Goals 2014: What Is The Secret To Achieving Your #LifeGoals ?

July 20, 20141 Comment

Setting And Reviewing Goals Does Not Take Long

Taking Action To Set And Review Your Goal Does Not Take Long

Back in January I created a post featuring these questions about your workplace happiness. In particular I asked you to focus on these points:

How important is your work compared to your family or social life?

How happy does it make you feel?

Do you have a clear goal about what you want to happen within your life this year?

What will you feel like when you accomplish your goal?

The Secret Is Regularly Taking Action

The secret to achieving your goals is to regularly take action to move in the direction you have identified. As long as you act in a way that is consistent with your values, you will authentically progress toward what you want.

Simply thinking about what you want won’t achieve much. It is action which gets you flowing smoothly towards that outcome. If you have 20 minutes here is an interesting TED talk by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on the concept of Flow

How Much Time Will You Make For Your Goals This Summer?

As summer is here you can take action to make some time away from work to create, or review, your life goals and to plan when you will take further action to move forward. How much time will be enough for you?

What Other Actions Can You Take To Achieve Your Goals?

Feel free to have a conversation about this topic with your colleagues. I’d be interested to know what priority you give to goal setting. You can find me on Twitter @RogerD_said

There are more ideas relating to actions you can take to address your work, and life, goals in the Archive section here and on Facebook and Google+ too. Or if you are a Linkedin user you can visit more insights into these areas when you View Roger Dennison’s profile

Goals 2014: What Is The Two Word Secret To More #JobSatisfaction ?

July 12, 2014July 11, 2014Leave a comment

What Is The Value Of Positive Feedback?

Thank you to everyone who is following me on social media; discussing the ideas I’m putting out there for discussion; or simply reading these words.

I was thinking about the value of those two words a few days ago. I received some great customer care and told the assistant how much I appreciated the time she had taken to resolve my query and hand me the paper work for my records.

What Is The Value Of Saying Thank You?

How often do you offer authentic, positive, feedback when you experience great customer care? Organisational leaders are recognising that employee recognition matters. In areas like customer care ‘good news’ stories are morale boosting opportunities to highlight business values in action

How Will You Make It Clear You Are Good At What You Do?

Some people are comfortable quietly getting on with their work. They are never going to blow their own trumpet. Would you be content to have that low a profile?

If your answer is ‘No’, would you consider setting yourself a goal concerning your customer service?

Could you ask your customers to send a quick email to your manager, if you provide outstanding service?
Perhaps they could comment favourably on your company website?
Is there another way that would allow your manager to see how much of an asset you are to the team?

When Will You Make Time To Take Action?

Feel free to have a conversation about this topic with your colleagues. When will you make the first step to action this goal? I’d be interested to know what your plans are. You can find me on Twitter @RogerD_said

There are more ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here and on Facebook and Google+ too. Or if you are a Linkedin user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile

Goals 2014: How Can You Boost Your #Skills By #Volunteering ?

July 6, 2014Leave a comment

Are You Developing Your Skills By Volunteering?

I have blogged previously about the benefits of volunteering – within an organisation or in the community – as a way to boost your skills. Well I had the chance last week to add to Joel Kremer’s Linkedin discussion about the value of volunteering, and I thought it would be useful to you if I gave you the highlights of that post here. These ideas should be valid in the UK, the US, the EU or elsewhere around the world.

What Leadership Or Management Skills Do You Want To Develop?

According to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills there are plenty of managers who could improve their proficiency in several key areas, one of which matches your five point list: UKCES highlights that 32% of managers and professionals could be more proficient in Problem Solving (PS). What are the comparable figures where you are?

Taking action to volunteer could address a PS personal development goal. It could definitely benefit someone in a key organisational role, at the same time as benefitting the project’s customers.

How Can You Ensure Your Services Are Not Being Unfairly Exploited?

There’s a health warning though. Given the climate of limited resources and ‘more for less’ volunteers should not be used as cheap substitutes for paid staff. An organisation’s volunteering strategy should provide an authentic example of doing good for all concerned. It should provide positive benefits to customers whilst developing the volunteers’ skills and confidence (whatever their job title). If a volunteer feels their actions are being exploited they have to speak up.

What Support Could You Expect To Receive As A Volunteer?

