward:  Developing a Critical Life and Leadership Skill
Building Constructive Discontent: A  Critical Life and Leadership Skill
Remove the Wall to Your Greatest Potential with R-E-A-C-H


Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! Contact me today to receive 2013 Programs, Services and Professional Fees
Call: (416) 671-4726| Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene

 

Irene Headshot

 

Mission Critical: Championing-Empowering-Enabling Our Individual And Organizational Ability To Win

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Mission Critical: Championing-Empowering-Enabling
Our Individual And Organizational Ability To Win
Including 18 bonus links/ practical tips/videos

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 26,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

Mission Critical-Championing, Empowering, Enabling Our Ability To Win

Your most important battle is our most important battle.   The new battle we face is mirrored in every nook and crevice of our lives, workplaces and organizations.  It is a silent, insidious battle  that demands our individual and collective attention, as well as positive, purposeful steps to turn it around before the quality of our lives and our ability to  ideate, innovate, communicate, collaborate  AND excel in the marketplace is undermined. The best attempts at employee engagement, team-building will be thwarted by a battle that must be won.

What worked in the post WWII era of industrialization will not help us build and sustain healthier, more engaged, effective and productive lives, workplaces or organizations. Here are some facts you need to know.  The World Health Organization forecasts that by 2020 the leading cause of disability in the world will be stress; the imperative to champion, empower and enable our ability to WIN the battle for human purpose and potential is critical. The cost of stress related physical, emotional and family problems to American companies exceeds $300 million a year; and this  stress related epidemic is not an American phenomenon, but a global reality. . Medical journals and organizations cite stress as the cause of 60-90% of all illness, with job stress as a major contributor.   Up to 75% of Americans say their jobs are very stressful. Presenteeism, stress related problems, addictions, physical illness abounds in the most fortunate of countries and companies. If you are not suffering from a stress related problem, statistics tell us that someone you lead, work for, know or love is. Turning stress around, championing, empower and enabling the fire of human purpose and potential means more that trying to manage or mitigate stress.  

Positive, powerful and practical change starts with a small shift in a habit of thought, communication or action that strengthens three critical areas: Q1:  Ideation/focus – Creativity/Innovation- Learning/Relearning  Q2: Emotional Intelligence-Communication-Collaboration  Q3: Universal Values, Purpose, Integrity.

Solutions that start when we champion, empower and enable our greatest  potential.  Potential to not simply play to strengths, but to USE changes, challenges, stressors and failures to build and sustain the mind-set, skill set and heart set that can take us from NOW to HOW.   Potential to do good work, potential to build good organizations, potential to build the optic and skills we need to work internally, externally, face to face and virtually across diverse constituencies, populations and cross- generationally.

Change is not the obstacle, it is the answer.  Embracing our ability to champion positive change starts with a focus on the words we use.  Change is NOT difficult, it is our greatest power and hope for a better future.  Change is what our bodies and minds so every second of the day. Our ability to move out of Jurassic Park by developing our individual and organization potential is real.  It requires focus, courage, integrity and a relentless desire to be part of the solution rather than running on overdrive, getting stuck in stasis or burying one’s head in the sand or under the rock of complacency.

It is time for men and women to lead forward together. Why am I passionate about our ability to use the changes and challenges before us to humanize, optimize and monetize our  individual and collective potential? Because we can!  Seize this moment to reflect upon your ability to make a decision today to champion, empower and enable your potential by using strengths, changes and challenges to build a mindset, heartset and skill set that can take you forward faster, happier and better than before.

More on Championing, Empowering and Enabling Our Individual and  Organizational Ability to Win?   More on Building 3Q Leadership? YOU Betcha!

Leadership and Organizational Development:

The Real Deal: Seven Powerful Things You Can Do To Accelerate Results At The Speed of Change

• From Now to How. Building Social, Virtual and Cross Generational Leadership

• The Thriving Organization-Ten Power Steps Out of Jurassic Park

• The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership

Our Greatest Hope: One Inspiring Post With 12 Powerful Tips On Leadership and Organizational Development|

• Women and Leadership:  Ten Steps Forward for Women and Men

• The Leadership Compendium

 

Communication (Verbal and Social/Digital)
Seven Ways to Turn Conflict/Communication Problems Around

Using Your Voice to Engage and Inspire

Blogging Success Tips

Five Ways to Communicate and Lead Forward

Communication:  5 Posts in One

Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose

 

 Career & Hr
5 Steps to Successful Career Transition

Five Ways to Lead Forward by Championing the Challenge

Ten Steps to Employee Engagement

Interview about Coaching/Training for Sticky Results

Building An Agile Self and Team

Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose

 

3Q Personal Development

Winning the New War

The Secret to Personal Development

Five Ways to Take Control of Your Potential

Success Means Failing Forward-Building a Critical Life and Leadership Skill

The Empowerment Compendium

The Happiness Compendium


Videos:

•Extraordinary Woman Interview

Successful Career Transition Interview

Developing Reach | Leadership Training for PMP’s

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW?
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! Contact me today to receive 2013 Programs, Services and Professional Fees
Call: (416) 671-4726| Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene

 

Irene Headshot

 

3Q Leadership Benefits AND Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work

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3Q Leadership Benefits AND Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work

What is The 3Q Edge?  Why Is It Important? What Can It Do For YOU/YOUR Organization? Why Am I Determined to Help?  Read this post and find out!

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 26,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

“If you’re interested in smart leadership, strategic thought and smart results, follow Irene Becker”  Professor Calestous Juma, Harvard University, Boston, USA

Bridge
What is the 3Q Edge?
Q1: IQ- Enhanced  focus, strategic thought, improved decision making and ability to learn-relearn   Q2: EQ- Emotional self management, relationship management, communication, resiliency  Q3: SQ- Values, purpose, integrity of thought and action.

What is REACH?  A coaching, training and mentoring model that builds 3Q strengths by helping people use strengths, changes, challenges (even failures) to
R: Redirect focus
E: Empower confidence and engagement
A: Actualize potential
C: Communicate Effectively
H: Harvest Results

 

3Q Leadership and R-E-A-C-H are coaching and training models that use both strengths AND changes/challenges/stressors to optimize potential.  Models I developed after a 20+ year career that encompasses being the first woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, working in the USA, France, England and with clients across the globe.  It also reflects some incredibly challenging career and life events that took me from the mountain of success to starting again from ground zero.

Just teach it. Just learn it. Just be the best.  Just Coach It-Irene Becker makes us all smarter and better.  John Nosta, Top Health and Technology Innovator 

Why is the 3Q Edge Important?  
Because the imperative to not simply play to strengths, but to use changes, challenges, stressors, even failures to optimize our potential is critical. (Potential that is reflected in whole brain thinking, enhanced ability to learn-relearn, improved strategic thinking, improved ability to take decisions, emotional intelligence,  risk tolerance, resiliency, improved communication, collaboration, teamwork, engagement and purpose) Leadership means building a community of purpose!  A community that innovate, collaborate and actualize potential.

“I heard Irene speak at the PMI Symposium. Her knowledge and passion on the subject of 3Q Edge and how it is key to business success was evident. She even got 300 PMPs to roar at the end of her Keynote…Fabulous!”  Adriana Girdler, PMP, President, Cornerstone Dynamics

 

What Can It Do For YOU/YOUR Team? Here Are 7 Practical, Powerful Results:

  1. Build Empowerment and Engagement: Help leaders and senior managers develop a greater ability to empower, engage and inspire themselves and others in the face of change, challenges, competition, complexity.
  2. Deliver Inspiring Communication For Reach, Resonance, Results : Help you build inspiring communication; sound bytes and word bytes that resonate with diverse internal and external audiences
  3. Create A Better, More Engaged Workplace Environment: Help you build what is recognized as a critical leadership and life competency, higher EQ/EI as well as assisting you in building two other critical Q Skills IQ + SQ
  4. Improve coaching and training results (personal development, leadership development, business development, organizational development)  with programs and services that are built to last because they are founded on using not only strengths but changes and challenges to fuel and sustain human purpose, potential and results.
  5. Help YOU or team members negotiate a career transition faster and better.  Career transition has typically represented about 20% of my work.  Helping senior managers, professionals, executives achieve results is something I do well on an individual and group basis.
  6. Provide Coaching, Training and Consulting When And Where You Need It.  Yes, Just Coach It 3Q Programs and Services range from one-off sessions, consulting, training, coaching programs, assessments-debriefs action plans to workshops, webinars that come to YOU/YOUR team when and were you need them face to face, by telephone, skype or video conferencing
  7. Inspire Your Team With Keynotes and Articles That Also Provide Practical Tips and Solutions.“You could never find a better advocate for yourself. It is difficult to imagine how there could be anywhere in the world a better success coach than Irene Becker. She is worth 14 therapists, and yet is not a therapist. She deals with your own raw talent and helps you focus it in the direction where it will be maximally effective.” Richard Rotman, Professor of Media Relations, Humber College, Founder, PR Writer Extraordinaire, Toronto, Canada

Purpose = Profit on a multiplicity of levels.  Our ability to rise to the challenges before us means developing a mindset and skill set that takes us forward in ways that help us evolve and grow. A mindset and skill set that helps us build communities of purpose that thrive at the speed of change.  A mindset that helps us build and grow our 3Q Edge™

Why Am I Determined To Help?
Because I walk my talk. 3Q and R-E-A-C-H are more than coaching and training models, they are my life’s work.  I believe in their ability to help smart, fast forward thinking people and organizations communicate and lead forward at a speed of change, challenges, complexity and opportunities that will only continue to accelerate.  I am determined to help take 3Q and R-E-A-C-H to as many people and organizations as possible because my goal is rooted in a commitment, a desire to serving the greatest good by helping change-makers lead change. Read my personal story, Against All Odds-the genesis of my 3Q Model

More?  YOU Betcha!  Here are some of the most popular posts/articles from 3Q Leadership Blog

Leadership and Organizational Development:

Success At The Speed Of Change:  Essential Strengths

From Now to How. Building Social, Virtual and Cross Generational Leadership

The Thriving Organization-Ten Power Steps Out of Jurassic Park

The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership

Our Greatest Hope: One Inspiring Post With 12 Powerful Tips On Leadership and Organizational Development|

Women and Leadership:  Ten Steps Forward for Women and Men

The Leadership Compendium

Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose

 

Communication (Verbal and Social/Digital)
Seven Ways to Turn Conflict/Communication Problems Around

Using Your Voice to Engage and Inspire

Blogging Success Tips

Five Ways to Communicate and Lead Forward

Communication:  5 Posts in One

Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose

 

Career & Hr
5 Steps to Successful Career Transition

Five Ways to Lead Forward by Championing the Challenge

Ten Steps to Employee Engagement

Interview about Coaching/Training for Sticky Results

Building An Agile Self and Team

Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose

 

Personal Development|
Winning the New War

The Secret to Personal Development

Five Ways to Take Control of Your Potential

Success Means Failing Forward-Building a Critical Life and Leadership Skill

The Empowerment Compendium

The Happiness Compendium


Videos:

•Extraordinary Woman Interview

Successful Career Transition Interview

Developing Reach | Leadership Training for PMP’s

 

I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! Contact me today to receive 2013 Programs, Services and Professional Fees
Call: (416) 671-4726| Email
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene

 

Irene Headshot

Our Greatest Hope: New Edition

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Our Greatest Hope | New Edition
With 12 Bonus Links/Practical Tips on Personal, Leadership and Organization Development at the Speed of Change

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 26,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

The the fire of human potential, employee engagement and effectiveness,  agile teams, great management and leadership cannot be lit without the desire to rekindle and champion our greatest hope, our greatest power. Developing a purposeful life, career, team, organization and society rest upon our ability to redirect our thoughts and actions on a focus that ignites the integrity of our thoughts, actions and words.

Where do we start?  How do we build/rebuild our greatest hope, our greatest power in a world of increasing complexity, change, challenges?  We start right here, right now.  Impossible?  Think again.  We stand on a glass cliff, a place where we will see the greatest renaissance we have ever known, or a decline into the abyss of chaos, aggression and destruction.  A place where we will choose to be crippled by the need, greed, ego that has destroyed every empire and fiefdom in history OR elect to embrace our potential to use what is to create what can be in ourselves, our families, our organizations, our society…our world.

It is your ability, my ability, our ability to cleave to the  universal values, express  the humanity and moral courage that is our greatest hope for the future.  Courage that starts with service above self, with the desire to move from me to WE.  Power that grows with the empathy and human connection we build when show  kindness to a stranger, reach out and help a colleague of friend, mentor or share knowledge.  Leadership that grows when we focus not on what we can get, but rather on what we can contribute.  Humanity that is expressed in learning to treat our neighbors, our brothers and sisters as ourselves.  Happiness that is found in caring, sharing and contributing.

In a world of increasing complexity it is the simple things that often elude us. It is time to get simple and clear with the importance of tying a knot around our values, courage, integrity; for they are the greatest riches we have.  Love is the truth,  universal values are the motor, and human passion, purpose and potential are the engine that can drive us to an evolution of self, and of others that will take us into the age of innovation – an age of extraordinary possibilities; or push us into an abyss of  fear, despair, destruction, aggression and chaos.

Our greatest hope lies in a new balance of independence and interdependence that will take us forward together.   A new path  that is difficult, but worthwhile.  A path that requires courage and conviction.  A path that is oft forgotten, and begs to be remembered.  A path of redemption and renewal.  A path of human beings being  better not simply doing faster than ever before.  A path of faith, hope, courage, humanity and integrity that can change one life, many lives and ultimately our world.  A path that begins when we put down our emotional, political, social swords and replace them with the power of faith, hope, courage, integrity and humanity.  A path we each carve each moment of the day with the power of our thoughts, feelings and actions.

Lofty thoughts or practical powerful insights?  You decide. The greatest teacher we have is a human history that has been punctuated by the short term gain and long term pain of need, greed, ego and destruction.  Our ability to shift and lead forward, our ability to acknowledge the faith, hope, courage, integrity and humanity that can take us forward is written on the walls of our lives, our workplaces, our organizations…our world.

Is it time to do an individual or organizational reset and refocus on what cannot be eradicated or eroded by change, challenges or complexity? Will you start to think the thoughts, and use the language that empowers your greatest hope and inspires others to do the same.  Each thought is an opportunity to champion integrity, each thought is an opportunity to reset the automatic human negative default and refocus on that which can make us stronger, happier and more successful together. Carpe diem!

Written for my late father, Joseph Becker, my best friend, mentor and teacher.  A great soul whose light shines on.

More on empowering and engaging our greatest hope?  YOU betcha!  Lots of great links on 3Q personal development, leadership development and organizational development!

Personal Development
Turn Negativity Around:  Three Simple, Powerful, Purposeful Ways to Reset the Internal GPS
The Empowerment Compendium
The Secret to Personal Development and Growth
The Happiness Compendium
Success Equals the Reach and Resonance of the Human Heart

Leadership Development
From Now to How:  Building Social, Virtual and Cross Generational Leadership
Disrupt the Status Quo:  Make the Critical Shift Forward
Women and Leadership:  10 Powerful Steps Forward for Women and Men
The Leadership Compendium: Leading in the face of change, challenges, complexity
Rising to the Challenge Before Us:  Leading Forward

Organizational Development

The Thriving Organization-10 Powerful Steps Out of Jurassic Park
The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership Development
From Now to How:  Building Social, Virtual and Cross Generational Leadership
Winning the New War 
Improving Your Corporate Culture by Adriana Girdler

 

More on 3Q Personal Development, Leadership Development and Organizational Development? You betcha.  I go the distance for my clients face to face, by tel, skype and video conf.

 

Irene Headshot

 

 

Turn Negativity Around: 3 Simple-Practical-Powerful Ways To Reset The Internal GPS

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Turn Negativity Around: 3 Simple-Practical-Powerful Ways To Reset The Internal GPS (Including 13 Bonus Links)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 26,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

 

Three Powerful, Practical Ways To Do A Human ResetThe mindset that took us forward in the past, will not lead us forward.  We are living in a whole new world, a brave new world where the best and brightest among us are pioneers facing a new frontier of unprecedented change, challenges, complexity and opportunity.  Best practices must be practices in the no, Skills  development must focus on whole brain thinking, enhancing our ability to learn and relearn, building critical human strengths that drive all 3Qs  ideation-empathy-purpose/values.

Is it time to get out of the box?  Turn negativity around?  Become energized, empowered and solution focused?  Here Are Three Simple, Practical And Powerful Ways To Reset The Internal GPS!

1. Delete:  Delete an  energy stealer or inertia builder that is undermining your ability to transform challenges into solutions. Start right now by deleting one negative thought  that is not taking you forward.

2. Reboot: Stop the blame game,  let go of who did what, of who has what.  Reboot a better perspective by letting go of one thought that is causing you more pain than gain.  Let go, reboot and refocus on  a positive goal and intention that takes you forward.

3. Upload:  Take 2 minutes a day three times a day to be positive, to let go of any negative thoughts and beliefs.  Here is a simple but powerful exercise you can do almost anywhere.  An exercise that will help you build greater mindfulness, enhanced focus, improved resilience, ideation.  Schedule your day with blank time, time between meetings, time between commitments where you can simply recharge.  Science has documented the powerful benefits of blank time to cognition, health.

Negativity is a box that traps our potential; escaping the negativity box is critical.  The imperative to be relentlessly solution focused is written on the walls of our lives, organizations and society.  Negativity traps us in pattern of thinking and feeling that can keep us stuck in ways we cannot even begin to imagine. We inherit negative beliefs, we are taught negative beliefs, we create negative beliefs, and sometimes we just pick up negative beliefs from the good opinion of others or the plethora of fear based negative news that surrounds us. Mirror neurons transmit our negative feelings to others and their feelings to us.  We get stuck in a negative mindset which appeals to our reptilian brain, our most primal instincts, and clouds our ability to see opportunities, develop solutions and build an important bridge between what is and what can be.

Science now tells us that our brains are set to automatic negative; a default pattern from our days fighting predators in the cave.  A default pattern we need to reset, as it will not take us forward. Negativity that puts a lid on our greatest potential and erodes our sense of happiness and well-being. Negativity is an emotional virus that traps our potential, erodes our communication and collaboration, destroys our relationships and impacts our ability to find opportunities and solutions.

The imperative to reset the individual and organizational GPS is critical. Start now by taking three simple steps that can help you escape the negativity box.  Delete-Reboot-Upload!

 

More on resetting the individual and organizational GPS?  YOU Betcha!  
Here are 13 bonus links on 3Q Personal, Leadership and Organizational Development:

Personal Development
The Empowerment Compendium
The Secret to Personal Development and Growth
From Victim to Victor
Disrupt the Status Quo:  Using Strengths and Challenges to R-E-A-C-H and lead forward!

Leadership Development
Women and Leadership:  Ten Critical Steps Forward for Women and Men
The Leadership Compendium | Leading Forward in the Face of Complexity and Change
Winning the Race With Five Hungry Wolves-Ten Steps
The New Leader

Organizational Development
The Thriving Organization-10 Powerful Steps Out of Jurassic Park
The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership Development
From Now to How:  Building Social, Virtual and Cross Generational Leadership
Winning the New War 

And… The Pause:  A 2 minute way to recharge, refocus and repurpose

 

More on 3Q Personal Development, Leadership Development and Organizational Development? You betcha.  I go the distance for my clients face to face, by tel, skype and video conf.

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The Secret To Peace And Prosperity | New Edition

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The Secret to Peace and Prosperity | New Edition
With 18 Powerful, Insightful and Inspiring Bonus Links (scroll down for links!)

© Irene Becker

Three wise men and one wise woman were walking in the woods, when they found a special box, a box unlike any other, hidden deep in the forest…
Secret to Peace and Prosperity

The three wise men approached the most incredible treasure, the secret to peace and prosperity…

 

The first wise man was too busy to see the treasure…

 

The second wise man was too stressed to see the treasure…

 

The third wise man fell to his knees and wept because the greatest treasure, the secret to peace and prosperity was emblazoned on a simple blade of grass that sat between the river of his greatest desires and his most hidden weaknesses and fear…

 

  • Live and lead with faith in your highest power and dedication to following the universal values that sustain your world, and you will discover the secret to building your best self, best thoughts, best emotions and best actions.

 

  • Live and lead with compassion and non-judgment towards yourself and your fellow human beings, and you will discover the secret to building humility, courage, tenacity and resiliency in the face of change and pain.

 

  • Live and lead with love in your heart for the great gift of life, and you will discover that the secret to peace and prosperity lies not in what you can command, control or acquire but in what you can give, receive and share.

The third wise man turned to the wise woman with whom he shared his story,  and continued to cry.

Because…

In reading what was written on that simple blade of grass between his greatest desires and his most hidden weaknesses and fears…

He had opened his head, heart and soul to that eternal flame that can transform all that is into all that can be…

Today, as you are reading these words and digesting this simple story; think about the purpose of your life, pause and reflect upon the reality that life and the accoutrements of success and comfort that you acquire on your journey are simply on loan to you.

When you leave this life, all that you have commanded, controlled and acquired disappears.

But, the faith, compassion and love that you have shared with others becomes a legacy, an eternal, timeless treasure that will remain in the hearts and minds of those whose lives you have touched. A gift that they can, in turn pass on to others who seek to realize their potential to make a difference in their world.

Seize this moment, this day to think about how you can build the faith, compassion and love that can help you take your life from good to great by simply starting to activate your potential to make a difference in the life of another. 

Because, all that we have, all that we are, is nothing in comparison with what we have the power to become when we choose to live and lead from goodness to greatness.

Yours in service,
Irene

More about Human Passion, Purpose and Potential?  YOU Betcha

Against All Odds:  A True Story of Hope, Courage and Leadership
From Victim to Victor
The Empowerment Compendium
Look Within-You Are The Secret
The Best And Worst Of Times
Our Greatest Hope
Rising to the Challenge Before Us
Success Equals The Reach And Resonance Of The Human Heart
The Secret To Personal Development And Growth
Be The Miracle
Rediscover Your Genius
The 18 Word Success Formula
True Happiness-Transformational Joy
The Happiness Compendium
Live And Lead Forward-Connect And Contribute
Goodness to Greatness Leadership
A Collection of Favorite Quotations
Great Read Excerpt and Review of Dare Dream Do by Whitney Johnson

 

More on 3Q Personal Development, Leadership Development and Organizational Development? You betcha.  I  go the distance for my clients face to face, by telephone, skype or video conferencing.  Email: irene@justcoachit.com   Call: (416-671-4726) Skype: beckerirene

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The Individual and Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership

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The Individual & Organizational Imperative for 3Q Leadership
A Compendium of Practical and Powerful 3Q Leadership Insights and Strategies

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 25,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

Leadership and great leadership development depend upon our ability to empower, engage, learn-relearn new ways to optimize the best in ourselves and others. “Even poor leaders can change their spots” Jack Zenger, Joseph Folkman Harvard Business Review

 

3Q Leadership

Aspiring to great leadership in our lives, our work and our organizations is critical.  We must rise to the challenge before us, or remain stuck in a place of stasis, complacency, rigidity or reactivity that fuels decline.

Not everyone wants to be a leader, but we must all  hone our leadership skills in order to become successful pioneers in a brave new world where change, challenge, complexity and opportunity will confront us every step of the way.

We need great leaders who champion us forward and guide us towards a better present and future. Great leadership is grown from refusing to be broken or defeated in the face of the greatest challenges and failures; but using them to develop new ways, better ways of thinking, communicating and doing that inspire the best in oneself and others.

 

Great leadership is mirrored in the thought and actions of those who lead forward!  Great leadership is championed and furthered by those who understand that it is our ability to work together to develop a better present and future that will guide us forward or take us to the abyss of decline and destruction.

Great leadership includes (to quote, McKinsey and Company) “motivating people means going beyond money“.Great leaders means more that strategic thought and the ability and experience to drive execution; it means honing one’s ability to empower others.

Great leadership is a 3Q equation supported by courage.  Courage grows each time we align intelligence (IQ) humanity (EQ) + integrity (SQ).  Results are achieved when not only play to strengths, but USE changes, challenges, stressors even failures to R-E-A-C-H (Redirect focus-Empower confidence-Actualize potential-Harvest results)

A Compendium Practical and Powerful 3Q Leadership Insights and Strategies:

  • Talent Optimization: Using strengths, challenges and changes to learn and lead forward | Great leaders illuminate the path in the face of complexity and change. 

Leadership and great leadership development depends upon our ability to empower, engage, learn-relearn new ways to optimize the best in ourselves and others. “Even poor leaders can change their spots” Jack Zenger, Joseph Folkman Harvard Business Review

 

More Compendiums?  YOU Betcha

The Leadership Compendium
The Agile Management And Leadership Tool Kit
The Empowerment Compendium
The Personal Development Compendium
The Career Transition Compendium
The Happiness Compendium

 

More on 3Q Personal Development, Leadership Development and Organizational Development? You betcha.  I  go the distance for my clients face to face, by telephone, skype or video conferencing.  Email: irene@justcoachit.com   Call: (416-671-4726) Skype: beckerirene

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From Victim To Victor | New Edition

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From Victim to Victor | New Edition!
With 33 Inspiring Bonus Links & Tip Sheets

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 25,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing! 


joker

The secret is out of the box! We want life to be an easy path, but it is not.   Life is difficult; it is also challenging and exciting adventure, a treasured gift. How do we move past the wounds of the past that we all face? Words make worlds, thoughts create our perspective.  consciousness and perspective are everything.

 Every day, in every way, you choose to be either a victor or a victim of life.  

 

Victors choose the hard road, the path of personal power and positive change.  They chose to take  the road less traveled.  A road of life by design,  a path that reflects their values and their vision.  Victims choose the easier path and in so doing become prisoners of a life spent by default.  Victors live life with passion and purpose, victims just spend their life on autopilot, on a journey of default in which they dance to another man’s drummer and never find their true path.  Victims and victors come in all sizes, shapes, economic and social classes.  If you look closely you will see them in every station of life.  If you look closely, you will see that both under-achievers and over-achievers are victims of the same wound.  They both seek validation, in different ways.  But, the only true validation we have comes from inside out.  It is the validation and internal power we feel and live when we engage our truest faith, hope, courage, integrity and humanity.  It is the empowerment we feel when we recognize that we each have an important role to play, no matter how large or small in a greater purpose. 

If you are victor reach out this week and inspire a colleague, friend or loved one to seize the day with passion and purpose.  If you are a victim, do not despair.  Carpe diem.  You can change your thoughts, your beliefs, your habits to reflect your personal power and your ability to live life by design.  The first step starts with awareness and appreciation.  Each day, each moment holds the seed of possibility for positive change and growth.  What is your drummer?  What is your design?  What dreams and values do you hold dear to your heart that you need to express?   Are we impelled and propelled forward by values that speak to our true purpose, or by ego that will hold us in the embrace of false security and meaningless victories?

It is never too late to embrace self-love and self-worth from inside out!  You  can choose to walk the hero’s journey to the destination of our choice, to a life well spent.  The choice is now.  If you hear the call, take one small step today to move past fear, past habitual excuses, past negative self talk and self-criticism that holds you back. Tomorrow take another step towards a greater goal.  Hear the call.  Victory awaits you.

More on Personal Leadership and Empowerment?  YOU Betcha!

Great Read Book Review and Excerpt
Dare-Dream-Do by Whitney Johnson

 

I am committed to helping smart people and organizations use changes-challenges-strengths to optimize and catalyze their potential by building their 3Q Leadership Edge.
Use changes and challenges to improve  whole brain thinking, engagement, empowerment, communication, management, leadership…career success?
Yes, the proof is in ten years of inspiring and outstanding  3Q results! 

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Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ |  IQ-EQ-SQ for Reach-Resonance-Results
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training and Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ 

Face to face and/or virtually by telephone, video conferencing or skype!
3Q Leadership Blog- 25,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

From Now To How: Social, Virtual and Cross Generational Leadership

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From Now To How: Social, Virtual and Cross Generational Leadership

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 25,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  

This article was first published, on a terrific blog of extraordinary thinkers, Switch and Shift! Thanks to Ted Coine and the Switch and Shift Team for sharing this post.

Leadership Balance

You can criticize, condemn and complain or imagine, inspire and innovate. Your choice will determine your destiny. – Deepak Chopra

The need to go from NOW to HOW is critical. Leadership starts with our ability to imagine, inspire, innovate and communicate forward.

Hope lies in not simply playing to strengths, but to seizing every challenge, change, stressor and failure as an opportunity to grow, evolve and expand the power of our minds, the strength of our brains and the capacity of our hearts.

Courage lies in our ability develop a whole new mind set, skill set and heart set that optimizes the unbridled passion, purpose and potential of humans to do better, rather than simply living or working faster than ever before.

Strength lies in finding a common language, a common message that touches the heads, hearts and mind of many. A message that transcends social, ethnic, virtual and cross generational lines because it speaks to the purpose that unites us all.

Leadership starts with our ability to imagine, inspire, innovate and communicate forward.

Leaders must be purpose driven because purpose equals profit on a multiplicity of levels. If your employees, your team, your constituents do not feel that the work they do, the contribution they make, is purposeful they will never optimize or maximize their potential.

If they do not feel that they are an integral part of a bigger picture, a larger goal or a greater team, the engagement, loyalty, transparency of communication and collaboration optimization of engagement and potential will not be achieved.

Similarly, if they do not have access to resources that help them learn new ways of thinking doing and communicating that enable their greatest potential in the face of change, challenges, complexity and opportunities they cannot lead forward.

Leaders must embrace their ability to go from NOW to HOW by not simply playing to strengths but also to using change, challenges, stressors, even failures to optimize all 3Q’s: IQ (intelligence-focus-ability to learn and re-learn faster and better); EQ (emotional intelligence; self awareness, self management, relationship management, social management, communication); and SQ (values, purpose, integrity).

3Q Leadership strengths are not for the faint of heart. They are instead for those who want to negotiate dark corners, build new bridges among diverse groups and develop communities of purpose and practice that survive and thrive by using strengths, changes and challenges to communicate and lead forward.

Leaders must be excellent listeners, learners and communicators who build bridges across diverse groups, internal and external constituencies. They must build and empower Communities of Purposewhere shared objectives, values, purpose and language empowers, engages and sustains actual, social/digital/virtual communication and collaboration.

They must have the courage to negotiate dark unknown corners with courage, hope, faith, integrity and humanity knowing that the differences that separate us are inconsequential in relation to the common human bond and purpose that unites us.

They must have the communication skills to find the message, the sound bite that opens the ears, heads, hearts and minds of all, irrespective of race, creed, gender or generational age. They must be leaders who learn, re-learn and fail forward faster and better than ever before by developing real and virtual/social communities of purpose.

Leaders must be excellent listeners, learners and communicators who build bridges across diverse groups, internal and external constituencies.

The need to go from NOW to HOW is critical. Leadership starts with our ability to imagine, inspire, innovate and communicate forward. It means embracing our ability to learn, re-learn, imagine, inspire and innovate by championing the mental, emotional agility and consistency of united purpose and integrity that can help us use what is to create what can be in ourselves, our people, our organizations…our world.

About the Author:

First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene Becker has a track record of trailblazing accomplishments in business and in the community at large. Irene is an inspiring executive coach, speaker and writer whose R-E-A-C-H methodology and 3Q focus has helped clients achieve breakthrough results in their careers, communication, leadership and lives. Passionate about the integrity of her work, Irene is dedicated to helping change-makers LEAD forward at the speed of change.
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Leadership Means Climbing The Mountain

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Leadership Means Climbing The Mountain
(One Post & 21 Bonus Links)

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 25,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!
 

Lead Forward! The call to climb the mountain has never been greater.
If you listen, you will hear it. Our ability to climb it is REAL

Climb The Mountain-Lead Forward

Leadership is a trek around foggy corners, bluffs and terrain that challenges us beyond our wildest imagination; leading us where most people fear to tread. On good days, we move upward, forward and onward to new challenges, heights and accomplishments. On bad days, we may slip, fall, lose our balance and tumble backward.  On all days, leadership means learning, re-learning and failing forward with faith, hope, courage, integrity and humanity.  It means leading forward.

Leadership is not a tactic or a strategy; it is a commitment to climbing the mountain by honoring and empowering the best in our self and others.  It is a commitment to service above self rooted in love.  Love gives us the power to lead forward where others fear to tread. It is the fire that lights the indomitable power of our heart, mind and soul. Falling off the path, losing our grip and ability to negotiate difficult terrain and foggy corners occurs when we slip, slide or fall into fear based ego, hubris or arrogance.  It is corrected by self-awareness, humility and the conviction to embrace the love, the commitment to service above self that can take us forward.

True leadership is not about being nice, nor is it about being intimidating; it is about serving the greatest good, and empowering the best in oneself and others so that we can climb the mountain.  It means taking hard decisions and making the sacrifices necessary to negotiate foggy corners and challenging terrain with hope, faith, courage, integrity and humanity.  The imperative to build and sustain purpose driven leadership, to inspire purpose driven work, to build purpose driven communication and collaboration has never been greater.  Purpose equals profit on a multiplicity of levels, leadership is about tapping into our truest purpose and inspiring those we lead to do the same.

Leadership  is 3Q equation supported by courage that grows each time we align intelligence (IQ), humanity (EQ) and integrity (SQ); each time we use challenges, changes and strengths to  learn/re-learn, adapt and align best thoughts, best speech, best actions.   Leadership touches an emotional chord in others, as mirror neurons help us share our deepest emotions, our most heartfelt convictions.

Leadership means resetting the individual and organizational GPS,  by developing communities of purpose and a common language language rooted in the mutual objectives and shared values that create a bridge between cultural, personal and inter-generational differences.  It demands a relentless focus on climbing the mountain better and faster than ever before by using our minds, empowering our brains and aligning our hearts.  It means climbing the mountain by using  what is to create what can be; a better self, better teams, better organizations, better communities…a better world.

