New Motivation for List Makers

April 25, 2017

There must be thousands of different kinds of people in this world, because I’ve heard since I was a child that, “there are two kinds of people in this world . . . “ but it hasn’t been the same joke twice.  Well, there are list makers and others in this world.  I’m one of the list makers.

In my Consulting, near the beginning I ensure that the people in my care have some type of organizational system.  Some people use their phone or computer calendar, some use agendas, some use sticky notes, and some use lists.  You can use a combination of systems, but the late Steven Covey (Seven Habits of Highly Successful People) advised against it.

When I speak to a group of people, if the topic is appropriate, I ask the list makers to raise their hands.  Then I ask them to keep their hands up if they do a task that is not on their list, they add it for the joy of crossing it off.  Rarely does a hand descend.  The joy of lists is crossing out/checking off/acknowledging the deed.

While list making seems pretty straight forward, there are some rules that you can choose to apply.  For instance, you can prioritize your lists with A, B, Cs, per Kenneth Galbraith.  You can also limit the number of tasks on your list, and I think that’s an important point.

Too often I see people adding to their list, so that there is always more to do, and the tasks are never completed.  In fact, as a younger mom with young children, my kids would accuse me of this on Saturday chore days.  I would assign tasks, but as we worked I would find more things to be done.  My cherubs greatly disliked this!  It was a good lesson for me, but that’s another story.

Please know, I advocate limiting the number of tasks on your list, and never including more than can be completed in a day.  Who needs a week’s worth of jobs staring at them?  You can break it up as you see fit, perhaps two on-going tasks and 3 daily tasks if you like.  I’m including this to answer the question about how to tackle big jobs.

As an avid fan of lists, I have recently made a small change in my habit that is greatly motivating.  As I finish a task, I replace it with a reward.  So if I have three jobs to get done, you can do the math.  I also align the reward with the project.  So if I have a small task, such as completing a report that usually takes an hour, I replace it with reading for pleasure for a set amount of time.  Or crocheting.  It could be a bath. The point is, in order to encourage motivation beyond crossing our tasks off our list (in which list- makers take great satisfaction by the way), we are doubly motivated because we are giving ourselves permission to treat ourselves well.

If you’re thinking this cuts your work time in half, try it and let me know.  I haven’t found that to be true.  I have found it leads to a more satisfying life overall.

Lindy is an In-house Consultant, Business Coach, Speaker, and Author.  She is The Adjunct Executive to companies and departments with 50 – 100 employees, focusing on Communication, Leadership, and Corporate Culture.  You can have Lindy in to motivate your Team with Seminars and Workshops, or be more successful when Lindy works with your staff one day a week, with her unique business model. Call 770-912-6192 today.

What Are You Planting?

April 18, 2017

Spring is here, and whether or not you’re a gardener, you have to admit, this is planting season.  Some people plant flowers, and reap fragrance and beauty.  Some plant food – possibly looking for nourishment, with potatoes and carrots, or spice, with herbs and peppers! One last point, where they plant is important – is the patch large enough to hold their produce, and did they cultivate the soil?

So, from a philosophical point of view, what are you planting in your life right now? Second, where are you planting it? Last, how are you nourishing it?

Are you planting encouragement? Devastation? Kindness? Harshness? Acceptance? Avoidance?  Sometimes without even realizing it we are planting all this and more.  When you ignore someone, you’ve planted a seed.  Depending on where they are in their life, it could be washed away, or it could take root.  When you offer a sincere compliment, you’re planting wonderful things that could add fragrance as well as nourishment.

Where are you planting in your life?  Home, with spouse and children? With neighbors? At work, with colleagues and employees?  Like non-verbal communication, which often precedes us and can send messages we never intended to emit, we could be planting seeds without really knowing it.  So, by all means, set out with intent of what you want to plant, and with whom!

With your family, plant unconditional love.  Nobody should have to earn their parents love.  With colleagues and employees, making yourself available plants encouragement and growth.

The slightly inappropriate joke about how you’re nourishing your plants can be skipped.  We all know manure is a good fertilizer with plants, but not with people!   You can nourish your seeds with time, energy, and commitment.  You truly can reap what you sow!

Lindy is an In-house Consultant, Business Coach, Speaker, and Author.  She is The Adjunct Executive to companies and departments with 50 – 100 employees, focusing on Communication, Leadership, and Corporate Culture.  You can have Lindy in to motivate your Team with Seminars and Workshops, or be more successful when Lindy works with your staff one day a week, with her unique business model. Call 770-912-6192 today.

How To Be a Bad Speaker

April 11, 2017

We have all been subjected to bad speakers and bad presentations.  Sadly, once immersed in the situation, it’s nigh unto impossible to excuse yourself. While, in theory, nobody intentionally gives a bad presentation, I have to wonder.  Some things are so common that I have to wonder why there are so many poor presentations, although it could just be laziness.

So please let me share a few observations that we have all seen too often.  If any of these are true of the presentations you give, please do everyone a favor and recluse yourself from any type of public speaking.  Harsh? Not as harsh as subjecting colleagues to a poor presentation.

First, make it all about you.  These people are here to see and hear you, right?  Therefore this gives you carte blanche to talk endlessly about yourself and get around to the subject at hand when you desire.  Especially deadly are what I call eulogies – a long list of all your accomplishments and why you are the perfect person to talk about the subject.  Ugh.

Second, never give up the microphone.  I believe a really great speaker, allowing for size of audience, is a facilitator – you get the audience engaged.  If you want to give a bad presentation, however, once you get that mic you will not give it up for anything, not even at the end of your allotted time.  I once heard an especially poor speaker announce, at the beginning of his time, that he doesn’t wear a watch and he’s going to talk as long as he wants.  And he did.  Deadly.  Note to self:  never invite him anywhere again, not even as a guest.