In the example I gave above, good benefits could be achieved by the PS volunteer, as long as it was absolutely clear where the boundaries of that person’s volunteer responsibility lay. The volunteer’s learning would have to be fully supported by their project leader and her colleagues. Once their PS skills and confidence were good, or outstanding, they could continue to develop in different areas. Still offering really good service to the project’s customers as their learning continues.

How Are You Going To Learn By Volunteering?

Please use the Contact form above, if you would like to discuss coaching support to make the most of your volunteering plans.

Feel free to look at the further ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here, on Facebook and Google+ too. Or if you are a Linkedin user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile

Goals 2014: What #Changes Will You Deal With Tomorrow?

June 22, 2014Leave a comment

What Does Change Mean To You?

What is your work goal tomorrow? Is it to stay the same and hope that doing so produces adequate results (assuming your performance exceeds or meets organisational expectations)? Or are you authentically open to change (especially if you know you must improve to meet those expectations)?

Whether you are a leader, follower, manager, or employee what would it feel like to move towards something different and better in the week ahead?

What Lessons Can You Take From The UK Civil Service?

Large organisations, like the UK Civil Service are undertaking change processes, so that its 420,000 plus employees can produce more results with less resources (click on the link to find out more about their leaderships vision; communication; change delivery; and staff engagement). If yours is a smaller organisation, what lessons could you take from the civil service example?

How Immune To Change Are You?

Individuals, just like organisations have different responses to change. Even the mention of change can cause some people to become resistant. Their immunity to change (ITC) depends on the big assumptions they hold. Will colleagues still like me if I change? What will I feel like if I become a more authentic version of myself?

I’m really excited to have learned a lot about the world of change by completing recently a MOOC (massive open online course) on ITC, courtesy of Harvard University. You can listen here to a 15 minute podcast with Robert Kegan who led the course with Lisa Lahey and sample some of the course materials if you register to do so.

Will You Rise To The Change Challenge?

When you set goals for yourself at the start of the year you will have known circumstances might crop up that pushed you off course. As you undertake your mid -year review, what areas do you need to adjust to stay on track?

Perhaps your circumstances have changed so much since January that major adjustments are necessary: in January no one would have foreseen that retail challenges would affect managers at Morrisons for instance; or that in the banking sector, Barclay’s job losses would be followed by those at Natwest

So, whether you are in the UK, US, EU or the world beyond what will you do tomorrow to meet the small or large challenges flagged up by the word ‘change’?

What Else Will You Do To Embrace Change?

Feel free to have a conversation about this topic with your colleagues. I’m always interested to know what you think. You can find me on Twitter @RogerD_said

There are more ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here and on Facebook and Google+ too. Or if you are a Linkedin user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile

Goals 2014: Are You Making The Progress You Want To On Your #GoalsInLife?

June 12, 2014Leave a comment

How Are You Feeling About Your 2014 Goals?

Your anticipation has been building for months. Your heart beat a little faster as each week zipped by. Now, finally, it is time for you to focus on goals (your own personal goals that is).

How Practical Did Your Goals Seem In January?

Obviously your team will measure how successful it is being during the FIFA World Cup. Isn’t this a good time to measure your own success?

Perhaps back in early January everything looked straight forward. You had 12 months in which to make progress on your goals relating to your: authentic leadership skills; management style; career path; work-life balance; health priorities. Everything seemed possible. Maybe you agreed specific goals with yourself, to make 2014 the year you:

pursued your next career milestone to get you into a more fulfilling job this autumn

created the ideal balance between your work and life, in line with your core values

actively competed at a sport to raise your confidence and energy levels

Well, here you are at the half way line. Are you ready to kick off a discussion about your progress?

What Is The One Key Question You Can Ask Yourself About Your Progress?

There is probably only one key question to ask yourself, about the actions you have taken to further your aspirations to change. Take a moment and answer honestly:

How happy are you with the outcomes of your actions and your rate of progress toward your goals?

What Is Your Next Action?

Hopefully you can say you are happy with your progress across the range of goals you selected six months ago. In that case keep doing what you are doing, since it is obviously working for you.