Lead Forward! The call to climb the mountain has never been greater.
If you listen you will hear it.

More on Leading Forward?  YOU Betcha!  Twenty Bonus Links:
Ten Practical Ways To Build Essential Success Skills At The Speed Of Change
The 3Q Leadership Skills You Need to Build NOW-10 Steps
Win the Race with Wolves:  Live, Learn and Lead Forward 10 Steps

An EQ Primer for  Effective Leadership-Management-Teambuilding
Top Leadership and Communication Posts 2012
The New Leader
Winning the New War
Women & Leadership :  Ten Critical Steps Forward for Women and Men
Building R-E-A-C-H™ (video:  3Q Leadership™ for Project Managers)
Rising to the Challenge Before Us (post and video)
Ten Ways to Lead Forward in Times of Complexity and Change
Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose 

More? YES…Great Guest Posts and Great Reads!

How to Improve Your Corporate Culture by Adriana Girdler
Lead Fwd with “Corporethics” by Pablo Fernandez & Yusuke Yamashita, PH.D
An Argument for Purpose-Driven Business by Carol Cone and Jackie Murphy
My Interview with Dr. Amit Nagpal on Enlightened Business and Leadership

Managing With A Conscience By Frank Sonnenberg
The Power of Communication by Helio Fred Garcia
The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge
Full Steam Ahead by Jesse Lyn Stoner and Ken Blanchard

I am committed to helping smart people and organizations use changes-challenges-strengths to optimize and catalyze their potential to communicate & LEAD FORWARD.  Use changes and challenges to improve communication, management, leadership…career success?
Yes, the proof is in ten years of inspiring and outstanding results! 

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ |  IQ-EQ-SQ for Reach-Resonance-Results
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training and Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ 

Face to face and/or virtually by telephone, video conferencing or skype!
3Q Leadership Blog- 25,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

 

Leadership Means Doing Good In the World

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Leadership Means Doing Good in the World
The Individual & Organizational Imperative to DO GOOD
© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership Blog

 

womandoors
The individual and organizational imperative to DO GOOD in the world is clear.
 The implicit value of leaders who seek to serve, and organizations focused on creating value for all constituents is the only path to a better future. Companies that do not create true value for their employees, stakeholders, clients and communities will eventually wither and die. The secret to individual and organization success hinges on our ability to do good. Doing good means creating value for others.  Doing good means developing the Q skills the can help us use change, challenges and strengths to optimize potential, while developing the adaptability, agility and collaboration we need to survive and thrive.  Doing good means learning to adapt, learn and relearn while protecting the integrity and values that are fundamental to sustainability.  

 

Purpose equals profit on a multiplicity of levels. Our ability to feel good and do good is broken when the human substance, the noblest values that hold our world together are compromised.   Food was meant to make our body strong.  Life is a gift to be lived to its fullest.  Millions of people spend their intimate moments with a computer embracing virtual intimacy that is devoid of true connection.  It is easy, it is fast, but is it better than real human contact or connection? Some of stay in jobs that compromise our value system or to not engage our purpose and potential  because it is easier to stay with the devil we know than to move on and find a position that is in better alignment with our integrity…is it better?  Most of us live in apartments or houses that our great grandparents would have considered the lap of luxury, and yet too many of us have no real community and do not even know our next door neighbor.  We have more material comforts, but lack the emotional connection and sense of community and contribution that fills our soul. Is it better?   Corporate cultures are ailing; many are slowly dying as the focus on satisficing and on layers of bureaucracy that dim the human spirit makes finding meaning, value and purpose at work difficult for far too many.

If we do not engage our best self, do our best work and live our best life by enshrining our greatest values, our noblest ideals,  we create a bubble that will ultimately burst and plummet to the ground. Engaging our best selves, doing our best work and living our best lives means resetting the individual and organizational GPS; it means learning to USE change, challenges and strengths to develop the whole brain strengths, creativity, empowerment, initiative, collaboration and processes that help us LEAD forward by using the very changes and challenges we face as levers for the fire of human potential, the power of human values, the promise of great leadership.

If we do not reset the GPS and lead forward, we will fall backwards.  The business/material  and/or social success we have acquired will not break our fall, because we have compromised the seedbed of our humanity by forgetting that success and leadership must be predicated on our ability to DO good and create value for others.  Every great empire, fiefdom and corporation in recorded history has been destroyed by need, greed and ego.  The dark side of human character must be replaced with leaders, managers and collaborators who are focused on doing good, because greatness is truly a coefficient of goodness.

We can throw ourselves into the quicksand of negativity, envy, jealousy by deciding to forget the power that we each possess to make a positive contribution, to do something of value. But at the other side of darkness there is always light.  Light to recapture our power to create value and do good.  Light to engage our best self, do our best work and live our best life.  Power to make positive, value centered, soul centered choices.  Choices that will clear the fog of all that is wrong or the hail of militant mediocrity, greed or ego dominated choices that stand in the way of our living our best lives, doing our best work, developing our best organizations and communities.

Each small positive change, each bit of energy focused on doing good creates a ripple of value and integrity that in turn forms an ocean of hope and power for our self, our society and the world. If a butterfly in Tokyo can change the weather patterns in Los Angeles, what can our small actions each day, every way, have on our society and our world?   What would our personal and professional landscape look like if just 50% of us started each day with the intention to engage our best self, do our best work and live our best life? What would organizations look like if we they were focused on moving from cultures of satisficing to building learning and living environments that grow the trust, collaboration and potential of their people and constituents?

Each individual possesses the unique ability to make a positive difference, and leaders possess a titanic ability and responsibility to build the social, economic and intellectual capital that drives positive change, that creates well in the world. The fire of individual and organizational growth and well-being is not something we can touch, it is something we must feel and focus on; it is something we must build from top down with a sincere commitment to do good in the world.  Our greatest challenge and greatest strength lie in our ability to USE what is to create what can be; better selves, better leadership, better organizations, better communities.

More on Goodness Leadership?  YOU Betcha

Goodness to Greatness Leadership-7 Steps from Me to We
The New Leader
The Thriving Organization
What Does Leadership Really Mean?
Rising to the Challenge Before Us (post and video)
Leadership Means Building a Community of Purpose
Meaningful Work-Building a Management and Leadership Must
Ten Ways to Lead Forward in Times of Complexity and Change
Our Greatest Hope
The Secret to Peace and Prosperity

Guest Posts on Doing Good?  You Betcha
The Argument for Purpose Driven Business
Corporethics
Managing With a Conscience (Great Read Excerpt & Review)

 

 

I am committed to helping smart people and organizations use changes and challenges to optimize and catalyze their potential to communicate & LEAD FORWARD.  Use changes and challenges to improve communication, management, leadership…career success?  Yes!
Helping my clients build their 3Q Edge™ and develop the R-E-A-C-H™ that helps them lead forward smarter, faster and happier is what I do best!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | Reach-Resonance-Results
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training and Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ 

Face to face and/or virtually by telephone, video conferencing or skype! 
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

Women & Leadership: Ten Critical Steps Forward (for women & men)

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Women & Leadership: Ten Critical Steps Forward


A post for women and men who seek to empower stronger and better leadership in a world of unprecedented change, challenges and opportunities.  The future lies in the hands of those who can empower and enable others.  It is time for women and men to light the fire of human potential, of great leadership; doing so starts with women leading forward!  © Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ 

theearth

When we embrace our true potential, and do so with humanity, humility and the desire to serve the greatest good, we rekindle the most important fire of all; the fire of human potential-the fire of leading forward together!  Leadership is a 3Q Equation:  (IQ) Intellect-Strategic Thought EQ (emotions-empathy-self & social mgmt) SQ (values-integrity-humanity).   It is a gender-less equation that must be enfranchised by those who have typically been disenfranchised.  

The writing is on the walls of our lives, our communities, our organizations and our world; it is time for women to lead forward. 
And it is time for men to champion their sisters, because our individual and collective hope for a better future lies in men and women collaborating and leading forward together. 

You cannot light a fire with wet wood.  The future lies in the hands of those who can empower and enable the best in others.  I am grateful to the sisters, the women before me who suffered for my human rights, and to those men who had the courage to stand alongside them.  As a woman, as a part of an ethnic minority, as a member of the human race I am grateful to those who suffered before me for the rights and freedoms I have now.

The most important fire we can light is the fire of human potential, and I believe that women have a critical role to play.  It is a role that takes courage, resiliency and the ability to stand tall.  It is the most important role we can play. Most of the world, and most of womankind goes to bed hungry, disadvantaged and beaten in one way or the other.  The strength of those who have a voice and their ability to use their voices to lead forward is critical.  The strength of those who have been enabled with learning to use their knowledge to help others is imperative.  The strength of those who refuse to let go of their faith, hope, humanity, integrity and courage is our hope for a better future.

1. Empowerment is both an internal and external journey that takes time. It is important to stand up, not down; it is important to R-E-A-C-H forward  When the external conditions enfranchise human rights and voice, those who have been disenfranchised must then reset their own internal GPS. We will not go from a mindset of being dominated, to finding freedom and empowerment without resetting our own internal GPS by celebrating the power, the positive contribution we can and will make. What became clear to me, as I grew, learned and evolved was that it takes time for those who have been disenfranchised to step up to the plate.  Laws and society must first welcome them, and then those who have been underdogs need to go through their own metamorphosis where the chains of disenfranchisement and victimhood no longer impeded their own sense of self esteem or abilities.

2. Stereotypes must be challenged, because the pull of the past is strong, and the past will not take us forward. Strong women scare weak men.  This does not mean that we must undervalue our strengths.  It means we must stand up and stand tall. Typically men are taught to overvalue their strengths, and women to undervalue theirs. Stop stereotyping yourself.  See your strengths for what they are, and use your challenges to enable your potential. I believe with all my head and heart that women are in the midst of an important reset, as are other groups who have suffered.  And, it is those who can rise above what was, and see their ability to build a bridge between sisters, brothers, diversity, constituencies…between the human divide before us that will be able to lead forward.

3.  Do not become a victim of your biology, rather the biological imperative that women have to help the world lead forward.  Men are typically wired to control and women to connect. Don’t hide your desire to build a better world under a bushel, celebrate it, ignite it and pass the torch forward.  The same inherent strengths that make most of us great nurturers are what the world needs now more than ever before. Will we survive and thrive with a winner takes all model of leadership?  Will we develop learning organizations, better societies, improved lives for all constituents by continuing models of leadership, governance that no longer work?  Is it not time to celebrate our difference as women, our ability to really champion building organizations that strive and drive collaboration, communication and results for all constituents according to their respective abilities and potential?

4. Purpose = profit.  A whole new world, workplace and marketplace will continue to show us that leading forward means harnessing the potential of human being better, not simply doing faster than ever before. The inequities before us are incredible, but so is our power to lead forward. If we are daunted by what is, we cannot begin to use the very challenges we face to create what can be.  We must stand up, and standing up means rally the full force of our courage and commitment to doing what is in alignment with the integrity, humanity and values that will sustain our world.

5.  Stop competing, start collaborating. Celebrate the biological differences that can make us stronger TOGETHER. The corpus callosum that separates left and right hemispheres in women is thicker than in men.  Yes, the biological imperative that helps most women be mothers, tend to multiple responsibilities also gives us an ability that is now critical to our individual and collective survival and prosperity. While we know now that we can all build new neural connections, and that men can learn to be more whole brained; women are hardwired to do so.  Women need to take the lead in modeling new and better ways of communicating, collaborating and building relationships and in helping our brothers develop these critical skills.  While there are many men who are great communicators, collaborators and relationship builders, many can benefit from growth in these areas just as women can benefit from learning more from men about positioning themselves in ways that help them to lead forward in a still male dominated world and mindset.

6.  Get empowered, re-inspired and use this momentum to inspire others because the traditionally male model of leadership is not working. It is time to develop a new androgynous model of leadership that must be championed by women and men.  The testosterone surge, the brute strength and desire to win above all that has taken us to where we are now, must be transformed.  Women and men are critical to this transformation, and the imperative to work together has never been more important.

7.  Celebrate organizations and male leaders who have the courage, vision and values to champion women leaders and the leadership of those men and women who have been traditionally disenfranchised.  Help men build skills and strengths that have been traditionally ascribed to women, help those who have been traditionally disenfranchised so that they can become 3Q Leaders who can optimize brain power, emotional power and the spiritual strength needed to lead forward with values, vision and action.

8.  Come out of the closet.  Too many women are relationship builders, nurturers, communicators and leaders who want to be part of developing a new way, a better way to lead forward together. We want to make a difference, but we can get stymied by ego, by societal definitions.  Remember…  Purpose = profit.  Celebrate your purpose as a woman to help heal the world.  Yes, I did say heal and I know this is a term that many might frown at…but, take a look around you.  We need to heal as women, heal as minorities because the quicker we can stop looking at what was and use the strengths we have now to build and rebuild what can be, the faster and better we will move and lead forward!

9.  Appreciate your ability to be empathetic and to become a WHOLE human being, a whole brained and whole heart leader.   Men typically have a much higher concentration of testosterone, which is great when aggressive action is needed. Women are typically better at building relationships, collaborating, solving problems and analyzing people problems. Recognize it as one of the greatest challenges AND strengths you have. The importance of understanding how people feel, and using this understanding to appreciate and motivate the best in others is critical.  Model, teach and mentor empathetic leadership and watch it grow.  

10.  It is time to celebrate and USE our differences and strengths as women and men to lead forward together. We will never accomplish this without women pushing forward in a positive way with a voice that must be heard.  The voice of reason, the voice of compassion, the voice of collaboration, the voice of a new type of leadership that can take both men and women forward togetherOur voice is not loud enough yet, but it is getting louder.  We cannot and must not relent in removing the internal and external barriers before us. Our ability, as women, to light a fire of passion, purpose and potential is exponential.  Every time we lead forward, we help others do the same.

The most important fire we can light is the fire of human potential, and I believe that women have a critical role to play.  It is a role that takes courage, resiliency and the ability to stand tall.  It is the most important role we can play. Most of the world and most of womankind goes to bed hungry, disadvantaged and beaten in one way or the other.  The strength of those who have a voice, to use their voices to lead forward is critical.  The strength of those who have been enabled with learning to use their knowledge to help others is imperative.  The strength of those who refuse to let go of their faith, hope, humanity, integrity and courage is our hope for a better future.

When we embrace our true potential, and do so with humanity, humility and the desire to serve the greatest good, we rekindle the most important fire of all; the fire of human potential-the fire of leading forward together!

More on Women?  More on Leadership?  YOU Betcha!

Women Leading Forward
Against All Odds
Extraordinary Women Interview
Great Read Excerpt and Review: Dare-Dream-Do

Leadership Tips & Tools
Winning the Race with Wolves
Men and Women Leading Forward:  Building 3Q Leadership™
The Leadership Compendium

 

I am committed to helping smart people and organizations use changes and challenges to optimize and catalyze their potential to communicate & LEAD FORWARD.  Use changes and challenges to improve communication, management, leadership…career success?  Yes!
Helping my clients build their 3Q Edge™ and develop the R-E-A-C-H™ that helps them lead forward smarter, faster and happier is what I do best!

Irene Headshot

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | Reach-Resonance-Results
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training and Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ 

Face to face and/or virtually by telephone, video conferencing or skype! 
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

 

Remove the Wall to Your Greatest Potential

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Remove the Wall to Your Greatest Potential
R-E-A-C-H™ Forward
One post and 13 bonus links

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™| Reach-Resonance-Results
Helping smart people and organizations lead forward smarter, faster and happier.
Leadership, Communication and Career Solutions with a 3Q Edge™

A great man said that we must become the change we seek, but we all hit walls…

fist-through-the-wall

Yes, we all hit walls, but the imperative, the ability to break through the walls we face individually, collectively and organizationally is real.  It requires a new way of thinking and doing that helps us use what is to create what can be by resetting default patterns of thinking, communicating and doing that no longer work. It also means developing a NEW relationship with the changes we face that helps us optimize and catalyze our potential and the potential of others by building the Q skills that can take us forward smarter, faster and happier in the face of change, challenges, complexity and opportunity  Here is my story and the comments of others who have reached forward

Remove the Wall…

                                     Redirect focus
                                     Empower confidence
                                     Actualize potential
                                     Communicate effectively
                                     Harvest results 

Because, those who R-E-A-C-H™ forward
will LEAD forward! 

 

More on R-E-A-C-H™ and 3Q Leadership™?  You Betcha!

I am committed to helping smart people and organizations use changes and challenges to optimize and catalyze their potential to communicate & LEAD FORWARD.  Use changes and challenges to improve communication, management, leadership…career success?  Yes!
Helping my clients build their 3Q Edge™ and develop the R-E-A-C-H™ that helps them lead forward smarter, faster and happier is what I do best!

 

Irene HeadshotIrene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | Reach-Resonance-Results
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training and Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ 

Face to face and/or virtually by telephone, video conferencing or skype! 
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

 


Win the Race with Wolves: Live, Learn and Lead Forward 10 Steps

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Lead Forward! Win the Race with Wolves:  Ten Powerful Steps & Bonus Links 

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™| Reach-Resonance-Results 


I am committed to helping smart people and organizations lead & communicate forward smarter, faster and happier because I believe in our power to use the challenges we face to build the 3Q strengths that  transform challenges into solutions that help us LEAD forward in our lives, our work, our organizations…our world.

“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”  Abraham Lincoln


LionLiving, learning and leading forward means winning the race with five hungry wolves that are chasing the best and brightest among us:

  • Wolf 1. Career (business  or corporate challenges) that can keep you locked in stasis, hyperdrive or traveling in reverse.
  • Wolf 2. Communication breakdowns that crush or destroy  potential and results.
  • Wolf 3. Personal challenges and behavioural habits that impede and erode confidence, engagement, empowerment
  • Wolf 4. Interpersonal conflicts that destroy the personal relationships we need to succeed
  • Wolf 5. Health crises; a mental or physical crisis that has you stuck and suffering in silence

Sadly too many of us are losing the race.  Clearly, it is time to turn this around! Will you be a success statistic or a stress statistic? Here are facts YOU need to know U.S. corporations spend in excess of $10 billion dollars a year on “executive” and $300 billion a year on “general workplace” stress related physical, emotional ailments, illnesses, addictions, absenteeism, discord, dis-engagement, presenteeism.  Meanwhile, the World Health Organization forecasts that stress will be the major cause of disability by the year 2020. The U.S. divorce rate has skyrocketed to 70% of marriages.  European and Canadian marriages have a 50% divorce rate. The challenges that we face individually and collectively are written on the windows of our lives, our communities, our workplaces, our governments and our world.  Learning to manage stress is critical, but it is no longer enough.  We need to learn to use the challenges, changes, stressors, even failures we face to optimize and catalyze our individual and collective potential.  Pie in the sky?  Think again. Sharing my story,  the genesis of my 3Q work.

YES, we can win the race with wolves; yes we can live, learn and lead forward….one person, one organization, one community at a time.  Each shift forward will take us from ME to WE, from a focus on our individuality to a new balance between independence and interdependence that drives our best selves, best work, best organizations…and ultimately our best world. Success is a 3Q equation, with three powerful components that draw strength/success from each other.  It is an alignment of enhanced IQ (intelligence)-EQ (emotional mastery) and SQ (values alignment/positive purpose or spiritual quotient.  These are my favorite steps because they are steps you can take and use in small ways.  Small consistent steps that create a BIG difference in your life, your work, your people, your organization…your world.

1.  Refuse to be a victim or a victimizer.  Victims cannot recognize their own power; victimizers feel truly powerless and can only get empowered by abusing others.  Our ability to be a victim or victimizer is the easiest course of action, the default pattern that arises when we are confronted by fear, stress or challenges.  Resetting this default pattern is doable for most people. We all slip into the victim or victimizer role at times, because it is perhaps an automatic default, a need or desire to have someone give us all the answers, or to quell our own fear about not being able to by in total control of our lives.  Realizing me are slipping, and make a thought course correction that allows us to become free of the victim or victimizer role is transformational.

2.  Turn failure, challenges and stressors around by making everything a learning and growing experience. Change your headspace, think counter-intuitively because success is often born of failure or challenges.  Develop an attitude for gratitude, not only for what you have but for the very challenges you face.  Human history tells us that our greatest inventions were the results of our greatest challenges.  Personal history tells us that more often than not our greatest learning, our most important personal evolution occurs when we have faced an incredible struggle or challenge and come out the other side with our head, heart and values intact. Cultivate the art of failing forward!  Model failing forward, use it to transform failures into positive learning experiences.

3. You are your thoughts.  Use them carefully to live, learn and lead forward.  Get provocative with your thoughts by turning them around! Refocus, repurpose.   See challenges and strength with NEW eyes.  Learn how to R-E-A-C-H™ (Redirect focus-Empower Confidence-Optimize Potential-Harvest Results) Understand that your world is your thoughts; your consciousness creates your world.  Most of us have the ability to control our thoughts, to develop our minds and give orders to our brain that help us live, communicate and lead forward smarter, faster and happier.  Neuroscience is teaching us that neuroplasticity; the ability to rewrite our brains is real.  Neurogenesis has been located in the hippocampus and we are at the cusp of discovering new ways of tapping into the incredible ability of our minds to help our brains optimize their potential.

4. Drown out the noise and refocus on what is truly important.  What is your end game?  What do you really want from your life, your relationships, your job/your career?  Dig deeper in order to get clarity on YOUR purpose.  Find it, embrace it and use it to lead forward.  We each have a unique purpose that drives our best thoughts, best actions and best outcomes. Every purpose is important to our individual and collective success and happiness.  Take time to reflect upon what you really want.  I believe that what we all truly want is love and a sense that we have something important to contribute.  Find out what love really means to you, and remember that your true purpose is a purpose that is founded in sustainability, in the ability to do something that creates value for yourself and others.  The value you contribute can be as simple a smile and empathy for others that contribute to a happy home or workplace or as complex and challenging as leading an organization or country.  What remains critical is finding your true purpose and recognizing it in your daily thoughts and actions.

5. Get happier and more fulfilled by taking your ego out of the equation and getting rid of toxic inputs, environments and people.  By ego, I mean that sense of having to be validated by external things and people. Servant leaders serve the greatest good, and leave footprints that will be followed by others are not driven by ego, but by greatest good. If you are a servant leader, lead forward by finding new ways to inspire and engage the best in others.  If you are not a servant leader, find a leader whose work resonates with your heart and fill your thoughts with the thoughts of an actual or historical leader whose words speak to your highest power and greatest good.  Start focusing on the words of people whose highest values and words resonate with your truest purpose, your highest values.  Focus forward, and you will start to discover and get rid of toxicity in your thoughts, environment and relationships.

6.  Develop a community of purpose.  In a social world, in the new age of innovation success is achieved through and with the collaboration of others.  Whether you want to do well at your job, build your career, department, business unit, organization, community or country you are impotent without the collaboration of those you can trust and those who share your values and objectives.  On a personal level we all need a community of purpose, a core group of friends and advisors in who share our values, understand and applaud our objectives and will be there to add the critical human touch, the human heart to our daily lives. We all need a community of refuge where we can tell our truth, share our wins and challenges in total candor, knowing that we will be accepted with the confidentiality and empathy we need to lead forward.  On a macro level communities of purpose represent employees, constituents and stakeholders who share our values and objectives; people who will help us champion the cause and lead forward. 

7.  Find and trust your positive purpose because purpose = profit, and profit can only be attained through trust. Trust in self builds our ability to learn and relearn faster and better.  Trust in self allows us to develop trust in other people, people who are trustworthy. When we understand our positive purpose, we are attracted and attract others who are on the same path.  When we develop enhanced EQ (emotional intelligence) we build stronger social intelligence. Stronger social intelligence leads to enhance engagement, ideation, collaboration. When we develop stronger social intelligence that is aligned with our highest purpose, we build stronger SQ and start to develop relationships with people who inspire us, people whom we inspire because we share values and objectives that take us forward together, and help us leap tall mountains and small mole hills of challenge that would otherwise break our spirit or determination.

8. Build constructive discontent. Hone your ability to feel something difficult (even painful), while taking on the role of the participant observer. There is a body of research supporting the power of re-framing, but building constructive discontent is more than re-framing.  Constructive discontent is also learning to use what you are feeling and thinking to become the participant observer by witnessing what you are feeling but not being held hostage by the feelings.  Taking the role of the participant observer can help you step out of the immediate situation, watch the emotions, let them pass, and re-focus on your true goal or objective.  Learning to be the participant observer in your life, in your relationships in your career is not only useful it is one of the most powerful tools in winning the race against wolves. It is a critical skill that can be learned, and it can change your life.

9. Recharge, refocus, re-purpose. Get mindful in as little as 3 minutes a day.  Put your brain an alpha state three times a day.  Busy, stressed, time starved?  Well, you still have time to take a couple of minutes three times a day.  Find them and use them.  Here is a simple but transformational mindfulness exercise that works even for those who have tried meditation or meditative practices and failed. Caveat, using “The Pause” will help you feel better, live better, learn better and pushing yourself to do “The Pause” three times a day, to get into an alpha state will help you develop the important art of focusing your mind.  Critical, helpful and transformational.  Yes, small steps done consistently yield BIG results.  Here are more 3 min tools

10. Embrace change, embrace your incredible ability to adapt, learn and relearn.  See change with new eyes, eyes that help you reset default thinking patterns thinking.  Recognize that change is not a problem; it is our greatest opportunity to adapt, learn, re-learn, evolve and lead forward. Our intrinsic or automatic response is to fear change, react to change, balk at change.  So what?  When we recognize that while this pattern served us well in the caves but will not take us forward today, we can embrace change with positivity.  Push yourself to make a positive change in thinking, doing in a routine action every day.  A small change is a big change.  We cannot live, learn and lead forward without embracing change as our greatest power because surviving and thriving means adaptation; it means adapting the way we think, communicate and do  (IQ-EQ) with our most important values and purpose (SQ).

Success is a new journey of collaboration where we must share skills, knowledge and ideas in order to define and redefine best strategies, best practices in alignment with our highest values.  Success is creating value for others, and this value extends itself to our clients, co-workers, constituents and communities. Purpose = profit in a multiplicity of ways because the strength of our positive purpose is the bedrock of individual and collective evolution, growth and sustainability.  Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the reflection of personal social responsibility (PSR).  It is predicated on a new and important consciousness of empathetic leadership and management; a realization that we are each our brother’s keeper and that we cannot survive and thrive without a new focus that take us from ME to WE.

Success is a 3Q equation, with three powerful components that draw strength/success from each other.  It is an alignment of enhanced IQ (intelligence)-EQ (emotional mastery) and SQ (values alignment/positive purpose or spiritual quotient.  EQ (emotional intelligence/mastery) is a learned skill that can be taught, coached and mentored so that we optimize the power of our emotions to drive creativity, ideation, communication, collaboration.  SQ (spiritual quotient/values/positive purpose) is the bedrock of our individual and collective strength and hope.

Our ability to do good, be good and develop good habits, practices, relationships, organizations and communities is our greatest challenge and our greatest strength.  The secret to success is timeless; success means creating value for others.  Embrace your ability to use the changes, challenges and opportunities you face to live, learn and lead forward.  Get re-inspired by what you can do, can be, can create, can contribute.  Look not for what you can get, but focus on what you can learn, relearn, share and contribute every day in every way.

Turn failures and challenges into a new focus that will take you forward.  Time is our greatest declining resource, learning to use our time to optimize and catalyze our potential to live, learn and lead forward is critical, and doable.  Every positive step forward, every small positive, consistent step in the right direction will have a powerful impact on your life and the lives of others.

Pick a wolf that is chasing you and decide to win the race.  Empower yourself, engage yourself, and inspire yourself to the apex of your potential.  Live more, live better, learn and relearn faster by embracing the challenges you face as opportunities to grow, change, evolve and adapt in alignment with your most positive purpose and values.

And, if you get discouraged, remember that discouragement, and hardships are part of the human journey.  They are difficult parts, they are painful parts that you can transform and use to fulfill your potential.  Altruistic?  Yes.  Optimistic?  Yes.  Empathetic?  Yes.  I am all of the above, and have grown to this place by facing a host of changes, challenges and crises that helped me find my 3Q Edge.  Today, I have dedicated my life to helping people and organizations find their 3Q Leadership Edge™ because together we can live, lead and learn forward.  Together we can develop communities of living, learning and doing that surpass our wildest imaginations in breadth, depth and scope.  Together we can make a difference.

Celebrate your ability to be the difference and make a difference, nothing is more important. Building a better self, better team, better business unit, better organization and a better world starts with YOU.   We each have a critical role to play in our best life, best work environment and best world.  A role that starts when we decide to win the race with the wolves that are chasing us, one positive purposeful step at a time.  A role that is solidified when we decide to become part of the solution by living, learning and leading forward every day in every way! Yes we can!

More on winning the race with wolves?  More on living, learning and leading forward?  You Betcha!

The Leadership Compendium: Leading Forward in the Face of Change, Challenges, Complexity
Five Ways to Lead Forward by Championing the Challenge
What Does Leadership Really Mean?
Goodness to Greatness Leadership-Seven Steps from Me to WE
Five Ways to Take Control of Your Potential
Ten Ways to Lead Forward in the Face of Complexity & Change
The Happiness Compendium
Turning Conflict/Communication Problems Around
Building Constructive Discontent
3 Minute or less Cool Tools to Recharge-Refocus-Repurpose : Whole Brain Leadership

 

I am committed to helping smart people and organizations communicate & LEAD FORWARD smarter, faster and happier
because I believe in our power to use what is to create what can be in our lives, our people, our organizations…our world.

Irene HeadshotIrene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ Executive Coaching, Consulting & Training with a 3Q Edge™ | Reach-Resonance-Results
Face to face and/or virtually by telephone, video conferencing or skype!
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

 

Refocus, Recharge & Repower in 10 minutes or less!

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1 post and 12 bonus links! 

© Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge
Helping smart people & organizations lead & communicate forward smarter, faster and happier


 

Brain
I believe in Cool Tools>> strategies/techiniques that can be used quickly, effectively and almost anywhere; because, time is our most limited resource.  Using the time we have to build greater whole brain thinking, and 3Q Leadership™ ( Enhanced: IQ-intelligence  EQ-emotional mastery SQ-values alignment/spiritual quotient ) is more than my work, it is a personal and professional passion for helping smart people and organizations communicate & lead forward smarter, faster and happier.

**Whole brain thinking incorporates both the left and right sides of the brain. The left side of the brain deals with linear and logical thought processes, whereas the right side of the brain controls the imagination, intuition, creativity. We were all trained to be linear thinkers, but it is critical to develop whole brain skills and strengths.  Doing so can be fun and simple. Whole brain thinking is a critical leadership competency.

Free Tips and Exercises You Can Do In 3 Minutes or less a Day.  Simple, fast and free.  Triple Bonus.

• Identify the path (walking/driving) you prefer, then take a different one.

• In a similar vein in your personal life, experiment with taking one old habit every week and tossing it out the window or changing it.

•Walk down a street you are familiar with and search for something you have never seen or noticed before.  The results will surprise you!

• Uplift your posture. There are few more powerful ways to raise and sustain energy than to ease your posture upward, which frees your breathing and raises your energy level.

• Stretch your Strengths by applying them in new ways.

• Try writing a few sentences in the reverse direction, or with your opposing hand.

• Embrace new experiences.  Focus on learning from everything! What you focus on grows, and a positive focus on learning will expand your learning potential.

• Change at least one routine every day.

• Pause for 10 seconds before you respond.  Taking your ego (need to be validated out of the equation and refocusing you your objective).

• Take charge of tension by releasing it, fast.  Clench whatever part of your body is tense, and release it.  Even better, do your whole body-clenching & releasing.

Do The Pause. Yes, a mindfulness exercise that is transformative if practiced regularly

• Sip ice water. Fluids move hormones into exactly the right places for sustaining energy, and those same fluids eliminate toxic wastes that can accumulate and wear you down.

• Move more. Inactivity is an unnatural state for us, and it limits energy production.

Laugh more, smile more. Laughing gives your brain an aerobic workout, and is an excellent stress reliever and mood booster.  Smiling automatically elevates our mood.

• Keep an emotional journal that is for your eyes only.  A safe space on paper where you can write out your deepest emotions, releasing the tension associated with them.

•Take a 1 minute time out.  Block out all stress or worries.  Think about something that really makes you happy.  Yes, take a happiness time out!

Enjoy the suggestions in this post.  Try one or two on for size, and remember that trying a strategy or exercise means using it consistently for at least a week.

Training and coaching for greater whole brain skills is critical, and it will keep you on top of your game.

