Category: Improving Yourself

Wholeheartedness: Strive for being whole in work/life through body, mind and spirit

The best way for me to explain what I mean by the above definition is to share with you this Wholeheartedness Assessment that I developed a few years that will help you assess your current and future effectiveness for living a harmonious work/life in these three key areas:

• Body – physical and social
• Mind – intellectual and financial
• Spirit – emotional and spiritual

The assessment provides you the opportunity to record what you already do in each of these areas, provide suggestions on what you could do, and determine an action plan for what you will commit to doing.

Download the assessment here: Wholeheartedness Assessment

Please share with us in the comments your insights on you can live with more wholeheartedness.

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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.

Personality theory and tests are useful also for management, recruitment, selection, training and teaching, on which point see also the learning styles theories on other pages such as Kolb’s learning styles, Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, and the VAK learning styles model. — Personality Theories, Types and Tests at www.businessballs.com

Believe it or not personality really does count when it comes to training. And, it works both ways. The trainer, as we know is full of personality, passion and knowledge. The trainees or audience, filling their chairs with a multitude of experiences, passions and information they have already gathered on the trainer and training topic.

This article should be a companion piece for Don’t Assume in Training because it can easily come under the heading of “I knew that, but…” and “I can’t do anything about it.” But I think you can.

As most of you know, if you’ve been following this blog, I wasn’t born a trainer. Actually, none of us were, but in my innocence as an actor and speaker first, then writer, and finally trainer, I realized early on there were important critical elements to develop effective training: design, analysis, assessments, evaluation. From this perspective, I think, the recognition of personality is an important factor in analyzing your audience emerges in any speaking situation; and therefore, essential as well in the training environment.

We sometimes train on personality types and personality predictors of behavior. How many of us consider the personality types when we are training? Even a simplified version of Myers-Briggs would help tremendously in how we might present our material. We would know better how most of our audience processed information. But, why is it necessary to focus there. How much you direct information in a certain way would depend on the percentage a particular personality type. Right? Or, do we mix it up to make it easy? Okay, loaded question. How do we train Type A or Type B personalities?

While I would love to give in depth personality tests to truly “know” my audience or classroom of trainees, I don’t think it terribly practical. So, I am totally open to your suggestions here on getting the most analysis in the simplest manner possible. There is Training to Read Minds…well, you know how that goes.

I think it is best to know your audience pretty well, be it through a simple questionnaire provided to the training manager or planner, or a more involved technique. Simple is more likely to be accomplished than the complex unless you have 100 percent cooperation of management. That questionnaire can incorporate questions that operate along the nature of a simple personality profile are of tremendous value to trainers as communicators.

Here is where whatever information we can learn about our audience, either discreetly or asking in public, are invaluable. Experiences, ages, sex, interests, work level, purpose of training, human resources ability to hire–fire and promote, financial stability, economic stability of local community, major issues important to employees, etc., are all incredible indicators of personality.

Here’s your chance to talk back and tell me what you think. Suggest simple tests or what you do as a trainer to assess your audience before you train. How much time do you take? Who is involved in the analysis?

Check out the article: Personality Theories, Types and Tests for more than my cursory look at personality tests and training.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

This week is the half way point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere) celebrated as Candlemas in the Catholic tradition, Imboc in the Celtic tradition. It marks a time when the days get noticeably longer and there is preparation for spring. Perhaps you’ve seen more light as you’ve prepared for work.

During this time of winter quiet and darker days, it is a time to make preparations for what you want to bring forth in the coming year. In an earlier blog post, I invited you to accept your mission this year, to discover and be true to who you are. Think through what you need to prepare for yourself so that you can fully step into your mission and purpose.

Letting your Light Shine

You are a bright beautiful being. Feel that, know that. If you have troubles believing this – What blocks you from shining brightly? Is it Fear, ego, peer pressure, insecurity? Prepare to let go of those things that keep you hidden under a bushel. Share the brightness and beauty of Who You Are at your work place, with your customers, clients and co-workers.

When you live true to who you are, at work and elsewhere, you let your Light shine. When you stop short of being your authentic beautiful self, when you bow to pressure from others to be a certain way that’s just not you, you hide your light under a bushel. It helps no one and eventually dims your own life.