What if you need coaching support to refocus your strategy for taking action to tackle your goals? Then use the Contact form above, or connect with me on Twitter @RogerD_said

If you need to try a fresh approach I look forward to hearing from you. Don’t forget, you should feel free to look at the other ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here, on Facebook and Google+ too. Or if you are a Linkedin user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile too.

Goals 2014: What’s Your Formula For Leadership Success?

May 20, 2014Leave a comment

A Definition of Success Courtesy of Julian Hall

How is your week working out? Hopefully you have successfully dealt with your Urgent and your Important tasks and you can turn your attention to some strategic planning.

As you think about your strategic leadership goals, what would you consider is your formula for success? How helpful do you find Julian Hall’s equation shown above? Have you got a unique approach to leadership which keeps producing results for your team?

Julian was just one of several great speakers I saw at the Business Show last week (he’s on Twitter @theultrapreneur and online here Tweets from the Show are hashtagged as #TBS2014 ).

If you went to the Show I’d love to know what was your key take away from the various Speakers you listened to? Which of the connections you made was the most significant and why?

Feel free to look at the further ideas relating to your leadership, work and life goals in the Archive section here, on Facebook and Google+ too. Or if you are a Linkedin user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile

Goals 2014: Want To Help Yourself Live More Authentically?

May 11, 2014Leave a comment

Timeless Advice About Authenticity

How is 2014 shaping up for you? Are you conscious of working against the easy flow some people seem to enjoy, in which they embrace their values and their authentic sense of self? If you find yourself out of step with the life you should be living there is action you can take: action which can help restore your flow and develop greater authenticity in work and life.

How do you identify the type of authenticity Goal to focus on?

You might want to focus on several key areas at first, but need to do a little work to identify which ones are causing you to feel inauthentic. Why not test your levels of authentic happiness here courtesy of Dr Martin Seligman at the University of Pennsylvania (free registration necessary). This exercise will help you pin point which of the 24 key areas you can usefully focus on.

OK you’ve got your focus, now what do you do?

You could try Continuing Professional Development, which has the potential to start moving you in the right direction.

In the UK alone it is estimated, by the CPD Certification Service that more than 4 million professionals working in all sections of UK society are members of one of the numerous professional bodies, undertaking a minimum of 30 – 40 hours of CPD each year. How much could you gain in confidence and skills by pursuing a goal in your key area through some CPD?

What are your options if you are not a professional?

Perhaps you feel you don’t qualify as a professional and there are no formal CPD options you can pursue. How would you feel about exploring your lifelong learning options instead?

In 1997 the Canadian Commission on behalf of UNESCO created the Learning Together template of resources, still in use today, as it identifies learning under 4 pillars: To Know – To Do – To Be – To Live Together. The Pillars are a great place to start your exploration of what it means to be a more fulfilled version of yourself.

3 Questions To Consider

Whether you decide to grow by means of CPD or the 4 Pillars, which part of your life will you prioritise to improve your well-being?
When will you take action to start to change your situation and live more authentically?
How will you measure your success?

By all means take a look at the further ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here, on Facebook and Google+ too. Or if you are a Linkedin user you can View Roger Dennison’s profile and connect with me there.

Goals 2014: What is the 1 step you will take to be happier this Spring?

April 27, 2014April 26, 2014Leave a comment

Happiness Is Linked To Taking Action

How was your working week? Stressy? Unfulfilling? Seemingly Goaless? Don’t worry if any of those responses ring bells with you. According to Gallup’s 2012 State of the Global Workplace research only 13% of employees are engaged by their work. That suggests the bulk of workers around the world are unhappy with their employment, to some extent. There is action you can take to change your situation.

About a week ago I spent a day out with friends in the 30 and 40 something age range. This social time included setting the world to rights over a meal. Enjoying a relaxed, supportive afternoon with people who are socially engaged set me thinking. I reckon it doesn’t take very much action to become more connected to good people and therefore a little happier.

Research about actions you can take to become happier

It turns out that research conducted by Colby College Professor Christopher Soto, discussed in the Wall Street Journal by Elizabeth Bernstein shows that as we age we become more agreeable and better connected.

Apparently there are 5 psychological domains* which help shape about half of our personality (the other half comes from our biological make up, although Dr Dean Ornish suggests in a TED Talk that your genes are not your fate).