 

More on 3Q Leadership™?  You Betcha!
The Leadership Compendium
Ten Ways to Lead Forward in Times of Complexity and Change

Top 2012 Posts Leadership, Communication, Career
Men & Women Leading Forward |  Building the 3Q Leadership Skills You Need NOW
Make the Critical Shift FORWARD
Build Constructive Discontent-New Ways to Optimize Potential Are Critical
Enlightened Business & Results | 3Q Edge and R-E-A-C-H
Leadership Means Building A Community of Purpose
18 Word Success Formula
The Secret to Personal Development
The Pause-A 3 minute way to put your brain in that critical alpha state. Recharge-Refocus-Repurpose

 

Irene Headshot

  I am committed to helping smart people and organizations
communicate & LEAD FORWARD smarter, faster and happier
Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™
Executive Coaching, Consulting & Training with a 3Q Edge™ | Reach-Resonance-Results

Face to face and/or virtually by telephone, video conferencing or skype!
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

Lead Forward Training | Build the 3Q Leadership Skills YOU Need Now

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Lead Forward! Build the Leadership Skills YOU Need NOW! 
Outline of recent
 interactive 3Q leadership training workshop
 Project Management Institute (PMI) Durham Highlands Chapter 
Read what people saying  Irene on Leadership | Video Clip About R-E-A-C-H™
Interview About Enlightened Business & Leadership

PMI-DHC

Who should attend? Project/Program Managers and those interested in enhancing  leadership skills/roles.  PMPs will receive 7 PDUs |  Non PMPs receive 7 contact hours

leadership toolbox

Training/Learning Objectives:
Optimize-Humanize-Monetize With 3Q Edge™ and R-E-A-C-H™ Skills

• Optimize:    Understand & Develop Your 3Q Leadership Edge™
Humanize:  Use strengths AND challenges to catalyze potential by building R-E-A-C-H™
Monetize:    Lead Forward: Build Your Leadership Strategy, 3Q Edge™ and R-E-A-C-H™ for smart results


 

Part One: OPTIMIZE
Optimize Potential  By Developing YOUR 3Q Leadership EDGE™

  • What does effective (or agile) leadership really mean, and why is it so important?
  • Leadership Styles: Determine your leadership style and understand the benefits and challenges/pitfalls of each leadership style.
  • Building your 3Q Edge™:  Optimizing YOUR potential by building three key  “Q” strengths
  • Including individual and group exercises, interaction and a cheat sheet of 3Q Edge™ Leadership Tips & Tools

 

Part Two: HUMANIZE
Build R-E-A-C-H™  ( Redirect Focus-Empower Confidence-Actualize Potential-Communicate Effectively-Harvest Results) 
Start using strengths and challenges to empower, engage & lead forward

  • Adapting, enhancing, improving your leadership style with R-E-A-C-H™
  • The Best Practice Leader As Coach |  Using strengths and challenges to  empower & engage with R-E-A-C-H™
  • The Best Practice Leader As Master Communicator | Developing effective communication in an arena of complexity, change and with diverse       internal  and external  constituents
  • Including individual and group exercises, interaction and a cheat sheet of R-E-A-C-H™  Tips & Tools

 

Part Three: MONETIZE
Develop YOUR Leadership Strategy, Incorporating Your 3Q Leadership Edge™ and R-E-A-C-H™ Skills  For Smart Results

  • Understand and Set Your Purpose-Your Intention
  • Own Your Leadership Strategy
  • Turn Purpose/Intention and Training into Reality and Results
  • Including  individual and group exercises, interaction, and a cheat sheet of Leadership Strategy Tips & Tools

 


• Mark Your Calendar February 2, 2013
| 8am-4pm | Centennial Building, 416 Centre Street, Whitby, ON (Regal Room)
Register Onliine before Jan 27, 2013 at midnight www.pmi-dhc-ca
For Inquiries contact programs@pmi-dhc.ca (this is for questions about the program. All registrations are a MUST)

Cost for this Event:  $250.00 PMI Member
$300.00 all other participants
Registration is Limited.  Please contact programs@pmi-dhc.ca to register before midnight Jan 27, 2012

(plus HST 86051 9131 RT0001)

 

More information on Programs & Services. You Betcha!  I go the distance for my clients face to face, by telephone, skype or video conferencing
The Leadership Compendium
Ten Ways to Lead Forward in Times of Complexity and Change
Top 2012 Posts Leadership, Communication, Career
Men & Women Leading Forward |  Building the 3Q Leadership Skills You Need NOW
Make the Critical Shift FORWARD
Build Constructive Discontent-New Ways to Optimize Potential Are Critical

 Passionate about the integrity of  my work and its ability to help changemakers LEAD change;
I am committed to helping smart people and organizations
communicate & LEAD FORWARD smarter, faster and happier.
Irene Becker | Just Coach It
Executive Coaching, Consulting & Training with a 3Q Edge™ | Reach-Resonance-Results

Face to face and/or virtually by telephone, video conferencing or skype!
Contact: irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene 

Leadership Compendium: Leading Forward In the Face of Complexity, Change or Crisis

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Leadership Compendium:  Leading Forward in the Face of Complexity, Change or Crisis (Including 18 bonus links)

 

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  


  I believe in our power to use what is to create what can be in our lives and our organizations.
 Read  my  story: Against All Odds.   And most of all,  LEAD Forward!

►HOW?  Shift your mindset

Seeing your strengths and challenges, stressors and turning points, even your most difficult transitions or crises with new eyes that help YOU build your most important advantage, your 3Q Edge™. Yes, learning and unlearning faster and better than before.  Making a pivotal shift in mindset that will help you learn and unlearn faster, develop improved whole brain thinking and embrace a new solution focused philosophy is critical to the reach, resonance and results you seek to achieve. Leaders are made rather than born.” Warren Bennis

►WHY? We must distrupt/change what no longer works. Innovation-Actualization-Optimization of Potential is Key

Go ahead and disrupt/change/transform what no longer works. Build a new and better relationship with changes that helps YOU optimize your potential and the potential of others.  Our unsurpassed access to knowledge, information, technology and training alone cannot help us actualize and sustain greater leadership. Leadership means inspiring, motivating and leading the best in ourselves and others by using our strengths and challenges to build Q1: Whole Brain Thinking-Enhanced Creativity & Focus -IQ Q2-Empathy-Communication-Collaboration-EQ Q3-The courage, purpose and faith that drives our ability to serve the greatest good. SQ  Helping clients build 3Q Leadership™ is what my work is all about “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” Steve Jobs

►WHEN?  NOW because the challenges you face will increase.  Using them to lead forward is critical

Now, because leaders are innovators and pioneers who are ready to develop the 3Q™ strengths that drive passion, purpose, potential and leadership in the face of changes, challenges, stressors and crises. Developing our Q strengths is what leading well in the face of crisis is all about.The real source of wealth and capital in this new era is not material things; it is the human mind, the human spirit, the human imagination, and our faith in the future.” Steve Forbes

More?  YOU Betcha

Benefits of 3Q Leadership AND Why I Have Dedicated My Life To This Work

From Pain To GAIN:  Ten 21st Century Leadership Lessons Learned

Winning The Silent War That Is Destroying People & Organizations From Inside Out 

10 Practical Ways To Build Essential Success Skills At The Speed Of Change 

Success At The Speed Of Change-Essential Strengths Building REACH + 3Q Leadership

Mission Critical: Championing, Enabling and Empowering Our Ability to Win

From Now to How

Women and Leadership: A Post for Women And Men

Ten Ways to Lead Forward in Times of Complexity and Change

The Individual and Organizational Imperative to DO Good in the World

The Agile Leadership and Management Toolbox

 Building the 3Q Leadership Skills You Need NOW

Disrupt The Status Quo: Make the Critical Shift FORWARD

The New Leader

Winning the NEW War

Enlightened Business & Results | 3Q Edge and R-E-A-C-H

Leadership Means Building A Community of Purpose

Failing Forward-A Critical Leadership and Management Competency

Rising to the Challenges Before Us

The Pause-A 3 minute way to put your brain in that critical alpha state. 

 

Are you ready to go from Now to HOW? Time to get re-inspired?
Click for a list of 2013 Programs, Services, Professional Fees
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene 

Irene Headshot

 

Leadership and Enlightened Business: 3Q Skills and REACH

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Leadership and Enlightened Business: Building 3Q Skills and REACH
Interview Series-Global Leaders who have Enlarged, Excelled and Evolved into Global Personal Brand
s
Dr. Amit Nagpal www.dramitnagpal.com | Enlarge-Excel-Evolve

I want to thank Dr. Nagpal for an excellent interview.  I am honored and humbled that this interview has received over 2000 visits on his website in the past 60 days.  My passion, my purpose is to help change-makers LEAD change in the face of  internal and external challenges, changes.  I remain convinced that the only way to move forward, to lead forward is to develop what I call 3Q skills and R-E-A-C-H, and that the imperative to do so is not important but critical. Hope lies in our ability to learn and re-learn new ways, faster ways, better ways of optimizing, humanizing and monetizing our potential.  Hope lies in leading forward by developing individuals and organizations that serve and create value at the speed of change.


Irene Becker International Coaching Pioneer | Interview by Dr. Amit Nagpal

Dr Amit Nagpal: Irene, Tell us something about 3Q edge.
Irene Becker: The 3Q Edge™ refers to three critical areas of strength that I believe are important to life and leadership in the 21st Century. Areas of strength that can be developed/built using not only our potential but the challenges we face as catalysts for positive growth. Q1 IQ-Intellectual capacity under stress Q2 Emotional Intelligence Q3 Spiritual Quotient-our alignment to our highest power, our greatest values.

Dr Amit: How do you assess your client’s potential?
Irene : I have an intake and assessment process which not only allows me to best understand the client’s areas of strength and also challenges that can be transformed into Q strengths, but their goals/objectives. I also have excellent tests and assessments that I use.

Dr Amit: Tell us how we can create enlightened businesses. How can workplaces become more passion oriented?
Irene: I am presuming that what you mean by enlightened business is business that is founded on the desire to serve a greater purpose, or the greatest purpose. Enlightened businesses will develop employee engagement through training, coaching and initiatives that drive improved engagement and passion
Yes, workplaces must become more passion oriented, in that the workers, the managers and the leaders must all be engaged and moving forward. We have a new generation that seeks meaning in their work, and we have recognition in the workplace that meaningful work and employee engagement is critical.

Corporations are starting to change, and while the change is slow, we can see large organizations paying more attention to employee engagement, creating a better workplace. Purpose = profit. Corporations are about making money, and the ability to generate profits demands a new look, and an important look at an organizations most valuable asset, their people. Creating improved communication and leadership vertically and horizontally across the organization will become more and more critical.

Dr Amit: What are the 3 most important points for 21st century leadership?
Irene: Mission, Vision and Empowerment/Engagement

Dr Amit: How is coaching CEOs different from coaching middle management? More strategy, more ego?

Irene: Coaching CEOS is different from middle management in a number of ways as their oversight and responsibilities are different. Yes, there is often more ego to deal with and strategy and strategic objectives are critical, whereas the focus- when coaching a manager is totally different.

Dr Amit: How long you have been coaching professionals?
Irene: I have been an executive coach for ten years, and I coached, mentored and trained managers, senior managers and executives in my previous career as CEO of a steel company for another decade.

Dr Amit: How do we ensure that our experiences do not become our baggage?
Irene: I think that the only way to ensure that our experience does not become our baggage is related to consciousness and perspective. Desire to grow, to learn, to evolve, to share and contribute fuel our potential. And, our ability to see even the most difficult challenges we have faced as learning experiences that can not only take us forward but help us grow in ways we never thought possible, is critical.
Instead of asking why is this happening to me, or getting stuck in the past, we must focus on what pearls of wisdom and experience we can take from the past, on learning that can help us create a better present and future.

Dr Amit: There is a saying that only two people actually work in an organisation (they cannot evade responsibility), the sales executive and the chief executive? CEO cannot pass the buck for failure and sales executive cannot delegate to anyone. Rest of the people don’t work, they just manage others. What do you say?
Irene: Well, I think that the CEO and the Sales Executive cannot pass the buck and have oversight for the bottom line, but the engine of success are the managers and the people they manage. Together they all form part of a critical system that must evolve and grow or die.

Dr Amit: What is Passion Point Web TV all about? Do you own it?
Irene: Passion Point is a Web TV show that I do, I do not own it; is part of a roster of shows and programming on All Talk TV. Passion Point is about people who are living their passion through their work.

Dr Amit: Tell us about your REACH philosophy?
Irene: Effective leadership and communication are all about: Redirecting Empowering Actualizing Communicating and Harvesting. This is also the focus of great coaching. Let me explain
Great leadership and communication means redirecting one’s efforts and attentions and initiatives, actualizing potential, developing enhanced communication and collaboration (engagement) and harvesting the results.

Dr Amit: Corporates tend to have an opposition towards spirituality. Competition is about cutting throat after all. How do you handle it?
Irene: I do not stress SQ as spirituality, but rather values alignment. It is clear that without a values alignment, without serving not only the shareholders but all stakeholder sand the community, sustainability is impossible. Short term gain for long term pain will not work going forward. Building an organization that can stand the test of time, the velocity of change, demands values that are entrenched in the culture- not only the mission statement

Dr Amit: How can we tap into collective intelligence?
Irene: I think there are many ways to tap into collective intelligence, many layers…However; in terms of organizations the best way to tap into collective intelligence is to make learning part of the culture. I think that as we also see the global marketplace really expand, there will be a natural evolution of our collective intelligence as success is dependent upon transforming me to we. We must learn to work collaboratively, learn faster and do more for each other. In many ways this has already started to happen.
Peter Senge spoke about the learning organization decades ago. What he referenced in the Fifth Discipline is still critical today. A successful organization is a learning organization, and today that means tapping into the collective intelligence through culture and initiatives that improve the learning ability of the organization and its employees.

Dr Amit: Anything else you would like to share with our readers.
Irene: I am a learnaholic who embraces life, Dr. Amit, so my hobbies revolve around activities that grow my 3Qs…things that stretch my mind, my highest, noblest thoughts and my spiritual strength-alignment with the greatest good and, also a healthy dose of fun. We all need the fun factor, laughter, joy and an appreciation of same to not only optimize our brains and our potential, but our physical and mental well being.

Dr Amit: [important]It was great talking to you Irene. I am sure you must be bringing Reach, Resonance and Results for your clients.[/important]
————————
About Irene Becker
Executive Coach, Consultant, Speaker, Writer
Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It -The 3Q Edge™

Irene is based in Toronto, Canada and is virtually everywhere. She firmly believes, a satisfied client is the biggest award one can get.

First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene has a track record of trailblazing accomplishments in business and in the community at large. An insightful and inspiring executive coach, mentor, speaker and writer, Irene helps clients achieve breakthrough results in their communication, leadership and lives. Passionate about the integrity of her work and its ability to help change-makers LEAD change, Irene helps smart people and organizations develop 3Q Leadership™ and effective verbal, written and social communication that builds reach, resonance and results.

Irene welcomes your emails at irene@justcoachit.com and tweets at @justcoachit.

Men & Women Leading Forward-3Q Leadership in 10 Steps

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Men and Women Leading Forward Now-3Q Leadership
10 Steps to Building the Leadership Strengths YOU Need Now

1 Post & 10 bonus leadership links
A Pink Paper-Shorter than a white paper, but more extensive that a regular post!

© Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com  -The 3Q Edge™  | Improved Reach-Resonance-Results
Helping smart people and organizations lead & communicate forward smarter, faster, happier is what I do best 


 “Neuroplasticity is better than mind over matter. It’s mind turning into matter.”
Deepak Chopra and Rudolph Tanzi from a great book, Super Brain

The differences between men and women have been documented, argued, joked about; while experts have discovered that there are fundamental biological differences in the way women’s and men’s brains are structured and how they react, the most critical linchpin for 21st Century is the development of a more androgynous brain. Yes, the focus must be in learning and relearning new ways to make male and female brains more effective/androgynous, if you will.  Focusing on gender differences is interesting, but it is our ability to not only use intrinsic strengths but reset default patterns and retrain our brains that will help us optimize, humanize and monetize human potential and leadership abilities. The need to find new ways, faster and more effective ways to not only develop the type of leadership strengths we need has never been greater. The emphasis of leadership, the focus of those who lead must encompass the development of improved strategic thought in high stress, high change, and diverse arenas as well as the communication and collaboration that transforms vision into action, strategy into execution, possibility into opportunity and results.

The New Leader, the Successful Leader is a strategic thinker, a whole brained leader (androgynous thinker) with what I call 3Q abilities or strengths; enhanced ideation under stress, improved emotional intelligence and engaged spiritual quotient-values as primary drivers and motivators. Our definition of success is changing and it will continue to change.  Corporations and individuals are facing a new reality. Success demands mobilization and optimization of human potential, achieving it means tapping into the purpose that drives human beings.  Enabling engagement, empowerment, improved ideation, cognition, communication, collaboration is a core leadership competency.  A competency that means developing a more androgynous brain; a competency that means learning and relearning new ways of thinking, doing and communicating that make Peter Senge’s visionary model and ideal of the learning organization must become a reality.  And, the organizations we build must be not only learning, but living, leading and contributing entities. Purpose = profit.  Human beings need purpose and meaning to be motivated when the going gets tough; and, let’s face it the going is going to get tougher as we continue the march from the age of information to the age of innovation.

Command and control leadership, while still alive and well is a short term, disengaging mode that will lead to a toxic workplace where learning, communicating and doing are obscured. The imperative to coach and train those who lead and those who aspire to greater leadership to develop their 3Q Edge is critical.  The coachable moment, the executive focus must be geared towards helping clients/constituents develop R-E-A-C-H (redirect focus, improve confidence, actualize potential, communicate effectively and harvest results) in arenas of high change, high stress and increasing diversity and opportunity.

Ten Steps to Building 3Q Leadership Strengths:

 

1.  Embrace Your Failures.  Learn, re-learn, fail and succeed forward.  Practice it, model it, and optimize it.  Yes, that means getting naked with your failures, taking off the shield of invulnerability and looking at what has not worked, what is not working with new eyes.  Eyes that will not only help you lead forward, but help you teach, mentor and coach those you lead to fail forward, faster and better.

2. Understand how your brain works.  Use it or risk losing it. Get in the know.  The World Health Organization forecasts that stress will be the major cause of disability by the year 2020.  American corporations spend in excess of $300 million a year on stress related addictions, problems, presenteeism, absenteeism, personal problems etc.  Stop, reflect on your ability to learn brain basics that will help you understand YOUR power to learn, relearn and model/coach and teach others to think, communicate and collaborate more effectively under stress. You do not need to become a neuro-nut, but you need to comprehend YOUR ability to learn, re-learn and re-set default patterns of thinking, doing and communicating that will not help you develop the leadership strengths you need to succeed and to inspire the best in those you lead. Deepak Chopra and  Rudolph E. Tanzi  recently published an excellent book on brain basics, Super Brain.

 

3.  Practice simple but powerful exercises that help your brain grow, stretch and evolve.  Take a few minutes each day to think differently.  How?  Start by changing a simple routine.  Brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand.  Try writing sentences backwards. Take a different route to work.  Walk down the street and look for things you have never seen before.  Take a time each day to feel gratitude.  Take time each day to simply laugh and enjoy.  Take time each day to learn something new.  Practice putting your brain into an alpha state, and important brain state for creativity, ideation, increased focus and improved spiritual connection.  What?  Yes, get alpha.  Here is a quick, but powerful exercise you can do to get into the alpha groove.

4.  Human doing is not enough. Human being is the way.  Being a cog in a wheel, acting with complacency and blindly following the status quo will not work going forward. Put your head and heart to work.  Human relationships count.  Employee disengagement, presenteeism are rife in organizations, and they erode potential from inside out.  Building trust, engagement, effectiveness; developing a Community of Purpose starts with human being better, not simply doing faster than ever before. Stop, pause, find new ways to develop empathy by building not only greater self awareness, but awareness of the needs and motivations of others.  Developing vertical and horizontal relationships, developing human connections, person-person, social/digital network to people

5. Understand gender differences, and use them to learn, relearn and reset default patterns.  IF you want to lead, you want to build a more androgynous brain. Make learn, relearn, fail forward and succeed your mantra. Yes, most women are better communicators than men and they have greater facility at understanding non verbal cues. Yes, woman are biologically hardwired to be able to move between left and right hemispheres of the brain thus being more aware of feelings and being able to ideate and communicate at the same. Women also appear to have greater facility mediating conflict/tending and befriending during stressful situations.  Yes, most men are generally stronger at left brain activities (task orientation, problem solving, spacial ability, mathematical computation). So what? So now it is time to develop a more androgynous brain, to build your abilities regardless of gender.

 

6. Develop new and better ways to transform stress.  Stress reactions are rooted in hormones released and our primal fight or flight reaction.  Our ability to transmute, to learn to bypass or circumvent the fight or flight reaction is real, and doing so is critical.  Work with a coach who can help you learn to circumvent fight or flight so that you can respond rather than react or run away from the problem at hand.  Understand that change is a constant.  You can try to fight it, but you are waging a losing battle.  Transforming your relationship with change and with stressors is not important, it is critical. Helping others do the same will become critical in your role as a leader and engager of potential.

 

7.  Root out toxicity-Harvest Values and Value.  Toxic teams, toxic relationships, toxic interactions are part of the human dynamic. Root them out.  Toxicity grows and spreads.  You need to build and in some cases to reconstruct teams where passive aggressive behaviors, misalignment of values and objectives are addressed. Systems theory tells us that one consistent change will change the whole system.  Put theory into practice by rooting out the creep of toxicity and modeling the leadership, communication and collaborative strengths that will take you forward.

8. Embrace your ability to R-E-A-C-H.  Develop new ways to redirect focus, improve confidence, actualize potential, communicate effectively and harvest results.  Start with yourself, your self awareness, your areas of strength and challenge.  Become a master and learning, re-learning, failing forward and succeeding.  Learn new ways, better ways to build your 3Q’s (enhanced ideation under stress, improved emotional intelligence and resiliency, engaged spiritual quotient or values alignment. Master it. Do it… then teach R-E-A-C-H to others.

 

9.  Get back to basics.  Your passion, your purpose, your ability to use both strengths and challenges to develop solutions, collaborative relationships, and communication is real.  Find and understand your passion, your purpose, your unique footprint as leader.  The end game is your life, your purpose, your ability to be able to contribute something of value to a greater whole.

10. Get simple for a second.  While there is debate around whether happiness is a driver of success, there is a great deal of information and substantive longitudinal studies pointing to the fact that we need to get happy, to become empowered in order to really optimize our potential.  Your happiness counts.  Learning simple ways to get happier each day, no matter what challenges you face is critical to your health, your potential, your wellness and your ability to lead forward.  Getting happier, introducing laughter and fun time is important and has been proven to improve the immune system, boost creativity and many believe also strengthen cognition and ideation.

More on 3Q Leadership, R-E-A-C-H and Leading Forward?  You Betcha!

Interview on Building 3Q Leadership and R-E-A-C-H
Short Video on Building R-E-A-C-H
Ten Steps to Building Employee Engagement
Five Ways to LEAD Forward by Championing the Challenge
Five Ways to Take Control of YOUR Potential
The Secret to Personal Development and Growth
•Five Ways to Communicate and Lead Forward http://bit.ly/PMww6F
The Agile Management and Leadership Toolkit  http://bit.ly/Pf1BQ8
Top Ten Posts on Leadership and Communication (June to Aug 2012)
Leadership is Olympian-Time to Lead Forward 
The Pause 3 Min Powerful Exercise http://bit.ly/JWI9yd | Alpha brain state can improve focus, ideation, resiliency

 

Is it time to REACH- Redirect-empower-actualize-communicate and harvest YOUR potential to lead forward?
Get Executive Coaching, Training that Sticks? Enjoy an insightful and inspiring keynote?
Just Coach It for reach, resonance, results. Executive Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes and Workshops with as 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach ItThe 3Q Edge™| Reach-Resonance-Results Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | Face-Face, By Tel, Skype or Video Conferencing www.justcoachit.com Tel: 1-416-671-4726 Email: irene@justcoachitcom
Twitter @justcoachit Skype: beckerirene
@justcoachit # 5 Canada, #363 English #855 Globally Most Recommended on Twitter October 2012

Ten Steps to Building Employee Engagement

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Ten Steps To Building Employee Engagement by Irene Becker
Guest Post on Switch and Switch & Shift Blog Oct 2012

© Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership™ Blog – Reach-Resonance-Results
Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward smarter, faster and happier   

You have the right people on the bus, but how do you keep them engaged? Here are ten simple but powerful steps:

Step 1. Make engagement your mantra

Employee engagement, engagement of colleagues and peers, engagement of constituents and stakeholders, engagement of clients and communities, social/digital engagement will make or break your bottom line. You may be able to make a quick buck without engagement, but turning that buck into many bucks, developing an organization that will survive and thrive means building a me to we culture.

Step 2. Get Social

Develop one to one, one to group, virtual and social/digital relationships that stick. The greatest business idea, product or service will not grow, evolve and produce results without human intervention, interaction and collaboration. Innovation and engagement are collaborative. Your people, your employees, colleagues, vendors, stakeholders and the community and large will pave the way for your success or failure.

Step 3. Listen, and listen more

Listen for words, actions, pauses, cues that will tell you what is going on beneath the surface. Develop higher emotional intelligence; improve your self-awareness and awareness of others. Learn to pick up social, cultural, personal, verbal cues that tell you what is important to your audience and use and model these cues to create engagement and build rapport.

Step 4. Go for the gold

Remember the golden rule. Strong relationships are built on shared values, integrity and transparent communication. There is no room for error in a digital world, no room for verbal or written duplicity. Transforming potential into results, challenges into innovative solutions demands a higher degree of engagement, integrity and transparency of communication than ever before.

Step 5. Care first

communicate second because you cannot make a fire with wet wood. USE care-frontation, not confrontation. Develop new ways, a better style of communication that will build a bridge between what is and what can be. Build a clear fence around expected and acceptable, make sure that goals, objectives and expectation are crystal clear, but do it with care-frontation.

Step 6. Fail forward faster and better

When errors occur, fail forward. Admit there has been a failure in and learn to use this failure to drive collaboration and engagement by focusing on the shared objective and how you will work together with mutual respect to attain it. Start training yourself and others to become solution focused, by using errors and challenges that have come to innovate and create better and stronger solutions. Fail forward, faster and better.

Step 7. Take every opportunity to reinforce the foundation of your house

Walk your talk, talk your walk. Take every opportunity to use shared values, objectives and integrity of communication and action to build a ME to WE culture. Embrace and applaud great work, develop new ways to help others fail forward, and get rid of the few bad apples whose values, objectives and integrity are out of sync.

Step 8. Learn and play forward

Make time for learning, embrace and applaud learning opportunities while also taking time to engage in activities that create down time, humor time, fun time; activities that not only drive greater rapport but will also enhance creativity and ideation. Put a healthy dose of learning and fun into all your communication. Set the tone, and tone it up. Negativity will bread more negativity. Fear puts human beings into fight or flight, neither of which drive engagement, empowerment or results.

Step 9. Generate Enthusiasm.

You cannot make a fire from wet wood. Engagement means empowering the others to feel that they can do their best, that they have a valuable contribution to make, and that if they have failed they will use the experience to learn and fail forward. Recognize accomplishments; redirect failure so that people feel free to fail forward. Empower, engage and repeat.

Step 10. Feed hearts.

Make learning, growing and giving REAL. Find new ways to reach out and serve the community at large. Motivate and inspire not only those you employ but all constituents to be part of a greater goal that speaks to contribution and purpose. Show those you lead and serve that you care, and help them care back.

 

 

First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene Becker has a track record of trailblazing accomplishments in business and in the community at large. Irene is an inspiring executive coach, speaker and writer whose R-E-A-C-H methodology and 3Q focus has helped clients achieve breakthrough results in their careers, communication, leadership and lives. Passionate about the integrity of her work, Irene is dedicated to helping change-makers LEAD forward at the speed of change.

For more information on Irene and the services she offers, visit  Just Coach It – | The 3Q Edge™ . Follow her on Twitter @justcoachit. Watch this video interview of Irene Becker, where she talks about leading forward at the speed of change…or just do it. Call Irene @ 416-671-4726 Skype Irene beckerirene.  She goes the distance for clients face to face, by telephone and virtually.

Business Plan Basics & 5 Biz Links

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  Best Practice Business Basics
1 Post and 5 Best Business Links

© Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com

Sometimes it is good to just get back to basics!  Here are some basics for entrepreneurs who want to develop a business plan that is simple, relevant and understandable!  Your business plan should be made up of ten different areas that guide your forward:

  • Customers – Understanding the different types of customers we serve-customer segmentation
  • A Strong Value Proposition – Our formula for solving customer problems and satisfying needs with products/services
  • Marketing, Sales & Distribution Channels where we deliver our value proposition (product-services) to customers in the most effective way possible.
  • Relationship Development and Maintenance.  Developing strong relationships with are established and maintained with each customer segment
  • Revenue Streams from  goods-services sold to customers
  • Key Resources or Assets- The things, people required to effectively deliver our deliver products/services
  • Key Activities- What we must do to effectively deliver products/services
  • Key Partnerships alliances acquired outside the company to successfully deliver goods-services
  • Cost Structure-elements that make up and result in the cost of our services/products and profits.
  • Monitoring and Evaluation of our Business Model to remain relevant in a high change,  highly competitive marketplace

A business plan that works will guide you forward, because it is:

1. Customer Centric.   It will defines who  we are serving by answering the following questions:

  • For whom are we creating value?
  • Who are our most important customers?  How will our customers be segmented?
  • What do they want and what are they willing to pay for?

2.  Compelling and relevant.  It has a strong value proposition that answers the following questions:

  • What bundle of products/services creates value for each specific customer segment?
  • What problem/customer want are we satisfying?
  • What benefits, features are we offering?
  • Is our value proposition innovative, new or disruptive?
  • What are the quantifiers (price, speed of service etc)
  • What are the qualifiers (design, customer experience)

3. Market Focused.  It shows us how we can market, sell and deliver our products/services by direct and/or indirect channels. It will answer the following questions:

  • How do we reach our customer segments and deliver our value proposition?
  • What is our company’s interface or touch points with customers?
  • How do we provide them with a unique customer experience?
  • How do we raise awareness for our products/services and deliver our value proposition?
  • How do we help clients evaluate and choose our value proposition?
  • How will we develop a strong brand?
  • How will we monitor and evaluate our value proposition
  • How will we delivery products/services to our clients (web, direct sales, alliances, stores and retail outlets, partners, distributors)
  • What is our after sales strategy to provide post purchase support, excellent service and value.

4. Relationship Centric.  It helps us build and maintain relationships.

A good business plan defines the types of relationships we establish with each customer segment (personal, automated, client acquisition, retention, up selling).  It also tells us how we will  maintain and grow/expand  customer relationships. 

5. Focused on Generation of Profit-Multiple Revenue Streams and answers the following questions:

  • What  do our customers want, and what will they be willing to pay for our services/products?
  • What is the value they are paying for-What are they getting?
  • What is our price structure (fixed pricing, bargaining, market dependent, volume dependent)
  • Are our  revenues streams one time purchases or recurring purchases?
  • How much does each revenue stream contribute to overall revenues? (Product/service sales, usage fees, subscription fees, lending-renting-leasing fees, licensing fees, brokerage fees)
  • What are our pricing mechanisms:  Fixed, dynamic, negotiation-bargaining, market dependent, volume dependent, yield dependent (dependent on our inventory at time of sale), customer segment depend

6.  Focused on Revenue Streams- Identification of Activities that Generate Profits

The most important things the business must do to make it work and generate profits.  The activities that help the company create and offer a strong value proposition, reach markets, maintain relationships, problem solve, earn revenues.

  • Production (designing, making and delivering products/services)
  • Problem Solving (solving customer problems, training, knowledge management)
  • A Strong Platform (services/products, technical network-digital-web that is managed, serviced and promoted).

 

7. Identifies Key Resources and Assets –  Owned, Leased or Shared. 

  • Physical Resources:  mfg facilities, buildings, vehicles, machines, sales systems, distribution networks.
  • Intellectual Resources:  Brands, proprietary knowledge, patents and copyrights, partnerships, customer databases
  • Human Resources:  People who bring knowledge, innovation, creativity, management, sales, marketing, administration, leadership to the company
  • Financial Resources:  Cash, lines of credit, loans, stock options

 

8. Identifies Partners and Suppliers

 Success is not achieved alone, the development of partnerships is more critical than ever before because it will help us optimize resources and activities, reduce costs, reduce risk.

  •  Who are our key partners?
  •  Who are our key suppliers?
  •  What key resources are we getting from partners?
  •  What key activities do partners perform?  What Key activities do we perform?

 9.  Has a Good Cost Structure

Your cost structure must describe all costs incurred.  Costs for creating and delivering value, maintaining customer relationships, generating revenues must allow us to minimize expenses and achieve revenue targets and goals.  Cost Driven costs are costs incurred to minimize expenses.  Value Drive Costs are incurred to create value for our clients/business.

Categories of Costs-Fixed & Variable: Fixed costs remain the same despite volume, good or production (salaries, rent, and mfg costs). Variable Costs:  Variable costs change with the volume of goods or services produced.

Economies of Scale:  Cost Advantages as output increases in terms of lower purchasing costs, driving the cost of average unit of product/service down

Economies of Scope:
  Cost advantages due to a larger operation serving more clients and stronger marketing, sales, distribution challenges and multiple product/service lines.

10.  Includes Evaluation and Monitoring of the Plan:  It is critical to have a system that will allow you to measure, compare and evaluate business results on a regular and timely basis.  There are six steps in the evaluation and monitoring process:

Identify
Objectives
Identify Standards &
Criteria
 Collect
Evidence
Analyze
Data
Compare
Results
with
Objectives
Evaluate & Develop
Action Plan


More on Best Practice Business Basics?  You Betcha!