Finding Your Purpose

Take some time during these darker, quieter days of winter to get in touch with your purpose, your gifts, your bigger mission here. I have some coaching questions that will help you discover what your purpose is and what energizes you to get up in the morning (go to www.lindajferguson.com – under the Coaching tab scroll down to “Twelve Life Review Questions”).

I remember an attorney in one of my workshops for my book, Path for Greatness. He seemed genuinely concerned about the work he was doing. He knew he had been successful at stopping a lot of bad business decisions, not only bad for the company but bad for society as well. He wondered if his purpose was to stop the bad things some of the leadership wanted to do and if that purpose was enough to sustain him. We worked on helping him discover his passion and purpose so that he could determine his next steps at work. I invite you likewise to take this time to discover your passion and purpose so that you can be a Light for others.

Have you had moments when you felt authentic at work? Have you had days when you got a glimpse at what your purpose is? Leave us a comment and share what helps you be authentic at your work.

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

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Linda is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Go to her website www.lindajferguson.com to read more about her work, view video clips of her talks, and find out more about her book “Path for Greatness: Spirituality at Work” available on Amazon.

Relationships are the bread of career life. So make and break bread with others.

In times of change, contacts are the sources of information, opportunity and even power. Don’t let your everyday responsibilities isolate you from others. Move out from behind your desk. Move around in a variety of circles. Move quickly, eat hardy and often. Consider your current assignment as temporary and maintaining your networking as permanent. You never know who will play an important role in your evolving career or life.

Evaluate Your Network

You need to examine three factors: the size, the diversity, and the strength of your contacts. Here’s how:

• List the key people who are in your career world inside and outside your company.
  How many people do you know? The greater the size or number, the more access you have to information and support.
• Review that list and write down what they do or who they work for.
  Are most of your contacts in your functional area or profession? Or are there linkages to other parts of your organization and outside to customers, suppliers and others?
• Assess the quality of those relationships. Are they strong or weak?
  One way to decide strength is: How soon will they return your phone call or email, if at all?) The stronger the ties, the more you can go to the well for water – the more you can ask for their time and contacts.

Career Success Tip:

Power networking is not just the number of contacts you have but the breadth of those contacts. If you have a diverse and strong network, you then can tap into a wide variety of resources and information. How well are you networked? How well do you connect for success?

Readers, let me hear of your success stories. How did networking get you your present job or a great project or opportunity or partners for your business venture?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

I struggled with this entry for a couple of reasons. I wasn’t sure is vulnerable was the “right” word to explore and I wasn’t sure what I would write about it. Now I know why I struggled, I needed to live it not write about it.

Last week I had two things happen to me that being vulnerable is the perfect way to describe how I felt. When we lead with our spirits in our work, we open up the risk to being exposed to criticism, rejection or other tough things that can deflate our spirits. However, our vulnerability can help others in a profound way.

Setting a good example in a disappointing event

I wrote a gratitude reflection called from Entitlement to Enlightenment about the experience I had with thinking I was entitled to have Lasik surgery to realizing how disappointed I was to find out that I probably won’t be able to. The enlightenment came when I was vulnerable and realized that lack of gratitude I’ve had for years of my eyes. Focusing on this new gratitude enabled me to experience not new eyesight, but new insight. I shared my reflection with a friend who also was planning for Lasik surgery as well this month. She just emailed how sharing my initial struggle to eventually gratitude helped her. She wrote,

Janae,

Ever since reading about your experience with the eye doctor and not being able to have the surgery I have really thought about how lucky i was to have contacts. (Not thankful for glasses as they give a headache. 🙂 )

Today I went for a second consultation. This doctor with much more experience and education has told me that I am not a candidate in his opinion. I was shocked; I didn’t expect to hear this at all. I was told that if I go and have a certain test done at another clinic that has a special machine that perhaps it could be an option, but didn’t look promising. I am not doing this test.

If I had never read your experience and how you handled the news with such grace and gratitude I think I would have cried at the doctor’s office. I am disappointed, but it could be worse. And thank god that I can wear contacts.

