What powers do you leave in the hands of others?

In personal and professional life, there are some people who allow to be defined by others. By their parents, siblings, family, colleagues, bosses, friends ...

Others will say whether you are worth, how you are worth, how much you are worth, what you have to think, what you are good at, the skills and potential you have ... and will say what you are terrible at, what are your weaknesses, your deficiencies, your limitations ...

And you will believe them....

On the other hand, other people will always question or doubt anything that comes from the outside.

And they are right. Judgements and opinions of others often say more about them than about you. In this they generally tend to be useless, of no interest to you.

What is important to you is what you do or do not do. What are your actions, your results and the experience you are having. What are your values, your dreams, your energy and balance. What matters is who you are as a person, who you are being, who you want to be ... and what you do now to already be there.

What do you want for yourself?

Do you accept that others lead or control your life?

Or you create your own opinion and define what you want and do not want in your life ...

On which side are you?

The 3 Key Components in Decision Making.

The way decisions are taken in companies is very linked to their corporate culture, management structure and leadership styles ...

There is an interesting variety of patterns in the way decisions are taken that tell a lot about how companies work and about their competitive context:

- If they are more on the flexible, continuous change ...or the traditional, conservative side..

- if their management structure and style is very flat and straightforward... or very hierarchical and pyramidal

- if the culture is about inspiring and delegating or more about pushing and controlling

Whatever the culture, country or language, there are always three components that always influence decision making.

-The Rational component : what rationally logically analytically justifies decisions

-The Emotional : the non rational dimension, influenced by intuition, feelings, perceptions, mindset or emotions...

-The Political : coming from corporate dos & don'ts, from the influences and powers in the organization, depending on the personalities, relationships, formal or informal high level agreements and engagements.

All three are always present.

They are present in everything that happens...In any decisions taken... or not taken...

Which components are the most present in your company?

Is this bringing value to the business? Is it delivering results?

Are there any changes you would like to create?

The power of emotions : How do you manage yours?

The modern world, in particular the Corporate world, is based on efficiency, production, profitability, speed. It leave no place or time for emotions.

In such demanding and hectic environments, people become harder, more rigid and stolid ... They turn their backs on their feelings and emotions. They slowly build a protection from the outside world, a shell, an armour and lock themselves inside it. They often live their lives and act on a daily basis from inside this isolating shell.

At the same time as human beings we are social creatures and mammals. Because of that our emotions are basic in our lives. They bring us energy, show us the way, are our compass and connection to the world. Without emotions we would be machines.

How to reconcile modern life and emotions?

How to avoid getting trapped in this shell?

People’s leadership, efficiency and balance are enhanced by their ability to connect with their emotions or disconnect from them. They depend on their capacity to emotionally associate or dissociate themselves.

When heart surgeons are operating a three year old child, they'd better not be emotional or nervous about it when holding the scalpel!

They need to dissociate from their emotions to be as attentive, professional and accurate as required.

When executives are communicating or facilitating meetings, they are more efficient and influential when they are present, human, authentic, emotionally involving and inspiring... Rather than acting like a robot.

Connecting with emotions is required to be totally present, to influence, mobilize and have impact.

The complexity lies in creating the right balance ... One that works best for each one of us... to avoid acting like an automated machine or conversely, avoid being emotionally fragile or weak.

Developing your ability to associate yourself with your emotions or dissociate yourself from them will give you power in your life and in your interactions with people. Develop your agility and flexibility to do so.

Influence and power are not about behaving like machines.

Turn on your emotions. They are what is the most personal, intimate and powerful in you.

But manage them. Do not let them invade you when it is not the right time and let them express themselves when it is appropriate to do so.

How do you manage your emotions?

Anybody there?

Have you ever had a conversation with people that no matter what you saying they does not listen. They were in their world, in their understanding, in their interpretation, in their history .... And it seems nothing can take them out...

On another occasion, maybe yourself you happened to be busy and preoccupied and you realized after a conversation that you have not heard or listened to what the other had to say. ... You believed you knew what they wanted to say and now you realize that maybe not ... You actually have no idea... And now, you are missing their ideas, their opinions, their tips, these exchanges...

How come we can accelerate ourselves like this and flee the present moment? .... We are absent ... We are a caricature of ourselves pretending to have a conversation ...

Why don’t we realize what is going on, take the time to re-focus and re-connect with the moment?

What fears, what automatisms, what habits make us turn on our autopilot?

