Don’t Fix People; Fit People

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Recently my administrative assistant (also my wife) was on a holiday in Europe with our daughter. In her absence, I’ve been attempting to keep up with all of the administrative demands in the business and at the same time run the business. Big mistake – to not get administrative support during this time.

I learned years ago that if you don’t have an administrative assistant, you are one. I’ve been an administrative assistant for the past two weeks, and I’ve been a lousy one. And I’m exhausted. But I’m not exhausted from the hard work. In fact, it has been extremely good for me to appreciate the load that Val carries. And I’m not afraid of hard work. But I’m exhausted because I was attempting to take on work that is not within my sphere of unique capabilities. Some people are actually meant to be in the role of administrative assistant. But, not me.

Now that Val is back home, I’ve taken some time to reflect on the experience. With so many people exhausted these days in their work, it makes me think. Why? Because we don’t have balance in our lives? Because we are working too hard? Because we need to work less? If you are exhausted, my hunch is that it’s because there is some misalignment going on. You are doing too much work that is energy-consuming for you, rather than energy-giving. It’s not about hard work, it’s about not being aligned.

Take an inventory of where you are spending your time and it’s effect on your energy level. Be honest with yourself. If I had a performance review by a boss during the past two weeks, I would have failed miserably. I would have been marked as incompetent, in need of some “motivation” and “fixing.” I know that I didn’t need to be “fixed” during the past two weeks. What I needed to do instead was delegate the administrative work and to stick with what I do best.

Don’t fix people; fit people.

Constancy: Success Lies In Your Habits

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Walt Disney had four keys to success. One of them was constancy. I interpret constancy as “staying on the path whether or not you are in the mood.” However, first you have to have a path, a direction a vision. And then you have to stay with it even when you are bored, fearful, or inconvenienced. That is what will give you success and self-respect in your life. I first learned this as a nationally ranked distance runner. I had to get out and train, day after day after day, whether I felt like it or not. Of course, some days I was tired and ran more slowly or shut it down early. But developed the habit early in my life to show up and put the running shoes on.

Since my early days of running, I’ve learned to apply this principle of constancy to every aspect of my life. Whether it’s the day-to-day grind of parenting, business development, serving the customer, or staying with a spiritual practice, constancy is what brings success – and self-worth. If you can’t rely on yourself, how can you be a reliable person? And if you aren’t reliable, how can you achieve anything?

It’s good to get inspired every so often, but it’s the day-to-day work you do when you aren’t inspired that produces the results. Sometimes your heart isn’t in it. Sometimes you’re tired. Sometimes you’re afraid. Sometimes it’s just plain hard work. But you put the running shoes on and show up, not because it’s the easy thing to do, but because it the right thing to do. That’s the Law of Constancy.

Inspire, Illuminate and Encourage Authenticity in Leaders

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If anyone out there is attempting to grow thier business to a new level (and who among us is not), It can often be helpful to revisit your mission statement. The passion and promise of our business is to build cultures of trust that attract, retain, inspire, and unleash greatness. Its about making this world a better place to work. Through the strength of  authentic presence, leaders can learn to connect with their authentic selves, thus amplifying their impact on the world. The path to transform cultures is ultimately to inspire, illuminate, and encourage authenticity in leaders.

Inspire is about nourishing and creating learning environments and conversations that awaken the human spirit, connect with and tap into the power of the universal life force, touch the soul, open the heart, and move people to action through significant emotional experiences. This can be achieved through the expression of our own unique gifts – the strength of identity and integrity as human beings.

Illuminate is about shining a light on the gifts and the voices – those seeds of possibility – that lie deeply hidden within every one of us as we are besieged by a world that tells us how we “should” be. Illuminating is also about making a conscious contact with a deeper life force that carries, guides, and supports us to live authentically.

Encourage – Has its root in the Latin word cor, which means “heart.” So does the word courage. To have courage means to have heart. To encourage means to give courage, to give others heart, to give of my heart so that others may more fully develop and experience their own courage and heart.

Authenticity is the dedication to living congruently between our inner and outer lives. This ongoing inquiry and commitment leads to amplifying the impact we have on the world through deeper presence.

Leaders are culture makers at all levels of organizations and in all walks of life: people who are committed to find and express their voice in the service of others.

Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves. Leaders see the oak tree in the acorn, and create the environment that brings the oak to fruition. Leadership is about presence, not position. Leadership is like the sounding cavity of a violin: It takes in the sound, resonates with it, and gives back depth and fullness to another  voice. My work is built on a simple premise: great leadership cannot be reduced to technique.

Great leadership comes from the identity and the integrity of the leader. This involves making deep changes within so as to be capable of transforming others from the depth of our own experience. We lead from the inner strength of who we are. Greatness is the commitment and capacity to fulfill your natural, authentic potential. For further reading, please check out our “Authenticity and Art” blog.

Smart Vs. Healthy: Unlocking Your Organization’s Potential

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What would you rather be: smart or healthy? Do you know a smart person who is not reaching their potential because of poor health? You can be brilliant, but if you are depressed, sick, or suffering from low energy, chronic pain, or inflexibility, your capacity will be diminished. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, health is one of the true sources of wealth. Without it, fulfillment is not impossible, but extremely difficult.

In his superb book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business, Patrick Lencioni makes an intriguing distinction between a smart organization and a healthy organization. Like people, organizations can be smart, but if they aren’t healthy, their capability will be weakened.

Smart organizations focus on:

  • Strategy
  • Expediency
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Technology,

Healthy organizations are about:

  • Minimizing Politics
  • Trust
  • Creating clarity
  • Morale
  • Employee Engagement
  • Energy
  • Holding people accountable to high standards.

“Smart” and “healthy” are equally vital to success, both personally and organizationally. It’s just that many organizations I work with are over-focused on “smart” at the expense of health.

Personal health is primarily about discipline and habits. And just as we have to take care of our personal health, we have to take care of the health of our culture, regardless of our position within the culture. Here is a list of disciplines that you can take accountability for in order to foster organizational health:

  1. Build a cohesive leadership team. Whether it’s executive leaders, a board of directors, or parents, the relationships at the senior level set the tone for a healthy culture. Like a marriage, a leadership team needs concerted effort and time – away from the operations – to get to know each other, to learn about what matters most to each person, and to foster connection.
  2. Create clarity. Have an inspiring mission for why you exist and an uplifting vision for where you are taking people. Get clear about your values, how you expect people to behave. Get clear about what you expect from people and take the time to communicate these expectations. Clarify your most important priorities – your vital few – rather than your demanding many. Clarity breeds health.
  3. Make building trust your number one leadership priority. Identify your “significant seven” stakeholders – the people who you depend on and the people who depend on you. Spend at least half your time investing in these relationships. Listen for and clarify concerns. Connect to reality. Pay attention. Be in touch. Get to know people. Make contact. Listen for concerns. Remove barriers. Spend time coaching and mentoring. Bring a “servant mindset” to your work.
  4. Hold people accountable. “Everyone on a team knows who is and who is not performing and they are looking to you as the leader to see what you are going to do about it,” said Collin Powell, former US Secretary of State. Letting bacteria grow in a culture eventually turns to poison. A healthy organization is one with high standards, the courage to have the difficult conversations, and the nerve to make the tough decisions. There are many reasons why managers don’t hold people accountable, and I’ll address these, along with strategies to overcome these reasons, in future articles.
  5. Time for reflection. Healthy people consistently make room for reflection: on their lives, their work, and their priorities. Take a moment and reflect on the current level of health in your organization. Ask yourself what disciplines you need to start incorporating into your work and your life. If you reach inside, chances are you will find your own answers as to what it takes for you to have a healthy workplace and life.
  6. Come to work healthy. A healthy organization starts with healthy people. We don’t experience the world as it is. We experience the world as we are. An organizational mission statement will have much more meaning for you when you have a sense of your own mission. Organizational values will mean much more to you when you are committed to live by your own code of conduct. When you are healthy, you naturally foster health around you. “Be the change you wish for in the world.”

Nurturing The Artist Within

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Picasso said that we are all artists when we are 8 years old; we have to be taught not to be artists.  Just as we suppress the artist within us, we are indoctrinated to not trust the authentic self within us – the essence of who we are. By trying to meet the expectations of a world that tells us how we “should” be, we lose touch with the authentic desires that live within us. Where can we start to claim back this lost inheritance?

