Team and Leadership Excellence Newsletter
Vol.22 December 2013
Welcome to the twenty-first monthly newsletter.
Wish you a successful, growth giving and happy new-year of excellence.
New years every year brings so fresh hope to teams and leaders. This is the time we think of making the New Year the most spectacular year of all. While we start of with this intention we find it fizzles off really fast.
The reason for this is because a bigger mission or purpose does not support such efforts. This is because such efforts are not done with the engagement of the hearts and minds of the teams who are responsible to deliver such results. The reason for this is because such efforts do not have a disciplined approach.
Given below are a few simple steps that can help you to gear up for an amazing 2014.
Get together with your immediate team and go through the following process.
Success inventory 2013:
Step 1: List down the 3 biggest learnings from successes in 2013
Step 2: List down the attitudes that lead to the successes in 2013
Step 3: List down the beliefs that lead to the successes in 2013
Step 4: List down the behaviours that lead to the successes in 2013
Step 5: List down the relationships that lead to the successes in 2013
Successes are learnings but we need to change the attitudes, beliefs, relationships and behaviours that helped us to win if we are to achieve better success the next year.
Failure inventory 2013:
Step 1: List down the 3 biggest learnings from failures in 2013
Step 2: List down the attitudes that lead to the failures in 2013
Step 3: List down the beliefs that lead to the failures in 2013
Step 4: List down the behaviours that lead to the failures in 2013
Step 5: List down the relationships that lead to the failures in 2013
Failures are learnings and they are very important to our future success.
Visioning for 2014
Step 1: List down three big goals you would like to achieve as a team in 2014
Step 2: List the attitude changes you need in each of the following areas: Well being of team members, Knowledge & skills, Values that creates a positive spirit, Relationships, Management of time, Allocation of resources [funds, talent & physical resources] in order to achieve the 3 big gaols. EG: The relationships between us are important for our success, we need to protect and nurture them.
Step 3: List on belief change you need in each of the following areas: Well being of team members, Knowledge & skills, Values that creates a positive spirit, Relationships, Management of time, Allocation of resources [funds, talent & physical resources] in order to achieve the 3 big gaols. EG: I believe that providing relevant knowledge and skills to our staff will have a direct proportionate impact on our success.
Step 4: List on behaviour change you need in each of the following areas: Well being of team members, Knowledge & skills, Values that creates a positive spirit, Relationships, Management of time, Allocation of resources [funds, talent & physical resources] in order to achieve the 3 big gaols. EG: We will start all our meetings and interactions, spending a few minutes reflecting on our success from the past meeting/interaction so that it energizes us to deal with our challenges.
Review your success inventory 2013 and failure inventory 2013 when listing the above.
Executing the vision 2014
Lets’ make sure that the exercise so far does not end up as a fantasy by taking specific steps to ensure execution.
Step 1: Paint the vision 2014: Do a team activity of presenting the goals for 2014 you will aim for and the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours you will use to achieve those goals by creating a visual of it. Use any material you like to do it, but the main thing is to make it a fun, exciting and inspiring activity. If you are not the creative type, just write down the 3 goals, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours on the art board. Display it in a place where you see it. The more you see it or the more you hear to it, the more dendrites [neural pathways] you will create that will become a resource in achieving your goals.
Step 2: Display the new attitudes, beliefs and behaviours you require [as listed in the earlier section] and read them daily at least for 21 days. Repetition of any activity for 21 days makes it a habit and success is a habit.
Step 3: Create a plan for each big goal of your team, decide on specific activities, time frames, budgets and responsible persons for each relevant activity.
Step 4: When you plan your day every morning, makes sure the ‘to do list’ has the new behaviours right at the top. Plan to get them done as early as possible every day. This will create the foundation for your success. Thereafter plan to take forward the actions listed for each goal in step 3 above by taking baby steps. That will ensure you move towards realizing goals everyday.
Step 5: Review the day at the end of the day, celebrate successes and resolve to do better in areas that were neglected or done below satisfaction.
Step 6: Do a monthly review of the plans and achievement and take steps to make up for any short falls the next month.
Use reminder methods using your computers, smart devices etc. to ensure you are reminded to take action and be on track.
These steps will ensure that you are purposeful [by setting goals and a balanced set of actions], you enlist and engage the passion of your entire team [by agreeing on and improving attitudes and beliefs in the process] and you are disciplined [by following the methodical plan recommended].
Wayne Dyer once said, life would give you anything you want if you really, really, really, really want it. The 4 realise stand for; a clear dream or goal, A clear action plan, A commitment to act on it, Passionately execute. You and your team will grow towards your potential this New Year. Be on track, expect challenges, face them, learn from them, learn from failures and celebrate successes.
Go get it, life will give you what you want if you really, really , really, really want it.
My daughter Natasha, the web master of this site and I wish you excellence this year.
My Journey in December 2013
Like other month, November 2013 was also a month that helped me to live my purpose.
We started the month conducting a workshop for doctors belonging to the Collage of General Practitioners in Sri Lanka on the 1st of December. This workshop was titled ‘Enhancing the Power Within You’ through Neuro Linguistic Programming [NLP]. It was inspiring to guide such an august group who are valued and respected by society to start looking at their lives from a different perspective. We had an enjoyable time learning from each other.
Thereafter I did a 2 day workshop for the Woven Cluster of Hirdaramani industry as part of their 6 month long leadership development process for the senior most managers of the company. The next 2 days was a workshop for Millennium IT on ‘Personal Excellence’ through ‘Neuro Linguistic Programming [NLP]’. I then took an over-night flight to Dubai to conduct a workshop on ‘Advance Negotiating Skills’ for Mashreq bank.
The 6 days of back-to-back workshops for 3 companies in 2 countries covering 3 different subject areas for diverse groups of participants was a rewarding, growth giving and energizing experience.
Then I travelled to Dhaka to continue my leadership assignment as Apollo Hospital Dhaka.
Then I travelled to Colombo on the 17th of December to join my brothers and sister who travelled from Canada and the UK for a re-union after 9 years. It was wonderful celebrating many milestones of the family and Christmas together.
Thereafter I travelled back to Dhaka the day after Christmas and started the process of handing over my responsibilities to the new CEO who will be taking over from me on the 6th of January.
This is a time of mixed emotions. It is sad to move away from an organization that I help shape a winning culture over the last 16 months and it gives me happiness looking forward to sharing my experience of leading 2 varied organizations over the last 4 and half years with many organizations around the world as I fully focus on my Team and Leadership Consulting work.
1 blog post was published during this month taking the total to 49. The new blog post along with a short excerpt is listed below for your information.
‘Gearing up for an Amazing 2014’
“New years every year brings so much hope to so many people. This is the time we think of giving up bad habits and making a fresh start. Most people take a fresh step with a good intention, only to find themselves slipping back to their old habits very quickly.”
Read the full post at: http://ranjandesilva.wordpress.com/2013/12/29/gearing-up-for-an-amazing-2014/
Articles
14 articles have been published since the launch of this website . They are in the areas of leadership, teams, personal excellence, marketing and world affairs with relevance. Please click below to read them; http://www.ranjandesilva.net/#!articles/cp7n
