Excellence Instead of Perfectionnism

As a recovering perfectionist I really discovered that life begins (or at least gets richer) when you move out of perfectionism and your comfort zone ends. Staying in your comfort zone doesn’t challenge you to grow. In fact, I missed many opportunities because I got too caught up in making it perfect (I later learned that it never really is perfect…..)




Instead of perfectionism I now strive for excellence.



You might be thinking “what’s the difference?”



Excellence means you strive for your best, and act in integrity with your values. Even in striving for excellence there may be a mistake, it isn’t perfect. If mistakes happen they are handled with professionalism, ease, accountability and integrity.



What is perfectionism costing you?



If you are not sure, ask those around you (your family, friends, loved ones and business colleagues).



Here are a few tips to practice letting go of perfectionism:

1. Watch your language. Use words like excellence instead of perfection.

2. When you make a mistake be forgiving of yourself. Don’t keep reliving or replaying the event in your mind.

3. Lighten up; don’t be so hard on yourself.

4. Remember, that when you expect perfection of yourself, the assumption others make is that you expect perfection from them.



Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be possible!

5 Lessons About Teams from the Movie Avatar

I have now seen the movie Avatar several times, and each time I learn something new, and gain a new perspective.  This time when I watched it I found myself thinking about the parallels between the story line, and business.  In the movie Avatar, there were examples of the following, which I believe are essential for organizational success:


Relationships

Teams and communities can endure and move through a great deal of change, crisis and adversity when the relationships are strong. Relationships can be restored with work, and when both parties are willing to understand, build the relationship, forgive, and move forward. Trust can be broken as quickly as it is formed so ongoing attention to nurturing trust and relationships is essential.


Values

Trust, honesty, honour, family and respect for the land and its creatures was critical, just like in organizations, these are often the key organizational foundations. When deeply rooted values are compromised, or challenged, it can create conflict and division in the community, in the team.

Importance of rituals and legacy

In the movie Avatar, legacy, tradition and rituals were the backbone of the people. Decisions were made based on history and rituals that keep the community strong. In workplaces there is often a culture, and when the team connects with tradition and rituals, there is a sense of synergy that forms.

Community

When there is a goal and a purpose, communities (and in the case of Avatar... Tribes) come together to support the mission. Community is not just people living or working in a certain geographic area. Community involves relationships. In Avatar, when the safety of the community was threatened, other communities came to lend support. We have seen this in our own community natural disasters such as forest fires, floods, etc. Other communities reach out to lend support, resources, and assistance. Social responsibility and respect for the land is a hot issue in many workplaces and organizations, as it was in the movie Avatar.

Leadership

Every community, tribe, workplace and team needs a leader. Leaders are the vision keepers, uphold the goals and mission, even when the going gets tough, and create cohesion in a time of crisis. As David Irvine (author and speaker on leadership and trust) says, leadership is a decision, not a position.




Next time you watch Avatar, watch for the parallels you see between the movie and the team or organization in which you work. Look forward to hearing your perspectives.

Are the borders in your mind or in your business?

After being in business for more thanfifteen years, I have learned a lot about what works. I have also had lots of those “what doesn’t work” reality check learnings too.

One observation I have made over the years, and a hurdle I had to cross myself, is thinking too small. When I had two businesses (training, mediation and employment services), a team of 10+ staff, two brick and mortar office locations I was content. The challenge with content is that it doesn’t push you to think beyond the borders. My business was local. We serviced local corporate clients and local community residents. That may be the case for you too. Now, technology allows you to remove the borders of being local.

For example, one of my team members (my speaker manager) lives in California. Our publicist is from Florida, and I have never met her, but, she is phenomenal. Many of the freelancers we contract live in other parts of the world. And technology allows us to connect with and do business beyond our original business borders. When I lead tele-classes and webinars the audience is from all over the world.

At a recent networking meeting one of the participants said “I am a massage therapist, I can't just jump a plane to do a treatment in the US” and the lady next to her said “no, that wouldn’t be a good use of time or business capital however, you could write ebooks or do teleclasses on health, lifestyle or massage and be accessible as the expert around the world.” I could see the excitement building. Her pen scribbled wildly across her note pad as she dumped idea, after idea, after idea about how she could be “global.”

"Nothing limits achievement like small thinking; nothing expands possibilities like unleashed imagination." - William Arthur Ward

What are the ways that you can offer your product, service or expertise on a global level?

Are the borders in your mind, or in your business?

Lessons From the Sailboat

On a recent interview with Nancy Ferrari, I talked about courageous dialogue and bouncing forward. Bounce Forward has four components:  Courageous Dialogue, Stress Management and Resilience, Teamwork by Design and The ASK.  These are four essentials to bouncing forward through life and business challenging times.  When Nancy invited me to share how I define the ASK, here is what I said:

ASKS that make a difference:

A- Ask for what you need, don’t assume, and be clear

S- skills- practice your ask so that it is clear, comfortable and you are confident

K-kindness to others and receiving graciously keeps the ask cycle going

Think of a few asks that you can use as your practice asks.  Maybe it is asking for help. Or advice. Maybe it is to help solve a problem.  When you ASK, it sets the stage in a relationship (e.g. a workplace relationship) for others to do the same of you.

