Own The Moment!

I love this simple, powerful phrase because it embodies the essence of everyday leadership. I’m using it more and more as a memorable call to action to show up as the very best version of yourself throughout your work day.

Here’s why it’s become one of my favorite workplace mantras:

1. It reminds us that we are owners of our experience, our work and the success of the entire organization.
2.  It offers a gentle reminder that the small choices that we make throughout our day – moment by moment – are important and that we are more influential than we think.
3. It makes leading a very intentional, purposeful work life seem more doable. It might seem nearly impossible to choose one’s behaviors, thoughts and attitudes for the entire day, which, for too many of us, stretches beyond the traditional eight hours. But to focus in the moment and make courageous decisions – that suddenly seems possible.
4. It supports a culture of personal accountability in which each of us is seen as a capable adult.
5. It’s easy to remember and uncomplicated in its message.

So, how do we translate ‘owning the moment’ into practical action? For me, it means that:

• We thoughtfully relate to others throughout our day. We pay attention to others and we practice the Platinum Rule, treating others as they want to be treated.
• We plan and prepare for meetings, interviews, conversations, and interactions with each other and with our customers, clients or patients so that we can be most useful in those moments. 
•  We are our best selves more often.
• We consider the consequences, intended and unintended, of our words, non-verbal messaging, attitudes, behaviors and general approach.
• We choose to act as adults.
• We sincerely want to help others to have great outcomes, memorable experiences and success. We let others shine and it feels good to us.
• We keep our word, our commitment, to live by our organizational values, our rules of engagement and our very best practices.
• We affirm a realistic optimism in all that we say and do.
• We stand up and do the right thing, even when it’s hard, risky or unpopular.

What does ‘own the moment’ mean to you? What will you do differently tomorrow to own more moments?

Week 1 Leadership Dare: During the next meeting that you attend, own the moment by helping the facilitator to conduct a successful meeting. What would it look like and feel like to be the best version of yourself at that meeting? Remember, little stuff matters!

Week Two Leadership Dare:  This week, I have challenge that may be really tough, even for the best of us. But it wouldn’t be a challenge if it didn’t stretch us, right? So, here goes:

This week, whenever you receive constructive feedback on some aspect of your approach or behavior, I dare you to OWN THE MOMENT! Instead of a knee jerk reaction to shut down, become defensive, dismiss the person(s) and/or their perspective  or even go on the offense and shoot back a sarcastic or cynical response, choose to be your best self. Really think about what the other person had to say. Consider the real possibility that you may have a blind spot when it comes to your behavior. Allow for the fact that this feedback may be spot on. Ask questions to gain more clarity. Think about other options that you could have considered. Don’t overlook the opportunity to thank the person who delivered the feedback. It’s a courageous best practice. Finally ponder what they said and make a commitment to change if it’s the right thing to do.

Sounds simple but it’s not easy to do, particularly if it’s not your habit today. Take the dare and own the moment! 

Window of Accomplishment

For me, September is the best month of the year!  For most, but not all, of us, the summer gives us a mini break in the action. The pace slows at least a little, we take summer vacations or ‘go on holiday’ and return refreshed and renewed, either from a blast of ‘fun in the sun’ Vitamin D or the energy that comes from a bucket list adventure. So, when September rolls around, we’re ready to reposition our leadership lens, take on our challenges with grit, grace and gusto and light some sparks of possibility. Yep, we’re perfectly positioned for a fresh start!

And the added bonus that September offers is that it’s just a few short months away from the end of the year and the magic of the Holiday season. It triggers this ‘sprint to the finish’ burst of creativity, productivity and enthusiasm – a three month window of accomplishment!

How will you capitalize on this remarkable window of accomplishment this year? Let’s be particularly choiceful about how the next three months unfold. What do you want to do between now and the end of the year so that when you look in the rearview mirror you feel satisfaction, pride and, dare I say it, relief? To make it the greatest Fall of all?

Here’s are a few ideas to jump start your own thinking. Stay tuned in throughout the month for more!

Leadership Bright Idea #1: There’s a saying that originated in the Southern part of the US – If you have two frogs to swallow; swallow the biggest one first. I think Brian Tracy, well known motivational speaker, says something similar, “If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.” Your ‘frog’ is that task or assignment that is the biggest, hardest and/or most important; maybe it’s the one on which you’ve been procrastinating and you’ll most likely continue unless you take action right now!!

Consider the fresh start of September and the window of accomplishment as a call to action. Ask yourself, “What’s my biggest frog?” Is it the big stack of paper that’s occupied prime real estate on your desk for months? Is it the next chapter of your book that’s been blocked for a while? How about those performance reviews?