Thank you so much for setting such a wonderful example of how to find good in a disappointing event. You are a blessing to me. – Shelley

Don’t wait to get hit in the head to “get it”

I know that we need to live our messages, but I didn’t realize to what extent! I was the presenter for the first annual Women Connect retreat at my alma mater, the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Nearly fifty women signed up to spend the morning with me learning how to live a grateful and inspired life.

Excited to share my life’s work and passion, I’m getting set up for the morning. The last thing I have to do is to set up my booth of books and products. I go to unstrap the bungee cord that has my two crates of products secured to it and it flings up and smacks me directly above my right eye on my forehead. I’m shocked and not quite sure what happened. The blood gushing out indicates that it was serious. Safety and Security inform me that I’ll need to get some stitches and will need to do so now.

I’m confused as to what’s happening as I’m supposed to be the one leading the retreat. So I start sharing with wonderful Women Connect team how they can get started while I go to urgent care and get stitched up. Well urgent care didn’t work out so good and we needed to go to the ER instead. The doctor there confidently gives me three stitches. While waiting for Sara in the ER lobby, who has been graciously escorting me all morning, I’m thinking about my husband’s response that I’ll have to find something witty to share back to the group with what happened. I open the newsletter/magazine called Essential Wellness. The first page article is the one titled as this tile. I couldn’t believe it, this was my witty opener when I came back.

I arrive back at St. Thomas with 15 minutes remaining of the presentation. I walk into the room and receive a standing ovation. I’m in awe and share how I received my only standing ovation for not saying a word! Then I share my witty “getting hit on the head/getting it” opener. The audience laughs again.

I’m still reflecting on what happened and why it happened. Throughout the whole experience I felt vulnerable as something like this has never happened to me before. I believe everything happens for a reason yet it hasn’t all been revealed yet why this has happened to me. Was it that I didn’t need to say anything but to just live the message I was saying? Was it that the morning needed to take a different direction that I had planned? Was it that I needed to come back for a follow up? Was it that I needed this to happen so that I can get it? Was it that now I’ll forever have a great opener for other audiences? For whatever reason it was meant to happen, I’ll trust God’s plan.

Later that evening I take the time to actually read the article. The author/editor talks about her experience of getting hit on the head and the importance of “getting right back on the saddle again.” Was this the reason it happened, to encourage me to get back on the saddle? She also shares later how she hit her head again and then she learned she needed to do something different. Was this hit on my head a wake up call for me to be doing something different?

Was it a way to reinforce my mission encouraging people to get it – the heart of what matters most to them? Was it so that I could write this gratitude reflection and share it with you? Often times we don’t know why things happen, we just need to be grateful that it’s something that’s suppose to happen that will help us “get it” – and hopefully for you, you won’t need to get hit the head like me to discover it.

In what ways has your vulnerability benefited others?

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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.

What do you bring to the employment table?

As organizations continue to change -they’ll grow, restructure, merge, right size, outsource – an increasingly vital career strategy is to make sure your competitive edge continues to be well honed, razor sharp, and very, very productive.

Get this image in your mind—you are carrying a large suitcase or portfolio that holds all of your skills, experiences, and accomplishments. It is unique to you. You carry it, wherever you go. Is it heavy with many skills or is it light with only a few? Do you know if your portfolio would be of value in lots of different places or just a limited few?

Periodically inspect your skills portfolio.
Realize you are more than your job description. Rather, define yourself by what you do well and where you can use them. Which skills are state-of-the-art and in great demand? Which skills are somewhat rusty that need to be improved? How many are transferable to other areas inside your organization or even outside to other companies or industries?

Think resume in everything you do.
At the end of each year, whether you are looking for a new job or not, take the time to write or update your resume and compare it with last year’s. See if it has gotten noticeably better. See if it shows growth either in skills and competencies or in high valued assignments or projects?

