How Leaders Stay Positive – Part III

Leaders who execute with passion understand that while managing time is important, managing energy is mandatory. Listed below are 12 additional tips I gleaned from interviewing dozens of leaders who maintain their vitality and positive attitude when they encounter obstacles.

· Eat well. Forget all the fad diets. If you go on a diet, you’ll go off it. The first three letters of the word “diet” tell you all you need to know. My favorite scientific, yet very practical, resource for health advice is The UC Berkeley Wellness Newsletter. (www.WellnessLetter.com) They offer these general guidelines:

• Eat high-fiber foods, such as fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains
• Consume more fish and nuts
• Decrease your intake of sugary foods, like white bread and junk food
• Cut back on animal fats, meats and fast food

· Exercise regularly. A little daily exercise will do wonders for your attitude and weight. You don’t have to become an Olympian. Top performers stay fit by exercising aerobically every day, even if it’s a quick power walk. One mile burns about 100 - 125 calories, whether you walk it in 20 minutes or run it in ten. There are 3,500 calories in one pound. You do the math. A mile a day melts the pounds away.

· Keep Good Company. Limit the time you spend with those who are “optimistically challenged” or “Negaholics.” Spend more time with people who make you feel good about who you are.

· Be a Life-long Learner. The best leaders are lifelong learners. Zig Ziglar told me that he was not a good student in school, but that he became a great one after he graduated. Take courses, read books, go to association meetings, and so forth. Your customers, products, and environment are constantly changing. Spend at least one half-hour per day soaking up new information to stay current and positive. One leader told me that she and her team have a book of the month club. They spend 10 minutes at their meetings discussing how to apply what they are learning. She says that they don’t have time to moan about what they cannot influence because they’re always working on issues they can influence.

· Enjoy Hobbies. Get away from work on a regular basis. When you’re at home, be at home. The word recreation comes from re-create. You’ll be more motivated and creative if you engage in active leisure during your down time.

· Get Rest. Make sure you get the rest you need. Experts tell us we need 7 – 8 hours of sleep per night. Few of us get it. Take a 20-minute power nap or meditation mid-day. The late, great Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi was right when he said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”

· Turn off the TV. Go for a 20-minute pep walk and talk with a loved one, instead of watching television the entire evening. Focus on positive events of the day during your walk.

· Tell Stories. Start meetings or dinner at home by reading a humorous and uplifting story.

· Express appreciation. Make a list of things you are thankful. When things are not going well, focus on what you do have. Let others know how much you appreciate who they are and what they do.

· Review goals daily. We move in the direction of the dominant images we place, or let others place, in our minds. A goal is our North Star. Focusing on a goal also decreases the sting of those little pinpricks we all experience every day.

· Write positive affirmations. Write a few of your favorite, positive affirmations or quotations on 3x5 index cards. Keep them with you and repeat them aloud to yourself throughout the day.

· Listen to uplifting audio-programs in the car. Do you spend or invest time in your car? Top-performing leaders invest the time and money to turn their car into a “Rolling University.”

How surprised will you be when you and your team strengthen your belief in achieving your goal because maintained your energy and positive mood using these tools? What's working for you?

Keep eXpanding,

Dave

How Leaders Stay Positive When Things Seem Negative

I shadowed Madeleine for two days as part of my coaching process last year. She had invited me to help her discover why there was a fog of negativity enveloping her department and hindering their goal achievement. I watched her conduct meetings, interact with her staff, and collaborate with colleagues. At the end of the second day, I explained that she needed to establish and maintain a more positive mood if she wanted to reach her goals. The same is true for most leaders.

Mood is the final “M” (after Modeling and Mastery) to building the strong belief that a team can reach their goal. Many leaders don’t reach their goals because they let obstacles or negativity bring the team down. The top leaders I have studied choose to stay positive when things seem negative. Here is one of several techniques I shared with Madeleine to help her establish a positive mood at work.

Place your attention on your intention

Our thoughts are previews of coming attractions. How we think about what is about to happen influences what actually happens. One of the reasons there was so much negativity in Madeleine’s department was that her interactions with her staff were often preceded by a cascade of negative thoughts. I heard her grumbling about one direct report who “never follows through” before talking to this person about a project. Another interaction was preceded by grumbling about “hoping she gets it right this time.” Madeleine was broadcasting negativity prior to and during interactions with her direct reports... without even knowing it.

The good news was that her negativity was not present when dealing with her colleagues. So, when we discussed the difference between the interactions (direct reports versus colleagues), it became clear to her that she needed to set a more positive intention/expectation prior to interacting with her direct reports.

She decided to write and review a few positive affirmations prior to conversations with her direct reports. These included:

• I am helping this person...
• We will both benefit from our conversation because...
• I see an open exchange of ideas and opinions…
• I hear this person fully engaged in a positive conversation…

If you want to establish or maintain a positive mood, I urge you to place your attention on your intention. It worked for Madeleine. It should work for you... because as our minister says, “Your description is your prescription.”