Inappropriate jokes and comments are a wonderful idea if you want to alienate your listeners.  You cannot know everyone’s political and religious affiliations, so maybe your choices are to offend everyone or no one.  I would choose no one but bad speakers seem to enjoy segmenting some population and attacking them.

Some speakers enjoy the sound of their own voice so much that they will squeeze ten minutes of knowledge into an hour.  They are dull!  The first ten minutes was useful, but after that, why are they still speaking?  Drone on and on and repeat your one or two points if you want to be a poor speaker.

As a Business Coach, I have an arsenal of tricks that I share with clients based on their needs and the situation at hand.  Recently I met with a colleague, and realized that he was coaching me.  I sat back kind of excited to be on that side of the table.  I learned, within a few minutes, that this guy had one trick – linked in.  Yes, I use linked in.  Next?  Nope.  He just drilled on linked in for an hour.  Again, ten minutes worth of information stuffed into an hour.  Ouch.

Some speakers have heard that people like numbers.  I agree with this.  If you can back up your ideas with statistics and numerical facts, I believe you have a stronger case.  Too often, however, I find there is a quantity of data but no points.  The speaker is just spewing random statistics but not bringing them together into any cohesive meaning.  Don’t do that!

Condescension is always a good way to talk down to your audience.  This can happen even in a one-on-one conversation.  A few months ago a gentleman used the word synergy, then defined it for me.  Being me, I called him on it.  He hadn’t even realized what he had done, and in fairness he was humble and apologetic.  Maybe I made him more aware for future conversations.

So far we have discussed ways to have poor presentations, but what about the presentation itself?  I’m sure you’ve had presenters actually Read To You off the power point slides.  Really?  It’s hard for me to believe this, but it happens all the time.

First, a good presentation does not have power point slides.  This is a lazy way of not having to learn a presentation.  Second, it invites another challenge that disappears without the slides – turning your back on your audience.  So now you have someone who is condescending in that they do not believe you’re smart enough to read the innocuous messages on their slides, so they turn their back on you and read to you.  This is a triple whammy!  Sadly, once their back is turned, it seems to be harder for them to actually face forward again.  They spend the rest of their presentation checking the slides to ensure they are coming up correctly.  Have some faith in a simple computer program.  Power point works.  Know your subject and talk to your audience!

Of course, the most obvious of all bad presentations is a failure to practice.  People, everybody in the room, and the custodian in the hall, knows when you fail to practice.  You stumble over words.  You get your ideas out of order.  You use poor grammar.  This idea that you went over the presentation in your head on the way to the event is INSUFFICIENT.

Now think about this – the greatest athletes in the world, whether they are golfers or soccer players or runners, practice on the days they don’t have games or matches.  I’m talking about world-class athletes!  The people who set records that last for decades.  On the days that they are not competing, they spend their time PRACTICING.  If it’s good enough for the best of the best, you can learn from their example.

Lindy is an In-house Consultant, Business Coach, Speaker, and Author.  She is The Adjunct Executive to companies and departments with 50 – 100 employees, focusing on Communication, Leadership, and Corporate Culture.  You can have Lindy in to motivate your Team with Seminars and Workshops, or be more successful when Lindy works with your staff one day a week, with her unique business model. Call 770-912-6192 today.

Gentle Disagreement

April 4, 2017

“I sense disagreement.”  I found the words magical, especially as they were said

in a seminar just after a woman in the group made it very clear she vehemently disagreed with what had just been presented. The question isn’t who was right, the presenter or the attendee. The point is how well the presenter diffused a volatile situation.  Wow!

By understating the response, the potential explosion evaporated.  In fact, any negativity was immediately dismissed.  Yes, there was some appropriate laughter.  But truly, the situation turned from combative to conciliatory.  All with three words!

Why?  How had this presenter so artfully taken control of the situation?  Well, I have a few theories and you may have more . . .

One, not taking things too seriously.  As the presenter he could claim to be the expert in the room.  Thus when someone disagreed with him, he could have become defensive.  Instead, he chose to not take himself, or his presentation, too seriously.

Two, excellent use of humor.  By underplaying the response, he had people smiling and laughing.  Humor can be tricky as some people are ready to be offended at anything, but he did well.  A simple observation said more than if he had said more.

Three, I wonder if he wasn’t prepared.  Whether or not he had made this particular presentation before, he might have been aware that he was sharing some questionable or hard-to-hear information.  Thus, he was prepared for opposition, and forewarned is forearmed (to borrow an adage from the early 1500s).

Four, I think it was good that he acknowledged the comment versus ignoring it.  To ignore it may have meant the person might have steamed and stewed and may have come back with serious venom.  By addressing the situation he kept control and was able to move forward.

This also reminds me to be better prepared, possibly with such a simple statement as, “I sense disagreement,” or maybe a question an old client asked, “How so?”  If someone disagreed with anything in his sales presentation, or claimed they could get the product for less, he would use two words, “How so?”  It invited the other person, without condescension or condemnation, to state their case.

So it’s my job to not take myself too seriously, to use humor appropriately and not offensively, and to prepare myself for any situation.  It sounds easy on paper.  Let’s see how well this lesson can be applied in real life . . .

Lindy is an In-house Consultant, Business Coach, Speaker, and Author.  She is The Adjunct Executive to companies and departments with 50 – 100 employees, focusing on Communication, Leadership, and Corporate Culture.  You can have Lindy in to motivate your Team with Seminars and Workshops, or be more successful when Lindy works with your staff one day a week, with her unique business model. Call 770-912-6192 today.