Consulting Success Tips by Seth Godin
Are YOU Leaving Business on the Table?
Finding New Sources of Profitable Growth
The Thriving Organization
The Agile Management and Leadership Toolkit

Is it time to REACH- Redirect-empower-actualize-communicate and harvest YOUR potential to lead forward?
Get Executive Coaching, Training that Sticks? Enjoy an insightful and inspiring keynote? Just Coach It for reach, resonance, results. Executive Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes and Workshops with as 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach ItThe 3Q Edge™| Reach-Resonance-Results Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | Face-Face, By Tel, Skype or Video Conferencing www.justcoachit.com Tel: 1-416-671-4726 Email: irene@justcoachitcom Twitter @justcoachit Skype: beckerirene
@justcoachit # 5 Canada, #363 English #855 Globally Most Recommended on Twitter October 2012

True Happiness-Transformational Joy

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TRUE HAPPINESS-TRANSFORMATIONAL JOY                      What is it?  Where do YOU find it?
One very short post, 10 links AND a bonus exercise 

© Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership™ Blog – Reach-Resonance-Results 
Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward smarter, faster and happier is what I do best  


Momentary happiness is born of doing, achieving and acquiring.  It is what we are sold in advertisements, and it is what most of us have unfortunately been socialized to want. It is the easy ticket, the quick ride to temporary pleasure. It is the poison apple that will never lead us to a place of sustainable satisfaction, but down the garden path of unfulfilled desire. The more we consume momentary joy, the more we want as we move forward craving the next quick fix in satisfaction.

Transformational joy, on the other hand, cannot be learned, bought, sold or acquired. It is not trendy, or time bound.  Transformational joy is the essence of all that we are and all that we can ever be.  It is love.  It is everlasting and allows us to live each moment, each day without fear.  It is not found in solitude, self pity or solace.  It is found in giving and sharing in reaching out to another person, it is found in reclaiming the values that really matter to us.  It is found in living our truth. Truth that is found not in what we take, but in what we share.  Happiness, transformational joy that is found in what we contribute; in knowing that we are one people sharing one earth. Together we can growth, prosper and flourish.  Divided we will fall.

This week I challenge you to let go of what you think you want and to reflect upon what you truly need.  I challenge you to cast fear to the wind and embrace love, and in so doing to start each day asking not what can I get today, but what can I learn, share and contribute.  Our greatest hope, our greatest power lies within.

 

More Inspiring Posts?  YOU Betcha!
Be the Miracle
Getting Back on Track When You’ve Hit a Wall
The Secret to Peace and Prosperity
The Happiness Compendium
The Power of What
The Secret to Personal Growth and Development
Self Talk-7 Tips
The Wisdom and Power of Your Dreams
Dance With Your Dreams-A Five Minute Solution
Are YOU Suffering from Post Millenium Syndrome (PMS)-Steps to Turn it Around!
BONUS EXERCISE:  The Pause

 

Is it time to REACH- Redirect-empower-actualize-communicate and harvest YOUR potential to lead forward? Get Executive Coaching, Training that Sticks? Enjoy an insightful and inspiring keynote? Just Coach It for reach, resonance, results. Executive Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes and Workshops with as 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach ItThe 3Q Edge™| Reach-Resonance-Results Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | Face-Face, By Tel, Skype or Video Conferencing
www.justcoachit.com Tel: 1-416-671-4726 Email: irene@justcoachitcom Twitter @justcoachit Skype: beckerirene
@justcoachit # 5 Canada, #363 English #855 Globally Most Recommended on Twitter October 2012

The Secret to Personal Development and Growth

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The Secret to Personal Development and Growth
Personal Development-Self Awareness-Growth Tips & Tools ( 1 Post and 13 Great Links)

© Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership™ Blog – Reach-Resonance-Results
Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward smarter, faster and happier is what I do best
   

We all start our day with the best of intentions and yet our days can end up with conflict, chaos and strife that leave us feeling angry, disappointed or frustrated.  How can we use our creative energy, our personal power to really live with happiness?  How can we move forward and start and finish a day with a sense of purpose, passion and satisfaction? How can we to the root, the heart of personal development and growth?

The secret to personal development means getting to the heart of the solution by addressing the root of the problem and not the effect. It is all about getting real with our own personal truth.  So often we are faced with a dilemma and we grasp at anything that we can see as the solution and then build assumptions around the problem to justify our solution.  Moving forward and creating self talk or mental models around a problem to justify what we have determined to be a cause is the wrong way to go because it does not speak to our personal truth or power. We need to embrace our truth by getting to the root of the problem.

Happiness is not the root of anything. Anger is not the root of anything either; they are both effects.  We must  acknowledge that the root of all human emotion is one of two things:  love or fear.  When you are happy it is because you feel love.  When you have negative emotions the root of them is always fear.  The only way to conquer fear is to apply love.  Start by looking at your problems with love, with recognizing that in each problem there is the effect and the root.

In each dilemma there is a source of fear that can be addressed and a path to love that can be realized. Finding new ways, better ways to get naked with our truth, move through and past our fears is critical.  We do not need to fight the fear, rather we need to get to the bottom of the fear that holds us back for optimizing our best self.  Doing so requires courage, and it also means developing greater self awareness and self love.

 

More on Personal Development, Self Awareness and Growth?  YOU Betcha!
Turn Negativity Around: 3 Simple, Practical, Powerful Ways to Reset the Internal GPS
From Victim to Victor
The Empowerment Compendium
Life and Career Audit/Self Test
Five Ways to Take Control of Your Potential
Five Ways to Lead Forward by Championing the Challenge
Five Ways to Commmunicate and Lead Forward
Self Talk-7 Powerful Tips
Ten Steps to a Happier More Successful You
The Happiness Compendium
Two Minute Tune Up for Under and Over Achievers
Constructive Discontent-Building a Critical Life and Leadership Skill
The Pause-A Simple, Powerful, Transformative 3 Minute Exercise

 

 

Is it time to REACH- Redirect-empower-actualize-communicate and harvest YOUR potential to lead forward? Get Executive Coaching, Training that Sticks? Enjoy an insightful and inspiring keynote? Just Coach It for reach, resonance, results. Executive Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes and Workshops with as 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach ItThe 3Q Edge™| Reach-Resonance-Results
Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | Face-Face, By Tel, Skype or Video Conferencing
www.justcoachit.com Tel: 1-416-671-4726 Email: irene@justcoachitcom Twitter @justcoachit Skype: beckerirene
@justcoachit # 5 Canada, #363 English #855 Globally Most Recommended on Twitter Oct 2012

 

 

Five Steps to Successful Career Transition

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Five Steps to Successful Career Transition
One Post, 8 bonus links, including video and self quiz

© Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership™ Blog – Reach-Resonance-Results
Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward smarter, faster and happier is what I do best
   

Successful career transition is an art and a balancing act  that can open the door to new opportunities. Nothing is static.  Some of the techniques and strategies that helped my clients succeed two years ago are irrelevant and ineffective today.  Learn what you need to know and do NOW to position yourself for success through every hill and valley of career transition.

Developing your personal brand is important, but it is no longer enough.   Develop a personal brand AND a toolkit of communication skills and strategies that make YOU shine in the eyes of constituents and prospective employers.  Tools, skills and strategies that get YOU, through the slush pile, through the interviews to your current desired career destination. Most people have greater and faster success finding help to guide them through career transition.  Find the best help you can to move forward faster.

 

 

Five Steps to Successful Career Transition

Step #1 Redirect your focus. Focus forward.   Understand where you want to go and how to best get there.Take the time to think about your end game.  What do you want from your career?  What is really important to you?  What makes work meaningful for you?  What type of environment do you need to function at maximum potential? What makes you happy, purposeful at work?  Know yourself, then get to know your marketing channels and your buyer profile(organizations you want to work for and individuals who will be interviewing you).   Before you can market yourself effectively, you need to have clarity around your long term and short term career goals. You need to market yourself effectively to yourself, before you can market effectively to your  target audience.

Step #2 Empower:  Retrain your brain to focus on your achievements, the unique value you add and bring to the plate. Find your happy spot, give your mind a spa vacation by going to a happy place at least a couple of times a day.  Build a template, a document/chart that will refocus you on key achievements and strengths.  Develop a new focus and self talk that keeps you centered and empowered as you go through the innately challenging and often stressful process of career transition.  Develop strategies and techniques that help you deal effectively with stress and inherent volatility of career change so that you avoid getting stuck in a rut or being in a constant state of overdrive. Remember, what you focus on grows.  When you have hit a wall, take time to regroup, refocus and move forward. Developing new ways of thinking, doing and communicating that will help you focus forward and lead forward in the face of challenges is critical to living, leading and succeeding at the speed of change.

Step #3 Actualize: Define, align, execute. Understanding your skills, your unique value, your personal brand is critical, but it is no longer enough.  We can talk about the war for talent in certain areas, but in many sectors increased competition is real, and can be daunting.  Develop a career transition campaign, a marketing plan or have someone help you develop one. Get a new resume that opens doors, or regig what you have for improved traction and results.  Create a road map you can use, a career campaign that will help you define, align and execute.

Define-Build brand equity with every interaction. You are the brand.   Make sure your marketing collaterals are effectiveKeywords, personal branding, having a style/format
that gives the reader a 7 second snapshot of the value you bring to the table is critical. Make sure that your resume, executive bio, cover letter-written communication that is formatted and positioned in a way that takes you forward faster and better.  Your reputation, your personal brand and the connections you make are all important.  Optimize them, track them use them to move forward.

Align: Know the new rules of the game. What are your best marketing channels?  How can you best negotiate career change from a personal and a career management perspective?
What are the  rules of the game in terms of successfully moving ahead through every step of the interview process? What are the most effective ways to deal with recruiters, job applications, HR managers as well as friends and colleagues who want to help?

Effective execution and follow up:  Career transition is innately stressful; it may be one of the most challenging things any of us goes through. YOU must have  personal tools to keep your focus, your confidence and resiliency primed as well as a roadmap/ strategy to execute, follow-up/review,  re-gig ( if necessary) and move forward.  Defining, aligning and executing your plan are a must, and finding an accountability partner who will also champion your spirit and focus when you hit a bump in the road is critical.

Step #4 Communicate effectively for maximum rapport.  Effective communication is not about more words it is about talking in a language and style that opens the ears of your audience.  It is about developing  rapport, trust, congruency.   You need to build rapport to attract the right employer to YOU.  You may be in love with the organization or position, but you need to learn to how to make the right impression through every cycle of career transition because the way you will position yourself needs to be adjusted to your audience through every stage of the process. Treat every first meeting, first communication point as a first date.  Your value, your integrity and authenticity are paramount, so is the way you communicate forward.  A small change in a marketing collateral (resume, bio, cover email-letter), a small change in your words, tone or the body language you use can mean the difference between success and failure. Your language, the words you use in every resume, executive bio, email and verbal conversation count.  Remember less is more. Fewer words, with greater punch.  Use personal mantras and self talk that keep focused forward. Develop connection points that build rapport.

Step #5 Harvest: You need to invest your courage, strength and stamina to execute forward through a career transition.  Get doing.  Get going.  Develop agility and focus.  Get a plan and develop the tools and career transition skills that will take you forward.  Think of this process as the beginning of a new and better story.  Learn to tell your story in a way that drives reach, resonance and results.  Tell your story in a way that helps you build a strong network for NOW and the future.  Use the challenges you face along the way to develop your power to adapt and relearn new skills, develop new ways of focusing and transforming challenges into strategies and solutions that drive results.

 

More on Career Transition Tips and Tools?  YOU Betcha

Self Quiz:  The Quality of Your Life and Career
The Ten Irrefutable Laws of Successful Job Interviewing
The 3 R’s of  Great Resume Writing
Winning Resume Tips
Understanding and Acing the Behavioral Interview
Ten Tips on Acing Your Next Telephone Interview
Video  Successful Career Transition and YOUR Marketing Channels
Career Transition Toolkit Program ( Customized programs for individual clients, groups and managers who want to help their people with career transition)

 

Is it time to REACH- Redirect-empower-actualize-communicate and harvest YOUR potential to lead forward? Get Executive Coaching, Training that Sticks? Enjoy an insightful and inspiring keynote? Just Coach It for reach, resonance, results. Executive Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes and Workshops with as 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach ItThe 3Q Edge™| Reach-Resonance-Results Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | Face-Face, By Tel, Skype or Video Conferencing www.justcoachit.com Tel: 1-416-671-4726 Email: irene@justcoachitcom Twitter @justcoachit Skype: beckerirene
@justcoachit # 5 Canada, #363 English #855 Globally Most Recommended on Twitter Oct 2012

 

 

Agile Management + Leadership Toolkit

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Agile Management and Leadership Toolkit
7 Important Steps | 7 Important Questions
And…. 9 Bonus Links

© Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 26,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  


Seven Important Steps


1. Understand the critical importance of developing a Community of Purpose.
   Success will not be achieved alone;  you need clients, constituents, stakeholders, direct reports and the social/digital influence/footprint that will help you, help your organization manage, lead and succeed forward   Click for more info on leadership and C of P

2. Develop Greater Self Awareness Your community of purpose starts with the self-awareness that helps YOU lead forward at the speed of change, in the face of challenges.  Your ability to find new ways, better ways to R-E-A-C-H (redirect, empower, actualize, communicate and harvest results) in yourself is the starting point, the pivotal determinant for your ability to inspire and engage the best in others. Click for a short video explaining the importance of reach

3Increase your emotional intelligence, build the self-awareness, awareness of others, emotional mastery and resilience that is critical to effective management, leadership and wellbeing.  Learning about EQ/EI is important, but it is not enough.  Emotional intelligence is honed in the practice, in using challenges at hand to build each critical area of EQ/EI that will allow you to live, lead and succeed more effectively, optimize and delegate purposefully and build the communication and strong relationships that are critical to success. Click here  to self test your EQ

4.  Embrace and nurture your strengths.
  Get in focus with what you do brilliantly, with your areas of excellence.  Know what you do best, and use every challenge you face to engage and build you’re your intrinsic and learned strengths. Choose team members who have different strengths that give the sum total of your efforts more power. Team members whose values, integrity and dedication mirror yours but whose intrinsic and learned strengths are different and complimentary to your own.

5. Embrace and nurture your challenges in a new and different way that takes YOU and those you lead forward. Develop a new and different relationship with changes, stressors, difficult people/situations that will help YOU Fail Forward faster and betterYour ability to reset default patterns is the coachable moment.  It takes awareness; it takes practice and consistent small positive steps or changes in perspective and behavior that will have a formidable impact. The solution is often found in the midst of our greatest problem, challenge or stressors; seeing the solution means using your challenges, stressors in new ways that optimize your intelligence (IQ) your emotional mastery (EQ) and the alignment with your highest purpose and values (SQ).

6.  Develop your coaching skills.  Learn how to effectively coach others. Develop the coaching skills that can help you help others to optimize their potential, communication and results when the going gets tough by helping others R-E-A-C-H (redirect focus, empower, actualize potential, communicate effectively, harvest results).  Understand what motivates, engages and drives results.  Apply systems theory, because even one small consistent positive change will impact the whole system in ways that can be pivotal and transformational.

7.  Build your verbal, written and social/digital communication skills and strengths. Develop new ways, better ways of communicating verbally, emotionally, digitally/socially that bring out the best in others and give clarity to the message you want others to embrace.  Realize that it is not what you say that matters; rather it is how want you say is internalized or accepted by the recipient(s).  The ability to transcend the emotional filters, cultural and emotional filters of others is real, and it starts when you are not only more self-aware, but trained and attuned to communicating with others in a way that entrenches the right message, maximum engagement and results.

Seven Important Questions

1. What are the significant motivators/drivers in my career life?

2. What is the end game, the purpose for my job, my career? What do I really want to accomplish in the next two years and how will that fit into my game plan?

3.  What do I need to do to develop my Community of Purpose? What actions can I take to build a strong Community of Purpose?

4. What skills, knowledge and experience, and behaviors do I need build to achieve my goals?

5. What steps do I need to take to gain greater influence, engagement, better results?

6. What actions (which of the above seven steps)  I am going to take now to achieve my goals?

7. What small but significant change in thinking or doing can I make today that will positively impact my ability to inspire the best in myself and/or others?

More on Agile Management and Leadership?  You Betcha!
The Thriving Organization-10 Powerful Steps Out of Jurassic Park
Building an Agile Self and Team
The Leadership Compendium
Optimize-Humanize-Monetize
A Great Team is the Sum of Its Parts

Great Read Review & Excerpts:
Full Steam Ahead by Jesse Lyn Stoner and Ken Blanchard
The Power of Communication by Helio Fred Garcia
Business at the Speed of Now by John M Bernard
Managing with a Conscience by Frank Sonnenberg

Is it time to REACH- Redirect-empower-actualize-communicate and harvest YOUR potential to lead forward? Get Executive Coaching, Training that Sticks? Enjoy an insightful and inspiring keynote?   Just Coach It. Helping smart people and organizations lead and communicate forward smarter, faster and happier is what my work is all about. Discover Executive Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes and Workshops with as 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | Face-Face, By Tel, Skype or Video Conferencing www.justcoachit.com
Twitter @justcoachit  Skype: beckerirene  Tel: 1-416-671-4726 Email:  irene@justcoachitcom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Happiness Compendium

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The Happiness Compendium | One Post & 12 Happy Links

Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward smarter, faster and happier is what I do best   


© Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership™ Blog

Here are the facts you need to know: The World Health Organizations forecasts that stress will be the major cause of disability in the world by 2020 Science confirms that optimization of our intellectual potential, health and wellness start with priming our brain to be happy. Learning to get happier, taking time to have happy moments during the day, is critical to your health, your wellness, your potential, your work…your life.

Emotional Gridlock or Happiness-Choose Wisely


Time wasted, tempers flaring, tempus fugit. Traffic jam. Gridlock.  We all know what that means…traffic has comes to a complete standstill.
Frustrated drivers and passengers sit on the road in their vehicles, unable to move forward or backward.  Sometimes they can see reason for the gridlock, often they cannot.  Standstill.  Imposed inertia.  What does gridlock have to do with happiness?  Nothing and everything.  Read on and find out.

Happiness is deceptively simply to achieve, and at the same time incredibly difficult to sustain because it requires us to transform the way we think, to get rid of beliefs that no longer serve us, to move past gridlock. Happiness is about self imposed energy and positive movement.  Emotional gridlock is all about self imposed inertia.  Finding happiness is about embracing gratitude and reclaiming our power to move forward with the commitment to appreciate each moment more than the last.  Gridlock is about being forced to stand still, to remain motionless, frustrated and held back.

While physical gridlock will pass, emotional gridlock is a silent killer.  It is an invisible demon that slowly creeps crawls into our life and destroys our ability to be happy.  It starts when we lose touch with who we are and what we want, it grows when we spend our days and nights dancing to another man’s drummer.  At its best, emotional gridlock will sap our creativity and innovation.  At its worst, it will suck up every ounce of happiness we have, insidiously, invisibly, consistently until inertia touches every aspect of our lives.

Moving past gridlock means having the tenacity and clarity to see past the blocks in the road, the personal traffic jams that we all face. 
It means making a life decision to let go of all the negative emotions and limiting beliefs that block our creativity, our energy, and our joie de vivre.  It means replacing road rage with faith, frustration with certainty, doubt with confidence and inertia with a passion to reclaim our dreams and our life.

Moving past emotional gridlock is a war, a battle that we each face every moment, every day, in every way. 
We can choose to be valiant warriors of joy and recognize that the greatest gridlock we face is not from other people, not from other cars, not from oncoming traffic, not from our work, our neighbors, our children, our colleagues, but from ourselves, from the fears that hold us back from being and doing all that we can be.  Get ready for battle, get ready to win. Make a list of the beliefs and thoughts that keep you in gridlock and start to throw them away with the courage that can set you free.

More on Happiness?  YOU Betcha

Too Busy to Get Happy? Think Again. 4 Ways to Kickstart Happiness 

 Ten Steps to a Happier More Successful You

 Happiness 101

 Get Happier Tip Sheet

 True Power True Happiness

Get Back On Track When You Have Hit a Wall

The Quality of Your Work and Life Self Test

Are Your Ears Open?

Rediscover Your Genius

Step Up

Constructive Discontent

The Pause

 

Is it time to REACH- Redirect-empower-actualize-communicate and harvest YOUR potential to lead forward? Get Executive Coaching, Training that Sticks? Enjoy an insightful and inspiring keynote?   Just Coach It. Helping smart people and organizations lead and communicate forward smarter, faster and happier is what my work is all about.
Discover Executive Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes and Workshops with as 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | Face-Face, By Tel, Skype or Video Conferencing
www.justcoachit.com Twitter @justcoachit  Skype: beckerirene  Tel: 1-416-671-4726 Email:  irene@justcoachitcom

 

 

 

Live and LEAD Forward>>Connect & Contribute

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LIVE AND LEAD FORWARD>>CONNECT & CONTRIBUTE
The Coachable Moment by Irene Becker | A new post with smart cookies:) AND 13 BONUS Links!

Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward smarter, faster and happier is what I do best  © Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership™ Blog

 

 Days, months and years come and go. We spend little time savoring our most irreplaceable and important asset, our time.  We rush through our work, through our leisure time, through our relationships and even our most intimate moments.  It is easier to rush, easier to hurry, than to pause and ask ourselves basic human questions about what we are doing and why.

Lead and Live Forward>Connect and Contribute

We all share the same basic human need for connection and contribution. Connection and contribution not only make us feel good, they help us do good.  Our ability to transform ME into WE, our ability to connect, collaborate and contribute is our greatest hope for the present and the future. It is the BIGGEST COOKIE in the cookie jar.In a world where ideas are the currency of success, our ability to connect and contribute, our ability to self empower and empower others will determine our ability to succeed.

Organizations will have to find new ways, better ways to develop empowerment, engagement, communication, collaboration. Individually and collectively it is our power to connect and contribute that can take us forward faster and happier.

What does all this mean? It means that in the midst of so much economic uncertainty, there is a primal and basic truth that remains.  Our individual and collective power rests on our ability to connect and contribute.  The ability to succeed lies in our acceptance of change as a metaphor for improvement and the current vortex of uncertainty and chaos as but a transformation point in our individual and collective history.

We all seek independence, but if in so doing we forget that we are interdependent we are destined for failure.  Our greatest power as individuals and organizations lies not in our ability to stand apart, but in our ability to connect and contribute. 

Connection and contribution begins when we commit to engaging our best self and our highest vision of who we can be. The imperative to build a Community of Purpose is not only great, it is critical. A community that starts with your ability, my ability, our ability to connect and contribute what really matters.

We cannot replace the day that has passed, the years that have gone. Wake up tomorrow and decide to engage your best self, to live your highest vision of what you can be and do.  Pause and ask what you can contribute and who will we connect with today.  Begin again now to live, lead and succeed to purpose by selecting the biggest cookie in the cookie jar; your ability to connect and contribute. 


More on Purposeful Leadership and Living?  YOU Betcha!

Against All Odds | A True Story of Courage, Hope & Leadership

What Does Leadership Really Mean?

Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose

The 18 Word Success Formula

What is a Community of Purpose and Why Do YOU Need One?

Extraordinary Woman Interview

Success = The Reach and Resonance of the Human Heart

Meaningful Work>Building a Leadership and Management Must

Rising to the Challenge Before Us-Leading Forward

Self Test the Quality of Your Life and Career

The Secret to Peace and Prosperity

Our Greatest Hope

Interview About Coaching for Enlightened Business and Results

My Request:  IF there are particular areas of leadership, communication, career development that interest you; please email me irene@justcoachit.com.  It is my aim to provide outstanding services/programs and share great content that will help changemakers  LEAD Forward!

Is it time to REACH- Redirect-empower-actualize-communicate and harvest YOUR potential to lead forward? Get Executive Coaching, Training that Sticks?
Enjoy an insightful and inspiring keynote?
  Just Coach It.  Discover Executive Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes and Workshops with as 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | Face-Face, By Tel, Skype or Video-Conferencing
  www.justcoachit.com Twitter @justcoachit  Skype: beckerirene  Tel: 1-416-671-4726   Email:  irene@justcoachitcom

3 Reasons YOU Need a Real Leadership Program

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Three Reasons YOU Need A Real Leadership Program
Guest Post by Kyle Lagunas

Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership™ Blog
Helping smart people and organizations communicate and LEAD forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best.  Better reach, resonance-better results.

 

3 Reasons YOU Need a Real Leadership Program

Why is the process of finding a leader–whether to backfill someone or to fill a new role–often treated as an isolated event rather than an ongoing process? With the cost per hire only rising, why do so few organizations have a process for identifying and cultivating leaders within their existing talent pool?

3 years ago, Neil Nicoll, President and CEO of YMCA warned that, “Until [we] become much more intentional about development of internal talent, we are doomed to an ever-growing leadership deficit.”


Regardless of whether you ultimately hire leaders from within, simply having a leadership development program yields important benefits for any organization. Here are reasons to do it:

Reason One:  Leadership Programs Boost Employee Engagement

A study conducted by ACCOR found that although 90% of leaders say employee engagement impacts business success, 75% have no engagement plan or strategy. To that end, development programs give employees the opportunity to strive toward something more meaningful and valuable than their day-to-day work. And that makes them happy.

Leadership development is serious stuff. It takes time and dedication to make it work. If you’re going to adopt an official leadership development program, be sure to first identify your goals for the program.

 

Reason Two:  Leadership Programs Increase Employee Performance

It’s hard to deny a linkage between development and performance. As John Robak, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Greeley and Hansen, attests, “Those individuals in our organization who are inspired tend to outperform. That’s because the more well-rounded you are, the better you’re able to perform.”

Makes sense, right? The companies outperforming you certainly think so. In fact, the highest performing organizations spend 36% more on development than their less successful counterparts. And the organizations that are doing this effectively understand what their future needs are going to be, and understand how to engage their potentials and give them the opportunity to develop the skills that they need to succeed in the operation.

 

Reason Three: Leadership Programs Improve Retention Rates

Many organizations see investments in employee development–leadership development, in particular–as a gamble. If the employee leaves, those investments walk out the door and potentially into the hands of a competitor. For those who cite turnover as a reason not to invest in developing employees, though, the truth is that leadership development and opportunities are actually a leading retention strategy.

“Gen Y tends to be more fluid and move more frequently, which can be intimidating for employers worried about turnover. We see the exact opposite,” says Robak.  Don’t get me wrong–turnover is a valid concern, but if you’re hemorrhaging top performers, it’s rarely because you’ve invested too much in developing them.

 

Companies need to change the way they are sourcing leadership talent. Rather than look outward when a leader is needed, they should instead continuously look inward to identify candidates with leadership aptitude and invest in honing their skills with development programs.

What successes have you had in developing leaders internally? What challenges is your organization faced with when developing a pool of leadership candidates?

 

About the Author:


Kyle Lagunas is the HR Analyst at Software Advice
– an online rescource for reviews and comparisons of HR software. He reports on trends and best practices in talent management technology, with work featured on Forbes, New York Times, Business Insider, and InformationWeek.

 

 


 

 

More on Leadership? YOU Betcha! 10 Most Popular Leadership & Communication Posts

 

Time to REACH- Redirect-empower-actualize-communicate and harvest? Irene Becker, Just Coach It for leadership & communication coaching and training programs that work and stick.

Helping smart people and organizations communicate and LEAD forward smarter, faster and happier is what I do best.  Better reach, resonance and results.

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™
Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | www.justcoachit.com
Twitter @justcoachit  Skype: beckerirene  Tel: 1-416-671-4726

 

Top Ten Posts > Leadership-Communication-Success at the Speed of Change

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Top Ten Most Popular Posts (June 2012 to  Aug 25, 2012)
And…Two Most Popular Guest Posts

The following Ten Most Popular Posts (in order of popularity) are all about LEADING FORWARD , COMMUNICATING and developing the 3Q Skills & new focus/perspective (like constructive discontent) a  that can help us LEAD forward at the speed of change, challenges, and opportunities.  

 

 

Against All Odds | A True Story of Courage, Hope & Leadership

7 Ways to Turn Conflict and Communication Problems Around

What Does Leadership Really Mean?

Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose

The 18 Word Success Formula

What is a Community of Purpose and Why Do YOU Need One?

Extraordinary Woman Interview

Success = The Reach and Resonance of the Human Heart

Is There Something Constructive About Discontent?  YOU Betcha! 10 Tips & Posts

Meaningful Work>Building a Leadership and Management Must


Two Most Popular Guests Posts

Rising to the Challenge Before Us-Leading Forward – 
Thank YOU Jesse Lyn Stoner, Seapoint Center  for hosting this post

Interview with International Coaching Pioneer Irene Becker
Thank YOU Dr. Amit Nagpal for a terrific interview

 

Gratitude:  I work, write and tweet in service and so appreciate the incredible support for my articles and posts on Twitter in particular.  Thank you clients, colleagues, friends & Twitterverse.

Results:  This week I was honored and humbled to be #5 Canada, #602 English Speaking Countries and #1660 Globally (rating of most recommended on twitter via Follow Friday)

My Request:  IF there are particular areas of leadership, communication, career development that interest you; please email me irene@justcoachit.comIt is my aim to provide and share great  content that will help changemakers  LEAD Forward!

 

Is it time to REACH- Redirect-empower-actualize-communicate and harvest YOUR potential to lead forward?  Just Coach It. Helping smart people and organizations lead and communicate forward smarter, faster and happier is what my work is all about.

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™
Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | www.justcoachit.com
Twitter @justcoachit  Skype: beckerirene  Tel: 1-416-671-4726

Guest Post: When Leaders Get Out of the Way

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Guest Post:  When Leaders Get Out of the Way by Scott Mabry
Elumn8-Blog


 

Sometimes leaders get in the way. When they do…bad things happen.

  • They bottleneck decisions – people get frustrated
  • They fail to communicate – people become cynical
  • They put process before progress – people disengage
  • They put their ego first – people become self-centered
  • They fail to honor their word – people become passive aggressive

When they get out-of-the-way. Beautiful things happen.

Think about some of your favorite leaders. Were they in the way? Literally…did people have to go through them to get things done? Did they try to control people or outcomes or did they connect with bright people, provide a mission worth achieving, intervene selectively and get out-of-the-way?

5 Reasons to Get Out of the Way

  1. When you get out-of-the-way you develop new leaders. Only by giving other people the opportunity to step into the gap do you provide the soil for leaders to emerge. If you are in the way, potential leaders leave or are lost. Leaders grow through doing.
  2. When you get out-of-the-way innovation has space to breathe. The best leader provide a clear vision, one that inspires and challenges, and then allows people to be creative in how to reach the goal. Case in point – JFK’s vision to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
  3. When you get out-of-the-way you improve your line of sight. When you step aside and let others take on the challenge you allow yourself to move around and see the opportunity from different points of view. This enables you to coach, intervene, realign, set expectations, etc. without blocking the progress of others.
  4. When you get out-of-the-way you create a climate of trust. As you extend trust, and then act in alignment with the organization’s core values, the team not only develops trust in your leadership but also trust in themselves and each other. You are the beacon of trust. People look to you for how it should be done.
  5. When you get out-of-the-way you expand your influence. By enabling people to carry the dream or drive the vision forward without your direct control you multiply the capacity for progress and your ideas have greater impact. You haven’t stopped leading; you are just not pulling the strings. Puppets aren’t your friend.

Here’s the challenge, ready?

Ask your team if you are in the way, where you are in the way and when you are in the way. Push them for an honest answer.

If the answer is yes, take down your orange cones, your crossing gates and your barricades and get out-of-the-way. I promise it’s a risk worth taking. ® Scott Mabry, All rights reserved

 

About the Author, Scott Mabry

Former school teacher now 22 years in the world of business but still a teacher at heart. Trying to leave the world a little better than I found it. OK a lot better than I found it. Love to help people and organizations realize and live their full potential. Peter Pan cleverly disguised as a COO.

Twitter: scott_elumn8
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/elumn8
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/elumn8

 

 More on Leadership?  You betcha!
Extraordinary Women Interview-Overcoming Life & Leadership Challenges
18 Word Success Formula
Rising to the Challenge Before Us
Leading Forward
Lead Forward (10 posts in one)
The Reach and Resonance of the Human Heart
Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose
Meaningful Work-A Leadership & Management Must
Against All Odds-A Personal Story of Leadership, Hope & Courage

About Irene Becker, Executive Coach, Consultant, Speaker, Writer
Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It -The 3Q Edge™

First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene Becker has a track record of trailblazing accomplishments in business and in the community at large. An insightful and inspiring executive coach, mentor, speaker and writer, Irene helps clients achieve breakthrough results in their communication, leadership and lives. Passionate about the integrity of her work and its ability to help change-makers LEAD change, Irene helps smart people and organizations develop 3Q Leadership™ and effective verbal, written and social communication that builds reach, resonance and results. Irene welcomes your emails at irene@justcoachit.com and tweets at @justcoachit.

 

 

Leading Forward in the Face of Crisis

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Leading Forward in the Face of Crisis

 ® Irene Becker, 2012, All rights reserved

  I live what I teach. I believe in our power to use what is to create what can be in our lives and our organizations.
Leading in the face of crisis  means building your 3Q Leadership™ Edge

Click for a short video.   Read Against All Odds.

HOW?  Shift your mindset

Seeing your strengths and challenges, stressors and turning points, even your most difficult transitions or crises with new eyes that help YOU build your most important advantage, your 3Q Edge™. Yes, learning and unlearning faster and better than before.  Making a pivotal shift in mindset that will help you learn and unlearn faster, develop improved whole brain thinking and embrace a new solution focused philosophy is critical to the reach, resonance and results you seek to achieve.  Leaders are made rather than born.” Warren Bennis

 
►WHY? We must distrupt/change what no longer works. Innovation-Actualization-Optimization of Potential is Key

Go ahead and disrupt/change/transform what no longer works. Leadership demands strong Q skills. Our unsurpassed access to knowledge, information, technology and training alone cannot help us actualize and sustain greater leadership. Leadership means inspiring, motivating and leading the best in ourselves and others by using our strengths and challenges to build Q1: Whole Brain Thinking-Enhanced Creativity & Focus -IQ Q2-Empathy-Communication-Collaboration-EQ Q3-The courage, purpose and faith that drives our ability to serve the greatest good. SQ  Helping clients build 3Q Leadership™ is what my work is all about “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” Steve Jobs

►WHEN?  NOW because the challenges you face will increase.  Using them to lead forward is critical

Now, because leaders are innovators and pioneers who are ready to develop the 3Q™ strengths that drive passion, purpose, potential and leadership in the face of changes, challenges, stressors and crises. Developing our Q strengths is what leading well in the face of crisis is all about.“The real source of wealth and capital in this new era is not material things; it is the human mind, the human spirit, the human imagination, and our faith in the future.” Steve Forbes

 

The time to build 3Q Leadership™ is NOW.  Whether you want to develop stronger leadership, improved teams or communication that drives results, your ability to optimize-humanize and monetize is critical.  

