Andreas Dudàs has a recently published book, “Do You Dare to Be Yourself?” He touches on many of the ideas explored in this blog – vision, values, passion, and purpose. See what stirs as you explore your authentic self and leadership. Enjoy some of his writing here.

Embark on a rewarding journey

Authentic leaders who are able to move the others’ hearts are in great demand. Living authentically is the be-all-and-end-all for finding inner peace, gaining more self-confidence and following your true calling, which all in turn helps to make this planet a better place. We all were once fully connected to our souls when we were born. However, while we grow up we lose the connection to our true self. Fear rules our lives, we are worried that we might never amount to anything, that others wouldn’t accept us the way we really are. Coupled with that fear is the constant uncertainty. We often agree to anything and everything, trying to guess and satisfy the unspoken needs of others.

Why do we act this way? The answer is simple. We always receive a reward for such a behavior. For a fleeting moment, we feel needed and acknowledged. We value praise and respect much more than listening to the heart. But remember, nobody else but you alone can award honest love, praise and recognition to your unique self.

Authenticity can neither be acquired nor learned. Authenticity can just be regained, for it has always been lying on our heart. It requires that you love yourself for all the good that you see and accept your flaws and the fact that you are imperfect. Becoming an authentic leader asks for reclaiming your authenticity through embarking on an intense and sometimes long journey, starting first with getting acquainted with your true self and then following an inch-by-inch process.

Develop self-respect and fall in love with yourself:

Self-respect has nothing to do with selfishness, as many people argue. Nowadays, we are all well connected electronically, but very often disconnected from our own hearts and souls. Many individuals do not honor their real values lying inside them. Instead, they are consistently seeking recognition in the outer world and are playing roles so as to receive praise. Living authentically requires spending a lot of time on getting to know one’s strengths and values, but also weaknesses, feelings and what one really wants to get out of life. Know that only by first following your heart and by respecting yourself you‘ll be able to touch other people’s hearts. Be therefore proud of your true self. Celebrate your little successes on a daily basis and jot them down in a separate journal you are always carrying with you. One of the key distinguishing characteristics of authentic leaders is that they are anchored by their own deep sense of self.

Live your passion:

Do the work you love or love the work you do! Anything else leads to depression, burn-out and loss of self-confidence. Ideally you choose a job which is one hundred percent consistent with your authentic calling. You will learn and acquire some leadership skills in the course of your career. However, I am convinced that leadership is not a role you are playing, or a profession you learn. It is a true calling. In this sense, authentic leaders are first “born” with innate leadership qualities and only later “made” through the acquisition of certain skills. By blending your courage of being true to yourself, with choosing leadership as your authentic calling, you develop a “deadly” combination moving people’s hearts.

Find your life purpose:

Purpose is your inner compass, fueling deeper meaning both in your life and work. Purpose is also a fundamental aim of your organizations’ existence. Your purpose is about creating and not fixing things. To find it, ask yourself what would you choose to do if you had unlimited time and resources? What would you do if money did not matter? What activities do you consider of greatest value?

Live by your values:

Living authentically means that you stand by your values and beliefs that you hold most dear. Values provide important guidance when you are looking for a new job, get a promotion or chose a new working environment. Identify your values by asking yourself: When am I happiest? When do I forget time and live completely in the “here and now”? What activities do I enjoy most and why?

Align your “true self” with your company’s soul:

Ask yourself, does the company’s soul that is reflected in the corporate vision, mission and values coincide with your true self? Does your current working and living environment allow you to live up to your unique values and life purpose? This is a crucial acid test and it requires you to be brutally true to yourself so as to authentically answer the above questions. If your personal values and life purpose clash with those of your company, you will never be able to ignite the fire inside your employees.

Many other attributes such as communication, fairness, compassion, having a big vision, or the capability to set clear goals, account also for critical traits of great leaders. But believe me, they are either a natural outcome from living up to all of the above principles or can be easily acquired. Forget about the bewildering array of theories about effective leadership. The only key is to reclaim your true self, live authentically and follow leadership as your true calling. Then the rest of the world will follow you!

