confidence

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Creating Culture Confidence by Jim Johnson

In this final post on Culture Confidence, I want to share some practical things you can do to help build your company’s culture and by merely doing these, you will gain more confidence in becoming a team member who PROMOTES, PRACTICES, and PROTECTS your culture.

Just do it.  Intentionally, sincerely PROMOTE, PRACTICE, and PROTECT your company’s culture.  I know this sounds obvious, but we are all prone to getting in and remaining in a rut at work (and in life).  Watch and listen to your work environment and find ways to positively impact others.  Such as…

spotlight

Spotlight coworkers.  If your company periodically recognizes outstanding work coming from the team, do you part by nominating someone for this recognition. Even if the other person never knows you nominated them, do it!

High 5.  At my former company, we developed a way to send digital “High 5’s” to coworkers when we “catch them” doing great things.  This High 5 – one of the company’s superstars created this process in Hyland’s OnBase – is a simple form filled out and then sent to the identified team member and sent to their supervisor.  The supervisor can then save this to our company’s performance software for review considerations.

thank you

Thank You Notes.  Yes, actually sit down and in your own hand writing jot down your appreciation of someone and send it to them.  Or walk it to their desk and give it to them.  People LOVE to receive these.  Be thoughtful and specific.

“I appreciate you.”  This one may be a little bit harder for some of us, but actually tell someone you appreciate them – out loud.  Or at least write it down and send your thoughts to them in a note, email, instant message (not my favorite because it typically cannot be saved).  These are powerful words that can turn someone’s day around, lift their spirits, and build better relationships.

Assume the Best.  Too often, culture suffers because we assume the worst.  Turn it around.  Assume in best in what you are hearing or seeing.  If an email comes off fuzzy in its meaning, get up and go talk with the sender to get the clear meaning.  Assume the best.  And expect the best – from yourself and your team members.

questionsAsk Questions.  Asking great questions will help you get to the heart of an issue.  Asking great questions helps you learn more about a person’s role in a project.  Asking great questions helps you understand the other person’s point of view.  Ask great questions and listen carefully.

coffeeLunch/Coffee.  Ask a colleague out to lunch/coffee with no agenda other than to get to know them better.  How do you do that?  Ask great questions about them.  It may shock your colleague, but this earns great relationship dividends.

Self-Talk.  Be careful of what you say when you talk to yourself.  We so easily talk ourselves out of becoming more confident.  We talk ourselves down when considering our performance.  Your company hired YOU.  Step up and shine!  Reprogramming your self-talk will surely help you to become more confident in your work, your behaviors, your thinking, and your significance.  You are worth it.

We spend so much of our lives at work.  Let’s make that work meaningful by creating great company cultures.

You will benefit from this.  Your team will benefit.  Your company will grow.  Your community will be positively impacted.  Your customers will notice.

Culture Confidence.  We can do this.

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The Podium is Yours…our Fear of Public Speaking by Jim Johnson

public speaking

When thinking about speaking in public (team meetings, presentations in front of customers/executives, a speech, etc.), what comes to mind?

What Americans fear

 

 

For many of us, public speaking is our #1 fear.  Why is that?  Is public speaking that much worse than snakes, drowning, or clowns?

 

 

 

 

I would love to read your comments on this topic.  Please share if you do have this fear (no matter which country you live in) and what you believe you need to work on to overcome it?

 

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When Your Inner Voice Grabs the Mic

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As leaders… self-talk is important. We must listen to our inner voice. But what if our inner voice gets scared…and wants to grab the mic?

What if our inner voice wants too much affirmation?

What if our inner voice needs excessive feedback?

Can an extraverted inner voice get in the way?

Loud Inner Voices

– Why do some people tell us to stop listening to them before they even start talking?
– Why do we add last-minute self-deprecating remarks into our carefully rehearsed speeches?
– How do we get people to listen to what we most need them to hear?
– How do we sound humble, but confident?

It happens in interviews, presentations, sales calls, athletic events, cattle drives… People pre-apologize for what they are about to say. They tell us not to listen.

“In my feeble little mind…”
“I’m certainly not the expert here…”
“I’m just saying, well… it’s kind of like this… sort-of”
“…?”
Why Do We Undermine our own credibility at the very time we need it most?

Perhaps we’re…

Nervous
Under pressure
Unsure of ourselves
Unrehearsed
Trying to appear humble?
Trying to be funny?
Unaware of the impact?

Tips For Shaking the “Don’t Listen to Me” Habit

Fund out what those tips are at: http://letsgrowleaders.com/2013/02/07/inner-voice/

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10 Phrases That Are Holding Your Career Back

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by Jenna Goudreau (Forbes staff writer)


“The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”—Mark Twain

Whether dealing with clients, coworkers or superiors, how you phrase and frame your message colors the way people perceive you. The words you choose may be the difference between being thought of as problem-solver or a problem.

From an informal poll of communication experts and career advisers, these 10 words emerged as the most common fillers, qualifiers and jargon that mean nothing and will get you nowhere. Erase them from your vocabulary immediately.

“Words are very important because they shape not only how other people hear you, but how they feel about you,” says Karen Friedman, author of Shut Up and Say Something: Business Communication Strategies to Overcome Challenges and Influence Listeners. “If you garner some kind of positive emotion, then you’ll make people care. Then you’re in a much better position for them to listen.”

However, too often business communication is peppered with filler words (umm, uh huh, well) that muddle the message, qualifiers (sort of, kind of, mostly) that diminish authority, and negative framing (can’t, impossible, never) that is discouraging and unproductive. In an informal poll of communication experts and career advisers, these 10 phrases were voted the worst things to say in your career.

That’s not my job.

“This makes it about what you can’t do as opposed to what you can do,” says Friedman. “It paints you as not being a team player.” Furthermore, it flies in the face of crucial career assets like flexibility and the willingness to learn new skills, which are required for leadership roles. Take it to a positive place by saying, “It’s not really my area of expertise. Let’s see who might be able to better help with this.”

I think…

Lorrie Thomas Ross, chief executive of consultancy Web Marketing Therapy, calls this and others like it (“I believe” and “I feel”) “discounting phrases.” They make you seem less authoritative and reduce the power of the message. The statement, “I think this is the best strategy,” is much weaker than, “This is the best strategy.” Likewise, eliminate prefaces like “I want” or “I’d like to.” So, rather than saying, “I want to thank you,” simply say, “Thank you.”

There’s more here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/10/03/10-phrases-that-are-holding-your-career-back/?utm_campaign=forbestwittersf&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social