More on 3Q Leadership™?  YOU Betcha

Leadership is Olympian-Lead Forward
18 Word Success Formula
Rising to the Challenges Before Us
Lead Forward-7 power words & 8 posts in one
Extraordinary Women Interview on Leading in the Face of Career & Life Challenges
Against All Odds-Irene’s personal story and the genesis of her 3Q Leadership™ Model
The Secret to Peace and Prosperity

First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene Becker has a track record of trailblazing accomplishments in business and in the community at large. An insightful and inspiring executive coach, mentor, speaker and writer, Irene helps clients achieve breakthrough results in their communication, leadership and lives. Passionate about the integrity of her work and its ability to help changemakers LEAD change, Irene helps smart people and organizations develop 3Q Leadership™ and effective verbal, written and social communication that builds reach, resonance and results at the speed of change. Contact Irene:  irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene Irene goes the distance for her clients face to face and/or virtually!

Leadership is Olympian-Time to Lead Forward

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Leadership is Olympian |  It is time to LEAD FORWARD
The causal mechanism of leadership is the integrity of our ambition.

Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership™ Blog
Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do bes
t  


Leadership is Olympian because the causal mechanism of leadership is the integrity of our ambition.  Ambition that is reflected in a constant dedication to creating value for others; ambition that is reflected in the ethics, integrity, humanity and fervor to learn and grow in ways that can help us all lead forward. It is a juxtaposition of me and we, an ability to see past the forest with wisdom that inspires the best in ourselves and in others.

Leadership is…

•A power rooted in empathy because we cannot lead without being able to understand the needs and wants of our constituents; we cannot speak from the heart when we are unable to see what is in the heart of others.

•Seeing the forest for the trees, the solution among the challenges, changes and even failures before us and making this solution, this vision real.

•Transforming the complex into simple, powerful, messages that align our greatest potential and purpose.

•Using changes, challenges even failures to new ways of thinking and doing, new ways of learning and relearning that take us forward faster and better.

•Encouraging evolutionary steps forward by rewarding good thought, good work and good actions; because it is our individual and collective ability to contribute, to do meaningful work that can help us retain the courage, the stamina and boldness required to succeed.

•Living and leading in alignment with the universal values that drive sustainability; modeling best actions, best thoughts, best leadership so that we may inspire the best in ourselves and in others.

•Creating meaning and value for others in a way that unites and integrates the skills and strengths, the hope and courage of all

•Being the architect of hope, courage and resiliency within the enterprise and in the community, because true leadership is “kaizen”-it only reflects change for the better.


Leadership is Olympian because it will be tested in every way by those who seek shortcuts to success, and have forsaken that which matters most for that which in the end matters least
.  The test of leadership, the test of our greatest success will never be found in what we acquire, because true leadership, true success and true happiness are found in what we contribute.

 

Today, perhaps more than ever before the imperative for every man and woman to aspire to personal leadership is critical; and it requires Olympian courage.  Will we start each day lighting a torch of hope, courage, integrity and humanity that can inspire the best in ourselves and others?  Each day we are presented with another chance to light a personal Olympic torch within our hearts and our minds.  Most will forsake this opportunity because it is difficult, at times painstaking; but the future lies in the heads, hearts and hands of those courageous men and women who will refuse to be daunted; change-makers, personal Olympians who will embrace the integrity of their ambition, and their ability to make a positive difference each day in which every way they choose.

 

More on Leadership?  You betcha!
Extraordinary Women Interview-Overcoming Life & Leadership Challenges
18 Word Success Formula
Rising to the Challenge Before Us
Leading Forward
Lead Forward (10 posts in one)
The Reach and Resonance of the Human Heart
Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose
Meaningful Work-A Leadership & Management Must
Against All Odds-A Personal Story of Leadership, Hope & Courage

 

About Irene Becker, Executive Coach, Consultant, Speaker, Writer
Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It -The 3Q Edge™

First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene Becker has a track record of trailblazing accomplishments in business and in the community at large. An insightful and inspiring executive coach, mentor, speaker and writer, Irene helps clients achieve breakthrough results in their communication, leadership and lives. Passionate about the integrity of her work and its ability to help change-makers LEAD change, Irene helps smart people and organizations develop 3Q Leadership™ and effective verbal, written and social communication that builds reach, resonance and results. Irene welcomes your emails at irene@justcoachit.com and tweets at @justcoachit.

18 Word Success Formula

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18 Word Success Formula
The Coachable Moment | Lead Forward!

 Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership™ Blog
Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do bes
t. Greater reach, resonance & results!


1.  Hone your ability to learn and unlearn

2.  Develop Communities of Purpose and Collaboration

3.  Apply courage, integrity, humanity>>>REPEAT

Does this work?  YES.  Here is the proof 
And a video

  More Coachable Moments?  YES
Communication
Teambuilding
Leadership
Personal Development

 First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene Becker has a track record of trailblazing accomplishments in business and in the community at large. An insightful and inspiring executive coach, mentor, speaker and writer, Irene helps clients achieve breakthrough results in their communication, leadership and lives. Passionate about the integrity of her work and its ability to help changemakers LEAD change, Irene helps smart people and organizations develop 3Q Leadership™ and effective verbal, written and social communication that builds reach, resonance and results.  Contact Irene:  irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene Irene goes the distance for her clients face to face and/or virtually!

Ramp UP Communication Quickstep Course-Fast & Purposeful!

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Time to ramp up verbal, written or social communication? In three inspiring, powerful executive coaching sessions with Irene Becker by telephone, skype or video conferencing?  Yes, Irene will come to YOU!

Unplug discord and build engagement? 

Develop improved reach and resonance?

Have I got a program for you!  And, there are a few spots left.

Three Steps to Improved Communication with Irene Becker!
New Quick-Step Executive Coaching Program Starts Aug 6, 2012

  Enjoy this video interview about LEADING forward!

Deployment one/one by tel, skype, v-conferencing

Program One (3 Sessions): Verbal Communication
Program Two (3 Sessions): Written Communication
Program Three (3 Sessions): Social Media Communication

                                       $450.00 per 3 session course, payable by cheque, visa,
                                       mastercard  Read what clients have to say! 

Registration is Limited. Email: irene@justcoachit.com
for program/registration details

 

Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™

Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best. Executive coaching, consulting, keynotes and articles with a 3Q Edge™ for greater reach, resonance and results

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | 3Q Leadership™ Blog
Career, Communication and Leadership Programs & Services with a 3Q Edge™
Toronto & Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 416-671-4726 Skype: beckerirene

Rising to the Challenge Before Us-Leading Forward

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Rising to the Challenge Before Us – LEADING FORWARD
Guest Post for Jesse Lyn Stoner, Seapoint Center

“I am honored that Irene Becker has allowed me to share her powerful guest post. There is an important message here – a vision of what can be, a sobering description of our challenges, and a Call to Action. Although this is a longer post, I urge you to take the time to read it carefully and to consider the implications for yourself personally and for our communities.    Watch this extraordinary video interview of Irene Becker, where she shares her personal story of great achievements and losses. Jesse Lyn Stoner, Bestselling Author, Full Steam Ahead, Executive Coach and Consultant  

My sincerest thanks to Jesse Lyn Stoner for hosting my post on her blog, www.seapointcenter.com the week of July 8th. I applaud Jesse’s exceptional body of work, and extend my sincerest thanks to her for an important leadership footprint and for hosting my article. I remain humbled and honored.


 The challenges we face too often inure us to the technological, scientific and communication wonders before us. Rising to the challenge of 21st Century Leadership starts with recognizing our ability to do GOOD by building GOOD leadership, GOOD business, GOOD communities, GOOD families, GOOD lives.It means taking the road less travelled by finding new ways to move past the cloud of negativity, fear, complacency or reactivity that surrounds us.Problems, physical maladies that were death sentences are being turned around. What was once considered impossible is realized every day. Communication, our ability to learn, share knowledge and innovate has never been greater. Our potential to LEAD FORWARD has never been greater; but it is obscured by a primal tendency, a human default pattern of being drawn to what is not, rather than looking at what is and what CAN be.Our brains are automatically set to be attracted to the negative, a vestige of days when survival meant being on the lookout for predators at every turn. The ability to make the shift and reset default patterns of thinking and doing that no longer serve is real, it is doable. We can retrain our brains, but doing so demands a focus on what can be and a desire to optimize our greatest potential.Technology cannot not save us from ourselves. The greatest danger we face is internal; it lurks within our minds, it lurks within the epicenter of corporate culture, in lurks within the smallest to greatest of organizations. It lurks within families and communities, towns, villages and cities. It is here and it is real. Fear and negativity resonate with our most primal of instincts, we are all innately drawn to both, they can captivate us, they can blind us to the truth of what is.

We stand at a fork in the road, a place where we face either the greatest Renaissance humans have ever known or a descent into decline, chaos and destruction. I believe in our ability to do better, not simply work harder. I believe in the hearts and minds of the changemakers, the courageous among us who will stand up to the challenge before us. I believe in our power to make a difference and to be the difference.

It is time to embrace our potential by learning to see problems as the conduit to solutions and by developing the three “Q Skills” that can take us forward: whole-brain thinking (IQ), emotional intelligence (EQ), and spiritual connection (SQ).

Fighting amongst ourselves, when we need to rally together and focus on what truly counts. is an expression of the fear before us and within us. Complacency and reactivity are the Molotov cocktail of destruction. Fighting about what is wrong, rather than looking at what is right will lead us nowhere. Burying the universal values that we know in our hearts and minds are the apex of sustainability will take us on a path of implosion. What does not create value for others will ultimately crash and burn. Ego, need and greed have systematically destroyed every empire and fiefdom in recorded history.

In another century, at a time of great chaos and crisis, Betsy Ross told Thomas Jefferson that times of great challenge demand great leadership. Today, the call to lead greatly speaks to us all. Some of us will lead our lives, others families, communities, businesses or large corporations.

WE ALL need to lead forward or give up our power. Lead forward or face a clear and present danger that will lead us to destruction. The values that sustain life, prosperity and goodwill must not only be spoken, they must be reflected in our smallest and greatest actions.

It is time to rise to the challenge of great leadership. Leadership that empowers people to learn new skills, new ways of dealing with and using change. Leadership that creates value for others, that contributes to better communities, better organizations and a better world.

The reality of a volatile world, workplace and marketplace can blind us to our power to LEAD forward. Whether we are afraid of the economic, geo-political or eco challenges we face, or simply the insidious erosion of job security, family life, quality of life and relationships, fear is around us and it is growing. Can we lead from fear? Can we lead from discouragement? Can we lead from a place of complacency or hopelessness? Will we be blinded to what CAN BE because we can only see WHAT IS?

Leading forward is the greatest and most important individual and collective challenge we face – a challenge worth our greatest effort. When we have the courage to lead with our strengths and the courage to transform the challenges we face into a catalyst for our true potential, we become not only change agents, but change leaders. And whether we are leading our own life, our family, our community, a small business or large enterprise what we do counts because the imperative is to lead forward and to help others do the same. Every time we LEAD forward, we inspire others to lead.

Leadership is not simply learned; it is lived. It is acquired and honed at the front lines of battle. Today, no matter who we are, we face a battle. We can choose to do as we have always done, or we can choose to develop a new mind set and skill set that takes us forward.

Great leaders have always recognized and developed their intellectual capital, emotional and spiritual capital, because they recognized that being just smart was not enough, being just heart centered was not enough, and being just values driven was not enough. Leadership demands all three. Developing these three “Q skills,” developing a new relationship with changes, challenges and with our potential is critical to our individual and collective future.

The only security we have lies in our ability to tie a knot around the courage, faith, hope, humanity and integrity that helps us LEAD forward. I resonated profoundly with the Open Letter by Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, where he talks about the importance of being indivisible. Our values and our determination to build and co-create good lives, good business, good leadership, good communities must resonate in our hearts and minds and must be indivisible.

That spark of indivisibility is the soul of leadership, and it calls to us all. Take this moment to think of what YOU DO HAVE and what YOU truly want. Ask yourself whether you will let the challenges before you erode your true power, your ability to make a positive difference. Ask yourself what living a purposeful life means to you and for you. Think about the opportunities before us individually and collectively to do good, to be good, and to share good. Think about what it means to fail forward and learn from your mistakes with agility, and to live in alignment with values that are fundamental to social and economic sustainability.

Independence can found in a new form of interdependence or collaboration where we build communities of purpose that are championed by change-makers and leaders who are dedicated to building a better present and future. Idealistic? Altruistic? Yes, both. I believe in the possibility of doing better, not only working harder, and that together we can evolve, grow and LEAD forward as one people sharing one planet.

I believe that the change-makers amongst us are the leaders of the future; ombudsmen and ombudswomen who model what CAN BE and who inspire others to aspire to a better future where we can each contribute. A future where our intellectual, emotional and spiritual capital evolves and grows. A future where business for the good, leadership for the good, and communities for the good become not only what we aspire to but what we create.

 

About Irene Becker

First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene Becker has a track record of trailblazing accomplishments in business and in the community at large. An insightful and inspiring executive coach, mentor, speaker and writer, Irene helps clients achieve breakthrough results in their communication, leadership and lives. Passionate about the integrity of her work and its ability to help changemakers LEAD change, Irene helps smart people and organizations develop 3Q Leadership™ and effective verbal, written and social communication that builds reach, resonance and results.

For more information on Irene and the services she offers, visit her web site Just Coach It – | The 3Q Edge™ . Follow her on Twitter @justcoachit.

Optimize-Humanize-Monetize

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Optimize-Humanize-Monetize || 3 Critical Steps to Results YOU Want

The Coachable Moment for the week ending July 6-2012
Irene Becker
| www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership™ Blog
Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do bes
t


What Are Coachable Moments?
Why Are They Important ?

Coachable Moments are the “aha” moments I have had in my executive coaching practice over the past ten years; moments that have helped me develop 3Q leadership™ tools & exercises for clients that have helped them quickly shift forward to improved results by resetting default patterns of thinking and doing.  Rewriting neural patterns/ habits of thought and action that no longer work is what 3Q Leadership™ is all about.

Great communication is critical to employee engagement and retention, effective teams/ virtual teams, improved lead generation/ salesSystems theory tells us about the power of one consistent change to affect positive change in the entire organization. More on systems theory-effective communication and team-building?  You betcha.  Stay tuned for my forthcoming Pink Paper.

And, now this wk’s Coachable Moment- Optimize, Humanize, Monetize

 

Optimize

Attitude is altitude, but developing an attitude that takes you and others forward means building a critical Q skill!  It means honing your ability to focus on strengths and see problems as a conduit to the solution. Build a critical Q skill constructive discontent.  See mistakes, failures with new eyes that help you turn them around. Constructive discontent is part of my 3Q model because, while counter-intuitive it is absolutely critical to leading and managing forward.  Developing this key skill will help you not only optimize your potential and the potential of others; it will also build greater to wellbeing.

 

 

Humanize

The leader who communicates well succeeds well. Communicating well means delivering your message in a way that resonates profoundly with the recipient(s).  It means building resonance and reach!  Humanizing communication, adapting your words, your tone, your body language for each and resonance is a learned skill, a critical important skill that will also help you build another key leadership competency-enhanced EQ/EI.  Humanizing communication means adapting your style in a way that opens the ears of the listener (s). What is the value of learning to humanize your communication? The value is implicit to successful management and leadership because the take-away is  an auditory footprint that engages and inspires the best in others.

 

 

Monetize

Shift forward!  Use your communication, your voice to become solution focused and solution driven. Fail forward faster, and better.. Once you have mastered constructive discontent, hone your ability to optimize potential by teaching your people to fail forward, faster and better.  Model/mentor/coach others by helping them to build transparent communication, empowerment-improved bottom line results. Achieving results and sustaining the power of those who are part of YOUR success team means building the Q skills that will help you optimize-humanize and monetize results.

©Irene Becker 2012.  All Rights Reserved

 

Are YOU Ready to Kick-Start Results?

New 3Q Leadership™ Quick-Step Programs Start Aug 6, 2012
Insightful, Purposeful, Powerful

Section I:  Optimize-Humanize-Monetize (Verbal Communication)
Section II: Optimize-Humanze-Monetize (Written Communication)
Section III: Optimize-Humanize-Monitize (Social Media Communication)

Registration is Limited. Email:  irene@justcoachit.com

 

More on  Building Your 3Q Leadership™ Edge?
Humanizing, Optimizing and Monetizing Results?  Yes
!

Great Read Review & Excerpt The Power of Communication
7 Ways to Turn Conflict Around
Greatness Leadership-7 Steps
Extraordinary Woman Interview on Leadership
Meaningful Work
Lead Forward

The Thriving Organization
Courageous Team-building

Join the conversation by posting on this blog or on twitter @justcoachit

 

Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™

Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best. Executive coaching, consulting, keynotes and articles with a 3Q Edge™ for greater reach, resonance and results

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | 3Q Leadership™ Blog
Career, Communication and Leadership Programs & Services with a 3Q Edge™
Toronto & Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 416-671-4726 Skype: beckerirene

Business at the Speed of NOW-Gr8 Read Review & Excerpt

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Great Read | Book Review & Excerpt

Business at the Speed of NOW:
Fire Up Your People, Thrill Your Customers,  Crush Your Competitors by John M. Bernard

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | 3Q Leadership™ Blog

Success demands an evolution of how we think, work and lead forward. Creating value for others (the timeless litmus test of success) means working more effectively in a volatile arena where the greatest constant we know is change.  It means learning to do business at the speed of NOW. What are the seven deadly sins of management?  How can not only awareness of these sins but a new and better way to fire up YOUR people, thrill your customers and crush your competitors do for your organization health?

John M. Bernard teaches about building an agile, cost effective management system at the Speed of NOW
.  A great read, a must read for management and leadership, this book takes the reader on an intrepid journey to enhanced effective, better management and business results  at the speed of NOW.

Practical and purposeful, Business at the Speed of NOW is chock full of real examples, assessments, tools, guidelines, and checklists that enable readers to apply the concepts immediately. What is it?  How do we get it?  How do we write a breakthrough plan for doing business at the speed of NOW? If you have not read this book, go get it! Close the execution gap, enable YOUR organization’s YES-ABILITY-read Business at the Speed of NOW.

Excerpt/Adaptation from Business at the Speed of Now: Fire Up Your People, Thrill Your Customers, and Crush Your Competitors John Wiley and Sons. 2012


Companies must evolve or die.

Once the need for speed burst into the business environment, it changed the game. Today, competitive success demands a new approach to management, one that enables employees at all levels to solve problems and seize opportunities autonomously and instantaneously.

To enable YES-ability, managers must have put these crucial elements in place before the moment of truth arrives in the form of a first-time order or an angry call from an irate customer. The bottom line? Management’s work today should center on enabling immediate action and ensuring that all action aligns with the direction and goals of the business. It requires an about-face just as revolutionary as the one managers made at the dawn of the Era of Mass Production.

The chief indicator of management variation is confusion. The Seven Deadly Sins of Management contribute to that confusion.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Management 1. Lack of Clear Direction If people don’t know the organization’s destination, they can’t spot opportunities to help it get there. 2. No Line of Sight If people can’t see how their work connects to the destination, they won’t make the best possible decisions in their daily work. 3. Unclear Accountability If people don’t know what others count on them to do, they won’t do it. 4. Inconsistent Language If people don’t use a common vocabulary, with clear and simple definitions of each word, they will waste valuable time trying to understand each other. 5. Poor Issue Transparency If people do not feel safe raising issues, they will bury problems that will hinder progress toward their goals. 6. Insufficient Resources If people try to do their work without the right resources, they’ll end up with disappointing results. 7. Inadequate Tools/Skills.  If people lack the skills and the tools they need to get desired results, they won’t get the results.

NOW organizations, on the other hand, develop a new mind-set, one that starts at the top and permeates the entire organization.

The NOW Mindset 1. I use facts to find truth. 2. I serve my customers. 3. I improve my processes. 4. I count on people, people count on me. 5. I keep score to maintain focus.

The agility and efficiency a company needs to flourish in a world of mass customization depends on establishing new systems and embedding them deeply in the organization. It’s not just the people who meet and greet the public, sell them stuff, or provide after-purchase service and care who must operate in the now. Everyone from the board of directors to the fellow who polishes the lobby floors at night must embrace the now mentality and utilize the tools that enable them to improve everything they do. Like any engine, every part plays an essential role. If you want to know which parts might stall your own organization, look for the weakest ones. Wherever you find constraints that inhibit making decisions and doing business, that’s where the system will either slow up or shut down. The new marketplace realities demand the sort of highly agile, waste-free, and cost-effective management system you’ll encounter in the pages ahead.

In today’s business world you must not turn your back on new ideas, even the little ones, even ones that seem a little crazy, because they may propel you ahead of your competitors. You need new ideas, and you need them now. In the world of mass customization, agile competitors who seize and exploit the best new ideas will clobber leaders who cling to the old logic. In our speed-driven world, the new logic insists that every worker make important decisions and take decisive action now.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Founder and Chairman of Mass Ingenuity, John M. Bernard is a trailblazer and rainmaker who  has sat in nearly every seat around the leadership table in high-tech, service, distribution, utilities, banking, insurance, manufacturing, healthcare, education, and government sectors.  Mr. Bernard recently addressed the National Association of State Attorneys General and is a riveting, insightful keynote speaker whose audience resonates profoundly with a message and a unique system for doing better business at the speed of NOW.  John tweets @johnmbernard  www.massingenuity.com

 

More Great Reads?  YOU Betcha! Every Week
More on Managing Forward…YES!
Optimize, Humanize, Monetize
The Thriving Organization
Profitable Growth

 

Irene Becker, Just Coach It

Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best. Executive coaching, consulting, keynotes and articles with a 3Q Edge™ for greater reach, resonance and results

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Career, Communication and Leadership Programs & Services with a 3Q Edge™
Toronto & Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 416-671-4726 Skype: beckerirene

The Power of Communication-Great Read Review & Excerpt

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Great Read | Review & Excerpt
The Power of Communication by Helio Fred Garcia

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog

 

Bill Gates said many years ago the 21st century leader will be a leader who empowers.  It was a visionary statement that has resonated with me since I first read it.  Empowerment refers to engaging constituents up and down, vertically and horizontally with the power of a vision and their potential to make this vision really.

A global marketplace, an interconnected social world, make communication a critical skill and KPI (key performance indicator)  for effective and agile leadership. Leadership empowers and demands great communication. Is anything more important than building trust, inspiring loyalty and leading effectively?

Thank you Fred Garcia for a truly empowering, insightful Great Read! Leadership builds trust and loyalty.  Understanding, empowering and delivering great communication is what The Power of Communication is all about.

 

Excerpt/Adaptation from The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively by Helio Fred Garcia, FT Press/Pearson, 2012

 

COMMUNICATING WELL IS A LEADERSHIP DISCIPLINE

The present environment of social media, of instantaneous communication where audiences have multiple sources of information available to them at any time, creates new burdens. Stakeholders expect leaders to be good at connecting with them.

In more than 30 years, I have coached more than 250 chief executive officers and thousands of executives and other high-profile people in complex fields, including doctors, lawyers, financial executives, and military officers. These leaders were in sectors as diverse as pharmaceuticals, heavy manufacturing, energy, biotechnology, computer software, financial services, law firms, advertising agencies, religious denominations, universities, and not-for-profit advocacy groups.

What they all had in common was a need to win hearts and minds. And, a sense that they weren’t quite up to the task. They all needed to get better at this core leadership skill.

GETTING GOOD AT COMMUNICATING WELL

The skills that get many leaders to the top of their organizations are not sufficient to do the work at that level. The higher one goes in a company, not-for-profit, or government agency, the more success is measured in winning hearts and minds rather than in the mastery of some technical skill—from medicine, law, finance, education, engineering, and the like. It isn’t that their core disciplines don’t matter—they do. But they’re table stakes. They’re what’s minimally necessary to get the job. But they’re not enough.

I have found a high correlation between leaders seeing part of their work as continually developing their communication skills and their overall success. One of the burdens of leadership is to get good at engaging stakeholders well. They need to master basic skills, practice those skills, and continually enhance their capacity to lead verbally.

At a very basic level of tactical execution, being good at engaging well starts with understanding the physicality of audience engagement. The audience makes judgments based on nonverbal cues. A leader is judged based on, among other attributes, his or her bearing: how he or she carries himself or herself. First impressions matter, and the first impression is often visual.

 The most effective leaders take seriously the physicality of their performance: Standing or sitting in a posture that creates a stable platform. Gesturing fluidly. Making eye contact and locking in the audience’s attention. Using visuals to amplify the speaker’s points, and not the other way around.

THE FUNDAMENTALS WORK

The fundamentals work. And from those physicality fundamentals a leader can build an effective presence to convey content well. But executives need to take those fundamentals seriously. I sometimes tell a bad joke in response to a client’s question about whether the boss will improve as a result of coaching:  How many executive coaches does it take to change a light bulb?  Only one.  But the bulb has to really want to change…

The skills that get many leaders to the top of their organizations are not sufficient to do the work at that level. The higher one goes in a company, not-for-profit, or government agency, the more success is measured in winning hearts and minds rather than in the mastery of some technical skill—from medicine, law, finance, education, engineering, and the like. It isn’t that their core disciplines don’t matter—they do. But they’re table stakes. They’re what’s minimally necessary to get the job. But they’re not enough.

 Rather, leaders need to be good at interpersonal verbal engagement—one-on-one and large group, in person and at a distance. I have found a high correlation between leaders seeing part of their work as continually developing their communication skills and their overall success.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR – HELIO FRED GARCIA

For more than 30 years Helio Fred Garcia has helped leaders build trust, inspire loyalty, and lead effectively.  He is a coach, counselor, teacher, writer, and speaker whose clients include some of the largest and best-known companies and organizations in the world. 
He tweets at @garciahf.  www.thepowerofcommunication.net

More on Communication?  YOU Betcha:
From Now to How:  Building Social Virtual and Cross Generational Leadership
Constructive Discontent-A Critical Leadership & Life Skill
Turning Conflict Around-7 Steps
Communication-The Coachable Moment-5 Posts in One
The Real Deal: 7 Powerful, Practical Ways to Accelerate Results

Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best . Executive coaching, consulting, keynotes and articles with a 3Q Edge™ for greater reach, resonance and results

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | 3Q Leadership Blog
Career, Communication and Leadership Programs & Services with a 3Q Edge™
Toronto & Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 416-671-4726 Skype: beckerirene

What You Need To Know About Successful Blogging | Blogging Success Tips

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What YOU Need To Know About Successful Blogging
Blogging Success Tips
-The Positive Side of Blogging
A Pink Paper (Cousin of the White Paper)
by Irene Becker, Just Coach It

Well, this post is too long to be a blog post, and it is not a white paper. I call it a Pink Paper because it is all about the Pink-The Positive Side of Bloggingdeveloping reach and resonance within your marketplace and the community at large.


Blogging & business
in the New World-the Social World-
Lessons Learned.

Developing a Community of Purpose™ is critical to social media and business success, and will only become more so! It is your ability to reach out to influencers, connectors, colleagues, employees, constituents and prospects that will take you forward in terms of traffic to your site, brand exposure, lead generation.

 

 

 

Smell the ROSES

You need people, organizations, constituents who smell YOUR roses-LIVE bodies who resonate with your values, your vision, your mission. Human beings who value what YOU do, what it can do for them and how it adds something positive to their lives and the world in general.  Your Community of Purpose™ must be defined and grown by those who lead forward, and want to use challenges & strengths, problems and opportunities to create prosperity by creating value for others.

YES, your blog and your business NEED a personal connection, a human persona.
Demographical information that used to be relevant is passé.  The new demographics are values, interests-emotionally relevant details about your target markets.  Building your human connection, developing YOUR Community of Purpose™ will help you…

  • Develop an emotional connection
  • Build trust and credibility
  • Carve out a small but important niche, a key area of expertise that differentiates you from other companies, services or brands.
  • Develop improved SEO and brand presence
  • Connect with collaborators who can be strong strategic alliances in terms of business development and coming together for key projects or initiatives where your combined talents provide extra benefits for your clients.

 

Blog & Communication KSF! (Key success factor questions YOU need to answer)

  • Who is YOUR audience?  What do THEY value? What type of headlines and language do they respond to? How do they see themselves?  How must you position yourself in terms of headlines, subject matter and language so that they embrace your content?
  • What are YOU focused on?  Know what you are trying to achieve with your blog. What are YOUR goals?  Using a blog to for SEO is not enough. Pick three goals for your blog.  Get clear on them; review them as you are blogging as agility is critical.  You cannot hit a target you cannot see.
  • Measure, regig, measure-yes KPI’s count!  Measure blog results and remember, you need to balance focus/objectives with flexibility and adaptation to your target markets.  Get in the know and find out about the great social media tools and analytics that are out there, many of which have free initial platforms you can try on for size and fit.
  • Name IT.  Brainstorm around a name that contains keywords and expresses your USP.  Choose a name that is creative and related to your company and what YOU do best.  If YOU are the brand, perhaps your Blog is your name.
  • Focus on What YOU do best and what will create value for your target audience. Decide on 4-5 categories that you will blog about.  Remember to write blogs that are short (generation of ADD readers) have bold headlines and eye-catching pictures, graphics or charts and that do not overtly sell, but rather give information and consistently position you as the expert in your fields.
  • Get visual and use great bold headlines; statistics tell us that only 20% maximum of people will actually read your blog; the other 80% will resonate with the visual image or take a mental note/snapshot of the title and headlines.  When I started blogging, I did not realize the critical importance of visual images (flaw as I am an auditory learner) and bold headlines that engage the reader.  You need images and headlines/key points that grab the reader.
  • Get External: Develop Strategic Alliances with other Bloggers-Extend your reach.  Develop a Community of Purpose™ with other experts in the field so that you both benefit from each other’s reach and resonance in the marketplace; as well as benefiting from each other’s ideas, creative input, different areas of strength and expertise.  The new formula for success is collaborative.  Embrace it or lose.
  • Keep your eye on the SEO prize-keywords and phrases.  Use the keywords from your site and also use Google adwords to find additional keywords.  Try to be consistent in using certain keywords in every blog post as well as key phrases that allow the reader to understand what you do that is unique and of value.
  • Have a Blogging Schedule and use different social media channels and times to post your blog.  Start with one blog post a week, and make sure that you have set aside the time to write, edit and have someone else review your posting for errors etc.  Try to post on the same day/days.  Consistency is important to your audience.
  • Ask for help and help others in your Community of Purpose™! Don’t just blog; help others who are doing great work in your sector to get exposure for their work.  Build your Community of Purpose; when you notice an excellent blog post shout it out on your best social media channel.  If you have written something that you feel really creates value, ask those in your Community of Purpose™ to share it with their readership.
  • Create Involvement! Find new ways to get people involved, or simply ask them in your post to comment on your blog.  Examples of great things to offer in your blog are:
    •Contests and Free Giveaways/Downloads
    •Case Studies/Client Success Stories
    •White Papers
    •Top Ten Lists and Ideas (Ending the blog asking readers for comments and ideas)
    •Videos
    •Infographics are very hot now because they contain info and visual appeal  Valuable information positioned in as few words as possible with bold headlines and visual images are a dynamite combination.
  • Don’t reinvent the wheel, but do not copy cat. Become a learnaholic!  Read the top blogs in your sector, see what is hot, how they use language, what they talk about, how they drive traffic and think of new ways that you can do the same with your voice, your persona! And, remember when you look at great blogs, or even the work of your competitors with an open mind you can find incredible creative nuggets, ways that you can change and re-gig something or come up with an entirely new idea that is a great fit for YOU.
  • Give up YOUR guru. While it is critical to find experts who can help you develop and promote your business, developing a mind-set that X company or individual cannot be wrong, make a mistake is dangerous.  The best organization, the best professional service provider cannot be right all the time.  And, while we are all so deluged with so much to do in so little time, taking quality time to reflect upon what someone has suggested is critical.  Relying on a guru provider, mentor or coach to be right 100% of the time is dangerous!  Hire the best people to help.  DO NOT try to do everything yourself or rely on.
  • Learn whom YOU can really trust and remember the reality of FREE Advise and PAID advice! Learning whom you can trust is critical, and while social media is a virtual platform if you keep your eyes open you will quickly learn who talks the great talk and who walks it.  Keep your eyes open.  Developing a true Community of Purpose™ means collaborating with people who share your values, your sense of integrity and who will thrive when you help them and they help you.  It is about finding those rare but powerful souls who can want to work on ME to WE solutions, and in this respect are truly leadership driven in a positive way.  And, remember free advice is fine, but if you need coaching, consulting advice that is extensive set a budget and find the right provider, or find a way to barter services.  Sometimes the best thing you can do is pay for the best advice, without the guru halo distracting you.  The biggest name can be the best or not.  Find the help YOU need both in terms of free advice and paid/bartered advice. It is impossible to evolve and grow as an army of one.
  • Speak the Language of the Heart. Know the heart of your target audiences.  No matter who sophisticated or learned they are or otherwise; it is the language you use, language that resonates with their heart and the value you share through your blog posts that will build or break relationships.