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Andreas Dudàs has more than 20 years leadership experience gained in top executive positions in over 25 countries. Visionary entrepreneur, mentor, motivational speaker & expert on authentic (life) leadership, he is the author of Do You Dare To Be Yourself? Learn more at http://www.andreasdudas.com/

By Jennifer King, Guest Blogger

Congratulations! You’ve finally been promoted to “manager.” While the bump in salary and new job title are nice, you now have heaps of responsibility you didn’t have before. As a manager, part of your new job is being responsible for the growth and well-being of an entire team.

You may be crying for help at this point. I spoke with a few recently-appointed managers and an executive coach to get their tips for first-time managers:

1. Get to know your people and what they want. Take as much time as possible in the beginning of your transition to get to know your direct reports. Talk to them about their career goals, what they want out of their current position, and how you can best support them.

According to Deirdre Walsh, senior social media manager for Jive Software, “If you start by understanding the career goals and plans for each person, that will help you make better decisions that will benefit the company and the individual.”

2. Learn to see your work through others. As a manager, you’ll likely be spending most of your time in meetings, discussions with senior management, and one-on-one conversations with your team, which will leave you less time to work on your own projects. You’ll eventually begin to see your work shine through your team as you give direction and offer guidance.

“At first you may feel like you’re not getting tons of tangible things done,” explained Andria Elliott, Senior International Marketing Communications Specialist at National Instruments. “All your work now shows through a team of people instead of your individual self,” she notes.

3. Listen. The ability to listen to your team and give guidance without assuming you immediately know the right answer will be critical as you spend more one-on-one time with your employees.

That’s Mike Lee’s biggest piece of advice for first-time managers. As an assistant branch manager for Randstad, Lee says new managers should “strive to truly listen during discussions rather than prepare in your mind what you will say next.”

“If you’re not a listener or a patient person, then you’ll constantly be asserting your will on people. That approach is antiquated,” says Lee.

4. Develop your own style. While it may feel easy or natural to mimic the management tactics of your previous boss, those same tactics might not work for you. Instead, think about what they did and how you can learn from them to develop your own style.

According to Houston Neal, marketing director for Software Advice, as a new manager “you have to be true to yourself and develop your own style. Otherwise, your management will seem forced or ineffective as a result.”

5. Don’t expect to “get it” at first. One of the biggest misconceptions held by first-time managers is that they’ll be good at management from the get-go. In most cases, though, new managers need training and development just like any new hire within an organization.

Building a solid training plan with development goals and consistent performance evaluations with your supervisor is a great way to assess your progress during the first few months on the job.

What advice do you have for first-time managers? What unexpected challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

For more resources, see the Library topic Career Management.

Jennifer King is an HR Analyst for SoftwareAdvice.com, a web site that reviews and compares HR and performance review software. She reports on trends, technology, and best practices related to HR and career development.

Soon after arriving at the beautiful Johnson Lake Home (our retreat center) on Lake George in the northern woods of Minnesota, I felt drawn to go down to the lake. The stillness of the lake was breath-taking along with the reflection of the clouds and trees in the water. We were in awe that the lake was even opened as it’s normally still frozen in March.

Dancing in Harmony

The Deeper Message

Driving home we encountered more bald eagles (pictured) and I felt like they had a deeper message for us. I soon found out what that was. When I was sharing this experience with a friend, she shared with me a passage about the significance of eagles from her book Animal Speak: The Spiritual and Magical Power of Creatures Great and Small by Ted Andrews. Until this one and a couple of other recent interesting animal experiences, I hadn’t thought much about messages that animals might be sharing with us.

The Push

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Janae Bower is an inspirational speaker, award-winning author and training consultant. She founded Finding IT, a company that specializes in personal and professional development getting to the heart of what matters most. She started Project GratOtude, a movement to increase gratitude in people’s lives.

I recently received an email from my mom saying a dear colleague of hers had a heart attack and was in failing health. I was truly saddened by this news. This woman had become an aunt of sorts; she was a long-time family friend, having worked with my mom for more than 30 years.

It is a blessing and rare gift indeed to have precious colleagues who become old friends. Perhaps you worked with someone years ago and you still stay in touch, sharing news of your life. Maybe you have colleagues you socialize with outside of work. Perhaps you even have a few dear colleagues who are old family friends now.

This week’s blog post is a reminder of all the friendships you have at work. Share your gratitude for those friends, especially for your particularly close colleagues.

• Tell them how they have touched and supported your life as well as your work.
• Call them up to recount a few stories, share some laughs, let them know how much they helped you.

