Great Workplaces Have Cultures People Want To Be Part Of

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“We have a culture where we are incredibly self critical, we don’t get comfortable with our success.” – Mark Parker, CEO, Nike

82 percent of respondents to a Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends survey consider culture to be a potential competitive advantage. Is your workplace culture something you rave to your friends about? If it’s not, then before blaming others, understand whether you are part of the problem or the solution.

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Results Matter: When You No Longer Can Fake It Until You Make It

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“Faking it until you make it is also known as lying. Lying is usually an act reserved for CVs, kids and sociopaths.” — Adam Fletcher

Raise your hand if you’ve ever made things up, said you can do something you’ve never done before or had any idea how to do it whatsoever. If we’re honest then I guess we’re all guilty to some degree.  There’s nothing all that wrong with of faking it until we make it; that is unless we don’t achieve the results we said we would.

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Feeling Trapped in a Cluttered Mind?

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“Get rid of clutter and you may just find that it was blocking the door you’ve been looking for”
– Katrina Mayer

Claustrophobia is described as having an irrational fear of confined spaces. Fortunately, claustrophobia is estimated to only affect 5-7% of the population. While workers might not suffer from claustrophobia, they can cause similar experiences when they have a cluttered mind. Do you feel trapped in a cluttered mind?

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How Do You Do Better Than The Minimum Standard?

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“You can't have high standards without good discipline” – William Hague

As kids, we first learn about measurement and benchmarking at school. From a test or a school report, we find out whether we’ve passed or failed and what we either need to continue to do to maintain our marks or do differently to get a better grade. The minimum standard is a pass; however, our own expectations (and that of our parents!!!) could be somewhat higher. What’s your secret to doing better than the minimum standard?

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Embrace the Grind: Sometimes You Need to If You Want to Be Successful

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“I hated every minute of training, but I said don't quit, suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion” – Muhammad Ali

Every now and then part of me wishes I was so talented I could just coast while achieving whatever I wanted to. However, I’m not and the perfectionist in me is never really satisfied with the standard I deliver with the things I’m reasonably good at and passionate about. This sees me caught with the challenge of trying to keep up and improve. I don’t consider this as a negative though. In fact, it’s something that’s essential to the makeup of me as a person that I’ve learned to use in a positive way.

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Sometimes You Need to be a Bit Selfish

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“To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don't isolate.” – Michael Jordan

Selfishness is one of my pet hates, particularly when it’s combined with rudeness. Now that really gets my blood boiling!!! However, being selfish should be balanced with what needs to be done when striving for success as we’re sometimes required to be selfish on the way to being successful.

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How Badly Do Your Limiting Beliefs Hurt You?

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“If you believe you can, or you believe you can’t, either way you are right” – Henry Ford

Confidence has such power. When we’re confident we can feel invincible and be simply awesome at whatever we’re doing. However, it’s quite the opposite when we’re lacking confidence and even worse if we don’t believe we can improve our situation. If we find ourselves in this situation then we need to be mindful how limiting beliefs influence our level of success.

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Celebrating Small Wins Helps Get the Big Breakthroughs

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“Track your small wins to motivate big accomplishments” – Teresa Amabile

A hero’s journey would see us achieving major accomplishments at work every day; completing strategic projects, realising key milestones, closing large deals, driving record results etc. Imagine that? Unfortunately, it’s pure fantasy for most of us as our day to day reality is quite different. While large breakthroughs happen, they’re typically not an everyday occurrence. That’s why it’s important to not lose sight of the small wins.

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How To Make Techniques and Tools Absolutely Useless

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“You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.” – Michael Jordan

Despite understanding techniques in theory and having the necessary tools to get the job done, not all workers are thriving. Instead, there’s a largish percentage who just get by. They feel trapped as they work long hours but don’t achieve their targets or meet deadlines on a consistent basis. The surprising thing is the problem of the matter is often the very techniques and tools that are meant to support them.

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Focus at Work is the Exception, Not the Rule

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“You don’t get results by focusing on results. You get results by focusing on the actions that produce results.” - Mike Hawkins

It was named in the top 5 most sought-after soft skills employers look for in LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends 2019 report. Tim Ferriss (author of the 4-Hour Workweek) describes it as the key to his success. Why is time management having a resurgence of sorts?

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What Happens When the Bare Minimum Isn't Enough?

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"You can't have a million-dollar dream with a minimum-wage work ethic" - Stephen C. Hogan

Nowadays a more with less mantra drives so much of what we do. To keep up we need to constantly work smarter and occasionally even cut corners where we can. While a self-serving approach can seem necessary, it doesn’t always provide the best outcome for those around us.

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Are Expectations Overwhelming Or Is Performance Underwhelming?

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“Raise expectations forever and even Superman is going to let us down”- Seth Godin

Our relationship with pressure isn’t always perfect. Studies indicate we perform better under moderate pressure; however, it’s open to interpretation what can be considered as low, moderate or high pressure. There’s a correlation here to our output and to how well we perform.

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What If You Have More People Pleasers Than High Performers?

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“The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves” - Ray Kroc

Great teams consist of a wide variety of personalities with different skill-sets who collectively strive to achieve a common goal. A challenge for leaders is to unlock everybody’s potential within the context of achieving team success. It’s a delicate balancing act that leaders don’t always get correct. This is especially true when leaders are misled into thinking people pleasers are high performers.

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You Need to Know This About Momentum

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“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton

The very word momentum has us conjure positive images of making progress and getting results. While that’s true, there’s also a form of momentum that has virtually the opposite effect. Is momentum your friend or foe?

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You Really Need A Not-To-Do List

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“Less is more. Progress is made through precise, persistent, and purposeful pushes.” ― Scott Perry 

If you’re like most of us, then it’s likely you’ll have too much to do but not enough time. If left unchecked, then over time this can become demotivating and even overwhelming. That’s why a Not-To-Do list can help you become more effective.

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