 

Build YOUR Community of Purpose™ NOW, watch your blog grow, watch your reach and resonance in the market place grow...and, of equal import watch the quality of your relationships and the footprint of your true purpose and mission strengthen.
©Irene Becker, 2012. All Rights Reserved

Did you like this Pink Paper? Were the blogging tips helpful?  What has been YOUR blogging experience?  Write and share your comments-kick off your Community of Purpose™


DO YOU want to integrate these concepts?  Develop a Community of Purpose?  Expand reach, resonance and results.  Improve the written/verbal communication that is critical to leading forward?
Contact me.  I am here to help!

 

Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best . Executive coaching, consulting, keynotes and articles with a 3Q Edge™ for greater reach, resonance and results

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Career, Communication and Leadership Programs & Services
Toronto & Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 416-671-4726 Skype: beckerirene

Meaningful Work- Building A Leadership & Management Must

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Meaningful Work- Building A Leadership & Management Must

© Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership Blog

 

The importance of meaningful work to YOUR success and the success of YOUR people cannot be minimized.  Old school:  work=profit   New school purpose=profit.  The information is clear, a whole new generation of employees will look for and ultimately demand meaningful work.  And, the shift and importance of meaningful work to all people is critical.  After our survival needs are met, meaning and purpose are the key drivers of potential, innovation, ideation…successful results.

 

 

 

 

 

Meaningful Work Is Critical to Agile and Effective Leadership & Management . Finding meaning and purpose in your work is critical not only to the results you achieve, but to the attitude and the emotions that are picked up by your people.  Yes, brain science tells us that mirror neurons make what we are feeling contagious, viral.  Can YOU lead forward if you do not believe in what you are doing?  Can you inspire and empower the best in others if you do not feel that your work and theirs is important?  Will you be able to engage and retain your people? NO.


What is the secret to meaningful work?

I am going to share something that is counter-intuitive.  YES, you can have your cake and eat it too.  It is possible to find meaning and purpose in your work, and the caveat is not only improved focus, management and leadership but a feeling that will be shared with your colleagues, your direct reports, your clients…YOUR people and constituents.  Finding meaning and purpose in YOUR work starts with self awareness, with total candor and with a place to share your truth and use it to move forward. Yes, that’s right the things you love about your work and the things that frustrate YOU can be used/transformed into  personalized tools, simply strategies that help you reset or rewrite default patterns that no longer work.  Yes,  YOU can probably have your cake and eat it too!

Success Story: Having your cake and eating it too!

Executive comes to me disenchanted with new position, executive team etc.  We work on key areas of focus, determine meaning and purpose for the client as well as gaps, areas of improvement in communication, collaboration that could be built with the executive team, managers and in the organization as a whole.  Result, we use what is to create a new way of seeing and using challenges that not only reinvigorates meaning and purpose for the executive and causes a pivotal shift in the Executive Team and ultimately senior managers; a shift that creates momentum, empowerment, engagement, improved communication and an organizational spirit of motivation that infuses the leaders and managers with a NEW CAN DO attitude and emphasis.  Result:  An improved foundation, an important, vibrant seedbed for improved and agile management and leadership.

YES, YOU can probably have your cake and eat it too.

The cake is meaning, purpose-YOUR true potential; eating it is the coachable moment.  A moment that is pivotal to turning challenges around and using them to communicate, lead and succeed forward forward! Ask YOURSELF… Is it time to find greater meaning and purpose in your work?  Do you want to inspire meaning and purpose in your executive team, your managers, your people?

Get in the know & start to grow.

Enjoy a self test-go ahead self-test the quality of your work and life.  Think about having your cake and eating it too.  Making the decision to embrace the meaning and purpose of your work, finding new ways to do so can change your life and the lives of your people…yes, you can shift and LEAD forward!

More? You Betcha!

 How To  Improve Culture by Adriana Girdler

The Thriving Organization-10 Power Steps Out Of Jurassic Park 

From Now To How: Building Building Social, Virtual and Cross Generational Leadership

Building an Agile Self and Team 

Constructive Discontent-A Critical Leadership and Life Skill

The Power of NOW

LEAD Forward 7 Power Words &  Leadership Posts in One

Communication – 5 Posts in One

Executive coaching, training, consulting, keynotes and articles with a 3Q Edge

for greater reach, resonance and results

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Toronto & Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 416-671-4726 Skype: beckerirene

Great Read Excerpt: Dare, Dream, Do

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Great Read Book Review & Excerpt | Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | Qblog
Helping smart people & organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster & happier


Dare, Dream, Do:Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream
by Whitney Johnson

Dreams are the touchstones of our character.  Henry David Thoreau

 

Enjoy it, delight in it,  learn from it, share this wonderful book with others because it is an important touchstone for all women, and emancipated men who want to realize their potential.  Potential to dare, dream and do.  Potential to transform, potential to evolve. Potential to dare, dream and do.  It is a beautiful book that speaks soulfully, and wisely beckoning the reader to dare, dream and do.  Each chapter is a gift, each page curls around your consciousness like a hug, each really life story will grab your heart.  It is a book that is interesting, inviting and profoundly transformational.

 

Dare Dream Do…Three simple, powerful and profound words, that are the title of a must read book for all women who seek to live purposefully.  Three words that introduce a book written by one of the 12 most important women to connect with on Twitter according to Inc magazine. Enjoy Whitney Johnson’s abbreviated bio and social media contact info at the end of this post.  Irene Becker, June 6, 2012

 

Dare: Why Dreaming is Essential

“When we dream we make meaning of life, discover the essence of ourselves, truly grow up, and most importantly, model for children how to dream. As you read the accounts of women who are wrestling with the dare of dreaming, you may want to give voice to your own story, and I encourage you to do so. The act of writing down our dreams allows us to own them and eventually act on them. As you recognize that dreaming is essential, your story will be woven into this tapestry of women’s voices, who like you, are daring to dream. “

 

Dream: Boldly Finding Your Dreams

 …“doing” our dreams requires that we claim a central place in our lives, to accept not only a supporting role but also a leading role. As we practice telling and listening to stories in which we are the lead player or are encouraged to be, we begin to discover who we are and who we want to be. We discover clues to our dreams, and we start to believe that the resources needed to achieve our dreams are ours to have and that, as heroes, they are our birthright.

 

Do: Making Your Dreams Happen

The dream enlarges our soul. The right dreams are those that bind us to those we love. As a result, they will feel good. 2. This dream enlightens our minds. When it’s the right dream for us, ideas will begin to flow. This happens differently for everyone, but I know when an idea is a good one because I start to see doors to more and more possibilities opening in my mind. When it’s not a good idea, the possibilities aren’t there. 3. If a dream feels right in both our heart and head, the dream becomes delicious. I love that word: delicious. A good dream is one that expands our hearts and enlightens our minds. It’s pleasing and delightful, and, like planting a seed, exploring a dream is a process of growing and transforming; reaping a delicious harvest (finding joy) is the result of finding and pursuing the right dreams.


“It is my sincerest hope that a chain of dreaming begins with this book and that, many years hence, you and I will marvel at how dreaming mattered to ourselves, our families, and the world. Because we dreamed, the story—our story—goes on. What one thing, one small thing, will you do to dream today?”  Whitney Johnson, Author of Dare, Dream, Do.  Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream 



Whitney Johnson is the co-founder of Clayton Christensen’s investment firm Rose Park Advisors, (Disruptive Innovation Fund), a Harvard Business Review blogger, and the author of author of Dare, Dream, Do:  Remarkable Things Happen When you Dare to Dream (Bibliomotion, 2012).   Senior Advisor to the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards; and one of 12 People to Follow on Twitter in 2012 as named by Inc. Magazine. © 2012 Whitney Johnson. All rights reserved.

 

www.whitneyjohnson.com  | Twitter:  @johnsonwhitney or @daredreamdo

www.facebook.com/daredreamdo  | http://pinterest.com/johnsonwhitneyl/

 

 

 What do I know about daring, dreaming and doing?  Actually quite a bit.  First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, I also helped to set up the first mentorship program for business women in the country and have consistently crashed through cement ceilings!  Sharing a short interview that I hope will inspire others to Dare, Dream Do http://bit.ly/JTvbYm

Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best. Discover executive coaching, consulting, keynotes and articles with a 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Career, Communication and Leadership Programs & Services
Toronto & Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 – Skype:  beckerirene

Top Ten Posts for May 2012

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TopTen | Ten Most Popular Posts May 2012
from Q Blog| www.justcoachit.com/blog | ©Irene Becker.

Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best.

 

 

#1 Building an Agile Self and Team | The Coachable Moment

 

 

 


                                       #2   Leadership-Developing a Community of Purpose™

 

 

 

 

#3 Great Read Excerpt-Managing with a Conscience 

 

 


                                                     #4  What Is A Community of Purpose™

 

                                        


#5 Is there something constructive about discontent?
You betcha. 10 Tips & 10 Posts!

                                     #6 The Quality of Your Life & Work-Article and Self Quiz


 

#7 Smart and Fast Are Not Enough: The Need for Better EQ  

 

 

 

#8 The Secret to Peace & Prosperity

 

 

 

 

#9 Rediscover YOUR Fire

 

 

 

 

#10 On Overcoming

 

Is it time to turn a career, communication or leadership challenge into a new way of thinking and doing that takes you forward smarter, faster and happier?

Do YOU want to build the communication and social footprint that drives the reach and resonance YOU need?

Are YOU ready to build a community of purpose™ that drives engagement, empowerment and results?

Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best.

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Toronto & Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 – Skype:  beckerirene

 

Building an Agile Self and Team | The Coachable Moment for the Week ending June 1, 2012

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The Coachable
Moment for the week ending June 1, 2012
 Building a Strong, Agile Self and Team

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Helping smart people & organizations communicate & LEAD forward smarter, faster & happier

Toronto and Virtually Everywhere |  (1) 416-671-4726 | Skype:  beckerirene

 The coachable moment this week is about building personal and interpersonal strength and agility.   Where do you start? Whether you want to build a strong actual or virtual team, develop a community of purpose™ or simply live and lead more effectively at the speed of change, resetting your default pattern of thinking is critical.   

 


The secret is out of the box. 
What worked in the past doesn’t work any longer.
Your thoughts impact your mood, your mood is transmitted to others (yes, science confirms our mirror neurons make mood contagious) and from a team building perspective the positive power of group-think is well documented.

How can YOU help yourself?  How can YOU help those you lead  build greater strength and agility?  Being effective, being an agile manager or leadership is all about using each win the way you would use a weight to strengthen your brain, to rewrite a new positive neural pathway so that you become more solution focused. Yes, it is time to change it up, because what worked in the past (being problem focused) no longer works.  The sheer velocity of information, challenges, changes, opportunities we face on a day-to-day basis is titanic.  Learning to live, communicate and work effectively at the speed of changes means becoming solution focused.  Becoming solution focused starts with an emphasis on the WINS.

 

Power food for YOUR Brain!  Cross training for your personal development. You are what you think. Searching for problems with the intention of solving them is no longer the most effective way to manage or lead forward. Our educational system and the culture of most organizations is centered around picking and pointing out what is wrong and fixing it. Is it working?  No. WINS rock because appreciating them and celebrating them in your mind’s eye will help you reset your default pattern of thinking so that you can become solution focused.

Retrain YOUR brain…it feels GOOD!  Help your team  retrain their brains. Get a WIN fix, by spending a few moments each morning and each evening to think about your personal and professional wins.  Start your next team meeting by focusing on the WINS.  What happened today that was positive?  Think about it, celebrate it in your mind’s eye.  Try having a WIN fix twice a day for the next week.  Change it up before the sheer weight of challenges, negativity obscure the incredible potential before us to make a difference, be the difference and inspire those we manage and lead to do so more effectively.  Have a win fix right now.  Try it, enjoy it, because it is an important step in becoming solution focused.  A step than can help you reset the default pattern.

 

Enjoy the search panel the upper right hand site of this blog for insightful and inspiring posts on
leadership, communication, team-building, career management & transition. YOUR opinion counts.  Post a comment!

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ) 
Helping smart people & organizations communicate & LEAD forward smarter, faster and happier

  Discover the power of coaching, consulting, keynotes & articles with a 3Q Edge™
Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | 416-671-4726 | Skype: beckerirene

Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose

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 Leadership Means Developing a Community of Purpose


©Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Helping smart people & organizations communicate & LEAD forward smarter, faster & happier


Leadership means building a community of thought and action. It means building a Community of Purpose

Agile leaders are evolutionary leaders; relationship builders, communicators, strategic thinkers and doers whose values, vision and purpose are aligned with a whole new world where success means creating value for others. Purpose means profit, and sustaining profit demands a whole new focus on GOOD business, GOOD leadership on creating GOOD value for stakeholders, shareholders, clients, employees, constituents and communities.


Communities of Purpose strengthen collaboration, communication and results.
Communities of purpose are made up of the right people who come together for the right reasons:



•Trust, congruency, shared values and objectives that transcend limitations or barriers.

•New habits of thinking, doing and communicating that build our 3Q Edge™; our ability to optimize, humanize and monetize potential at the speed of change.

•Empowerment, engagement and a new found ability to fail forward, by using challenges as levers for growth, purpose and progress.

•A relentless focus on business for the good because purpose makes profit; and sustainable profit means creating value for ALL stakeholders, shareholders, clients, customers, constituents.

 

 

Communities of Purpose can help YOU pop the cork on potential.

 

Effective leadership demands communication and collaboration; effective communities of purpose build resonance and engagement with a virtual or actual community by aligning shared values and objectives with the skills and experience that drive results. Meaningful work, purposeful work will become increasingly critical as we enter a new era where organizations must create value for all stakeholders, shareholders, employees, constituents and communities.  Purpose makes profit, communities of purpose build profit in a way that  breaks down barriers to potential and communication, driving value for all constituents. 

Leadership means building a community of thought and action-A Community of Purpose

Goodness to Greatness Leadership Seven Steps
What Does Leadership Really Mean?
The Thriving Organization
Ten Essential Leadership Principles

 

©Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Helping smart people & organizations communicate & LEAD forward smarter, faster,
Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | 416-671-4726 | Skype: beckerirene

Great Read Excerpt-Managing with a Conscience

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Great Read Book Review & Excerpt | Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | Qblog
Helping smart people & organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster & happier


Managing with a Conscience (2nd edition) by Frank K. Sonnenberg

Winner, Best Small Business Book of the Year

 


Managing with a Conscience is MORE than an award winning book for small business, it is a timeless reference point for all organizations, enterprises and business who want seek to improve performance through integrity, trust and commitment.

How can we manage and lead forward in a bold new world of unremitting change, challenges and opportunities?  People make profits, people are the engine of creativity, productivity and promise.  Frank Sonnenberg has given us MUST read roadmap for management and leadership in a brave new age of changes, challenges and opportunities.

Are You Working at Cross-purposes?

If you randomly selected 50 employees and asked them basic questions about the heart of your organization, would their answers be similar? For example, ask them: What is our organization’s mission? What are our core values? What factors are most important to our future success? What are our core competencies? How does someone get ahead in our organization? How do we differentiate ourselves from the competition? What are our key initiatives this year? How will our industry change over the next few years? How will we respond to this change? What’s the impact of this phenomenon? Unless your employees give similar answers to these most basic questions, waste, redundancies, inefficiencies, confusion, and anxiety are likely; the result—employees working at cross-purposes.

 

Promises Promises

Be careful about promises made. As Kristin Anderson says in Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service, “You can’t promise your customers sunny weather, but you can promise to hold an umbrella over them when it rains.” Problems arise when promises can’t be met. There are no degrees of promises; every promise is equally important because the person who is disappointed by your failure to keep a promise is likely to think: “If they can’t be counted on for small things, I sure won’t trust them on large ones.”

 

Are You a Good Listener?

Everyone in the organization, from the top to the bottom, should strive to communicate more effectively. According to research, we spend 7 out of every 10 minutes that we are awake communicating, and that communication time is devoted 9 percent to writing, 16 percent to reading, 30 percent to speaking, and 45 percent to listening. When report cards are given out for how well we listen, however, very few of us would receive passing grades. Barriers to listening include assuming a subject is uninteresting and tuning out, focusing on how something is said rather than on what is being said, reacting too quickly before the message is completed, picking up on emotional words and not hearing the rest of the message, listening only for facts rather than trying to absorb ideas, allowing yourself to be distracted, and avoiding listening to subjects that you don’t understand. Everyone must learn to overcome these barriers.

 

Leadership: Creating a vision

Leaders must create a shared vision that shapes the way employees feel about their organization. They must accept responsibility for making “the company,” “our company”–– a place where people work together instead of “doing their own thing.” The vision may be precise or vague; it may highlight a specific goal or a dream of a better future. It is critical to present a clear and concise view of the organization that is compelling, realistic, believable, and attractive. Furthermore, it must promise a better future than prevailing conditions in visible and important ways.

Frank Sonnenberg, a marketing strategist, has written four books and published over 300 articles. This was adapted from Frank’s new book, Managing with a Conscience: How to Improve Performance Through Integrity, Trust, and Commitment (2nd edition). Trust Across America named Sonnenberg one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders of 2011 and 2012 • In 2011, Social Media Marketing Magazine (SMM) selected Sonnenberg as one of the top marketing authors in the world on Twitter. © 2012 Frank Sonnenberg. All rights reserved.

Twitter @FSonnenberg
http://www.franksonnenbergonline.com  Facebook http://www.facebook.com/FrankSonnenbergOnline

 

What do I know about Managing with a Conscience and Effective Leadership?  Actually quite a bit First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, I also helped to set up the first mentorship program for business women in the country.  My career in business and as an executive coach and communication/leadership advisor has been predicated by the values that are implicit in Mr. Sonnenberg’s must read book and in sustainable success. Sharing a short interview that I hope will inspire others to  Manage with a Consience! http://bit.ly/JTvbYm

 

 Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best. Discover executive coaching, consulting, keynotes and articles with a 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Career, Communication and Leadership Programs & Services
Toronto & Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 – Skype: beckerirene

What Is A Community of Purpose and Why Do YOU Need One?

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What Is A Community of  Purpose 
and Why Do YOU Need One?

©Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Helping smart people & organizations communicate & LEAD forward smarter, faster, happier


Purpose is the only sustainable way to create value.
Purpose makes and sustains profit because it is the only true driver of our greatest potential.
Whether you want to build a happy life, a successful enterprise, small business or professional practice; YOU need a community of purpose.

 

What is a Community of Purpose?

As we move from the Age of Information to the Age of Innovation the value we create for all stakeholders and communities will drive success. Whether you want to build a happy life, a successful enterprise, small business or professional practice; YOU need a community of purpose Your community of purpose can be a small group or team, it can be a few people or just a valued and trusted coach or advisor…developing that community of purpose is one of the most important things you can do for yourself, the actualization of your potential and the potential of those you lead and serve.

We all need communities of purpose, because it can be terribly lonely at the top, and it is lonely in the middle and at the bottom too.  Loneliness, isolation, lack of trust, lack of solid personal and career relationships…lack of communities of purpose can break even the best and brightest among us, or leave us spinning in overdrive or stuck in stasis.

 

 

Why do YOU need one?

Success is sustained by a community of purpose.  Like minded people who share values and goals have the ability to reach past what is and create what can be.  The heads, hearts and souls of many can together make a difference that can move a life, many lives, organizations and ultimately our world.  It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a community of like minded people to create and sustain any successful venture.

Our potential to DO GOOD is as real as the threats that we face; the threat of narcissism, greed, fear, negativity and all those ugly contagions of destruction that lurk in the shadows of our minds, our lives, our workplaces….our world. Surviving and thriving is about reaching past self imposed and all barriers to actualize our potential and the potential of others.  Staying focused, healthy, happy and able to meet and greet challenges and opportunities that will continue to hit us on the face harder and faster than ever before demands a community of purpose.

 

 

How can you build a Community of Purpose™?

 

Open your mind, open your heart to likeminded people who can be partners in your success, and you in theirs.  Reach past the din of noise, negativity, narcissism we all face and look for people who stand up, stand strong.   Focus on finding people you can count on and those who can count on you.   And, remember what you focus on grows! Look not at the number of  social media followers you have, but rather pause and ask yourself about the people you know, the people you communicate with who can be part of your personal or professional/business community of purpose. Who will you reach out to?  What can you accomplish together?  Take this moment to reach out to simply one individual who can be a part of your community of purpose; you will be pleasantly surprised when they reach back.  And, if they do not reach back, move forward and look for members who will become your community of purpose.
Copyright © 2012, Irene Becker

 

 

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Helping smart people & organizations communicate & LEAD forward smarter, faster, happier
Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes & Articles with a 3Q Edge™ | Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 

 


Is there something constructive about discontent? You betcha. 10 Tips & 10 Posts!

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Constructive discontent? Yes, you betcha!
Constructive Discontent is a Critical 3Q Edge™ Skill. 

TenTips & Ten Posts
Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Helping smart people and organizations communicate & LEAD forward smarter, faster, happier



 

Attitude is altitude, but what do you do when your attitude is negatively impacted by actions of another person?  No matter how optimistic or positive you are, we all come face to face with negative experiences.  We can adopt a Hobbesian view of life and see our journey as “short, nasty and brutish”, or we can uncomfortable while not being held hostage by it.

Constructive discontent is the ability to become the neutral observer in your life so that you can find the learning point, the benefit in whatever has transpired. Can constructive discontent be learned?  Yes, I am living proof, as our my clients; and the benefits are multi-fold.  How much better would you do, how much better would you feel, how much more effectively would you communicate, lead and live if you mastered the art of constructive discontent?

Think about it.  How many minutes a day, a week, a  month are usurped by frustration, stress, irritation? The World Health Organization reports that stress will be the leading cause of physical disability by 2020.  Will you become a stress statistic or a success statistic.  Success means changing your relationship with discontent.

How often do you either react and regret it, or go into the cave and disable your ability to respond effectivelyHere are Ten Simple Steps to Developing Constructive Discontent, as well as links to other posts including Building Constructive Discontent is a Critical Life & Leadership  Skill (3Q Skill)

Ten Tips for Building Constructive Discontent

1.  Expect to encounter people and situations that will challenge you.  Decide that YOU will NOT react or retreat/hide unless your personal safety is threatened.  Learn strategies to help you get past the usual 90 second window of a fight or flight response.

2.  Don’t take responsibility for the actions of others. Understand that the only person you can control is yourself.  You can learn to deal more effectively by reacting less or not running away from confrontational or unpleasant situations, by learning to respond in the most effective way.

3. Learn to set small goals, achieve them, celebrate them in your mind’s eye and start the process all over again.  The smallest goal, done consistently rewrites the neural pathway. Small changes lead to BIG steps forward. 

4.  If you cannot be happy where you are right now, be neutral.  Apply an attitude of gratitude; look at what is working before you focus on the challenge or pain point at hand. 

5. Stay in neutral by learning to move through a painful feeling or reaction.  Do a silent scream (Go to a private place and just scream with NO sound.  That’s right do silent scream and watch negative tension dissipate).

6.  Take a walk.  Do something physical for 20 minutes to distract your self from focusing on the pain point.

7. Enjoy what YOU have achieved. Often we are so busy trying to do more or have more that we do not pay tribute to our own accomplishments.

8.  Unlearn focusing on what is wrong.  Most of us are socialized to focus on what is wrong.  Start being solution focused.  Take small steps to just observe whatever you are experiencing that is uncomfortable by not focusing on the problem but searching for the solution.

9.  Balance discontent with gratitude.  Focus first on what you are grateful for.  Balance the negative with an outstanding positive.

10.  Expect to be disappointed, but know that there is a positive learning waiting for you in the most challenging of conversations, situations or experiences.  If you cannot find the silver lining, find someone who can help you see the challenge at hand with new eyes. Success is never achieved alone.  You need a village to raise a child, and many people all have different roles to play in the personal success of an adult human being.

More on Constructive Discontent?  More on living and leading happier? YES! 

Constructive Discontent – A Critical Life and Leadership Skill

Ten Steps to a Happier More Successful YOU

Rediscover Your Personal Genius -Take the Garbage Out

Seven Practical, Purposeful, Positive Coaching Tips

Get Happier-7 Steps

Rediscover YOUR Fire

Three Simple Reasons to Reclaim YOUR Joy

Step UP to Leadership, Wellbeing & More!

Get Back On Track When You Have Hit A Wall

 

I couldn’t see the forest for the trees so I built my own path.
I inspired others to join me. Together, we LEAD forward smarter, faster, happier!

 

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™
Helping smart people and organizations communicate and LEAD forward smarter, faster, happier
Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes & Articles with a 3Q Edge™

Yorkville, West End Toronto and VIRTUALLY Everywhere   Call 416-671-4726   Email irene@justcoachit.com

 

Do you want to hire me to speak/write? Build constructive discontent?  Learn more about 3Q Edge™ coaching

Against All Odds | A True Story of Courage, Hope & Leadership

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Against All Odds | A Story of Courage, Hope & Leadership
Sharing My Guest Post on Serve to Lead-One of the Top 100 Leadership Blogs 
  

“The greatest power we hold is not in what we have, but in who we truly are when we choose to ignite, engage and unleash the leader or hero within.   Our greatest power lies in our ability to use what is to create what can be in our self, our lives, our relationships, our leadership and our work” – Irene Becker

Serve to Lead is an outstanding blog…and a must read leadership book Thank you James Strock, Serve to Lead Blog for a body of work, a blog and three amazing books that talk loudly, boldly and fiercely to 21st Century Leadership at its best!

In this post, acclaimed success coach Irene Becker shares her personal leadership journey.

How would you summarize Irene’s journey, as recounted here? My one sentence: Persistence and resilience can build a bridge between adversity and excellence.

What is your leadership journey? Do you recognize aspects of your experience that coincide with Irene’s?…James Strock, CEO Serve to Lead

The deepest questions, insights, awareness and answers rarely come when we are sitting at the top of the mountain of success feeling like the keys to the kingdom are in our right hand. No matter who we are, no matter what we have acquired and accomplished; our success, satisfaction, sense of personal power, value and fulfillment can change in a blink.

40th Birthday Marks Turning Point

My greatest challenge, and greatest life, leadership and success lesson began on my 40th birthday way I was thrust from the mountain of success into a very dark valley. My birthday represented a giant fork or rut in the road of my personal life and my career. It was a time when the gold I had created by the sweat of my brow had turned to dust. I had not done anything to justify what had occurred. My birthday came to pass far, far away from the success, financial security, social capital and material comforts I had worked so very hard to achieve and acquire.

I landed far, far, away from my former success as CEO of a successful multi-million dollar company, and the accouterments of success I had taken for granted. I faced a life crucible, an event of nightmarish proportion, that took me from the mountain of success to ground zero where I had to start my life and my career again. While I had overcome incredible hurdles building a formidable career, the hurdles that I faced on my 40th birthday took me to the abyss where survival itself was in question.

I spent my fortieth birthday in a dark valley that was my greatest challenge and my greatest teacher, doing the most menial of jobs… cleaning toilets. A life crucible, a crime, a tragedy had thrown me from the mountain of success to a very dark valley.With $100 dollars and a credit card in my pocket, hoping that I would be able to recover enough money to start life again, I stood there, mop in hand, vowing to show my two young children that with faith, courage, integrity one could transform even the greatest darkness into the greatest light.  Why is my story important? Because, if you are a smart, fast forward thinker you know that being smart, fast, and well-trained are no longer enough. The changes, challenges and crises we face today demand a different way of thinking, leading and living that can help us inspire, engage and lead the best in ourselves and others when the going is very tough…and even when the tough are not sure how to get going!

A Secret Revealed         

It was at ground zero, doing the most menial of jobs that I learned a secret, a truth, a lesson that changed my life. Inevitably, whether by old age or a twist of fate…all the glitters is never gold. The greatest power we hold is not in what we have, but in who we truly are when we choose to ignite, engage and unleash the leader or hero within. Our greatest power lies in our ability to use what is to create what can be in our self, our lives, our relationships our leadership and our work.

The worst life crucible; the cruellest of treatment, abuse, humiliation, the greatest of failures, the pain of dealing with a threatening illness, or a personal stumbling block cannot steal the faith, hope, courage, potential and determination that burns inside us, unless we let it. The greatest success we can ever achieved cannot be measured by things that will be irrelevant when we leave this earth, but rather by our ability to live, lead and succeed to purpose. It is our ability to live, lead and succeed to purpose, our ability to truly self-actualize by unleashing our true potential that can move mole hills and mountains in our life and in the lives of others. It is this purpose, this passion this potential that creates value for others, and creating value for others is the timeless formula for success and fulfillment.

Because, it is our ability to see past what is, and create or re-create what can be that determines our ability to drive our greatest intentions forward, and reclaim our ability to live, lead and succeed to purpose. For when we are on purpose, we also discover our joy factor. When we are on purpose there is a sense of profound happiness, fulfillment meaning and empowerment that helps us unleash our best thoughts, emotions and actions. The pilot light that connects us with our highest power and our greatest potential, the candle that can help us heal, restore and rebuild a life, a career, an organization can be found and it can be re-engaged and re-ignited.

Resilience Yields Greatest Power

It was in the valley, at a time when all seemed lost, that I discovered my greatest power-my 3Q Edge™. It was in the valley that I learned to love and accept myself for who I was, rather than measuring my worth by what I had acquired or accomplished. It was in the valley that I discovered how to use my strengths AND my stressors, my changes AND deepest challenges to build my greatest advantage and potential by developing my 3Q™’s.

I learned to optimize my strength and skills while transforming the very difficult and gut wrenching challenges, challenges and crises I faced into breakthrough results that accelerated and sustained  3Q Strengths: My IQ (mind power-whole brain thinking, greater focus, quicker ideation, creativity, action-ability), EQ (emotional intelligence-emotional management and mastery) and SQ (spiritual quotient-the power within).

Today, I have dedicated my career to helping others build their 3Q Edge™ because I believe in the power of human being better, not simply living and doing faster. I believe in our ability to unleash the business, personal and inter-personal leadership we need to live, lead and succeed to purpose in our lives, our relationships, our workplace…our world. I believe that our greatest strength, success and satisfaction cannot be sustained by what we command, control or acquire, but from what we contribute. It is the relationships that we build and sustain, our ability to inspire, engage and lead the best in ourselves and others that help us make our contribution. And, we all have a special contribution to make; no matter how large or small every contribution counts now more than ever before.

When we do find our true power, when we build our Q strengths and potential, we come home. August 1998 I came home, and thankfully I have been there ever since. I am honored and grateful for the gift of life, and for the ability to help other rainmakers, road warriors and trailblazers open a new pathway, a critical pathway to their best work, best relationships, best leadership, and best lives by building their 3Q Edge™.

I am honored to help my clients come home by living, leading and succeeding to purpose because together we can make a difference. A difference that builds engagement, empowerment, communication, action-ability, leadership and growth in real life, real work and real-time.

Irene Becker |  Against All Odds

More on Leadership, 3Q Leadership and Leading at the Speed of Change and/or in the Face of Crisis?  YOU BETCHA:

Winning The New War
The NEW Leader
Women and Leadership: 10 Steps Forward for Women AND Men

 From Now To How Building Social, Virtual and Cross Generational Leadership
Leadership and Enlightened Business:  Coaching & Training for Sticky Results

Extraordinary Women Interview

Building the 3Q Leadership Skills YOU Need NOW

Agile Leadership and Management Toolkit
Leading in the Face of Crisis
What Does Leadership Really Mean?
5 Ways to Lead Forward by Championing the Challenge
Success = The Reach and Resonance of the Human Heart
Smart and Fast Are NOT Enough:  The Need for Higher EQ/EI

Irene Becker is Chief Success Officer of Just Coach. Just Coach is a “transformational catalyst” whose unique 3Q™ approach has helped clients in Canada, USA and Europe achieve breakthrough results in performance, communication and leadership. She writes at JustCoachIt.

Dec 12-12 New Version: Constructive Discontent- A Critical Life and Leadership Skill

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New Version with 10 Bonus Links: Constructive Discontent- A Critical Life and Leadership Skill
NEW Ways to Optimize Potential are Critical.  Enjoy this post, and the 10 bonus links

 Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™3Q Leadership™ Blog
Helping smart people and organizations lead and communicate forward smarter, faster, happier


Purpose, meaning, contribution are the drivers that build our best selves, best work, best organizations.
  Having a keen mind, a positive attitude and the aptitude for disciplined thought, action and resiliency are critical, but they are no longer enough.  Accessing purpose, meaning and our ability to contribute in the face of unremitting change, challenges and opportunities demands a whole new focus.  A focus that starts with building what I call constructive discontent; a positive, purposeful and a somewhat counterintuitive strength that can be learned.  Finding new ways to optimize potential is critical, this aim was the genesis of my 3Q Edge™ and R-E-A-C-H coaching and training.

Living, communicating and leading smarter, faster and happier means developing constructive discontent While the traditional definition of constructive discontent is one’s ability to stay grounded in conflict, I believe that constructive discontent is MUCH more.  Constructive discontent is a learned skill that can help you feel an emotion that is stressful, anxiety provoking or painful while not being held hostage by them.  It means developing new ways of reframing/thinking that will retrain your brain to not react or run away from painful or difficult emotions but to move through and past them.

Tips for Building Constructive Discontent

1.  Expect change to be stressful, but know that you can use them to move forward smarter, faster and happier.  Part of accommodating change is doing what you can to get additional help or support, using effective delegation, dedicating daily time to recharge, repurpose and reinvigorate.  Find effective ways of putting your brain into an alpha state during the course of the day.  Here is a quick 2-3 minute exercise I call THE PAUSE that is easy to learn and really effective. 