Start by thinking about how it will feel to swallow that frog! Visualize the completion of the task. Now play big; be brave and bold; shift into gear and get started!

Leadership Bright Idea #2: I was with a group of colleagues, facilitating a leadership learning program. At the afternoon break, I was connecting with several participants, chatting together about change, growth and being a better version of yourself.  One of those colleagues said something that was simultaneously wildly funny and strikingly honest; so much so that it’s stuck with me and I’ve noodled on it for the past several days. In response to our conversation on being better and different as a leader, he said, “But sometimes you just get sick of working on sh$#t!”

After I stopped laughing, I realized the unvarnished truth about what he said. I love personal mastery work; learning; growing; changing habits and abandoning dysfunctional comfort. But sometimes, even I need to cut myself a break. To acknowledge that I’m perfect enough just as I am. That I have a lot going for me. That I’ve come a long way and made great progress. Sometimes, you just need to pause and celebrate yourself, just as you are!

So, for a change of pace, use this window of accomplishment to focus less on what you need to do to improve yourself and more what you’ve already done! How about thinking about or writing about one of your brilliances; a 2015 accomplishment that’s already in the bag; complements and positive feedback; new habits that you’ve sustained; relationships that have grown…

Optimism is a choice!

Optimism comes from the Latin word for ‘the best.’  It simply means favoring the best possible outcome. For me, there are two brands of optimism:

·         Unrealistic optimism (aka naïve realism) – The thinking here is that great things will happen almost automatically.  Positive thinking alone can transform our wishes and hopes into reality.

·         Realistic optimism – Still a vigorously constructive mental model that views people as active agents who help make things happen. Realistic optimists know that in order to be successful, they’ll have to be courageous, answer the call to action, plan well, access resources, persist, bounce back, carry on and follow through!

I choose to be a realistic optimist!  For me, it’s not naïve, romantic or idealistic; rather, it’s an asset through which I (and my clients) can become my best self and make a difference through my relationships and my work.  Research associates it with greater measures of health & well-being; longer life expectancy; and more general happiness & prosperity.  At work, it’s an essential catalyst for change & improvement as well as creativity & innovation.

Right about now, some of you may be thinking - ”That’s great but…isn’t optimism part of a person’s hardwiring or isn’t it something that you get from your earliest experiences that gets embedded in your psyche?”  

My answer is yes, optimism is hardwired and yes, it may come more readily if we were exposed to it regularly as kids.  Each of us has a unique endowment and experiences in our formative years.  But that’s only part of the story.  Research tells us that education & personal effort can trump your starting point.  Even our genes need regular input to work properly as we grow & develop!  To a large extent, then, realistic optimism is a CHOICE!

Let me give you a simple little example from my own childhood.  One of my mother’s favorite phrases was ‘bad things happen in threes!”  She really seemed to believe this with certainty and went to great lengths to point out many threesomes. I grew up with this mantra in my head.  If something bad happened to me, I would try to game the system be forcing two (small, benign) ‘bad’ things to happen quickly so that I could get clear of that particular cycle.  Finally, there came a point in time, when I realized (through education) that it really wasn’t true and I laughed it off and went on.

I agree with Rick Warren who says, “We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.”  Realizing that your past doesn’t necessarily predict your future frees a person and opens you up to sparks of possibility around you.

Cultivating the habit (yes, I said habit!) of realistic optimism is more critical today to overall success than ever before. Why? Because we are navigating powerful currents of change; because our work is more complex, our environment more unpredictable and our pace is blistering. We need every edge to be our best selves.

My coaching question to each of you is….Through what lens will you choose to view your workplace, your community, even our world?

For the remainder of this month, take my leadership dare:

Commit to an optimism upgrade!!

Upgrade 1: This week, think about Rick Warren’s quote, noted above. Are the leftovers from your past that are holding you back or keeping you stuck? Identify them clearly and specifically. Then, for each, identify one thing that you are willing to do to free yourself from its influence.

Upgrade 2: Take a vacation (preferably a long one) from ‘the news’. I think it would be pretty discouraging to see the world exclusively through the lens of the media news.  For me it’s a distorted view. The news reports on things (mostly bad and sensational) that happen, not things that don’t happen. When was the last time that a TV crew reported happily on how many countries weren’t at war or cities that haven’t had a mass shooting? In many cases, when you look at the whole picture, the facts tell a surprisingly optimistic story.