Keep eXpanding,

Dave

Leading by Executing 2: From Goal Setting to Goal ACHIEVING

Leaders are paid to produce results -- to execute when given a goal. Yet while most leaders know all about goal setting, few know what science says about goal achieving. The Figure below employs the eXpansive Leadership Model (XLM) to illustrate a simple synthesis of several hundred research-studies on how to achieve difficult goals. There is a very high probability that you and your team will achieve any difficult goal if you follow the four powerful steps outlined in this figure and described in this, and subsequent, blogs.

The Four Steps of Goal ACHIEVING

1. Set a long-term goal. In their extraordinary book Goal Setting and Task Performance, Professors Locke and Latham summarize 393 separate research studies on goal setting, involving 40,000 subjects performing 88 different tasks, in eight different countries, over time spans ranging from minutes to years. (1) According to their research, the probability of reaching your goals increases when you:

- Set specific and difficult goals

- Limit the number of goals

- Create short-term and long-term goals

Thus, a large body of evidence advises leaders to access their visionary style by setting and communicating a compelling vision with long-term goals. Goal achieving does indeed begin with smart goal setting.

With all the research on goal setting, you might think writing an excellent long-term goal would guarantee success. But it doesn’t. As you strive to execute, the predictive power of just knowing where you’re going diminishes. In other words, as goals get harder, writing them down doesn’t predict achievement. The science of goal achieving tells us that when goals become more difficult you need a plan. Setting long-term goals without a plan is like setting sail for a treasure without a map.

Setting a long-term goal is the first step in goal ACHIEVING. The next three steps consist of the three keys to an effective plan, illustrated in the previous figure. The are:

2. Gain commitment to the goal

3. Build belief that you can reach the goal with a plan

4. Use feedback to stay on track as you pursue the goal

We’ll describe each of these three in detail in subsequent blogs. Which of these keys to goal ACHIEVING do feel is your weakest? What could you do about it?

Keep eXpanding,

Dave

1. Locke E and Latham G: A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, 1990.

Execution: From Goal Setting to Goal GETTING

Knowing Where You Are Going

I have been an avid goal setter for more than two decades. Over the years, I hit many of my targets, but became frustrated whenever I missed the mark. I blamed myself, and sometimes others, when I fell short. I thought missing personal or business goals meant I was doing something wrong in the goal-setting process. It took me years to uncover that goal setting was only the first step of goal achieving.

In the extraordinary book Goal Setting and Task Performance, Professors Locke and Latham summarize 393 separate research studies on goal setting, involving 40,000 subjects performing 88 different tasks, in eight different countries, over time spans ranging from minutes to years. (1) Leaders must set and communicate a compelling vision that includes long-term goals. Goal achieving does indeed begin with smart goal setting.

How to Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals

The science setting a goal requires that you get S.M.A.R.T., an acronym for:

Specific –where are you going?

Measurable – how will you keep track of your progress?

Attainable – does the goal inspire you to stretch?

Responsible – who are your stakeholders?

Timed – when will you reach your destination?

S – Specific. Do you know where you are going? It's a simple question and yet leaders often confuse their followers with lack of clarity when setting a long-term goal. Confidence fades when the horizon is foggy. I was recently working with a financial institution and asked a human resource executive what their long-term goal was. She pointed to a poster in the training room that described the vision of being the world leader. I pointed to their annual report that described their long-term goal of being a leader in a specific segment of banking in a specific region of the United States. This HR executive didn’t understand that inspiring a team to achieve difficult goals begins by painting a clear picture of the destination.

M – Measurable. How will you keep track your progress? If you can't measure it, how can you manage it? When you set a long-term goal, you must have metrics in place to make sure everyone knows that progress is being made. One organization I work with publishes industry benchmarks every quarter so that their leaders have a valid and useful yardstick to track progress. Jeff Immelt, the CEO of GE, says “Every needs a metric.” (2)

A – Attainable. I received a greeting card that read, “Shoot for the moon -- if you miss you’ll be among the stars!” Sounds nice. But then I thought, shooting for the moon could also get you lost in space! In his best-selling book, The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge at MIT compares the stretch between where you are and where you want to go to a rubber band. (3) He points out that there is a recurring tension between vision thinking (where you want to go) and rational thinking (the demands of your everyday surroundings). You might want to consider how you will manage this “creative tension” as you set your attainable goal. Goals should stretch your team, but not so far that they roll their eyes in disbelief or feel like they are going to snap.

R – Responsible. The sun is setting on the lone-star leader. Leaders may be responsible for achieving their goals, but these days they need help from others inside and outside their organization to reach their destination. Today’s complex market and demanding customers often require leaders who are independent and interdependent. Expansive leaders know how to work on their own and with others to meet their goals. Thus, the R in S.M.A.R.T. refers to stakeholders, who are also “responsible” for your success. A stakeholder is someone who has a vested interest in, or is affected by, your goal.

Stakeholders may include those in other divisions or departments, vendors, industry experts, association executives, outside consultants and so forth. I recommend that you create a top 10-stakeholder list. These are individuals to stay in touch with as you pursue your challenging goal.