Be aware of yourself. Of your moods, your anxieties, your bad habits. Identify when you're not present 100 percent. And manage yourself, take a moment to calm down, relax, breathe, focus.

When you are present, you do not interrupt, do not impose, you hear, listen, you manage perceptions, judge less, you understand, learn, you communicate ...

A minute or two may be enough. Take these few minutes and your quality of life, of  relationships, your presence and impact in your life and in the world will suddenly considerably improve ...

Got a minute or two?

What are you trying to control?

What do you want to control?

With the fear of uncertainty we tend to create routines and automatic behaviours, as if we could stop time, avoid changes, control events...

We put a lot of effort in staying inside our comfort zones, in our well controlled, well established and well organized lives. Being organized reassures us, gives us the illusion that we can control our lives, our destiny ... That we can avoid suffering, avoid being thoughtful, bored, sad...

Through this desire to control we create our own limitations. We look at the present and at the future with the eyes of the past. We do not perceive all our possibilities, the numerous capabilities we have. We prefer not to see all the potential we have in us...

Unveiling this potential, daring to do something with it, trying new things, innovating ... that would take us away from our imperious need to control...
When you create something new, when you step out of your comfort zone, the unknown pops in and appear the possibilities of making mistakes, of taking risks, of failing...

So you tend to go back to your routine, to structuring and organizing your days, your activities, your life ... And this incredible potential you have just remains inside you... unveiled, unexpressed, unused...

What are you trying to control?
In what are you limiting yourself?

What could you do today that may be different?
What could you dare to try?

Take some time for yourself, time to do something that may perhaps be less productive, more pleasant, more different or extreme... but do something YOU want to do!
Connect with what you have in you. 
Let it speak.
Give it time. Freedom. Try it.
Do it. Now!

This thing about leadership... What good is it for me?

Much is said about leadership...

What is the purpose of leadership? 
Why be a leader?

"I do not want to be a leader. 
I do not want to lead anyone."

Leadership as I define it is not just a matter of being successful in business or management, of being an effective or bright executive... It can be... But not always.

Leadership is about BEING.

It is about growing as a person, knowing yourself, who you are, how you are. 
It is about working on and for your ambitions, challenges and dreams. It is about managing your anxieties and fears to dare to be who you want to be and get what you want to achieve...
It is about taking actions.

To do so, you need to know what you want and do not want, understand what you seek, what you struggle at, define a direction, a vision of where you are aiming, of who you want to be.

Articulate Your Vision.
From there, you can lead your life, orient it, orchestrate it.
Your personal and professional life, Your career and your entrepreneurship.

What do you think?
Does the concept of leadership sound more useful to you?

What is the Business Culture in your Company?

Every Company has a dominant Business Culture. A specific and original culture focused on some areas, aspects and functions of the business.

This culture comes first from the personality and background of the Founder, the Owner, the CEO or the Managing Director. Then it is the product of the organization’s history, of the top management team and shareholders, of their policies, views, opinions, interactions, styles, decisions.

Each Business Culture creates its specific vocabulary, jargon, its perception, logic and understanding of the environment and key drivers of the business.

Some examples ...

Some cultures and organizations are very oriented towards Sales. Everything is about selling. The sales people are the kings, they hold the truth. Everything is organized to respond to their demands and requirements. Sales are perceived to be the essence of the Company’s success.

Other cultures focus on Marketing. On-line, offline, exhibitions, events, advertising, communication, product marketing...

Other Companies are Technology based...Research, training, licences, patents, conferences, expertise, latest releases....

Others on Manufacturing, how to optimize the assets, the plants, the machines, the overall effectiveness and uptime, the maintenance,...

Others on Quality, are obsessed by high standards of product an/or service quality

Others on Operations, Innovation, Logistics...

The variations are infinite...

Most commonly though, Business Cultures are driven by Financials. They talk the shareholders’ and banks’ language and have become compulsory. The Finance Guys are in charge... Margins, ROI, Costs, Cash, EBITDA, Capital Employed, Bottom line... They are the ones who give the pace...

All these areas, competences and functions are totally useful to the company’s performance.

Each of the cultures and expertise bring something crucial and vital to the business...

But they also have possible excesses and drawbacks...

The role of the Top Management is to create a balance

between all these departments, cultures and areas. It is to arbitrate between them to efficiently and flexibly drive the business to growth and success.

A Company’s Business Culture is of great importance: it has created its past and present performance and achievements. It has built what the company has become today.