Take charge of your career.
So, are you waiting for the company to magically tell you what you need to do? Or are you taking responsibility to keep your skills and expertise up to date and marketable? How often do you…

• Examine your skills portfolio on a regular basis?
• Determine if you have both breath and depth in your functional area?
• Pinpoint specific skills and knowledge that you need to acquire or upgrade?
• Periodically review educational opportunities that may help your career advancement?
• Evaluate each potential assignment on the merits of growth, exposure and visibility to key people? Not all are equal.

Career Success Tip:

Your career security in a changing workplace lies less in your position and more in how marketable you are inside and outside your organization. So, have transferrable skills and therefore you will travel. View yourself as a roving skills portfolio to stay employable the rest of your life.

Readers, what skills do you think will be necessary to succeed in the future?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

As you move into the New Year, you may have new projects added to your plate along with other projects in full swing. Perhaps you are working with a team that is struggling to make progress. Maybe you find yourself behind on projects and not sure how to catch up.

It’s amazing how easily I can spin up into a panic or turmoil if I let my mind run wild. So to correct that, I’ve learned to chant simple phrases that bring my mind back to calmness. I’ve used these chants in various times of stress or worry to help me find peace, bring balance, or remain open to what needs to happen next.

Various sounds (such as aaaahhh or ooooooh) when spoken aloud help you resonate with the vibrations and thus bring you back to balance. Other chants are used to evoke an image of a Deity, peace, compassion or love. Some Buddhist chants have no direct translation in English but are designed to bring your mind to stillness. You can say these phrases below or sing any chants you know that help you find peace. Here are some of my favorite chants.

“Om Mani Padme Hum” is a fairly common Buddhist phrase recited to relieve suffering. Kalu Rinpoche describes this sacred phrase as follows:

That enlightened awareness includes whatever we might need to understand in order to save any beings, including ourselves, from suffering. For that reason the entire Dharma, the entire truth about the nature of suffering and the many ways of removing its causes, is said to be contained in these six syllables – Om Mani Padme Hum

“Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo” – This chant means “Divine Teacher within I call Upon Thee”. In Kundalini Yoga this chant is often used for meditation. It can also be translated to mean “I bow before my highest consciousness”. See the YouTube link to get a fuller explanation of this phrase.

“Om Shanti Shanti Shanti” – Shanti means peace

“Breathing- In I Calm my Body, Breathing-Out I Smile” – I like this phrase offered by Thich Nhat Hanh as part of his mindfulness meditations. I’ve used this frequently at work and when stuck in traffic.

“Nam(u)-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō” is thought by devotees of Nichiren to contain the essence of the Buddha’s teaching from the Lotus Sutra. Nichirin taught that people can reach their Buddha nature by chanting this phrase.

“Only Love is Flowing Here” – This is a lovely chant from Dances of Universal Peace. I’ve used it when I am about to enter a meeting that I know will be particularly stressful. It helps me calm down and affirm that Love can flow, even in difficult situations.

Let us know how these chants work for you. Or share your own chants here that you’ve used to help you find peace when you feel stress or worry.

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

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Linda is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Go to her website www.lindajferguson.com to read more about her work, view video clips of her talks, and find out more about her book “Path for Greatness: Spirituality at Work” available on Amazon.

Do you have all the puzzle pieces and know how they fit?

Just for a moment, visualize your career as one huge jigsaw puzzle with many different pieces. One piece can be your department’s goals; a second your company’s challenges; a third your industry and how it’s doing; a fourth the economy in your city or region and so on.

As the pace of change accelerates, careers will be profoundly affected by what’s happening inside and outside your workplace. Do you know what’s going on? What puzzle pieces do you have; which are missing?

Information is power so be on constant alert.

For the company puzzle piece, look for signals everywhere, every day. Read your company’s blog, annual reports and other publications. Talk to people in other departments and business units. In fact, google your company regularly. Yes, this takes time and effort. However, you will come across information that can impact your career trajectory – either up or down.

Here’s an example. As I was getting my visitors badge in the reception area of a company where I was presenting a career management program, I noticed the monthly employee newsletter lying on a table. There on the front page was the president outlining the company’s five strategic initiatives for the coming year.

During the “What’s Happening in Your Company” part of the program, I asked the participants: “What are XYZ’s strategic initiatives for the coming year? How might these priorities affect them?”

