Minute Mindset

Do you have any idea how many businesses I go into where the environment is out of control? I mean you walk in and you can feel the confusion. You stand and watch and see the emotional interchanges that are going on.

Most don’t seem to understand the need to create an environment that is calm. I know, I know — you are thinking this guy doesn’t live in the real world. There is no such thing as calmness around here. All I do is move from one crisis to another.

That is not how things have to be! That is how leadership has designed the environment. You see, any business is simply an environment that is decision driven or crisis driven. The difference is the style of leadership.

Show me an environment that is crisis driven and I will show you a place where people are constantly involved in emotional collisions. Someone is blaming someone else for what is happening. No one is really looking for resolution; their only concern is protecting their territory.

Someday...

How important is the customer’s experience with your company? How important is it that the customer feels good about their experience? This is one of the most critical issues in business and at the same time one of the most mismanaged moments of business.

Too many treat the customer like a moment, rather than one of the most important experiences. With all that has and is being taught about customer care, why does this happen?

For some it is the result of being overwhelmed. Their day starts with good intentions, but ends up out of control. They start their day thinking about all they want to get done, BUT the minute they enter the business environment they are greeted with “We have a problem.”  From that moment their day is out of control. They emotionally speed up and any event they come face-to-face with is filtered through their emotions.

As the customers arrive, they get filtered through all the emotional garbage that has already happened. The result is...

One of the most valuable lessons I learned while I was working as a counselor was most people want honesty as long as it is not honest. As much as people say they want you to be truthful with them, most cannot handle the truth.

This is even true in the business environment. When I go inside a company to work, I search for three things:

• Is there clear communication among all the people?
• Are people honest about what is happening?
• Is there trust among all levels of people?

If you look at these, they go together — don’t they? You will never have clear communication without people trusting each other. If there is no trust, there sure won’t be honesty. Without the honesty, things can’t improve. When you can’t honestly deal with issues, they don’t go away. They just hang around and fester until they become an emotional issue so large they explode as a wild fire.

So, here is a question for you: Do you want your people to always be honest with you?...

Do you ever have days when you feel you just don’t get anything done? Oh, you start the day with good intentions; you have an agenda of things you want to achieve, BUT the minute you walk through the company the day you planned turns upside down.

Some have a problem and they feel compelled to share it with you. It sounds like:

              Hey, boss I need to talk to you…

              I got to tell you what happened…

              Hey, I got this problem…

The interruptions start and your agenda is out the window. Does it ever frustrate you that you don’t get to do the things you feel you should be doing? Is it ever exhausting to end your day and still have a million things to get done?

So what do many people do? They get up and go in early so they can get...

Mindset! It is the strength to all that you are. Your mind is more than a glob of grey matter that sits atop your head!! It is the control center to everything your life is.

The challenge is what are you doing to strengthen your mind? I watch so many get to a place in their life’s journey, and then, drop out of the school of learning. For many they get trapped in the routine they establish for their life and ”settle into” a life of repetitive behavior. That is good for a while, but at some point, a few, are willing to challenge the trap and find a way to break out. That is not easy!

That trap of routine will:

Trample on your creative spirit

When you aren’t challenging your mind on a consistent basis, it tends to hamper your mind’s desire for adventure.

Resist changes that upset your routine

Trapped in routine makes you fight the changes that will take you out of your routine, even though you talk about wanting more for your life.

Allow you to live in a...

I was reading an article from the Society For Human Resource Management and came across this statement. With a daily diet of news about layoffs, foreclosures, bankruptcies, bailouts, and cutbacks large and small – from no raises to no bonuses to fewer flavored coffees in the break room – it is no wonder morale is in a free fall with the economy.

I thought to myself, “This is what I have been talking about!” One of the top issues, if not THE top issue, within the workplace, the home and inside people’s lives is the weakening of morale. The inner spirit is so important, and at the same time, so fragile. We hear about the resilience of the human spirit, and yes, the human spirit is resilient, BUT under enough stress it will be depleted.  When that happens, the desire to fight on, the belief things will get better, the joy of going to work, the desire to move forward, are all under attack. If you listen to people talk, it seems many feel their life...

Never has Leadership been as important as it is today. This new environment is forcing companies to reexamine who they are, what they are about, how they must adapt, adjust and realign their business to this new business landscape they are facing.

For many their business terrain is not stable. What “was” is now having to be looked at with a different set of filters. How things were done are now having to be viewed through the eyes of yesterday. What is “now” is not what was; what worked yesterday must now be reexamined as to whether this new business landscape will support the pathway of yesterday.

This is creating a big challenge for many who have the responsibility of leadership. This new abnormal has turned their comfortable routine upside down. The economy was moving, business was happening, and it didn’t take a lot of energy to be successful. THEN, out of nowhere came a little micro-organism, and its appearance turned the world of business on its...