Do you find yourself always advocating for your staff, customers, even your kids? But, when it comes to getting the recognition you deserve and negotiating for yourself tangible outcomes such as compensation, that overdue promotion, or relief from an untenable situation, you somehow feel uneasy, unworthy, or unprepared.
You’re not alone. Many successful leaders find it hard to advocate and negotiate for the enterprise known as “me.” They wonder if it will be held against them, they’re fearful they might fail, or they will be labeled as “not a team player.” [Read more…]
I am fortunate to coach some very smart, successful people. They have high native intelligence and excellent educations, and they have trained themselves to work effectively and efficiently in everything they do.
How do successful leaders get more done and manage to complete important work? How do they keep their priorities straight, vision clear, as well as have a personal life?
For most of us the “To Do” list is long and seemingly endless. It also is undisciplined and unorganized. Whether you rank your task by importance, due date, or by whom, there is a next step many people fail to take. That is asking the questions, “Should anyone do this job?”, “Who else could do the work?” and finally, “If I do it, how and why?” This in simple terms is the delete, delegate, or do criteria. 
Too many emails, no face-to-face, limited phone, words for the sake of words rather than content, no feedback, too much feedback. These are but a few of the communication problems hindering our ability to interact with one another and share and disseminate information effectively. 
Whether you work for a large company, firm, not for profit, or yourself, you probably have to make presentations now and then. It can be to a room of a thousand, a small group of colleagues, or one on one with a potential customer. In any case, your goals are often the same — disseminate information and get buy-in. 
LinkedIn profiles, resumes, bios, networking plans, these, and many more items should be a living part of every manager, executive, and leader’s career action strategy. While most of my executive coaching clients would agree, you’d be surprised (maybe you wouldn’t) how few of them have any, no less a current assortment of career tools. 
Speaking of time, my assistant, Lisa, gave me a wonderful gift, a beautiful hour glass, actually, a half hour glass. She has been using this tool successfully to assist her clients with some difficult tasks. What a great present. I have a tendency to become engrossed in projects that are interesting, but not essential or immediate. 
I was in the Container Store watching what seemed like hundreds of people buying all sorts of plastic containers to put their “stuff” in. It got me thinking about the types of clutter we have, particularly in the workplace. While I don’t, nor do my executive coaching clients, partake in the pathological amassing of trash you see on reality shows, we all have “stuff” and excuses for holding on to our office clutter. “My office is not immune.”