I attended a performance booster business breakfast recently where attendees were reminded that society and business is moving from a mechanistic management approach to a more humanistic and conscious business model. It's not just about loyalty anymore. The buzz words are engagement - commitment - cash flow meltdowns - incompetent leadership - managers versus leaders - and the disengaged attitude of managers and staff alike.
And then this question arrived in my mind: What are the most important lessons that I have learned during my varied and often completely different working environments and, different roles within these environments?
Do you want to make a difference? To make a difference you first have to make a conscious decision to do so and then apply discipline to persist with this despite all the challenges involved.
Do you want to add value over and beyond the norm? If yes, it will present a constant challenge to your creativity to come up with new ideas and approaches to the what, why and how you do things.
People do business with people not with companies. Market yourself - be authenticity - be the change.
Performance Booster (www.performancebooster.co.za) teaches and present employees and managers alike with the skills and tools to effect change in within their own lives first and then to apply the emotional intelligence gained from this, also in their work environments.
Many who completed the program, shared - and with great enthusiasm - how they and their companies have benefited from this program.
I have always maintained that the initial benefits from most sales conferences and team building events lasts for a about two weeks after the event. Then everything is back to "normal". The reason for this is that without a fundamental mind shift about self and individual purpose, most behavioural changes don't last long. Permanent changes require, first and foremost, an unconditional acceptance of the fact that each and everyone has a divine purpose.
Employers, managers and leaders need to create environments where employees will be allowed to excel within their divine purpose. If you identify talent and capacity, apply the "manage without managing" principle - guide, teach, allow - don't terrorise or police but of course - when staff step out of line, one has to be firm, fair, reasonable and above all else, respectful. Many managers management style is motivated by the power of the position rather than their emotional intelligence capacity. Terrorise and police and you will kill the human spirit and eventually your company.
Create "growth mindsets" - engage in "growth conversations" (PB) - be more everyday - apply a different approach to at least one of the many daily, and often mundane/routine tasks. Take time to engage your mind, and staff in strategic planning - allow them to set the mini goals within the big picture and vision for the company. Allow them to set their own goals within the company.
It is important to rid oneself and the company from the constant survival mode philosophies and methodologies and the negativity dictated by the external world - colleagues, politicians, the economy and the rest.
Visualise, formulate, believe, do and trust. Even if you do not understand or know your divine purpose, do the work and trust the process.
What lessons have you learnt?
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