Upgrade 3: Reclaim the word ‘do-gooder’! The heck with those who think this word is anything but a wonderful compliment.  This week, make it a point to make a positive difference in the lives of your colleagues, clients and significant others in your workplace. Consider it your super power for the week!

Upgrade 4: Avoid catastrophizing!  Stop thinking about or expecting the worst – from people, situations or experiences. We’re talking about realistic optimism here, so skip the rose colored glasses. We need to seriously attend to problems and challenges without minimizing or discounting them. But portraying everything as a ‘catastrophe’ is overboard and counter-productive. It contributes to a culture of fear and robs us of our most valuable resource when it comes to problem solving….our creative mind. 

Create Your Own Brand Of March Madness!

March Madness is a nickname indelibly stuck to the single elimination Division I college basketball tournament that occurs each Spring in the US. Get ready because it’s coming! From March 15 to April 6 millions of people will be possessed by this affliction. You don’t even have to be a basketball fan to get swept up. Before you know it, you’ve joined an office pool, become a bracketologist (yes, there is such a word); and find yourself cheering for teams to which you have no emotional ties!

For me, the word ‘madness’ does a good job of capturing the sustained energy and excitement associated with the tournament:

So much constant action

So many games

So many teams

The element of unpredictability

The emotional highs and lows

The thrill of an ‘upset’

Everyday heroics

Single minded grit and determination to make it to the next round; to win the ultimate prize

The magic of a high performing team

The inspiring performance of an underdog

Over the top school spirit

And so much more…..

What if we co-opted this term?

What if we co-create our own brand of ‘March Madness?’ No dribbling or shooting involved.

What if we harnessed the passion, the energy, the excitement, the fun and the esprit de corps that are characteristic of the tournament and creatively put them to work in our workplaces, departments and teams?

For me, this feels like the perfect antidote to the energy drain associated with an all too long winter and a great way to shift into refresh and renewal mode as Spring arrives. 

I’ve come up with some leadership bright ideas for delivering a memorable March Madness experience in your workplace throughout the month ahead. Of course, once your creative juices start flowing, develop your own unique ways to catch the ‘feva.’

Don’t forget to share your most creative ideas with us!!

March Madness Challenge 1: During one recent NCAA tournament, a Kentucky coach shared the following secret to his team’s success. He said, “We don’t practice until we get it right. We intentionally practice until we don’t get it wrong.” I found this to be a thought provoking insight. Share this with your team and lead a discussion on what it means to you and your team mates. Identify one thing that you can collectively do differently to ‘intentionally practice until you don’t get it wrong’.

March Madness Challenge 2: There’s a big difference between frenetic energy and focused energy. The former is hurried and harried. We might be checking things off the list; but are we doing our best work? The right work? In a sustained way? In the latter, we aim ourselves strategically and bring our best selves to the work. Sometimes, we’ve got to slow the game down a bit to win.  Name one or two ways in which you can ‘slow down to speed up.’ That is, identify one or two areas in which we can pause briefly and get fanatically focused on what we need to do to create a great outcome.

Stay tuned for two additional March Madness Challenges!

Everyday Leadership at the NEW New England Chapter's spring event

Q. How does a business conference exceed all expectations?

A. Everyday leadership, of course!!

We recently had one of those ‘aha moments’ at Vantage and it’s a story worth telling:

Several weeks ago, I had the privilege and pleasure of sharing some leadership insights with a group of extraordinary women and men at the Network of Executive Women’s New England Conference. Great people. Great experience.

It just so happened that our videographer was there to get some fresh material for our websites. After the event, several of us at Vantage reviewed the entire video to make final selections on the short clips to share with prospective clients. Blah. Blah. Pretty routine stuff….. Not so fast!

As we intently watched that video for content and style points, we saw something much more valuable that we hadn’t been looking for – We saw the critical role that everyday leadership played in the event’s overwhelming success!! The video captured a portion of the preparation period before the event took off. NEW members swarmed the huge ballroom. They were genuinely engaged, energetic and enthusiastic!! Every role had meaning and importance. The small stuff mattered. Everyone led from her seat! The chatter was punctuated by the language of everyday leadership –

“I’ve got that covered….What can I do to help….Do you need anything?....Great idea…Looks good….It’s gonna be GREAT!”

And, while this was all gratifying to take in, it wasn’t the only aha moment for us. Here’s Lesson #2: If we hadn’t changed the lens through which we viewed the video, we would    have missed Lesson #1! It was a simple but effective reminder of how easy it is to become so fanatically focused on the task at hand that you miss opportunities hidden in plain sight!

Pretty cool, huh?  I love moments like these!