How do you at your team?

There is a Zen saying
"To her lover a beautiful woman is a delight,
To a monk a distraction
To a mosquito a good meal."

The learning is that your view is dependent on your beliefs. If you believe there is talent, there is....if you believe your team lacks talent...they will. Why because your team will grow from your confidence in them, they will flourish with your belief in them. Understand your power and use it to bring out the talent in your team.

Motivating People Carnival

Here are some ideas from readers that may inspire you ready for next week.
almomento presents 9 Ways To Incorporate Win-Win Philosophy Into Your Business posted at BurstCreativity.

CA presents Leadership mistakes made by small business owners posted at IQI Strategic Management, Inc., saying, "Having worked with a number of small businesses, I find a common theme among the many mistakes they make - most of them people related. Here is my most important list."

Charles H. Green presents The Sacred Cow of Retention posted at Trust Matters, saying, "Retention that is cost driven, instead of loyalty driven, doesn't work."

Amy Pedersen presents Back Injuries at Work and Your Office Chair, Preventing Injury posted at Sit On This Office Chair ...., saying, "One of the most common work-related injuries is back pain. It will also help employees maintain a healthy back and not take work home with them at least in the pain part of the job."

Hueina Su presents Life Balance Lessons: 7 Keys to Avoid Burnout posted at Intensive Care for the Nurturer's Soul, Here are some proactive steps you can take today to prevent burnout and return to balance.

Debra Moorhead presents Manager of Life posted at Debra Moorhead.com.

Editor - Dave Prouhet presents Workplace Stress Busters posted at Business Advice Daily,
Here are 6 Ways to Improve Workplace Performance by Reducing Stress."

Aniq Rahman presents Listen to the Employees Before You Buy Up The Employer: Better Means Bigger posted at Fiscal Times.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
how to keep employees
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.

Carnival - Business Stories and Anecdotes

Welcome to the April 20, 2007 edition of anecdotes and stories for business. I would love you to tell people about this carnival as I want to build this as a hub for stories and anecdotes. I have turned down posts that are about how to lead rather than a story or a painting of a picture.

Barbra Sundquist presents How One Woman Went from Olympic Champion to Motivational Speaker (Part 1) posted at HomeBusinessWiz.

Evil HR Lady presents When Making it Confidential Defeats the Purpose posted at Evil HR Lady I love stories! This one is about confidentiality run amuck."

Anna presents Do You Have an Atlas Mind at The Engaging Brand

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Should You Quit School Because You’re Brilliant? posted at The Digerati Life.

Anja Merret presents The Brand of Harry Potter posted at anja merret,

Charles H. Green presents What if You Played Music and Nobody Listened? posted at Trust Matters, saying, "Would you know the best if you saw or heard them?"

Craig Harper presents A Mildy Amusing Story about Fear. posted at Renovate your life with Craig, saying, "I remember my first 'public speaking' gig about twenty years ago.

Editor - Dave Prouhet presents Small Business Success Story - Eggs and Advertising posted at Business Advice Daily

Al Nye presents The Power of Nice posted at Al Nye The Lawyer Guy.

Paula Kawal presents The Truth About Clutter posted at paula kawal.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of anecdotes and stories for business using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

How to be the greatest

Michael Jordan practiced 3 hours before each game - why? Because he wanted to be the greatest player of all time.

Question for the day - how much time do you spend on both yourself and your team each day on learning and honing the skills that are needed? Leadership and management are skills that need constant learning and practice to be at the top of your game!

To Be Creative Think with No Barriers

A cement company in Qatar has built a cement factory on a ship - to ensure that they can get the cement around the gulf wherever there is a supply shortage.

Imagine the seen at that meeting when someone suggested that as an idea...but it is brilliant. When you want your team to think of solutions allow the whacky, allow them not to think of constraints...allow them to think freely. If the idea would solve the problem then brainstorm how to get round the constraints....

How to make learning part of your company

To move forward as a company it is imperative that you grow the people at the same rate as your company. That means making learning part of your organisational DNA.

At GE - even at simple operating meetings - the leaders ask "What are we learning here" They don't just accept success, they want to learn from the success. They want to know what created the success, how the numbers have grown, what changes they could make and even more powerful how could we make it even better.

Sometimes success can lead to complacency....it does not have to do. The key is to build a learning culture that explores, that encourages people to push the boundaries, that loves success and passionately wants to create it.

Don't fear young Einstein's

Sometimes people fear creative ideas, fear those people who want to push the boundaries, who want to challenge some of the thinking. For me, they are the people that could take your business forward - love your mavericks.

Remember Einstein, on the most brilliant thinkers of our time was

• Slow to speak as a child
• Sent packing by a headmaster
• Unable to get a doctorate because he alienated professors who didn't like to be challenged
• Working as a 3rd class examiner at a patent office when he espoused the theory of relativity.

Mavericks may need some boundaries like every other person but don't kill the creativity by making them conform....

Talent is all around you

This is a true story. Yesterday I was speaking to a manager who ran a team of 65 people. He was depressed because he had been looking to extend some social media tools to help communication across his team. The trouble was that budget was tight, and IT had different priorities. Then a junior member of his team came in and resigned. He said he was leaving to use more of his IT skills, he had a passion for social media and wanted a role that used his skills that he had developed in his spare time.

The manager was depressed, he had never asked the question to his team, he had never thought that the talent might be in his team. People are paid to excel in their role but never forget that might NOT be the extent of their talent. Get close, be curious, look for that hidden talent....before that talent looks for another manager.