My friend and renowned artist, Murray Phillips, thinks that we start with an understanding of the concept of spirituality.  The term “spirituality” is bandied about today and is one of the catch-words of the 21st century.  “Spirituality,” writes Murray, “is part of our nature – part of the essence of being human.  Spirituality is not an optional add-on.  It is not that some people are spiritual and others aren’t; anymore than some people are physical and others aren’t.  Some people may be in better physical health than others but they are not more physical.  Some people are aware of their spirituality and others may be less aware, but they are no less spiritual.  This is an important place to begin.  If we are spiritual beings we function best when we are cognizant of that.  One of the ways of increasing that awareness is to nurture the artist in you. Make time to deliberately and consistently feed the creative aspects of your being.”

While meditation, prayer, and quietness can foster authentic connection, so too can creativity. Create a sanctuary where you can get away from the expectations of the world to create and reflect.  Creativity is the language of our spiritual nature. Find an area of interest (painting, writing, poetry, woodworking, dancing, music) and become involved.  Make it a priority, remembering that urgent things always will crowd out important things.  Use it as an opportunity to feed your soul.

“If of thy earthly goods thou art bereft
And to thy meager store two loaves alone to thee are left
Sell one and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.”

THE PERFORMANCE CRITICAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM™ A Hammer Won’t Build You A House

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Take a moment to think of the last time you heard a good motivational speaker. We love to get away from work and life, step back and be entertained, educated, inspired, and even provoked. But now ask honestly: “Did you implement the ideas and strategies the speaker addressed in their speech?” You may take away a nugget or two from every good presentation. Maybe you’ll remember a good story or an inspiring thought. But there’s a world of difference between remembering something different and actually doing something differently.

For the past twenty years, I’ve made a living at being one of those inspirational speakers. Like a good carpenter, I have a good hammer. I’ve hit people over the head (albeit kindly) with a good message and pretty good delivery. I’ve made a lot of good connections, and undoubtedly made an impact on people’s lives. But in the past two years, I’ve thought carefully about taking the impact I make to a new level – both personally and organizationally. I have taken time to reflect deeply on some important questions:

  • What difference do I really make as a speaker?
  • What’s the actual ROI for organizations when I am a “sage on the stage” for an hour or three?
  • What lasting value do I bring and how do I know that the seeds I sow actually take root somewhere out there in the soil of the audience?
  • After I get buy-in, how do I ensure that vital organizational and leadership principles are implemented through the performance cycle of Action – Contribution – Inspiration – and back to another performance enhanced action?
  • How can I structure my business to ensure long-term success for the organizations that hire me?

action_inspiration_contribution

Reflection on these questions led to a careful search for partners to help expand my speaking business to include a consulting firm that would ensure implementation of the principles and ideas that I teach.

What I came to realize is that just because I’d designed a hammer, that doesn’t mean I can hit the nail on the head. Building a house, like building a great life or a great organization, requires more than an inspired idea. It requires a clear vision that inspires you. It requires a blueprint. It requires leadership. And it necessitates a team that is held accountable to execute the plan. And it requires disciplined, focused work. A speech, no matter how powerful, in itself does not provide a solid process, structure, and accountability system to ensure consistent results across an organization. The start may be inspiration, but it’s implementation that is the greatest challenge – and the greatest opportunity. If you don’t get results you want from a great speech, it is critical to follow-up on the nuggets of inspiration with a plan of action. Developing that plan of action often needs the considered and objective support of experts.

Irvine & Associates Inc. has now partnered with Vantage Path to create a boutique leadership consulting firm dedicated to help transform the culture of organizations. Our performance-based training and development programs achieve measurable improvements in the bottom line. In partnership with Vantage Path, we have carefully collaborated to create a thorough organizational change process that we call the Performance Critical Management System™ – a complete method for ensuring consistent leadership and operational behaviour at every level of an organization. Our approach is built on a proven framework that drives organizational success. We customize each of our programs to align with your organization’s competencies, performance needs, and desired culture. We have built an entire system that ensures clarity, engagement, proficiency, and results at every level – through the power of authentic leadership.

Action and inspiration alone won’t sustain you. Integrating both is what galvanizes people and ensures that actions move the organization in the right direction.  Everyone feels better when you know that your action makes a difference. When what you do serves both yourself and others and is connected to an organizational mission and purpose, you feel your job is important. The inspiration from a speech might get you started, but only having a clear process, structure, and accountability will you ensure that the speech has long-term, sustainable impact.

This tool for sustainability is called the Performance Critical Management System™. This system extends a choice of flexible delivery that incorporates a learning management system (LMS) and can be delivered online, classroom or a blend of both.