6 Ways to Motivate Contribution. There are plenty of people who want to make a difference but haven’t put their vision into action. Contribution is tied to action. You have to actually do something to get anything done. A friend, author, and small business expert, Mark LeBlanc, says, “Done is better than perfect.” What a great statement. We can become paralyzed, because we want something to be perfect. I am all for excellence, but sometimes a line needs to be drawn between finished and perfect. Even while I worked on my book project, I thought of all the research that I had not shared. There are compelling stories coming out every day that are pertinent to this topic. At some point, good enough and done becomes better than perfect and not done.
Trust in Leadership
Personal Mission Statement – How to Create Yours
What is a personal mission statement? A personal mission statement is something to continually strive for. Everything you do in life should come back to your mission and your personal mission statement. If this is not the case for you, maybe it’s time to change your mission.
A Personal Life Mission Statement:
1. Gives focus.
2. Keeps us accountable.
3. Encourages us to do the best things rather than just the good things.
4. Simplifies our lives.
5. Increases productivity and morale.
Create a personal life mission statement based on your deepest convictions and beliefs. What are your objectives? What do you want to be known for?
For more self-development ideas, take a look at The Daily Edge
The Value of a Trusted Mentor While Surfing in Kauai | Trust in Leadership
I have dreamed of surfing since I was a teenager. One problem – I grew up in Minnesota. My state is the furthest from any ocean in North America, so waves were not easily accessible. Having been recently invited to speak on the island of Kauai, where surfing originated, this bucket-list opportunity was primed. On top of that, my wife Lisa’s childhood friend, a school teacher and surfing instructor, now lives in Kauai.
12 Tips for Clear Communication
In the world today, clear communication is hard to maintain. People trust the clear and mistrust the ambiguous. Much of the time, communication is done via email, phone, or messaging. Clear communication is a hard skill to learn and it has become increasingly more difficult in the technological climate of today. Many of us struggle to finish a conversation without glancing at our phone, watching the TV in a restaurant or any number of other distractions available to us today.
Anyone familiar with the academic side of communication can tell you, it’s very difficult for any two people, much less groups, to accurately convey meaning to one another. Our minds are too filled with our own assumptions. For example, suppose I asked you to think of a person riding a horse. Some of you, by virtue of your background or imagination, might picture someone galloping through the mountains. Others of you might instinctively envision someone else, jumping gates in an arena. Your mind’s eye colors things differently than others based on your experiences. No two people ever perfectly communicate. However, the more clear our communication, the greater the ability to trust.
Now think about your life. Whether you are having a face-to-face conversation, talking on the phone, or responding to an email, it can be extremely difficult to set your ego aside and show the other person that you care about what they have to say. All the variables that go into clear communication need to be practiced. Even if you are a naturally good listener, it still is something that you need to continually work on to become a great listener. If you are great at asking questions, you may need work on simplifying or deciphering the answers to those questions.
12 Tips for Clear Communication
1. Listen
2. Empathize
3. Avoid manipulation. Don’t overstate or understate
4. Speak honestly and without exaggeration
5. Stay focused and avoid distractions
6. Ask questions
7. Glean information from the non-verbal communication
8. Keep an open mind and do not jump to conclusions
9. Do not criticize
10. Simplify the complicated
11. First seek to understand, then to be understood
12. Mean what you say
Clear communication is difficult for another reason. Some studies suggest that over 90% of the meaning we derive comes from non-verbal cues that one person gives to another. That means only 10% of communication is based on words we say! Clear communication is work.
“The vision is really about empowering workers, giving them all the information about what’s going on so they can do a lot more than they’ve done in the past.”
-Bill Gates
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How to Improve Conference Calls | Trust in Business
Have you noticed that the further from face-to-face we get the more challenging it is to build trust? Here’s a favorite from 2014 that illustrates.
Insincere Apologies are Trust Killers | Trust in Leadership
I had a chance to sit down with the CEO of Compass Strategic Investments. For six months, he lived and worked in the Netherlands, so he had some cultural observations to share. One of the distinctions that he noticed was that Americans often make insincere apologies. When it comes to building trust, being able to say we’re sorry and doing it sincerely is an important skill. However insincere apologies, those made out of habit or indifference, are trust killers.
Godin & Sackner-Bernstein on Contribution | Trust in Leadership
What does age have to do with being a big contributor?
Einstein said if you don’t make a major impact in your industry before 30, you probably won’t.
Sackner-Bernstein shows research that disproves this, showing how previous similar explanations were based on a lesser understanding of the brain. In a nutshell, age is an advantage and we must not use anything to let ourselves off the hook for making a difference in society.
Leaders are Readers | Trust in Leadership
My grandmother was known for reading a book a day. I’m not exaggerating! As a matter of fact, she is famous in our family for reading all of the books in two libraries! She had the habit of waking at 4:00 in the morning to have quiet time to read. Grandma Esther loved to learn. Imagine what you could learn just by intentionally reserving time each day to read. I hope to instill this love of reading in my children as well.
Great Leaders Take Responsibility | Trust in Leadership
I have seen time and again how the committed take responsibility for their actions. In our high-litigation culture, there’s always someone else to blame. It can be easy to point the finger at suppliers, underlings, partners, and managers that just can’t seem to get things right. I have yet to meet this mass of completely incompetent workers, which leads me to think we might be trying to steer some of the fault away from where it belongs–on ourselves.
How to Build Trust Across Cultures and Diversities | Trust in Leadership
In the 21st century, there’s no doubt that each of us will spend considerable time interacting with those of a different culture (or other diversities). Trust-building isn’t easy, and it can be especially daunting the more differences that are present. Here’re some top tips and discussion questions from chapter 14 of The Trust Edge that can help. Consider printing this post to work on with your team this week.