5 Personality Domains Discussed Professor Soto’s research

We can choose an area from the following domains and set an improvement goal for ourselves within that area (I’ve worked on goals in the final domain for instance, so I can confirm that spending time with your friends, works wonders).

Conscientiousness

Agreeableness

Openness

Extraversion

Neuroticism

Your 1 Question Leading To Happiness

Here’s your 1 question: which of these domains will you dip into during the next few days to identify your spring happiness goal? That is your first step toward selecting the most obvious action to take, to move you toward the life you deserve at work and beyond the 9 to 5.

More About A Happy State

If you want a quick pick-me-up before diving deep into goal setting you can always clap along with Pharrell Williams whose song ‘Happy’ puts a smile on my face. To learn more about the connection that song has made with people across the United States and around the globe try this short excerpt from an interview Oprah conducted with Mr Williams recently.

There are further ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here, on Facebook and Google+ too. Or you can View Roger Dennison’s profile

Goals 2014: 3 Questions To Help You Get The Leadership And Management You Deserve

April 20, 2014April 20, 2014Leave a comment

What Connections Do Leaders And Managers Inspire?

How confident are you about the effectiveness of your organisation’s senior leadership? What rating would you attach to your manager’s skills?

I ask as an article by Liz Ryan for Forbes online concerning Bad Managers has triggered my post (there are other Liz Ryan articles on LinkedIn ).

I had the privilege last week of sitting in on an Enterprise Nation Webinar, at which serial entrepreneur Doug Richard talked about the goal of Improving Leadership and Management. My favourite quote from that conversation is shown above. The post Liz wrote reminds me that Bad Managers leave a trail of angry and demotivated employees in their wake. The Bad Manager helps create disengagement and they are a liability to their team and their employer.

One of the least inspiring managers I ever worked for had two operating modes. One with senior colleagues, involved smiling and kissing up. Mode Two, with team members, involved micro managing and being divisive. I remember once mentioning some of the valuable lessons I’d learned from my degree course and the Manager’s response was a classic: “Oh, you have a degree. That does surprise me!”

Needless to say I was never happier than when I left that part of the organisation. I wasn’t the only one. Effective management binds teams together and adds value to the connections between team members. Bad management sows the seeds of disruption. The manager I encountered clearly needed support to improve their practice. I only hope that they received it, before their behaviour triggered a complaint.

Here are 3 questions for your consideration this week:

How content are you that your job goals are being supported by your current management?
How congruent are your values with those of the organisational leaders who have the most influence on your work?
What actions will you to take this week because of your answers to the 2 preceding questions?

Feel free to look at the further ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here, on Facebook and Google+ too. Or you can always View Roger Dennison’s profile

Goals 2014: Want To Know How Volunteering Helps You Improve Your Morale?

April 8, 2014Leave a comment

Would you say your communication skills were above average? Do your emails have clarity and purpose? How about your clients, do they always engage with your messages, taking the necessary action as a result?

If you answered ‘Yes’ research suggests you probably accomplish a lot in your work, by getting your message across effectively. I believe you will also gain if you spend some time as a volunteer, using those skills to benefit your community.

By offering your existing skills to a project you inevitably highlight your learning needs; this can lead you to acquire new abilities, gain confidence and benefit others in the process. Your morale increases when your skills are being put to good use (OECD data suggests in the UK people spend 2 minutes daily in volunteer activity, compared to 6 minutes in Australia and 8 minutes in the US. That’s just a snapshot of the positive energy being generated globally through volunteer effort).

Using Skills Well Benefits You & Your Community

In the short term by volunteering you will be affecting and improving the lives of a range of clients, prompting them to take action and make a difference in their own, plus others’ lives. From my experience in England Community First (#commfirst on Twitter) projects and panels benefit from volunteers, like you, who can communicate effectively.

There are plenty of other voluntary projects you could offer your communication (or other) skills to, depending on your location. Your local voluntary action co-ordinating organisation should be able to signpost you to a list of outfits in need.

So, when will you take the first step to put your skills to use for others’ benefit? Doing this helps you find renewed purpose and confidence, which can feed back into your work and make you a more valuable member of staff.

Want to find out more about goals you can explore, relating to your work and life? Then visit the Archive section here, or take a look on Facebook and Google+ too.

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Tag: confidence