2. Understand and limit crisis orientation.  Our brains are automatically set to go into fight or flight in reaction to fear.  We live in a world where we are surrounded by negativity, fear, change and fear of change.  Learn to understand when you are going into fight or flight mode, so that you can move past the 90 second window of reaction and respond rather than react or flee. Develop your ability to move past fight or flight, and not be held hostage by primal reactions that are no longer effective.

3.  Be gentle with yourself.  Get rid of the negative self talk, the should have, would haves. Notice any signs of stress in your body.  Take a few moments to breathe deeply because it is impossible to maintain the same level of stress, anxiety or tension after breathing deeply.

4.  Resist negativity because it will not take you forward.  Develop positive habits of thought, positive coping styles that will allow you to build constructive discontent. Take positive steps to alleviate the pressures, the stressors you can do something about.  Establish personal boundaries and priorities that work for you not against you.  Offset pressures with time for relaxation and activities that bring you pleasure.

5.  Develop habits of thought that will help shift your perspective and discover new options. Eliminate burnout factors by strengthening meaningful relationships with others and meaningful time with yourself.

6.  Develop flexibility by simply identifying one rigid pattern of behavior/coping and turn it around. Observe yourself for one day. Notice how you react to compliments, to demands, to angry co-workers. Pick a habitual or rigid pattern of behavior, and turn it around in small consistent ways.  Each small step, repeated consistently is a power step forward.

Developing constructive discontent may be one of the most powerful things you can do. Yes, YOU can re-train your brain to not resist negative, painful or anxiety provoking emotions, but move through and past them.  You can become a participant observer and just watch the emotion without judgment, without reaction, while learning to really focus intently on your true goal and objectives.
 
More Tips and Tools on Optimizing Potential at the Speed of Change?  You Betcha!  10 Bonus Links and My Story.
The New Leader
Winning the NEW War
Men & Women Leading Forward:  Building the 3Q Leadership Skills YOU Need Now
Smart and Fast Are NOT Enough:  The Need for Higher EQ/EI
The Secret to Personal Development
Five Ways to Lead Forward by Championing the Challenge
Seven Ways to Turn Conflict/Communication Problems Around
Leading in the Face of Crisis
Goodness to Greatness Leadership-7 Steps from Me to WE
Coaching and Training for Enlightened Leadership, Business & Sticky Results:  Building 3Q Skills and R-E-A-C H

AND My story, Against All Odds- A turning point and the genesis of my 3Q and R-E-A-C-H Models

 Do you want to hire me to speak/write? Build constructive discontent?  Learn more about 3Q Edge™ coaching, consulting programs and services?   
Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | Reach-Resonance-Results
Helping smart people and organizations lead and communicate forward smarter, faster, happier is what I do best
Face to Face | By Telephone, Skype or Video Conferencing | 1-416-671-4726 Skype beckerirene | Email: irene@justcoachit.com

 

The Power of NOW | The Coachable Moment

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The Power of NOW | The Coachable Moment  

  © Irene Becker, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | (IQ-EQ-SQ) Reach-Resonance-Results
3Q Leadership™ Blog- 27,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!  


The Power of NOW is excellence in action.
It is a mindset and heart set that can help us LEAD forward by moving  molehills and mountains one positive, purposeful moment at a time.

The power of NOW starts with embracing excellence in every aspect of our lives and work. Excellence starts in our heart, in our ability to know that trying to do our very best at any given moment is excellence in action.  Our best may not suffice, but it will take us to a whole new level of growth and understand that pushes us forward.

Excellence can only be a fulcrum for human passion and potential when parents, educators, employers-when those in positions of authority remain resolute in creating communities of learning, sharing, caring-communities of engagement, empowerment and excellence where PURPOSE and our ability to be our best and use our failures to fail forward is embraced and applauded.

 

 The Power of Now has 3 powerful components


DESIRE: The power of NOW is desire.  Desire to move past self imposed limitations and optimize our potential to  use strengths and transform our challenges into solutions that take us forward smarter, faster, happier.

ACTION:  The power of NOW is action.  Action taken in small, consistent  powerful steps  that  retrain our brain,  empower our potential, fuel our purpose ;  building  new neural pathways that strengthen and optimize our 3Q Edge™- our ability to lead forward smarter, faster, happier at the speed of change

RESOLVE:   The power of NOW is resolve best expressed in communities of excellence where human passion, purpose, potential survive and thrive. Communities of excellence where our individual and collective ability to fail forward, move past limitations and strengthen passion, purpose and potential survives and thrives.


                                                        

Do YOU want to build the Power of NOW in your life, your leadership, your people?

 

Time to get re-inspired by what YOU can achieve at the speed of change?
Click for a list of 2013 Programs, Services, Professional Fees
I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can be of service to you/your team! 
Call: (416) 671-4726 | Email 
irene@justcoachit.com  Skype: beckerirene 

Irene Headshot

 

Rediscover YOUR Genius-Post & 7 Power Steps

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“Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius.
Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

 RE-DISCOVER YOUR GENIUS | Post & 7 Power Steps!

© Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | 3Q Leadership Blog
Helping smart people and organizations move forward smarter, faster, happier

(Scroll down for 7 Power  Steps):

Genius is born of love.  Love transcends social and economic order. Love is something that every human being is born with regardless of their financial or social station. If we can transcend what does not really matter, if we can attach our self to love we can cleave to a higher order and achieve genius.  Hogwash.  Think again.  Our best selves, our best work, our best organizations come from a place of purpose, a place of love, a place of service above self…a place of truth and sustainability.

How can we achieve love? By realizing that true love is unconditional.  It is a birthright that is not born of ego,self-absorption or entitlement.  Rather it is a place of purpose, passion and meaning that starts with reclaiming our joy. How can we reclaim our joy?  Embracing joy starts with deciding to begin each day by taking out our personal garbage.

What is personal garbage? It is the negative stuff that the normal wear and tear of modern life brings us. It is that ugly, smelly stuff that holds us back from experiencing joy and meaning.  It is what we find when we want a quick fix, an easy pass to fulfillment, or a scapegoat for disappointment.

Where do we find personal garbage?  Everywhere. Personal garbage festers in our ego, in the demands of others, in the negativity that surrounds us, in just turning on the tv and being barraged by violence, in deciding to live life without meaning, in forgetting to hear our voice, losing our authenticity, in getting too busy and too distracted to listen to our heart.  Garbage grows as we ingest more and more junk, more and more emotional toxins.

People and incidents can throw garbage at our feet or in our faces, but we have the personal power to start each day by taking out our garbage. Find the garbage removal steps that work for you.  Rid yourself of rancid, negative, emotional toxins.  Experiment with a different garbage removal step every day. Most importantly, learn to begin again each morning, to jumpstart your love, your genius by getting rid of your PERSONAL GARBAGE.

SEVEN SIMPLE AND POWERFUL STEPS

1.  Start your day by just taking the garbage out. Decide to let go of what you cannot change and just embrace what you can do today to bring more love, more satisfaction into your life.

2.  Decide to get happy. Get silly and embrace your inner child.  Jump out of bed.  Make funny faces in the mirror.  Remember and recite the first joke you every told anyone.  Do whatever brings you back to the happiest day you had as a kid.  Get happy!

3.  Chose to get active with your personal joy. If you are sad, then there is even more reason to get out of bed, take off any clothing and just jump naked in joy.  Jump for joy.  If you run or exercise in the morning, try doing your morning routine with a smile.

4.  Share a joke or a smile with someone that you do not know today.  Pass joy along and see it come right back to you.

5.  Appreciate someone in your life whom you do not usually recognize.  That’s right; tell your colleague, your spouse, your child, your co-worker something about him/her that you appreciate.

6.  Put stress and trash on hold. Learn to meditate of only for a few minutes a day. The benefits of meditation including greater resiliency to stress, clarity of mind, improved cognition, ideation, boosts to the immune system, better health and greater longevity have been proven by many longitudenal studies. Take pause a couple of times a day.  Put your brain in what science tells us is our most creative state, the alpha state.  Find a place where you can sit for 3 minutes undisturbed.  Sit in a chair with your palms up in your lap, your back straight.  Close your eyes and start to breathe deeply from your diaphragm.  Breathe to the count of five slowly through your nose, and breathe out to the count of 10.  Do not let any thoughts enter your brain, just concentrate on counting in to 5 and out to 10.  If a thought gets in there, just gently push it away.  Try the pause twice a day.  Embrace a state of not thinking of just being one with your breath, with your life force.

7. Embrace a human moment, a higher moment, and give something away. If you are having a particularly difficult day, or you are feeling sad or depressed, step out of the comfort zone, move past self absorption and give something away.  If you are having a good day, move forward and make it better by giving something away.  Your time, a donation, a smile, a hug, your help.  Give it away with no expectation of gain.

 

Is it time to REACH- Redirect-empower-actualize-communicate and harvest YOUR potential to lead forward?
Get Executive Coaching, Training that Sticks? Enjoy an insightful and inspiring keynote?
Just Coach It. Discover Executive Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes and Workshops with as 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | Face to Face, By Tel, Skype or Video Conferencing
www.justcoachit.com Twitter @justcoachit Skype: beckerirene Tel: 1-416-671-4726 Email: irene@justcoachitcom

The Pause-3 Minute Exercise-Simple, Powerful, Transformative

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“THE PAUSE”- A simple exercise that is accomplished in 3 minutes
 Powerful, Simple, Transformative Exercise in Mindfulness and Stress Relief


Why Develop Mindfulness?    Longitudinal studies confirm that mindfulness practices, and in particular, regular meditation  enhances cognition, ideation, focus, creativity, health and longevity.  Meditation, like prayer and parts of the sleep cycle puts our brain in an alpha state; a state where creativity and our spiritual connection abound. Meditation helps us move away from the chaos and negativity surrounding us by touching a place where we can reconnect with our highest power and the beauty of our inner child….a formidable combination! How can we access the self love and self acceptance that we need? How can we move away from the chaos and negativity that surrounds us?  How can we find the child within who can be present in the moment, who can access joy effortlessly?  How can we drown out the must dos, should dos and have to dos of our life and just be present with our mind, body and soul? Accessing our joy, our loving truth-our genius,  starts with one simple step…the pause.  It starts with moments of silence, moments of pause when we stop, reflect and connect with spirit, with our inner voice.

INSTRUCTIONS:   You can do ” The Pause”  anywhere you have privacy in a mere 3 minutes. Sit down, keep your back straight, put your feed on the floor and your palms upwards in your lap.Start by being utterly still; just breathe deeply and be with yourself.   Relax, and breathe with your diaphragm, breath deeply. Shut your eyes and count to 7 slowly as you breathe in.  Then count to 10 slowly as you exhale through your nose.   Concentrate only on your breath, and when thoughts come into your mind just gently push them away and concentrate again on your breathing.  Feel your breath, focus on your breath.  Count 7 as you inhale, count to 10 as you exhale.  If thoughts come into your mind, just push them away as you would move an item on your computer screen.  Focus ONLY on the sensation of your breath. Many people also find it helpful to think about exhaling negativity and inhaling a golden replenishing light.

Schedule a 3 minute pause in your schedule. Try it consistently 3 X a day for a week.    When we are still, when we pause it is possible to cast aside problems, worries, responsibilities and just enjoy the flow of our breath deeply and slowly and just be still with our soul.  We can pause and reclaim our center, reclaim our joy, reclaim our connection with our highest power.  Every pause is restorative and powerful.  Every pause is an important exercise in mindfulness.  If the exercise feels strange at first continue to practice three times a day for three minutes.

Is it time to REACH- Redirect-empower-actualize-communicate and harvest YOUR potential to lead forward?
Get Executive Coaching, Training that Sticks? Enjoy an insightful and inspiring keynote?

Just Coach It. Discover Executive Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes and Workshops with as 3Q Edge™                       

Irene Becker, Just Coach It

Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | Face to Face, By Tel, Skype or Video Conferencing
www.justcoachit.com Twitter @justcoachit Skype: beckerirene Tel: 1-416-671-4726 Email: irene@justcoachitcom

Lead Forward 7 Power Words & 8 Power Leadership Posts

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Lead Forward at the Speed of Change | 7 Power Words & 8 Posts
The Coachable Moment for wk ending April 13, 2012

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog Helping smart people and organizations move forward smarter, faster, happier

The greatest contribution of any leader is to make other leaders.  Simon Sinek
Today, that contribution is critical

What  does Leadership Really Mean?   

 •RETHINK
The Survive & Thrive Organization  

REBOOT
Optimize, humanize, monetize potential  

•REPAIR
Turn conflict/
communication problems around 

•RECHARGE
Use  leadership principles to  inspire, engage and empower!  

•RENEW
Build better virtual and actual teams  

•REFLECT
Lead forward with your EQ-EI advantage  

REPOWER
Find new sources of profitable growth 

                                                                                             

LEAD Forward
Rethink-Reboot-Repair-Recharge-Renew-Reflect-Repower
Use what is to create what can be | Build YOUR 3Q Edge™ 

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Helping smart people and organizations move forward smarter, faster, happier

Career Advice-Understanding & Acing the Behavioral Interview

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Understanding and ACING the Behavioral Interview
6 Core Behavioral Competencies & Sample Interview Questions
© Irene Becker |  Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog

What is A Behavioral Interview?

Questions that allow employers/HR hiring managers to gather valuable information on how you may behave in certain work situations, based on past behaviour being the best predictor of future behaviour.  Employers want real life examples that include quantifiable, concrete  accomplishments.

Behavioral Interviewing uses customized questions relating to 5 core behavioral competencies

Competency 1:  Coaching and Team Development =>
Communication  & Mentoring Skills

  • Developing effective, highly motivated  individuals and teams to achieve common goals.
  • Respecting, acknowledging and recognizing the contribution of each individual.
  • Encouraging individuals to develop competencies and support opportunities to use these competencies.
  • Mentoring and sharing experience and  knowledge and provides feedback to improve individual and team      performance.
  • Empowering others through delegation of  responsibility, authority and accountability.
  • Championing new initiatives and  motivating the best in others, even when they need to change.

 

Competency 2:  Organizational Awareness & Commitment=>
Doing what company wants-ie their goals, objectives

  • Understanding the business and all key relationships in the environment; including the decision makers, partners and stakeholders who influence them.
  • Remaining open minded and flexible when presented with different perspectives.
  • Quickly adapting one’s approach as the requirements of a situation change.
  • Understand the culture of the organization and using this understanding to further critical relationships and focus on goals and objectives.
  • The ability to align your actions and decisions with the mission, vision and values of the organization.
  • Acting with integrity and promoting consistency  among principles, values and behaviors that speak to best practices and  results.
  • Setting challenging personal and  organizational performance standards, pursuing and achieving them with  passion, purpose and energy.


Competency 3:  Relationship Building=>Ability to build relationships that further execution of projects

  • Building effective working relationships; networks of contacts and partnerships with internal and external individuals at all levels.
  • Actively listening to what  others have to say and responding in a clear, concise and diplomatic manner.
  • Adapting your communication  style as appropriate.
  • Understanding how to manage difficult communication and individuals in a way that engages the  challenging party.
  • Being self aware, perceptive and sensitive to the attitudes, feelings and concerns of others.

Competency 4:  Results Orientation=>Execution and Completion of Projects

  • Focusing on quality results, paving the way to success, while maintaining a focus on the organization’s strategic goals.
  • Bringing issues to closure  in a timely manner.
  • Project Management, Delegation, Leadership and Team building skills
  • Striving to continuously  move the organization forward by effectively and efficiently maximizing  the use of resources.
  • Advancing initiatives despite challenges and changes.
  • Creating and negotiating alternative solutions as appropriate.

Competency 5:   Strategic Thinking => Problem Solving

  • Understanding the strategic direction of  the organization.
  • Anticipating and planning for future  events, trends, problems and opportunities and exercises sound judgment.
  • Making timely decisions by taking a  broad range of issues or factors into consideration.
  • Evaluating reasonable risk taking  opportunities.
  • Developing creative solutions, stimulating new ways of thinking and solving problems.

 

Basic Structure of the Behavioral Interview

An interviewer first reads the lead question for the first competency, and then proceeds to obtain an overview of the event, continuing with questions about each of the other five executive competencies.

Interviewers want to learn about SAR, situation, action and results-HOWEVER, if possible you want to position your answers in RSA – results, situation-actions as the quantifiable results you have achieved will stand OUT.

Sample Behavioral Interview Questions

1.    Coaching and Team Development Questions:  Tell me about a situation where you had to coach an individual, or a group of individuals.  What was the situation? How did you approach the coaching/team development intervention? What was the outcome of your involvement?

2.  Organizational Awareness & Commitment Questions: Tell me about a time when you had to deal with different or conflicting points of view? What was the issue? How did you handle it?  Tell me about a time when you set and achieved a challenging goal at work, one that was important to do, but may have been unpopular. What was your intent in doing so? How did you sell this to others? What was it about? What was the outcome?

3.  Relationship  Building Questions:  Tell me about a time when  you had to truly listen and understand another person’s point of view in  order to solve a problem or to deal with an issue. What was the nature of the problem/issue? What was your approach in resolving it?

4.  Results Orientation Questions:  Tell me about a time when you had to face a challenge such as tight resources during a project you led or an assignment for which you were responsible. How did you handle these challenges?  How did you meet goals and objectives?

5.  Strategic Thinking Questions:  Tell me about a time when you had to anticipate potential obstacles to implementing a strategic  initiative. What were the obstacles? How did you approach the situation?   What was the outcome? How did you handle the challenges?

 

Tips for Acing the Behavioural Interview

Be Prepared.  Get coached or find someone you can trust to run through typical behavioural interview questions and your responses.

Think of your response as a story make sure it has a beginning, middle and end.

Use fairly recent experiences.

Be sure to have a selection of both positive and negative experiences to share.

If describing a negative experience, make sure to put a positive spin on it by talking about what you learned and how this experience made you a better leader, manager etc.

Listen carefully be ready to talk about an experience and results that demonstrate what you achieved and how you achieved it, however, if you can‟t come up with a true example for a question, then answer with how you would respond to the situation.

Stay positive during the interview, and prep yourself to be positive before the interview.  Brain science tells us that priming our brain to be happy is important to cognition, ideation, emotional wellbeing, physical health.  Take time before you practice your interview questions and before your interview that builds happiness and confidence

Do not over answer.  Address the question directly and if you are stuck simply pause, or ask for a few moments to reflect.

Remember to send an email thank-you note same day or next day

More Career Advice on QBlog?  Yes

Ten Irrefutable Laws of Successful Job Interviewing

Acing the Telephone Interview

The 3 R’s of Great Resume Writing

Career Transition Success Tips Web TV Interview:  Irene Becker-David Grossman Host

Career Satisfaction Audit

BONUSYES We have a Career Transition Toolkit that will help you move forward smarter, faster and happier 
Are you in a senior manager or executive in career transition?  Do you have to prepare members of your team for a career transition?

Perhaps you simply want to re-assess where you are to determine next career steps.  Get an assessment-debrief and action plan? Do interview?
Understand the new rules of career success?  Call for a complimentary 20 minute consultation by telephone/skype

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™  | QBlog
Helping smart people and orgs move forward smarter, faster and happier
Face to face or virtually   T 416-671-4726   E: irene@justcoachit.com

Communicate for Influence-The Coachable Moment

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Communicate for Influence
The Coachable Moment-Practical, Powerful Tips

Six Practical, Powerful Communication Posts  in One

 Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | QBlog
Helping smart people & organizations build their 3Q Edge™ Smarter, Happier, Faster

The leader who communicates well succeeds well


Listen better, listen differently; master the art of active listening. You’ll be surprised what you hear
The Coachable Moment

Pause.  Tame the pain.  Retrain your brain and mouth to respond rather than react.  Learn to circumvent the automatic fight of flight response | The Coachable Moment

 

Improve your ability to tranform  difficult conversations, and get them back on track | The Coachable Moment

Manage strong emotions, difficult situations/conversations by building “constructive discontent” | The Coachable Moment  

 

 

Evolve! USE communication challenges to build higher emotional intelligence, improve one to one and one/group life and virtual communication skills | The Coachable Moment

UnderstandDo not assume or presume anything. Confirm what the other party wants to convey before you pause and respond | The Coachable Moment

 

Leadership Delegates Doing Leadership Roar UK Keynote Oct 3 2014Inspire! Less is often More. Choose your words wisely.  Seek first to listen, to understand, to learn, then speak to the heart of the matter in the language of your audience |  The Coachable Moment

 

Past and FutureMore Communication Tips & Tools?  YOU Betcha

 

 

 

 

 

Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | QBlog 
Helping smart people & organizations build their 3Q Edge™ Smarter, Happier, Faster

 

“The Invisible Mentor” Interviews (Part 1 & 2)

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Host Avil Beckford interviews me on (his/her) series “The Invisible Mentor” —  I would definitely recommend you check out the site! (Original Links to our interviews are here (part 1) and here (part 2), or follow the transcripts (below)  The following interviews are provided courtesy of  The Invisible Mentor©

PART ONE

  • Interviewee Name: Irene Becker, Life and Leadership Coach
  • Company Name: Just Coach It
  • Website: JustCoachIt.COM 

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Irene Becker:  I’m a coach, a speaker and writer who helps people to work, communicate and lead happier and smarter lives in high stress, high change environments.

Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?

Irene Becker: A typical day for me is exciting, challenging, it’s a gift. I think life’s a gift. I take each day as a blessing and an opportunity to be of service to others.

Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

Irene Becker:  Life has taught me that during the good times as well as the bad to look at the world with wonder and awe. I look at my challenges as my teachers. The unique model I developed is helping people use strengths and stressors to build what I call the 3Qs: Enhanced IQ- greater Ideation and action ability; Enhanced EQ – emotional mastery, communicating for influence, leadership resiliency; and SQ – the values and alignment that is the foundation of everything. So I’m not teaching the 3Qs, I live them.

I developed a routine of exercises that helped me build all three areas – my mind, my emotional strength and my values alignment, and it helps recharge me, reset my brain, motivate me and I think everybody needs little steps they can take, that take a couple of minutes everyday but don’t cost anything that they can use on a consistent basis to strengthen their Qs.

Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

Irene Becker:  I wouldn’t trust in people because they had a big position or a big name. I think in my younger days, I initially perhaps was too trusting in people with big positions and names and presumed they had knowledge and integrity that wasn’t necessarily so. I think that was one of my greatest learning lessons because in terms of being focused and motivated and putting together a plan and executing it, those are things that I have been good at. But it’s the relationships that we make, make or break our lives and our businesses and careers. So knowing whom to trust and not to trust is critical.

Avil Beckford: What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

Irene Becker: For me, the most important discovery I’ve made is the power of love. And it’s both personal and business because I’ve had a year of incredible growth, great successes and also great challenges, and what I came to realize is that everything really boils down to love.  Abraham Maslow talked about this in the  Hierarchy of Needs. I don’t think anybody has come to the fore to really change that at all. After our survival needs have been met we want to be loved and we find that through our work, we find it through our relationships, but some people find it by consumerism – having things, getting things and are deluding themselves into thinking they are going to love themselves more thinking this is love. But when you boil down to it we all want to feel loved.

I think that I have discovered that the power of everything is the power of love. Everything comes from that, it’s the foundation for everything – love directed at service, love directed at letting go of one’s need for validation and transforming it into contribution. Love means letting go of judgment, love means accepting one’s strengths and deficits, love means embracing the gift of life, love means becoming a consistent learner, love means also developing the ability to lead in the face of crisis. Even from a marketing perspective, if you are in a business, you really have to reach out and give love to your clients so I think love is the foundation for everything.

Avil Beckford: What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

Irene Becker: I think the three greatest threats are very similar to what a lot of people would say to a contracting marketplace and economy, differentiating oneself in a crowded marketplace because the price of entry into the marketplace is lower than ever before. You can market almost cost-free, anybody can set up a website but you now have more people in the same arena vying for business. And I find the third challenge is lack of time to do everything I’d like to do. I’d like to make more of a footprint, contribute more, and there is only so much that one person can do. How do I handle it? I handle it by really focusing on my goals, objectives and what I can do now and using every change, challenge, opportunity and success to learn more, share more, to contribute more because to me that’s what’s important.

Avil Beckford: What’s unique about the service that you provide?

Irene Becker: I have a whole range of services and programs that help clients achieve results in their businesses, their careers and their lives. But it’s not only that they achieve results, it’s that they achieve results that help them work smarter and be happier in the face of change, multiple challenges, results that help them optimize, humanize and monetize their talents, in a whole new arena where everything is changing. Or in the face of a leadership change or career transition, or communication challenges, I think the ability to help my clients see both their strengths and challenges differently in a way that takes them forward, smarter and happier is really unique to my 3Q model.

Avil Beckford: Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it. What kind of lessons did you learn in the process?

Irene Becker: I have had incredible successes. I was the first women CEO of a steel company in Canada and I have had incredible challenges. Being the first woman CEO of a steel business in the late eighties, when I was a “minority”, who was discriminated against, had all the odds against me, and making a go of it was a great challenge. But I’ve also faced physical illness, going from being incredibly wealthy to starting from ground zero. I’ve been to the back of the woods and out again, and I’ve managed to do it with my head, heart and soul in alignment. I’ve gone through some incredible successes and I’ve gone through life shattering challenges. And I think for both of those, more so from the challenges, I discovered the power of learning to see our challenges with different eyes that take us forward.

I’ve discovered my passion for the 3Qs, for really finding ways to help myself enhance my potential intellectually and to develop greater mental focus, greater action-ability, and then to build the whole emotional intelligence piece – resilience, creativity, communication and to always tap into the most important Q for me are values in alignment, our spiritual quotient. So I learned to process and see challenges differently in a way that help the Qs. And the reason why I’m so passionate about the 3Qs today is that they have taken me to where I am now. They have taken me from the back of the woods to the front, and I think that we are living in the most incredible times.

What Charles Dickens said hundreds of years ago, “These are the best of times and the worst of times,” in a way he was visionary because I don’t think you could find another phrase that would aptly describe the times in which we are living. Two months ago there was a man who had a face transplant. We’ve now reached a point where we think we can cure breast cancer. During the drought in Texas they managed to use urine for water. I could sit here and talk for an hour about the absolutely awesome, incredible things that are on the foreground.

On the other hand, London is burning, we have chaos in the world, we have 11 million people on the brink of starvation in Africa. We face worldwide economic crisis. The United States is in economic peril. We have incredible challenges. However, we also have incredible opportunities to become change leaders – to use all our challenges, all the learning and the knowledge to make a positive difference in our world and our community. I think we can only do it when we look at our problems differently and build our Q strengths.

So whether it’s from a personal view of our life, a business perspective, or in a large enterprise we need to become 3Q leaders, and I’m really passionate about that because we’re going to be tested and challenged.

Somebody asked me about a month ago when are we going to stop riding the sea of change, we’re not, it’s going to continue. There is no more ladder to success, the ladder’s been broken. We’re going to deal with constant change and it’s going to come faster than ever before. So the way we see problems and challenges have to change and I think that’s implicit in building our Q strengths.

Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

Irene Becker: When I think about big breaks, I think that my biggest break has come from my faith in God – in the eternal source of love and faith in all good things. Ironically, my biggest breaks have been tied to my greatest challenges that I’ve faced. My father died and left me $580,000 of debt, against all odds I made a go of the business. I’ve had incredible successes that started out as unbelievable challenges so I can’t say that an individual gave me a big break because my journey has been one of incredible challenges. I would say that the challenges gave me a big break! They gave me the ability to build my vessel, my soul and my strength. And understand if I’m going to move forward, if I’m really going to achieve my potential, it has to come from inside out; and from developing a new perspective, an attitude that helped me transform frustrating, challenges into proactive solutions to move forward.  It is our ability to look at both our strengths, and of equal import, our challenges with new eyes that is the catalyst for our true potential.

Avil Beckford: Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

Irene Becker:  I guess one of my biggest failures was going from a net worth of millions to starting from ground zero and having to do really menial jobs just to support my children. What did I learn? I learned sometimes life throws a brick at us, crimes happen, unjust things happen and you can just lose everything you’ve worked hard to acquire in a blink. It happened to me, but then I realized that the most important thing is not failing, it’s failing forward. It’s taking that experience and learning from it. I guess in a way that was the genesis of the 3Qs. I remember in particular, I was working cleaning a toilet on my 40th birthday and I looked up and it was a far cry from the millions and the black tie affairs, and everything else and I thought, “You know what, I love myself from inside out,” because for whatever reason I’ve been forced to start again and I never gave up my faith, I never gave up my hope, I never gave up my courage, I never gave up my integrity, and those are really the richest gifts we have. It taught me that the greatest riches we have, and the greatest potential we have, come from inside out, and I think it was a really important lesson.

When I was at the height of my career, I had a home in Westmount, in Forest Hills, it was in a decorating magazine. I got to do a lot of philanthropic work, and I was a really driven person – I was a real type A and people used to say, that I must feel an incredible sense of accomplishment. There is a very insecure person behind every type A personality. We need people who are Type A. But what really pushes someone to be an over achiever? What pushes them is the emotional need to be validated. There is some kind of wound there and they have to keep on proving to themselves. It’s really great in terms of empire building. It’s great in terms of success, and I’m not negative about that because we need people who are going to be Type As to build businesses, to build educational institutions to make our world better, to drive the economy. But, from another perspective, when you come to a personal place, when you can stand naked with your truth, you realize that you’re not going to take the accomplishments, you’re not going to take the BMW or the Mercedes to your grave with you. We all came into the world the same way, and we all are going to leave the world the same way. What we will take with us are the values we’ve put a fence around, our ability to live with integrity, our ability to hang on to the faith, hope, courage, humanity, integrity that nobody can steal from us. And it doesn’t matter if you’re sitting in the C-Suite of if you have 10 cents to your name, nobody can steal that from you. And those are the greatest riches.

Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

Irene Becker:  I have had a lot of tough decisions so I want to speak in generalities a bit, because the toughest decisions I’ve had to make – I mean there have been tough business decisions, in running an organization you always have to make tough decisions. The toughest decisions I’ve had to make were the decisions I had to make as a parent, the decisions I had to make about the children I loved more than anything. Do I make a decision that people want me to make, or do I do the right thing, even though sometimes the right thing is the hardest thing to do? Whether it is in our personal relationships, or whether it’s in our business, to step back from the need to be validated or the need to please, or the need to make things nice, and to do the right things is so hard. But I have made tough decisions based on what is the right thing, what is in alignment with the greatest good, what is in alignment with my SQ-spiritual quotient-values.  In the end, I believe that all good decisions are founded not in what we want to achieve, but in alignment with the values the SQ that is critical to sustainable success.

And the tough decisions have come initially with really tough circumstances, but in the end they’ve been successful decisions, whether it was in my business, my career, decisions I had to make in terms of my children. The tough decisions we make that are in alignment with our greatest values are never wrong decisions. And in the end, I think that they come back to us in very special and surprising ways as a gift.

Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?

Irene Becker:

  1. My father’s death: He was the only family I had, shaped my life in a terrific way.
  2. Having to face the challenge of running a business against all odds and making a go of it certainly shaped my life: It was a unique experience because for the first time in my life, I was a “visible minority”. I’ve always been a minority because I happen to be Jewish, but people don’t meet me and say, “There is a Jewish woman.” But for the first time in my life when I took over the steel business, I was a young woman in an industry with no women and I was discriminated against as soon as someone met me. I think that experience taught me how to move beyond that kind of obstacle. It taught me a lot of personal tools. It also built what I consider one of the greatest leadership and human quality, empathy. I got to understand what it’s like to be really discriminated against before you even open your mouth.
  3. I also think that my children’s birth and bringing them up was an event that shaped my life in such an incredible way. I really think that our children are gifts to us, they’ve taught me so much and I’m blessed about love, life and learning. And I think the ultimate task of sharing is when you have kids, and it’s an incredible test of a lot of things.

So I think those three things – my father’s death and having to live without family, taking over the business against all odds and being a “visible minority” and becoming a mother have been three events that shaped my life in a tremendous way.

Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Irene Becker:  I’m proudest of surviving and thriving with my faith, courage, integrity and humanity intact. I am equally proud of having been blessed with a skill set and a career that has helped me help others engage their true potential. I’ve faced a lot of tests. I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I’ve stumbled, I’ve fallen, I’ve had my face in the mud, I’ve been to the back of the woods and I’ve also been incredibly successful. Throughout it all, I’ve refused to give up my faith, courage, integrity and humanity. And I think that’s what I’m most proud of.

Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?

Irene Becker:  In an absolutely tremendous way because I did have one mentor – my father. He was my mentor, my best friend and he taught me and gave me the courage to never let go of my values, or my humanity and to recognize what’s truly important in life and to appreciate, and the foresight to reflect and learn always. I think that they are all important gifts.

Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Irene Becker: Our values and our ability to live them is everything. We cannot see past the next challenge, we cannot truly live, lead and succeed to purpose without living our values.  Leadership means service about self, and in serving we not only lead and succeed we’ll also attain that ever elusive but critical sense of fulfillment and purpose that we need to live and work at our best.

Avil Beckford: An invisible mentor is a unique leader you can learn things from by observing them from afar, in the capacity of an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

Irene Becker:

  • Look within! Tie an anchor around your courage, faith, integrity and humanity and never let go…use them to find your true power; power to validate from inside out rather than to seek the validation of others.  Power to make a difference in whatever way you choose.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Irene Becker: Compartmentalization. I really balance my life and I’ve learned to organize my thoughts and my time. I think one of the things, and it’s really hard for us is that our time is so stretched, but we need time to reflect. We need personal time and we need to balance that in a way that makes us more effective and happier. 

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or  RSS Feed.