It’s never too late to let someone know how much you care about them and how much they mean to you.

P.S. We celebrate Administrative Assistants day this week, so please take time to thank them for their support.

For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Now available!! Linda’s new book, “Staying Grounded in Shifting Sand” – Click here to order.

Click this link to order Linda’s 10th Anniversary edition of “Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service”.

Visit Linda’s website- www.lindajferguson.com for information about her coaching work, keynote presentations, seminar topics, and books.

“Like”Linda’s Fan Page – https://www.facebook.com/LindaJFerguson to get notices of these blog posts and other updates of Linda’s work.

Let’s admit it – most of us are on cruise control! Then suddenly we realize our career may be in jeopardy. All of a sudden we’re scrambling to do something fast!

The Solution: Pay attention to these four situations that can put you in the “hot seat” and your career in a potential down spiral.

1. New Boss: Don’t Rest On Your Laurels.
Realize that the person has to size up quickly each of her direct reports and make decisions about her team. Start managing up. Be prepared when she schedules a meeting to “get to know you and what you do better”. You need to make a good first impression.

Develop a short presentation focusing on your accomplishments -the problems encountered and how you handled them. Ask about her priorities for the department. Now start making the connection between the priorities and how you can meet them.

2. A Big Mistake: What Do I Do Now?
The good news is that mistakes, even big ones, don’t have to be a career setback or leave a permanent mark on your career brand. The key is to recover quickly and put in place actions that will correct the situation. Here’s what one senior leader said during a leadership retreat:

“Who among us doesn’t make mistakes? I love employees who fess up, treat the mistake as a learning moment and move on. I don’t want them to stop experimenting or holding back because of fear of making another misstep. Therefore, I have to accept a mistake now and then so that they will keep learning and getting better.”

3. A Big Promotion: Are You Over Your Head?
Did you know that nearly half of all new leaders fail in the first 18 months? Many of them were surprised to discover that what got them there wasn’t enough to keep them there. I’ve seen many careers get derailed because the person was promoted into a position that required additional and different skill sets. You can’t rely solely on you high performing technical experience. You also need to develop your leadership skills.

4. Feeling Stuck: You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling
You start out excited with where you are and what you’re doing. Then after a couple of years you’re unchallenged, unenthusiastic and just got passed over for a promotion.

If you career stalls, don’t wait for the career fairy to appear and make everything better. It’s up to you. What career options can you start exploring for challenge, variety, or greater personal satisfaction? What internal training or external seminars will enhance your marketability? Who can mentor you to get your career moving?

Career Success Tip:

To avoid getting blindsided, every year and perhaps even twice a year, conduct a career assessment no matter how confident you are that things are going well. Too many people try to manage their careers without having a sense of how they are seen by others – particularly by those who have influence – your boss, your peers, upper management and even your customers. Also see Challenges You May Face In Your Career and My Boss is a Control Freak.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

I had a challenging conversation recently with a business woman. She was really upset about something I had done, and as I was trying to fix the problem, she screamed at me. It’s not fun to have someone scream at you, especially when you are trying to help them. Ever have one of those conversations?

Luckily for me I have practiced NVC for several years. I listened empathically to her screaming until she slowed down enough for me to calmly state what was happening. She stormed away as I went to work on the issue. I felt a bit numb and did my best to fix the situation.

Afterwards, when I knew the problem hadn’t been fixed, I went into a lot of fear around what her response was going to be. I also was mad at myself for what I had done a couple weeks earlier to fix the problem, which only made the problem worse. I tried to think of the next right course of action to take.

I had a hard time thinking clearly for the next couple of hours. I felt a lot of fear and dread about the problem not being fixed. I had a hard time focusing on my work and imagined all sorts of awful scenarios that could occur. It was quite a drama play going on in my head. I was aware of how much I was scaring myself. I stopped and reminded myself I didn’t need to go down the path of fear.

To calm down and collect myself, I watched some inspiring videos and posts on FB. I had to sort out what was the next right course of action to take to remedy the situation.

Then I remembered my all-time favorite advice. “When you are uncertain what is the right course of action to take, ask yourself this: What would Love do now?”

So there I was at the fork in the road. I could keep going down the path of fear or I could find out what would Love do now. I reflected on this question as I moved through my day. I got a few ideas of how I wanted to handle the business woman next time I spoke to her. I started to calm down and forgive myself for what I had done earlier. I started to give myself some compassion and affirm that it would all work out. I remembered not to sweat the small stuff.