In other words, what was the company trying to accomplish and how could their department, team, business unit or division be impacted? No one was able to answer questions even though the information was right under their noses.

Can you answer these questions about your company?

• What are your organization’s top strategic initiatives?
• How might these priorities affect me, my job, my department or my career goals?
• Are there any actions I should take right now to make sure I’m competitive and employable?

Career Success Tip.

If you can stay in tune with the changing workplace, then you will be better able to see both the danger and opportunity signs. Anticipate and prepare for change so that you won’t get sidetracked or derailed in your career.

Readers, what do you think? Is information power? How has information helped you in your career?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

A not so great performance review doesn’t have to be a career setback.

Recently I coached a talented project manager who had received a not so stellar performance review that could impact her career advancement. Getting negative feedback from your boss is not a joyride. In fact, it can be devastating. I know from experience. So what do you do?

My first reaction was to go home and hide under the bed covers – not a very mature response. But the next day, I let go of my embarrassment and started a list of concrete actions that would lead to performance improvement. I then went to my boss, now feeling more confident, and reviewed my list. We agreed on two performance areas that needed improvement; scheduled training and special assignments to develop specific skills; and finally set a time table to keep me on track.

What did I learn from that experience?

1. Reflect before reacting.
It’s far too easy to be defensive. Let the results sink in before you do anything. Does the feedback ring true? Is there concrete evidence? Does it resonate with things you’ve heard in the past?

2. Decide what to change.
What feedback is most important to you as a leader, manager or professional? What are the two or three things you can start working on immediately to get results? It’s important to show improvement quickly so you won’t get labeled as a poor performer.

3. Get support from others.
Ask your manager, as well as other key people (peers, direct reports, mentors, etc) to give you regular feedback as you make the needed changes. Avoid vague questions like: “How am I doing?” Rather, ask for specific feedback. “How was my presentation on target and off target?”

How did the project manager avoid a career setback?

Well she choose to work on her leadership style. She admitted she was a perfectionist – detailed oriented, focused on facts, and very cautious to take a stand fearing it may be the wrong decision. That led to her projects getting behind schedule. So she decided to improve her delegation, decision making and communication skills. She also kept her manager in the loop and requested regular feedback from him.

Bottom line: Her projects are meeting the milestones set by her boss; she is more self assured and able to let go of responsibility and authority; and she’s back on a career track for advancement.

Readers, how have you turned around a poor performance review?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

About a year ago I finished my MBA. I expected there would be plenty of opportunities for advancement. That has not happened. What should I do?

That was a question from an analyst in a financial services company. That situation has come up several times in coaching recent MBA’s and Executive MBA graduates. They thought once they got that coveted degree, their company would quickly promote and advance them. When that didn’t happen, they were disappointed, unappreciated and wondered if they should stay or leave.

Your career advancement depends on…

1. What you can do now that you couldn’t do before your MBA.
Note that I said “do” not “know.” You may know a lot more, but does that translate into concrete tasks or projects that are helping your company? For instance, you may have studied international finance and politics, but if your company’s market is primarily the Midwest United States, it’s not helpful to them.

2. Where the company is today and will be tomorrow.
You may have started you MBA before or just as the recession started. You had high hopes. The company had high hopes. Now the economy and your company’s future are different. The expectations you had may not be realistic today. So reevaluate your situation, your company’s viability and potential opportunities. You may need to make a lateral move to gain more hands on experience before you are seen as promotion material.

3. How you are utilizing your MBA.
Think of your MBA in terms of the skills you’ve developed or enhanced and the application of these skills in your present position as well as potential opportunities within your company. Focus on accomplishments or the impact of your work. For example, you increased sales by 15% or cut down time to 3% which then led to what? Can you give a crisp answer to: How is your MBA benefiting the company or how will it benefit it in the future?

The worth of an MBA.

I think MBAs are great, but without underlying experience, they aren’t worth nearly as much. The burden of proof, that you are more valuable now than you would be without the degree lies, firmly on you. It’s not that you have an MBA that counts. It’s what difference you are making with the skills and knowledge you leaned from it.

MBA readers, what do you think?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?