A new year, a new start

A new year brings a chance to set yourself some stretching personal targets. Here are some thoughts to help you achieve a life/work balance

N= No one can achieve balance with a high degree of honesty..be honest to yourself about how you need to develop and change.
E= Explore what you need to continue to do, build on your strengths.
W= Write down what you need to stop doing, stop avoiding ...be honest and take action.

Y= You will have development needs so what do you need to START doing?
E= Explore how you can save time by increasing your knowledge on technology. Automate what you can, use technology to do routine tasks.
A= Action is required to achieve life/work balance. What are 3 actions that you will take, and commit to?
R = Review the above each month, update as necessary, celebrate your progress and be honest about what you still need to address.

Are you special?

"If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself you won't get noticed, and that increasingly means that you won't get paid much either" Michael Goldhaber, Wired

How true! How do you provide value, how does your personal brand bring value to the company, to the team etc Does your brand demand a premium as it delivers a higher performance? List down what your personal brand is, your values and why someone would want to pay a premium for you compared to someone else? If you can't....then write a development plan for 2007 to create your premium in the talent marketplace.

Perfect - see it as a warning!

If you ever feel that there is a great atmosphere, that you have reached peak performance, that there are no real issues, that morale is great...beware!!

Is it real or are you just not close enough to your customers or your employees?

Sometimes people tell us what they THINK we want to hear....when things are going well, stay on top of the issues, stay close, walk around, listen, talk, dig below issues, ask "We have made many improvements, how can we continue to drive forward?"

Success comes with hard work

A story...

In the early 1950's Colin needed to earn some money and so volunteered for day jobs. He landed a spot on the soda delivery team, then cleaning up the soda syrup at the Pepsi plant. No one else volunteered for these kind of jobs...he did great work, had a grat attitude and was asked back the next summer. A story told in his autobiography....who, Colin Powell.

Sometimes when we see successful people we think - Oh, it alright for them...but we forget the work they put in, in their early careers. Success does not happen, you make it happen. Working hard, and practice are a huge part of most successful people's early life.

Remember the old golfing quote...The harder I practice, the luckier I get....

Loyalty vs Contribution

When you are reviewing your team - remember one thing. Loyalty is fantastic and should be treasured but and it is a big but - contribution is key.
Don't let loyalty mask your view of the contribution that the person is making. Your role is to ensure that the loyalty is turned into performance - for me that is engagement.
Check out The Engaging Brand podcast and their blog for help if you feel you need ideas of how to achieve Engagement - well worth checking out.