The situation is still not over. I just need to reminder to follow the path of Love. I can keep choosing Love (capital Love for spiritual love, kindness, compassion) rather than stay mired in fear and dread.

If you need to sort out a dilemma or make a difficult choice, consider the question “What would Love do now?”. Practice using this phrase next time someone gets upset with you or you get upset with yourself.

It never hurts to keep choosing Love over fear.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Visit Linda’s website- www.lindajferguson.com for information about her coaching work, keynote presentations, seminar topics, and books.

Linda’s new book, “Staying Grounded in Shifting Sand” is available in paperback or ebook – Click here to order.

“Like” – https://www.facebook.com/LindaJFerguson – if you want to get notices of other blog posts and updates of Linda’s work.

Click this link to order Linda’s 10th Anniversary edition of “Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service”.

Friends, colleagues and family can be great resources for career planning and career advice. But we also need relationships with a variety of individuals and groups to help us succeed.

For example, we need people who can offer information or expertise; who are influential or can provide political insights; who will give us candid feedback to help us grow; and who can provide the big picture that we need.

In How Many Networks Do you Have, I suggested developing three distinct ones – your work network, your wisdom network and your “out of the box” network. Now I’m suggesting that you examine relationships within those networks and determine which ones are the most valuable.

A Relationship Audit

Assigning your relationships into categories may seem cold and impersonal. Yet, I would say most of us do it intuitively, especially in the workplace. The hard truth is we can’t be everywhere at once. We can’t be all things to all people. Our time and energy are scarce resources so we need to allocate them wisely.

So we need to conduct a relationship audit. For example, look at your current work network. Who are the people in it and how important are they? Here are three ways to decide on how to manage these relationships to get the most benefit.

1. Invest: is your strategy for critical relationships that are especially important for getting your job done. These could be good working relationships that you want to maintain, problematic relationships that are so vital you need to give them special attention, or relationships with people on whom can be influential in getting you to the next level

2. Hold: is strategy for relationships that are fine and don’t need special attention or effort at this time. This doesn’t mean they’re unimportant, just that they’re clicking along fine and you don’t have to invest additional resources in the now.

3. Divest: is your strategy for relationships that aren’t so critical or important. You may spend less time, less energy or fewer resources. Warning: Be careful. It’s usually better to adopt the hold strategy then to burn bridges. Burning bridges can be appropriate however in cases where there may be legal, ethical or dangerous consequences.

Once you have identified critical relationships, now it’s time to identify critical gaps – ones that don’t exist but ought to or ones that you need to pay more attention to.

1. Does your list appear a little sparse for specific kind of relationships? (Internal – up down, sideways) or (external – recruiters, customers, suppliers, professional colleagues?
2. Do you have relationships with other functions, department, teams or groups important to you? For example, can provide key information, money, political support and so on?
3. Has there been a change of leadership at the top? How can you get on their radar?
4. What are you doing to nurture the critical ones you have so that they don’t die on the vine?

Career Success Tip:

In this time of change, paying attention to the quality of your interactions and engagement with both external and internal relationships will be a key factor in maintaining and growing your professional career. But remember it’s not just to focus on what you can get but what you can give to each of these strategic relationships.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

A speaker shared the analogy of “Panning for Gold” as a metaphor for finding God’s love. Just like when you are trying to pan for gold there is a lot of dirt or muck that needs to be sifted through first before you can even see the gold hidden within. This is like our lives, the golden nuggets and sparkling gems are within us. Inside of each of us is God’s love just waiting for us to discover, a golden gem that will make our hearts and souls sparkle like never before. Yet most of us have filled our lives with a lot of muck so we get stuck. We might attempt to clean out the muck here and there, yet soon we stop because we are frustrated with the results when we don’t find “the gold” right away.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Janae Bower is an inspirational speaker, award-winning author and training consultant. She founded Finding IT, a company that specializes in personal and professional development getting to the heart of what matters most. She started Project GratOtude, a movement to increase gratitude in people’s lives.

It’s that time of year again – Tax season. Funny how tax time is also the time of planting and tending to gardens. I am reminded of the quote of Jesus, “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and give unto God what is God’s”. What are you planting or tending through your taxes and tithing?