PART TWO

  • Interviewee Name: Irene Becker
  • Company Name: Just Coach It
  • Website: JustCoachIt.COM

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Irene Becker:  I’m a coach, a speaker and writer who helps people to work, communicate and lead happier and smarter lives in high stress, high change environments.

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it? 

Irene Becker: I make sure that I take downtime for a couple of minutes, three times a day to do exercises that build my 3Qs. I do a little exercise called the Pause that’s a two-minute stress buster and mindfulness meditation. When I have downtime, I’m either learning, praying and meditating, or I’m sharing and doing something of service that’s relationship-based.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Irene Becker:

  1. Always be solution-focused. We know that our brain is automatically set to negatives, so being solution-focused is retraining our brain. But today more than ever before, we all need to move from being problem-focused to solution focused.
  2. Don’t forsake your courage, integrity, or humanity.
  3. Give more, share more, care more and contribute more because they are all roads to fulfillment and happiness.
  4. Love more.
  5. Live more and laugh more. Appreciate and be grateful for your life-inject humour wherever and whenever you can.

We look around and there are parts of the world where people go to bed hungry and yet they seem to be happier than people in North America and Western Europe. Life is a gift.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Irene Becker: My favourite quotation is from  Pierre Teilhard de Chardin who was a palaeontologist and Jesuit priest. He said, “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

Avil Beckford: How do you define success? And in your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Irene Becker: I don’t think that my formula for success would resonate with everyone, so I’m going to give you two answers. My definition for success is service above self. I had a client who was the Bill Gates of the country (Canada), and I’m really curious, here is a man who has everything, had built everything from scratch. And I asked him, “How do you define success?” and he told me in two seconds, “happiness,” so I think that’s the ultimate definition because when I define success it’s service, it makes me happy to feel that I have been of service. So success is happiness. I think the formula for success is timeless, it’s creating value for others. Whether you’re talking about business or personal success, it’s only when we’re creating value for others, that’s what success is. It’s that feeling of contributing that makes us happiest, and a sustainable business is about creating value for others. A sustainable relationship also depends on creating value for others.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Irene Becker: Learning, continuously learning, being passionate about my craft, working hard, contributing and understanding the difference between wants and needs. We used to be in a marketplace where Marketing 101 used to say, find the need, that’s no longer true. We’re so deluged with everything. When you have a product or service you have to understand the want.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Irene Becker: Find your passion then search for the want. Work hard, work honourably and work consistently.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Irene Becker: This was such a hard question because there are so many people I want to meet. So I decided that I would pick people from the past.

  1. Abraham from the Bible
  2. Rumi the Sufi mystic and poet
  3.  Dr. Martin Luther King
  4.  Albert Einstein
  5. George Washington Carver, the peanut farmer: He was a man of such values and principles, a true leader. He was offered a lot of money but would have to give up his values and he never would. Corporations wanted to buy him out and I think it was the most incredible story.
  6.  Anne Frank

I would say, “Thank you!” because they all made the world a better place, and they all truly came from a place of love and service – extraordinary people.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Irene Becker: I actually have a few books. I couldn’t come up with just one. The Torah, Bible, the  Psalms, The  Zohar, The Prophet,  Les Miserables and the Wizard of Oz.

Avil Beckford: You are one of the 10 finalists on the reality show, So, How Would You Spend Your Time? Each finalist is placed on separate deserted islands for two years. You have a basic hut on the island and all the tools for survival; you just have to be imaginative and inventive when using them. You are allowed to take five books, one movie and one music CD, and whatever else you take has to fit in one suitcase and a travel on case. What would you take with you and how would you spend the two years? T he prize is worth your while and at this stage in the game there really aren’t any losers among the 10 finalists, since each are guaranteed at least $2 million?

I would take books: The Psalms, The Bible, The Zohar, Writings/Essays by my children, Poetry by Rumi.

I would take my favourite movie, Bruce Almighty as it is both very funny and very profound, spiritual.

Irene Becker: For the two years I would be praying, meditating, reflecting, and writing thoughts of value that I’d like to share with others – Thoughts about how life is a gift and how to use it. I would try to develop a routine that taps into my head, heart, soul and body. Never giving up faith that my two years was for a purpose that I cannot see, but that will be of service to others.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Irene Becker: Love!  The ability to cleave to the spark of Godliness, the spark of eternal love that is the source of all.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Irene Becker: Love and prayer!

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Irene Becker: I would wish for what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said in my favourite quote that I would see a day when…. “We shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Irene Becker: I am living and leading in service to the greatest good, because it is only in service that we realize our true purpose.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or  RSS Feed.

Book links are affiliate links.

What Does Leadership Really Mean?

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What Does Leadership Really Mean?

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | 3Q Leadership Blog
Helping smart people and organizations move forward smarter, faster, happier

“Leadership is a big word with such a broad, deep, and pervasive meaning. You know it when you see it. You know when it is missing. Good leaders distill complexity into the things that matter most. That’s what Irene has done in this blog. Anyone who is working on improving their leadership ought to keep these tenets close by.”
  John Richard Bell, Former CEO of Jacobs Suchard, Kraft, Nabob

Leadership means seeing the challenges we face with new eyes; eyes that ignite passion, purpose and potential at the speed of change, in the face of multiple challenges and incredible opportunities.  Leadership means  building the solution focused collaboration, communication, ideation. It means building a new bridge, a stronger bridge between what is and what can be; a bridge that will help guide us from the Age of Information to the Age of Innovation.

Leadership means building communities of thought and action. It means developing learning and living organizations with new ways of seeing, thinking and communicating that drive enhanced ideation and action-ability (IQ)  improved communication, collaboration, leadership, emotional resiliency (EQ) and a strong alignment with the universal values that are the critical underpinning of sustainability and success (SQ). (The 3Q Edge™)

Leadership means satisficing, will no longer work.  Satisficing, a word coined by Nobel Lauriate Herbert Simon, means doing what is adequate. Doing what is adequate is no longer enough.  Satisficing will not help us to find new ways, better ways to become more positive and solution focused; ways of thinking, communicating and doing that can help us actualize our potential to transform challenges into solutions, difficulties into opportunities.

Leadership means harnessing our power to build a new and better future.  It starts in an alignment of head and heart, in an optimization of our true passion, purpose and potential. It starts by looking at the walls, the challenges, the hurdles we face with new eyes that take us forward faster, better and happier.  It means embracing the courage, faith, integrity and humanity, the Q strengths, that can help us use what is to create what can be in our life and the lives of others.

Click on blue text for More 3Q™ Leadership Posts:
3Q Leadership and REACH Benefits
Mission Critical:  Championing, Empowering and Enabling Our Ability to Win
Goodness to Greatness Leadership-7 Steps from Me to WE
The Thriving Organization: Ten Power Steps Out of Jurassic Park
The Leadership Compendium

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™
Helping smart people and organizations move forward smarter, faster, happier
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Goodness to Greatness Leadership-Seven Steps

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Goodness to Greatness Leadership – Seven Steps from ME to WE
By Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It, www.justcoachit.com


Are YOU ready to lead from goodness to greatness? Are you ready to build the architecture of business, personal and inter-personal leadership?  Or, will you lead or will you follow the Pied Piper of discouragement and fear that leads the breaking news we ingest on a daily basis?

It is a challenge, but it’s a challenge that is worth our greatest effort.  And, amazingly when we have the courage to lead with our strengths, the courage to learn how to transform the changes and even crises we face into a positive catalyst for our true power and potential we become not only change agents, but change leaders. In so doing we inspire others to lead rather than follow, to move past fear and step into their greatest courage and power.

A challenge that requires seven steps, seven commitments. Business leadership, personal leadership and inter-personal leadership are all built upon an architecture that is simple but powerful.  Here are the seven steps, the seven pillars, that create the architecture of leadership in a world, workplace and marketplace of intense volatility, change and crisis.

1.  The commitment to lead and not follow.  Creating the architecture of what I call Q3™ power.  Developing enhanced IQ, EQ, SQ. Great leaders have always recognized and developed their intellectual capital, emotional capital and spiritual capital, because they recognized that being smart was not enough, being heart centered  was not enough, and being values driven was not enough.  Leadership evolves; leadership grows by developing and engaging all three Q’s. Part of developing Q3™   power is learning, but the most critical part is working with someone to actively use one’s strengths and transform changes and crises to increase one’s intellectual capital, emotional capital and spiritual capital.

2.   The commitment to the empowerment of self and others:  Creating a social or human architecture that will gather the commitment of others who want to lead collaboratively, because leadership and success today are achieved through servant or collaborative leadership.  The era of command and control leadership is dying its last death.  We need leaders who can stand at the head of the class not simply to articulate the vision, but to inspire and guide others who will in turn also lead. Getting empowered starts when we decide to build a fence around our integrity, hope, faith, potential and ability to make a difference and inspire others to do the same.  It cannot and will not come from looking at what is wrong, but rather from starting to recognize our individual strengths, our power and celebrating them from a place that is not ego driven, but rather driven by our desire to do our best work, build our best relationships, enable our best leadership, live better and happier lives.

3. The commitment to purpose and vision:  Creating a moral architecture, common purpose, a goal that speaks to something meaningful, purposeful that will engage others and is the common ground, the common goal that will be shared and cherished. The moral architecture, the vision keeps organizations competitive because it is only through creating and sustaining value for others that success is built and sustained.  It is only by creating value for employees, shareholders, clients, stakeholders and communities that success continues.  And, on a personal and inter-personal level, it is the moral architecture, or ability to stay in alignment with the core values we cherish, the goals that matter most to us that create success in our lives and relationships.

4. The commitment to communicating the vision:  Creating architecture of meaning that is conveyed not only by words but by actions — by the determination and the passion the leader has for the vision and by his/her ability to communicate this vision.  Developing the high emotional intelligence that drives masterful communication is critical.  Articulating and living the values creating the words, using symbols that paint a brilliant picture that engages others and helps them work collaboratively to the accomplishment of shared goals, i.e. the vision is what communicating the vision is all about.

 5. The commitment to courage:  Creating architecture of hope.  Developing an outlook that drives and sustains courage at the front lines, courage in the face of challenges and ignites the hope and the faith that drives our greatest thoughts and actions — the hope and faith that inspires our self and others.  Commitment to courage that cannot be achieved without building our spiritual quotient, without creating an alignment of our heads, hearts and souls that allows us to tap into the power within at the very worst of times.

6. The commitment to integrity.  Creating architecture of trust.  Nothing is built and sustained without trust.  Leadership of self and leadership of others starts with the inspiration to lead rather than follow the Q3™ strength (intellectual, emotional and spiritual capital to sustain leadership) and the spiritual capital to live and lead with the integrity that drives and sustains trust.   Trust is something we learn to build in ourselves, and we also can learn to build it in others.  Trust is the anchor for our spiritual quotient and it is also the catalyst which allows us to build and sustain the relationships that are critical to leadership, success and happiness.

7.  The commitment to action-ability.  Creating architecture of action-ability.  The greatest thoughts, best laid plans, or strategies are useless until they are made action-able.  Developing action-ability at the front lines of a business, economic, personal or inter-personal battle demands Q3™ power, and leadership is not leadership without action-ability.  The greatest ideas, the best strategies, the most inspiring words are lovely but impotent without action.  Leadership demands an architecture of action-ability.  When a leader learns to optimize strengths while using changes even crises to build IQ-EQ-SQ and develop tools, strategies that drive action-ability of self and others, power is engaged, leadership evolves and grows.

Nothing worthwhile is ever accomplished without determination, or without courage.  Today, the determination and courage to build business, personal and inter-personal leadership is not important — it is critical.  Engaging and actualizing this determination requires a bit of pixie dust.  Pixie dust born of hope, of that intangible but critical desire to contribute by not losing touch with our true power to effective positive change, to collaborate together to build and sustain a better human, personal and business bottom line.  The determination to aspire to our greatest good in our relationships, the greatest good in our work, the greatest strength in moving away from fear and discouragement by finding that pixie dust, tapping into the hope that we can make a difference and will.  That spark that is the soul of leadership, and one that we can chose to re-ignite if we are ready to take the road less travelled.  With great leadership comes great responsibility to stand at the front lines of battle with the conviction to win the war, and the greatest war we fight is from inside out.  The greatest battle we face is to inspire, engage and lead the best in ourselves by building our Q3™ strengths so that we can in turn inspire, engage and lead others who in turn lead vertically and horizontally in their lives and organizations.

Leadership is a choice, and it is one of the most difficult choices one can make because it clearly means taking the road less traveled, and it means developing courage when others have lost theirs, determination when few have it because it is far easier to manage than to lead.  It is far easier to become complacent or discouraged by the multiplicity of challenges and crises we face on an individual and collective basis.  But, easier is not necessarily better, and the easy path is not the one that can help us fill our pocketbooks and our souls.

More on Leadership:    YES!  Just search leadership or leadership blogroll on the search prompt in the right hand corner of this blog.

More Goodness to Greatness?   Is Goodness Good for Business? From Goodness to Greatness and The Thriving Organization 

©Irene Becker, www.justcoachit.com
Helping smart people and smart organizations move forward smarter, faster, happier

The Secret to Success>>Failing Forward-Mastering A Critical Life & Leadership Skill

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The Secret to Success>> Failing Forward
5  Ways to Master a Critical Life & Leadership Skill


Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | 3Q Leadership™ Blog
Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do bes
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1.  Understand Why Failing Forward is Critical to 21st Century Life and Leadership

If YOU want to succeed you need to learn how to fail forward; and of equal importance you must model and incorporate this skill in the culture of your organization. Whether your objective is building a successful small business, professional practice, team or enterprise that art of failing forward is more than the art of the start, it is the art that will drive sustainability, the art that will teach empowerment, engagement and resiliency>>>Learning to Fail Forward it is the linchpin for 21st Century Life and Leadership.

2.  Recognize Your True Power & Use It
Failure brings us face of face with our true power and purpose; OR it leads us down a dark path of ignoring, denying or running away from that which could help us lead forward by optimizing our potential and the potential of others.

 

3.  Take Your Ego Out of the Equation-It is Energy Going Out (In the Wrong Way)
Our greatest fear is not that we will fail or succeed.  Rather, it is the fear that something will touch that human chord that tells us that we are not good enough, that we are lesser than we can be.  It is the pain of invalidation, the pain of feeling that we are not worthy of success.  Ego, as defined for the purposes of this article as the need to seek validation from external sources is

Most healthy, human beings fear invalidation.  It is the most one of the most difficult and gut wrenching parts of our human journey. Some people run and hide from the pain of invalidation by trying to command, control and dominate.  Others become the commanded, controlled and dominated.  And then, there are those who just stay safe and avoid the prospect of invalidation by doing a good job but never engage their full potential.

For all the differences between us, our desire to survive and to contribute, to feel purposeful are real.  When fear enters our minds, all human beings automatically go into a fight of flight response.  The caveat is that learning to circumvent this fight or flight response is the coachable moment, it can be coached, we can retrain our brains and reset default mechanisms/behaviours so  that those who lead and those who aspire to greater leadership can change the way they deal with challenges, crises in a way that optimizes their potential.

 

4.  Do Something Counter-Intuitive>See Failure With New Eyes-Build Constructive Discontent and Optimize Potential by Using Problems as a Positive Catalyst for Solutions
There is a power in failure that has nothing to do with the act of failure and everything to do with our ability to re-engage the moral courage that it takes to develop our greatest ability and our greatest hope; our ability to use the very challenges we face, to transform the gaps, the problems with different eyes, eyes that guide us to new solutions and ways of communicating that drive engagement, empowerment and positive results.

I believe that the ability to fail forward, the power to use our mistakes, our challenges and even the crucibles to live better, lead better, communicate better and succeed better is critical to our individual and collective successAnd, it  means building what I call constructive discontent.  What is constructive discontent? Psychologists would describe constructive discontent as the ability to stay grounded during an argument or conflict. But, to me it is much more.  I call constructive discontent our ability to feel an emotion that is not comfortable and still continue forward by not losing the ability to tap into our potential and also remain focused on our objectives.  It is an ability that once developed is a formidable tool in human relations and leadership, and it is also a pivotal skill that we can use in learning to accept our weaknesses and use our failures to build and grow our power rather than eroding the potential, imagination and purpose we need to build a better life and a better career.

 

5.  Move Forward. Get Coached>Master the Art of Failing Forward and Make a Powerful Cultural Change in Your Organization, Your Business, Your Professional Practice and YOUR Life
The power, the freedom and the breakthrough results realized by learning to use failures as catalysts for personal growth, achievement, empowerment and success by learning to build constructive discontent cannot be minimized.  The velocity of change, challenges and opportunities we face will continue to surpass anything we have experienced.  Best practices can become stale or useless in the face of change, what worked in the past can become largely irrelevant; however, the ability to see problems, challenges differently is the new linchpin for leadership, success and well-being in the age of innovation and change.

What Can WE Accomplish By Failing Forward?
Guest Post, Seapoint Center>  Rising to the Challenge Before Us-Leading Forward

How did I become an expert in Failing Forward?

Extraordinary Women Interview-Leading in the Face of Challenges

My Story-Against All Odds


About Irene Becker, Executive Coach, Consultant, Speaker, Writer
Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It -The 3Q Edge™

First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene Becker has a track record of trailblazing accomplishments in business and in the community at large. An insightful and inspiring executive coach, mentor, speaker and writer, Irene helps clients achieve breakthrough results in their communication, leadership and lives. Passionate about the integrity of her work and its ability to help change-makers LEAD change, Irene helps smart people and organizations develop 3Q Leadership™ and effective verbal, written and social communication that builds reach, resonance and results. Irene welcomes your emails at irene@justcoachit.com and tweets at @justcoachit  

The Secret to Peace & Prosperity-A Very Short, Passionate, Purposeful Allegory about Life & Leadership

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The Secret to Peace and Prosperity:
A Very Short, Passionate, Purposeful Allegory About Life and Leadership

by Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, www.justcoachit.com

Three wise men approached the most incredible treasure, the secret to peace and prosperity…

 

The first wise man was too busy to see the treasure…

 

The second wise man was too stressed to see the treasure…

 

The third wise man fell to his knees and wept because the greatest treasure, the secret to peace and prosperity…
was emblazoned on a simple blade of grass that sat between the river of his greatest desires and his most hidden weaknesses and fear…

 

  • Live and lead with faith in your highest power and dedication to following the universal values that sustain your world, and you will discover the secret to building your best self, best thoughts, best emotions and best actions.

 

  • Live and lead with compassion and non-judgment towards yourself and your fellow human beings, and you will discover the secret to building humility, courage, tenacity and resiliency in the face of change and pain.

 

  • Live and lead with love in your heart for the great gift of life, and you will discover that the secret to peace and prosperity lies not in what you can command, control or acquire but in what you can give, receive and share.

The third wise man found a wise woman with whom he shared his story and continued to cry.
Because…

 

In reading what was written on that simple blade of grass between his greatest desires and his most hidden weaknesses and fears…

 

He had opened his head, heart and soul to that eternal flame that can transform all that is into all that can be…

 

Today, as you are reading these words and digesting this simple story; think about the purpose of your life, pause and reflect upon the reality that life and the accoutrements of success and comfort that you acquire on your journey are simply on loan to you.

When you leave this life, all that you have commanded, controlled and acquired disappears.

But, the faith, compassion and love that you have shared with others becomes a legacy, an eternal, timeless treasure that will remain in the hearts and minds of those whose lives you have touched. A gift that they can, in turn pass on to others who seek to realize their potential to make a difference in their world.

Seize this moment, this day to think about how you can build the faith, compassion and love that can help you take your life from good to great by simply starting to activate your potential to make a difference in the life of another.

 

Because, all that we have, all that we are, is nothing in comparison with what we have the power to become when we choose to live and lead from goodness to greatness.

Yours in service,
Irene

More about Human Passion, Purpose and Potential?  YOU Betcha

Against All Odds:  A True Story of Hope, Courage and Leadership
Leadership Means Doing Good in the World
From Victim to Victor
Our Greatest Hope
Rising to the Challenge Before Us

Irene Becker www.justcoachit.com

Is Goodness is Good for Business?

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Is Goodness Good for Business?
Can We Lead from Goodness to Greatness?

© Irene Becker, www.justcoachit.com

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Goodness is that little pilot light of value, success, and satisfaction that is often cast aside. The old business model was about taking, the new model is about sharing and contributing. 

Goodness is our greatest hope in a new economy, a new world of constant change where learning to collaborate and create solutions, learning to seek the good is the only path to sustainable success.  Yes, leading from goodness to greatness is the benchmark of sustainable leadership.

Goodness does not mean dumbing down, nor does it mean living in the world of the warm and fuzzies. What it does mean is a return to a focus on the cardinal ethical imperatives that has always created the best in ourselves, in those we serve, those we lead and those who we have chosen to lead us.

Goodness is expressed in the services and products we sell.  Goodness  is transmitted through our shareholder, stakeholder and client relationships.  Goodness means winning. Winning through sharing, winning through learning, winning through teaching, winning through collaborating, winning through inspiring the best in ourselves and others, winning by aligning that which we need with that which we create, winning by contributing, winning by becoming human centric and using our human centricity to align the power of our heads and our hearts.

We need to become human centric.  The leader who can communicate goodness, authenticity, shared value, will drive success. All that is truly gold is good.  All that is truly good is gold.  And in a world, in a marketplace where goodness is the exception to the rule; those who will differentiate the way they serve, promote and sell their goods and treat their constituents by doing so with goodness, may very well achieve greatness.

© Irene Becker www.justcoachit.com

Success = The Reach and Resonance of the Human Heart

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Success = The Reach and Resonance of the Human Heart

©Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Helping smart people & organizations communicate & LEAD forward smarter, faster & happier

Toronto and Virtually Everywhere |  416-671-4726 | Skype: beckerirene

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Are we dying from a death of the obvious, or will the obvious take us forward smarter, faster and happier? Stress expert and comedienne, Loretta Laroche, commented that we are “dying from a death of the obvious.” I believe that the obvious can have enormous impact on our present and future. Science confirms that in order to optimize our potential we need to get happy first. Common sense tells us that the right and ability to live happy lives is the most important goal of all. Inspiration + human contact + connection = happiness.

Each day we have an individual and collective opportunity to do good, be good, share good. The reach and resonance of the human heart is our greatest hope for a better present and future. It is our humanity that can take us through and past problems,valleys of change, turmoil, pain and trouble to come out the other side a bit wiser, stronger. It is our ability to optimize brain power and empathy that can take us forward smarter, faster and happier. We are human beings, not human doing faster than ever before.  The longer we wait to embrace our humanity, the less time we will have to experience it.   Human beings need happiness; we need inspiration, human contact and connection. There is no time like the present to embrace the power, the reach and resonance of our heart. Seize it, use it, share it. Inspiration + human contact + connection = happiness.  Purpose fuels happiness.  And, our potential to be good, do good and share good is as real as our ability to create darkness and chaos.

Purpose trumps all other drivers of potential.     Purpose makes profit, and the only way to create sustainable profit is to develop a mindset that fuels value for all. What do we really want?  What are we really searching for in our lives, our careers, our jobs?  The need for inspiration, human contact and connection is written on the walls of our lives, our communities and our organizations. A community of purpose™, a gathering of like minded heads and hearts, begins with one person doing simple math; one person deciding to start with the end in mind. Finding white space, me time, time for reflection that allows you to not only focus forward in a positive way, but restore and replenish your ability to get inspired by what YOU can do is critical. Take a moment right now to remember that your life does not have to be a blinding blur of stepping on, over or avoiding others to make your way from birth to death.  While we rush around living and working at a more accelerated pace than ever before it is the white spaces, the gaps between our thoughts, our feelings and our actions that give us time to take in where we are and where we really want to go.

 What is your greatest, truest hope? Imagine that you are living the last moment of your life.  Would you spend those last few minutes tabulating your personal net worth, calculating your bank balance, reviewing pivotal moments in your life and career when you exercised the ability to command and control; or would your thoughts be focused on what you had shared and contributed, on those you had loved and who had loved you?  Now we have children, adolescents, and adults whose major preoccupation is consumption, greed and ego. Does this mean that a death of the obvious is growing? Perhaps, but there is also a great hope, an undercurrent of change, a glimmer of incandescent light leading us to the genesis of our greatest power; the power to embrace our humanity and use it to create strategies and solutions that fill our pocketbooks and our souls.  Strategies and solutions for good that do good.

Fuel YOUR humanity. Recharge your power to become solution driven.  Empower yourself to live purposefully, and in so doing you will inspire and engage with others who resonate with your purpose.  Together you will build a community of purpose™. Together we can and will make a difference. Seize the day. Do the math; inspiration + human contact + connection = happiness.    Use it to share, to care, to contribute.

Embrace your purpose and it will embrace you back.   Enjoy    Leadership Means Building a Community of Purpose™  | Our Greatest Hope  | Constructive Discontent 
The Secret to Peace and Prosperity | Rediscover Your Fire  © Irene Becker, 2012

 

 

 Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Helping
smart people & organizations communicate and LEAD forward smarter, faster & happier
nto and Virtually Everywhere | 416-671-4726 | Skype: beckerirene

Our Greatest Hope

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Our Greatest Hope ©Irene Becker, www.justcoachit.com

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A dear friend, asked me to write  about values driven leadership.  The more I thought about this topic, the more I realized that we do not simply need values driven business leaders, we need to become individual leaders, personal leaders, ombudsmen of the good by embracing the values that we cherish.   Our greatest hope lies in the values, faith, courage, hope and integrity that are the apex of our greatest power and potential. 

Where do we start?  We start right here, right now.  Impossible?  Think again.  We stand on a glass cliff, a place where we will see the greatest renaissance  we have ever known; or  a decline and decent into the abyss of chaos, aggression and destruction.  A place where  we will be crippled by the need, greed and ego that has destroyed every empire and fiefdom in history OR choose to embrace our potential to use what is to create what can be.

It is your ability, my ability, our ability to cleave to the universal values, express  the humanity and moral courage that is our hope for the future.  Courage that starts with service above self, with the desire to move from me to WE.  Power that grows each time we show  kindness to a stranger, reach out and help a colleague of friend, mentor or share knowledge.  Leadership that grows when we focus not on what we can get, but rather on what we can contribute.  Humanity that is expressed in learning to treat our neighbors, our brothers and sisters as ourselves.  Happiness that is found in caring, sharing and contributing.

In a world of increasing complexity it is the simple things that often elude us. It is time to get simple and clear with the importance of tying a knot around our values, courage, integrity; for they are the greatest riches we have.  Love is the truth,  universal values are the motor, and human passion, purpose and potential are the engine that can drive us to an evolution of self, and of others that will take us into the age of innovation – an age of extraordinary possibilities; or push us into an abyss of  fear, despair, destruction, aggression and chaos.

Our greatest hope lies in a new balance of independence and interdependence that will take us forward.  A path that is difficult, but worthwhile.  A path that requires courage and conviction.  A path that is oft forgotten, and begs to be remembered.  A path of redemption and renewal.  A path of human beings being  better not simply doing faster than ever before.  A path that can change one life, many lives and ultimately our world.  A path where we serve to LEAD from me to WE.

Written for my late father, Joseph Becker, my best friend, mentor and a soul whose light shines on.

More  Me to We Leadership on QBlog:

Goodness to Greatness Leadership-7 Steps

The Secret to Peace and Prosperity

Goodness to Greatness

Is Goodness Good for Business?

Irene Becker April 6, 2012 |  www.justcoachit.com | The EQ Edge™- Smarter, Happier, Faster

 

Success at the Speed of Change-Power Up and On

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Imagine USING challenges to learn, share and develop solutions.  Yes, success at the speed of change!

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Leading and succeeding at the speed of change means moving your people from asking who did it, to what can we do about it. It means investing time to solve the problem, and determining how to avoid similar problems in the future. It means getting back on track by focusing on solutions. It means being able to stop destructive conflict, hidden agendas, selfishness, values mis-alignments with a commitment to shared goals and objectives.

Leading and succeeding means  optimizing strengths AND USING challenges to build the Q power that drives passion, purpose, potential at the speed of change:  It means seeing your strengths and challenges with new eyes.  Eyes that will help you build all 3Q™ strengths:  IQ enhanced focus, potential, action-ability under pressure, EQ/EI-emotional management, improved communication, leadership, SQ-values
alignment- the glue that holds everything together. Yes, that rarely talked about, but critical spiritual quotient-your alignment with your highest power and greatest good.

Four Leadership Questions:

What are your core values? How are they expressed at work?

What does success really mean to YOU? What does success mean to your executive team?

What do you need to communicate for greater influence & success?

How will you get inspired and inspire others at a speed of change that will continue to accelerate?

 

 ONE ANSWER: Start seeing challenges with new eyes; eyes that build YOUR 3Q Edge™

Eyes that will allow you to embrace challenges as learning experiences, failures as stepping stones to success, and communication problems as ruts in the road that need to be addressed and fixed. Eyes that will allow you to develop your Q strengths by moving away from being reactive and embracing the ability to respond to challenges by managing change and not waiting for change to manage or lead you.

 

Time for fresh ideas and solutions?

Build YOUR 3Q Edge™?

Work, communicate and lead happier, smarter, faster?

Irene Becker  Just Coach It
The 3Q Edge™

Helping smart people work, communicate and lead smarter, happier, faster is what I do best!  www.justcoachit.com 

Start today the right way. Listen to You Are Loved by Stars GoDim

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Pay kindness, pay compassion, pay love forward and watch it illuminate your life and your day.

Love  is the source of your internal energy and of the best and brightest within you. It is the greatest antidote to pain and suffering. 

Start today by living and appreciating yourself. Let this day inspire you to share love, compassion and understanding with someone you know or meet. 

Pay love forward because it will make you feel good, do good and share good with another human being.  Even a smile or an act of encouragement can change and often save the life of another human being. 

Stop the needless pain. Everyday, people suffer in silence from stress, anxiety, loss and traumas that undermine their best selves and lives.  

Pay kindness, pay compassion, pay love forward and watch it illuminate your life and your day.

Are you facing a crucible, a difficult life, leadership or career trauma? Reach out and I will reach back. irene@justcoachit.com

4 - Team

Irene Becker, Founder, Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | Reach-Resonance Results
Life, leadership, communication and career coaching for results in disruptive times 

Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training & Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ (IQ-EQ-SQ)
Call: 1 (416) 671-4726   Email:  irene@justcoachit.com
Twitter:  @justcoachit

Skills to Improve Upon As a Leader

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Image Source: Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/illustrations/achievement-success-mountain-clouds-5597527/)

Leadership isn’t a noun. It’s a verb. It’s a skill set you practice, not merely possess. What that means is that your status as a leader must not signal stasis. In fact, when you’re a leader, your own success, as well as that of your team, often depends upon your continued evolution as a leader.

That’s a tall order, of course, especially when you’re also tasked with supporting the same pursuit of excellence in your employees. The good news is that focusing on improving a small set of core leadership skills will help you to model the continuous development you seek to instill in your team. At the same time, you’ll also be optimizing your leadership effectiveness, building the performance of your team one improvement at a time.

This article explores the essential skills you should improve on today to increase your efficacy as a leader and role model not just for tomorrow.

Digital Literacy

As a leader in today’s technology-driven world, one of the most important skills you can cultivate is digital literacy. No matter what your particular industry, your company, and career almost inevitably are rooted in information technology.

Unfortunately, however, not all digital information is created equal, and this can pose a serious risk to your career, your team, and your organization. Digital literacy skills, though, enable you to become a savvier consumer of digital content.

Here are five digital literacy skills that many employers look for when hiring candidates:

  1. Independent research
  2. Knowledge of terms and platforms
  3. Collaboration
  4. Adaptation
  5. Ability to teach

Communication

The best leaders are also often the best communicators. If you want to inspire, unite, and lead your team, then you have to know how to communicate with them effectively. This is about more than the ability to make a speech, conduct a meeting, or carry on a face-to-face conversation, however.

In the modern workplace, teams are more diverse than ever before. Additionally, with the rise of the virtual office, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, work is being conducted in more diverse settings than ever before.

This means that you will be required to communicate effectively across a range of media, from text-based communications to live public speaking to the hosting of video-based conferences. Each of these contexts requires a unique approach to communication:

  • Email, chat, tasks, and other written forms: language must be softened to prevent miscommunication
  • Video and live presentations: presenters must learn to read facial expressions and body language to gauge audience interest

Learning how to adapt your communication strategies to a wide array of situations, contexts, and content is essential for today’s business leaders.

Memory and Learning

When you’re a leader, you have a lot on your plate. You have to have strong insight into your team, both as a collective and as individuals. You also have to possess expertise on your organization, including the short-term and long-term needs and goals that shape the company and your role in it. Additionally, you’re also expected to be an authority in your field, to have the answers your team and your clients need to ensure success.

That’s a pretty significant demand on your mind and memory. This is why improving your memory is one of the best skills you can cultivate. Others include:

  • Mindfulness
  • Meditation
  • Gamification
  • Active listening
  • Mixing up routines
  • Using music

These can significantly improve both your short-term and long-term memory, which can dramatically enhance your effectiveness as a leader.

The Takeaway

Being a good leader doesn’t just happen. It’s not simply about winning the promotion and being assigned a team. You have to work at it with both diligence and commitment. A good leader, after all, is one who consistently strives to improve and who models this ethos for their team. There are, however, specific essential skills that can be particularly beneficial for leaders, no matter their particular industry. For example, an effective leader in today’s workforce possesses robust digital literacy skills, is one who is an excellent communicator regardless of the particular contexts in which they are engaged, and is also one who possesses a keen and reliable memory, no matter how taxed their time, attention, and focus may be.

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Author Bio:
Adrian Johansen is a writer and consultant in the Pacific Northwest. She loves sharing knowledge with others and learning along the way! You can find more of her writing at Medium