Nancy also asked me about our "sailboat story". You may know this story already, especially if you have read my book On Toby's Terms or Bounce Forward, I talk about this near death experience, and it has also formed the basis of my most popular keynote presentation.  Years ago my husband Christoper and I had a near death sailboat accident. Swimming for our lives challenged my resilience in ways I had not thought possible. It was the true test of bouncing forward or back.  After we were rescued, and I had time to reflect, I discovered that to enjoy sailing again I needed to push through my fear of sailing and getting back on the boat.  In sailing, and in life remember...We can always change course, but we can’t get time back.

Fear also stops people from asking, and many times by the time you muster up the courage, the opportunity has gone.  You can always change course, just like we do in sailing, if things don't go well, but, you can't get back time and missed opportunities.

http://www.beachcitiesradio.com/on-air/wednesday/the-nancy-ferrari-show  June 20, 2012 Show Link
 
Happy ASKing!

Workplace Values..... the value of values

Richard Schultz and I enjoyed a great conversation about values when I interviewed him on my radio show http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charmainehammond/2012/06/13/guests-richard-schultz-and-athena-katsaros



In our conversations, Richard talked about two important words that are essential. You probably used these words all the time...I AM. These two words are very important in a value based workplace and in describe the team and business goals. These words are also very important in shifting mindsets and overcoming discomfort. Richard gave an example of making difficult calls, sales calls (something that causes discomfort and even fear and procrastination for some). Instead of focusing on the dread of the phone call or the face to face conversation, Richard suggested you could say something like: "I am calm and personalable”, "I am smiling” or “I am clear in message and effective in building rapport”

Setting the intention of success, picturing a favourable outcome and using affirming statements can be helpful in conversations where you are typically uncomfortable or nervous.

Have the outcome clear in your mind, what does the end story look like?


With affirming statements, Richard said they take work, and frequent repetition to be effective in fact, he suggested we need to repeat these statements about 200-300 times to create a belief and mindset change in our subconscious programming. He says that VALUES =Beliefs plus Behaviour

The process of walking the talk in creating a value based workplace is to:


1) Choose to be aware- leaders check in with your behaviours. Are the results you want, the results you are achieving?


2) Tools and behaviours- for example if you get stressed about doing business presentations, or cold calls, your subconscious brain is likely repeating messages such as "I can’t stand doing this","I am not good enough to win the trust of the top executives", "I am up against tough competition". Instead identify what you do want, not your fear or what you are trying to avoid. Turn the unwanted behaviour into a statement of belief by using these two words I Am.... and then stepping into action.


Listen here to learn how you can put more focus on values in your team and workplace: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charmainehammond/2012/06/13/guests-richard-schultz-and-athena-katsaros

The Queen Of Process- setting systems for team and business success!

What a great title... The Queen of Process.  This is how business expert Barb Stuhlemmer is known.  Barb is a speaker, author of best selling books, and an expert on leadership and business growth.  Barb is also an expert and partnering with her clients to accelerate their business growth by squeezing money out of their time wasters and monetizing repetitive processes.  This really resonated with me as I also believe that successful leaders, teams and businesses have created systems and processes that have advanced their efficiencies, reduced unnecessary frustration and maximized time and energy. 

Barb talked about the importance of goals, and that systems become the backbone to the goal.  One of the first steps it to create and understand each role in the company and team.  It is important for business owners to know each of the roles they perform in the business, and to record these, so that eventually a system or process could be created in order for another team member to grow into the role. 

Another valuable activity is to write instructions for every task you perform. While this could seem tedious, and time consuming, this action has tremendous value. First, it allows you to have the systems or process charted as a procedure or in an instruction guide. Second, it is easier to train new team members when the functions have documented procedures.

We also talked about the importance of retaining corporate knowledge. This is something that I do a lot of work with in businesses through team facilitation, team charter development, and succession planning.  Build a marketing plan that extends beyond you, and look at ways to automate some of the functions that are repetative.  One example I provided is a team who videos some of the basic functions of their roles, this is an example of retaining corporate knowledge and creating videos that will help new team members with their orientation and training. 
You can listen to Barb's interview with me here, on my radio show Conversations with Charmaine:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charmainehammond/2012/05/16/guests-beth-caldwell-and-barb-stuhlemmer

All very critical in business and team success,
And business growth!




 Another book I love about creating processes and systems is called the E-Myth by Michael Gerber. This is a fantastic book that teachs businesses some of the system and process tools for business success.  I highly recommend this book.




You can listen to Barb's interview with me here, on my radio show Conversations with Charmaine:


http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charmainehammond/2012/05/16/guests-beth-caldwell-and-barb-stuhlemmer


What tasks do you do that you could create a system, template or process around?  What benefits can you see by charting instructions, and creating processes?  If you were to pick three to start,  what would they be?