Taxes are an investment in civic infrastructure so that we can have roads, drinking water, schools, parks, fire and rescue etc. Taxes can be viewed as tending to the garden of democracy and social well-being.

Tithing is an investment in your spiritual well-being. Perhaps you give money to charity to reduce your taxes, but hopefully you also contribute to charities to support the tender fabric of your community and planet.

Taxes and tithing contribute to your physical world and your spiritual world. They build a life of balance between the mortal human world and the Divine Oneness within and throughout all life.

Invest in your Spiritual Well-being

Do you invest your time, energy, or money for your personal spiritual development?

I spent a weekend at Yogaville recently. We were able to rest, meditate, walk in the woods, do yoga, and eat healthy food. What a great combo for me to renew myself and connect deeper with nature and global consciousness.

My investment of time and money paid off in spades. When I returned home I received an emotionally challenging email from someone close to me. I could have easily been angry or offended by the email. Yet I felt very calm and heart-centered from the weekend. I was able to respond in love and compassion instead. I know my response was more loving and kind due to my meditation retreat.

Are you willing to invest in yourself to support your own growth and well-being? In so doing, you’ll be investing in the well-being of those around you.

May you find peace as you pay taxes, water your garden, help your neighbor, support your community, and invest in your spiritual home.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Now available!! Linda’s new book, “Staying Grounded in Shifting Sand” – Click here to order.

Linda has a new Fan Page – https://www.facebook.com/LindaJFerguson “Like” this page if you want to get notices of these blog posts and other updates of Linda’s work.

Click this link to order Linda’s 10^th Anniversary edition of “Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service”.

Visit Linda’s website- www.lindajferguson.com for information about her coaching work, keynote presentations, seminar topics, and other writing.

“There’s too much wrangling and maneuvering going on. Joe really knows how to get on his boss’s good side. I hate this politicking….I just want to do my job.”

These are things I hear in my career management and development programs. Are these the types of comments you might make as well?

Whether you hate it, admire it, practice it or avoid it, office politics is a fact of life in any organization. And, like it or not, it’s something that you need to understand and play to an extent to be successful no matter what business or organization you work for.

“Office politics” are the strategies that people use to gain advantage personally or for a cause they support. The term often has a negative connotation because some people use it to seek advantage at the expense of others. Good “office politics”, on the other hand, helps you to promote yourself and your cause in a fair and appropriate way.

Why It’s Important

If you deny the bad politics that may be going on around you and avoid dealing with them, you may needlessly suffer whilst others take unfair advantage. And if you avoid practicing good politics, you miss the opportunities to further your own interests and those of your team and your cause.

Making Politics Work FOR You

To deal effectively with office politics and use it yourself in a positive way, you must first to accept the reality of it. Second you need to be a good observer. Third you then use the information you gathered to build strong networks and to start practicing influencing which is the proper name for good politics. Here are strategies to get you started.

1. Re-Map the Organization Chart
Office politics often circumvent the formal organization chart. Sit back and watch for a while and then re-map the organization chart in terms of political power.

• Who are the real influencers?
• Who is the “go to guy” when things need to get done?
• Who champions or mentors others?
• Who is “the brains behind the organization”?

2. Understand the Informal Network
Once you know who’s who in the organization, you have a good idea of where the power and influence lay. Now you have to understand the social networks.

• Who gets along with whom?
• Who eats together? Works out together? Commutes together?
• Are there groups or cliques that have formed?
• What is the basis or commonality for the groups or cliques ?

3. Build Relationships
Now that you know how the existing relationships work, you need to build your own social network accordingly.

• Do not be afraid of politically powerful people in the organization. Get to know them.
• Ensure you have relationships in all directions (peers, bosses, executives)
• Start to build relationships with those who are “in the know.”
• Be a part of multiple networks. This way you can keep your finger on the pulse of the organization.

Office politics are a fact of life. Positive or negative politics happens. If you don’t participate in the political game, you risk not having a say in what happens to you and perhaps your team. This allows people with less experience, skill or knowledge to influence decisions being made around you and about you.

Career Success Tip:

Realize that political savvy brings personal power. And as a career building tool, personal power is a key strategy for success. Skilled influencers are not overtly political; they are seen as competent professional and leaders who play the political game fairly and effectively. Also see Power is Not a Bad Word – Influencing Your Boss – Influencing How to Be taken Seriously.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?