T - Time. When will you reach your destination? Write the date you will reach your goal. It is not good enough to write that you will accomplish your goal in six months. You must put a specific date.

Knowing Where You Are Going… Doesn't Get You There

With all the research on goal setting, you might think writing an excellent long-term goal would guarantee success. But it doesn’t, of course. As you strive to execute a long-term goal, the predictive power of just knowing where you’re going diminishes. That’s because the science of goal achieving teaches that as goals become increasingly difficult, the impact of having written goals on achievement decreases. In other words, as goals get harder, just because you wrote them down doesn’t mean you’ll reach them. The science of goal achieving tells us that when goals become more difficult you need a plan. Setting long-term goals without a plan is like setting sail for a treasure without a map. To execute, you need both a well-defined destination and a plan to reach it.

The need for a S.M.A.R.T. goal and plan is also supported by research Zig Ziglar and I conducted on 104 people attending one of Zig’s seminars. Individuals that had written goals and written plans to achieve their goals far outperformed those who “only” had goals. (4) So, make sure you have a goal and a plan when you embark on your next journey... and you'll graduate from being a a goal setter to a goal GETTER!

Keep eXpanding,

Dave

1. Locke E and Latham G: A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, 1990.

2. Thomas A. Stewart; Growth as a Process: The HBR Interview with Jeffrey R. Immelt, Harvard Business Review, June 2006.

3. Senge P: The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Doubleday: New York, 1990.

4. Goldman BM, Masterson SS, Locke EA, Groth, M, Jensen DG: Goal-directedness and Personal Identity as Correlates of Life Outcomes. Psychological Reports, 91:153-166, 2002.

Leading Research on Goal ACHIEVING

In the extraordinary book Goal Setting and Task Performance, Professors Locke and Latham summarize 393 separate research studies on goal setting, involving 40,000 subjects engaged in 88 different tasks, over time spans ranging from minutes to years. (1) According to their exhaustive research, the probability of reaching a goal increases when leaders:

- Set specific and difficult goals

- Limit the number of goals

- Create short-term and long-term goals

Many of us have dreams and desires, few of us write them as goals. We start out all fired up, then something happens; we slip, we fall, we get caught up in the same old routine... In no time, the fire that fueled our goal is a tumbleweed in the desert wind. Have you ever wondered why that is?

People often confuse foggy dreams with clear goals. Having a foggy goal is like setting sail for an uncharted island that you hope is out there... somewhere! In reviewing hundreds of research studies on how people achieve their goals, I discovered it is best to just say KNOW to foggy dreams, and yes to S.M.A.R.T. goals:

Soul – Are you in your goal?

Measurable – How will you measure what matters?

Attainable – Is your target out of sight?

Responsible – Who is on your team?

Timed – Do you have a date?

S – Soul. An acorn becomes an oak because that is its nature. Grass pushes through the sidewalk cracks because it’s expressing its true nature. You are here to nurture your nature. This means your goal should connect with who you are and encourage your 'YOUnique' talents to shine. We often fail to reach our goals because we don't hear what our soul whispers. Instead, we listen to well-meaning friends, coworkers, or the media advising us to set sail for destinations that do not truly capture our imagination. There is little soul in a goal when someone decides it for us. As you set sail on your journey, how will you (and members of your team) put soul in your goal?

M – Measurable. People often become sidetracked from their goal because they don't have a method of keeping track of their progress. A physician has her patient charts, a salesperson has his quotas, and sports have the scoreboard. How might you and your team monitor your success throughout the year.

A – Attainable. There is a greeting card that reads, 'Shoot for the moon - if you miss you’ll be among the stars.' The problem is, if you miss the moon, you could also end up lost in space! After analyzing 175 scientific studies on goal difficulty, Professor Locke from the University of Maryland concluded that hard goals lead to greater effort than easy goals, assuming the goals are accepted. Some leaders set their goals so far out there that the team never fully accepts them. How will you ensure that the team can see and believe that your destination is attainable?

R – Responsible. The sun is setting on the individual goal achiever. We all need a little help to reach our destination. There's just too much to know, too many obstacles to overcome, and it's too easy to let ourselves stay down when we slip. The Lone Ranger had Tonto, and Frodo had Sam in 'The Lord of Rings.' Whom do you have? The R in S.M.A.R.T. refers to your supporting cast, people who are 'Responsible' for encouraging you and holding you accountable to reach your destination. These few allies are usually friends, coworkers, or family members who believe in you and your goals.

T - Time. There is a reason the word, 'deadline' begins with dead. This last simple step announces to your subconscious that you're dead serious about reaching your destination. It is not good enough to say you will accomplish your goal in six months; you must write a specific date and then review your S.M.A.R.T. goal every day.

Now you know why you shouldn't be a tumbleweed in the desert. Just say 'KNOW' to foggy dreams by saying yes to S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Keep eXpanding,

Dave

1. Locke E and Latham G: A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, 1990.