But the questions might be: 
Is our Business Culture still relevant and effective today? Is it adapted to tomorrow’s challenges?

Is the Top Management's arbitrage performing? 

What Business Culture is dominating your business at the moment?

Is it really 100% useful to the company's health and growth?

Or

Are there any drawbacks you would like to point out?

What changes would create value or generate new opportunities for the future?

How do you handle the pressure with your teams?

How do you avoid dumping all the pressure onto your teams?

One of the great challenges of the executives is managing the pressure that comes from above, from the shareholders, from line managers, from competition, from conjuncture... It is to avoid simply forwarding all the pressure to the teams ...

The role of the manager / leader is to create a context in which the teams are challenged and mobilized but always feel motivated and confident.

With increasing pressure and no confidence, collaborators do not work in an optimal way. They become defensive, get tense, paralysed. They do not dare to try new things, to change, to evolve, to give the extra effort.

When the context is difficult, on the contrary, they can close themselves up and avoid being noticed. As if the only fear was to be the next on the list...

In the current economic climate, corporate executives become stressed and paralysed by the pressure of delivering results in the short term ...

...Whereas they should be fighting for flexibility, for agility, for teams to reinvent themselves... to achieve excellence, to innovate, to create new strategies, tactics, fortified products and services...

What do you think?
How do you manage the pressure with your team?

ASK FOR HELP.... Don't be afraid....

What do you see? Understand? How do you decide to interpret it?

Each of us have our view of the world.

Our reality.
Our interpretation of the world.Different, unique, original.

We interpret our surroundings according to our history, our experiences, our actions, our commitments.
Our interpretations justify our actions past and present, what we do, what we don't do, what we dare do and what we dare not imagine or undertake.

If we are not careful, we can fool ourselves with our own interpretations, the ones that give sense to the events of our lives. We can build oriented, distorted, exaggerated realities...

Growing as a person is to begin to understand our interpretations of the world in which we exaggerate and fool ourselves. It's identifying these perceptions that do not serve us, that generate thoughts or beliefs that are not helping us, that limit us, that take away our initiative and freedom.

To begin this process, you have to become aware of these phenomena without judging or blaming yourself.
And you need to want to go beyond appearances and evidences... to learn and grow.

What do you decide to see? To understand? 
How do you decide to interpret it?

Do you happen to be indifferent?

Love or hate, but never be indifferent.

Indifference is the worst abuse.

Indifference is denying the existence, not respecting, leaving no space to the other.

Lately, in your working or personal life, are there any people you related or worked with and towards whom you remained indifferent? ... People you did not take the time to listen, to share with... You didn't even take a minute to know about them, recognize them, let them talk, connect.

In management, indifference kills. It can be a type of harassment.

If your team members feel like a piece of furniture, like a chair in an office, you are seriously failing somewhere. You are focusing on other fields or directions and it will certainly not contribute to delivering outstanding results.

Do not treat others as you would not like to be treated...

Communicate, socialize and exchange with your team. Make the effort and you will see the impact on their commitment, on their relationship with clients, their motivation, their results!

Is it so complicated?

Do you happen to be indifferent?

How different are you ?

Everyone is different. Original. Unique. Complete.

What about you? How do you differentiate your business, your value, your company, or your business project?

When you are looking for work, creating your business, running your company:
Do you focus on the outside, on what's possible, what seems right, on what works?
Or do you focus on who you are, what you bring, feel, want, your values, ambitions and dreams, on what you believe and you think ...?

Are there models you try to copy?
Or do you work on creating and delivering something new, original and different? ... Something that comes from you, that you'll have created yourself?

A few years ago, copying or replicating what others did was enough. It worked.
Today it's not enough. You need to be different, differentiated,  passionate, connected, unique ... To be yourself.

What are you creating or developing? Can you feel it, do you have a sense of belonging? Is this yours?
Does it make you vibrate and get up in the morning?

What do you bring to your customers, to your company, to the world?
What is your vision?
How do you want to contribute to the world?

Female Leadership and Male Leadership

Companies today have organizations that are increasingly flat and informal.

Hierarchy and responsibilities are more diffuse, more flexible and changing.

We are going from very structured pyramidal organizations to companies with multi level interactions working in networks.

...From a more masculine leadership based on power and control...to a more feminine and tribal leadership that is more diffuse and connected...

In these environments, women are more likely to add value through their intuition, their emotional intelligence, their ability to collaborate, connect and develop social relationships ...

In contrast, men seem more limited in their possibilities...  They tend to be in the game of demonstrating their power, in competing or dominating, which may not be totally compatible with more informal or less hierarchical businesses...

The social models we grew up with determine our behaviours and limit us. Women and men face different challenges:

 Women need to get away from the stereotype of seduction and dependence, and gain confidence in their abilities to be a major player in organizations and society...

 Men need to get out of the stereotypes of the superhero. Getting away from their tendency to compete, they can learn to let go, to accept and manage their emotions, intuition and  vulnerability. With humility and authenticity.

What do you think?
Where do you see yourself?

What do you get out of your meetings?

In companies it is difficult to establish a system of meetings that is balanced, efficient, productive.

You can find extremes ...
Or there are not enough meetings and collaborators suffer from a lack of visibility, information, coordination, coherence and decision ...

Or there are systematic meetings that embrace everything. People get bored. Some talk too much, others say nothing... Always the same ones ... They are a waste of time but you have to be there to please the boss...

What are meetings for?
Meetings are useful to share information, results, situations, points of view, and, above all, to take decisions

Their aim is not to share the latest gossip nor to justify, evaluate or criticize others.
They must not allow to comment or address all topics, nor to exchange everything with everybody...
They should not be a routine, an obligation to reassure the boss ...
And finally they don't absolutely have to be boring, annoying, frustrating.

What meetings do you want and need to create?

Companies need flexibility, agility and commitment. Meetings are an essential device in organizations. To be in alert. To mobilize a team on clear and coordinated objectives . To take action and adapt.

A waste of time?
No!. A productive, optimized and gained time!.

What about you? What do you get out of your meetings?

Is Understanding enough?

Human behaviours can generally be understood, justified, explained.

The relationship patterns, the posture, the style of management or leadership we have are the product of our history, of our family background, our education, our beliefs and opinions, our studies...

These elements have influenced our behaviours. They have programmed the way we react to external stimuli, how we relate to others, to authority, to power, the traps we fall into...
These behaviours may not be efficient in our present  contexts, experiences, and challenges.
Is being aware of it enough to solve the problem?

If you want to break or change your anchored behaviours, it requires you recognize and accept what is happening. To gain in openness and flexibility, you need to learn to feel how you are emotionally structured, your feelings, your reactions...

You then start learning ...

Personal growth is about understanding who you are and how you are, what are your strengths and your weaknesses.
It's about identifying and feeling your emotions, knowing the inclinations and reactions you have and learning to manage them ... For you to be free.

Understanding is not enough. It's a starting point.
Trying, experiencing, experimenting, that's how you learn.

Learn at emotional and physical levels, not just at rational and intellectual ones. You then start growing...

What do you think? Sounds familiar? Do you recognize yourself in any way?

Professional Search: Specialist or Generalist?

When we are in search of new professional opportunities, jobs, projects or clients, it is advisable to be experts, specialists in our field.
We present what we do best, give examples, we sell our expertise.

It's good to have a specialization, to give a clear message about what we do, what we bring, our added value ....

However, with the rapidly changing labour market, the danger of being a specialist is to lock yourself in your field and not see what is happening around you.
To be competitive you need to constantly keep watch, be in connection with your market, be on the move... You need to keep evolving as a professional, adapt in selling and delivering your speciality...

What type of professional are you on your market? With your customers?
How about trying to be a Specialist and a Generalist!

Leadership is about Context & Connection

Companies struggle to create accountability, ownership and leadership at all levels...

The perception is that there are people who decide and others that execute... The relationships tend to be unbalanced, communications are mainly one way, the connection between deciders and doers is low...

What are the consequences?

Collaborators have low levels of motivation, commitment and engagement. The quality and service standards are average. In a difficult economical environment, the levels of tension and stress build up and paralyse the teams further more...

The truth is, neither the managers nor the collaborators feel happy about the situation...
The former don’t feel confident and trusting with their teams and people.
The latter don’t feel listened to nor taken into account and develop automated and routine attitudes.

You know what: This can change!

Leadership is about creating the Connection and Context that enable change and deliver performance. 
Connection that enhances open and closer communications and develops relationships.
A Context that makes it possible to negotiate alliances with collaborators and teams with a shared commitment on common objectives.

Context & Connection.

Work on these two key drivers and you will create the team engagement and support you've always dreamt of!

The dream team at an arm’s reach! Think about it!

Any thoughts?