Five Questions to Ask During the Transition to a New Year

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm a big fan of questions; to inquire, challenge, and inspire. Questions provide the fuel for reflection and the impetus for action.  And in this unique time of year where people are more willing to look back and look forward, these questions become especially powerful.

Today I share five questions with you – three that look back, and two that look forward – all designed to help you put action to the good intentions you likely have this time of the year. Grab a pen and a piece of paper (or your journal), or open a new document on your device. Ask yourself the questions, and start writing down your answers. Give yourself some time, because these questions are worthy of your consideration.

What Did I Accomplish?

It is always useful to look back and consider your accomplishments. Think about what you are proud of over the past year. Then lower the bar just a bit more – what else did you accomplish; even if not quite at the level you had hoped for. In other words, consider the accomplishment list in your eyes, and in the eyes of a third party who might remind you of things you overlooked.

When you review the list, you might have a variety of feelings. You might have immense pride about some items or even the full list. You might feel disappointment, as the list isn’t what you had hoped it would be. Whatever your feelings, notice them and then reflect on whether that is the feeling you want associated with your list at this time next year.

What Did I Learn?

There will likely be learning from the accomplishments, but I’m guessing when you reflect on this question, you will find there is much more you learned. Like the last question, don’t put a limit on this list. There may be things you previously knew, but had forgotten (or weren’t doing or using), that now you are applying. If so, put it on this list. This list isn’t just about brand new learning, but also re-learning that is having an impact on your life and results.

What Held Me Back?

Chances are you didn’t reach all your goals or accomplish everything you had hoped for in the past twelve months. This question lets you reflect on what dampened your results. This list could contain things you did or didn’t do, thoughts, habits or any number of things. Time spent identifying this list will be invaluable as you begin to look forward.

What Habit Change Will Aid Me Most?

You won’t get to your goals and aspirations in the coming year if you don’t change anything. Chances are there is one habit that you could alter, or replace that could have a significant impact on your results. This question challenges you to think about what that might be. The habit I'm cultivating in 2022 is to mindfully pause periodically instead of mindlessly rushing through the day.

Hopefully the answer will challenge you to implement that change, starting today.

What is My Focus Word or Phrase?

I am a big believer in having a word or  phrase that keeps me mindful of my highest and best use of time in the year ahead. Asking this question, and making that decision after asking and answering the previous five questions will help crystallize all of into your focus word.

Ask yourself: What word or phrase will move you and remind you of the feeling you have now? What word will help you create as much of the New Year as you have just described? What word will help you focus on how to best create the year you want to create? My phrase for 2022 is dancing with life. For me, dancing with life means learning to meet life with an equanimous response whether events are pleasant or unpleasant.

There are no perfect words or phrases here; just start writing words down as they come to you. At the end of the ten minutes, pick the one that is calling to you. You will want to “try this word or phrase on” and live with it for a day or so. Chances are if it doesn’t quite fit, you will identify a new, better word or phrase (whether from your original list or not) within a couple days. Just make sure that soon you do pick your focus word or phrase for the year.

To your greater success and fulfillment in 2022,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Why Santa Claus is NOT a Good Role Model for Managers

 

 

There are lessons to be learned from Santa Claus. Truth is, like most managers, his heart is in the right place. But as a leader, there’s room for improvement.

His performance review system is shallow. Naughty or nice. That’s it? Boys and girls worldwide are expected to perform by standards that really amount to just “good or bad” for the entire year without any feedback or definitions. How naughty was he? Under what circumstances? To whom? How many times was she nice? Was it sincere? Did it have any meaningful results? C’mon, Santa, the kids are in the dark. A little more clarity would go a long way to improving behavior.

His answers to tough questions are condescendingly blunt. “How do reindeer fly, Santa?” “Magic,” he says. “Ho ho ho.” One-word answers to a person who wants a little more explanation, depth or perspective are lame. “Hey, boss, how did we do on that Simmons contract?”  “Great. (Now get back to work.)”  You see where this is going?  Put a little tact in your communication.

He doesn’t help out in the trenches. The great delegator that he is, Old St. Nick lifts nary a finger in the production of the goods he distributes. Elves, toiling for what could be low or no wages (it’s never been discussed), take on all the grunt work, including loading the sleigh. It would be nice if Santa himself put down his pipe once in a while to show the staff that he’s a team player.

He hogs all the credit. One night of hard work and few weeks of taking children’s orders and he’s featured in all the songs, cards, displays and Coco-Cola bottles. Santa Claus is coming to town! The heck with everyone else who made it happen.

He’s mired in tradition. For centuries, the jolly old CEO has run things pretty much the same way. Where’s the innovation? Progress? Growth? Can presents be delivered  more  efficiently? Maybe Santa should team up with Amazon...just saying.  Can the sleigh  be  updated?  How about an easier way to get inside of a home? Maybe Santa can get away with the “if it ain’t broke” model, but you can’t.

He offers no promotional opportunities. It’s all about the star performer Rudolph. Does Prancer have a shot at leading the team? In fact, it might be beneficial if Santa brought an elf or two with him on the big night as part of a coaching and mentorship program.

Santa could learn something about shared leadership by observing a flock of geese. (Check out our blog WHAT GEESE CAN TEACH US ABOUT LEADERSHIP & TEAMWORK)

Seriously, Santa does have one great quality that every manager covets: He can make everyone smile.

How?

That’s magic!

While Mr. Claus may not use the best management practices, the incredible spirit of Santa embodies some of the greatest human virtues like kindness, caring, and generosity. 

Wishing you the best of the Holiday Season and in the New Year.

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

The Great Mystery

 

Warren Buffet, one of the world's richest men and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, once told shareholders, "We've long felt that the only value stock of forecasters is to make fortune tellers look good. Even now, Charlie [Munger] and I continue to believe that short term market forecasts are poison and should be locked up in a safe place, away from children and also from grown-ups who behave in the market like children."

In his book One Up On Wall Street, Peter Lynch, one of the best mutual fund managers of all time, wrote, "Thousands of experts study overbought indicators, oversold indicators, head-and-shoulder patterns, put-call ratios, the Fed's policy on money supply, foreign investment, the movement of constellations in the heavens, and the moss on oak trees, can't predict the markets with any useful consistency, any more that gizzard squeezers could tell the Roman emperors when the Huns would attack."

These men understood that humility is essential to investment success--as it is to so much else in our lives.

In my humble opinion, humility doesn't mean selling yourself short or not exercising your talents to the fullest. It means making an honest appraisal, the limited knowledge, experience and understanding that we all bring to life.

It means having a realistic perspective, understanding that -- whatever our particular talents--we are not the center of the universe. "We are all worms," Winston Churchill remarked. "But I do believe I am a glow-worm."

Humility is becoming. It wears well. Truly confident people don't need to brag or boast. It's much more attractive for people to discover your many charms.

Secure individuals don't lord their status over others. evevn if you are truly one-in-a-million kind of guy or gal, in a world of 6 billion people that means there are thousands more just like you.

A companionable friend or dinner guest knows better topics of conversation than just himself. "There are two types of people in this world observed Frederick L. Collins, "Those who come into the room and say, "Well, here I am!' and those who come in and say, 'Ah, there you are!'"

Could anyone really prefer spending time with the former?

A modest attitude also demonstrates maturity. "Let us be humble," said Jawaharlal Nehru. "Let us think that the truth may not perhaps be entirely with us."

Live long enough and you're likely to learn that life is one long lesson in humility. Things don't always turn out like we planned over even imagined.

Our happiness is determined, in large part, by how we handle these inevitable surprises. Because uncertainty will always be with us. Perhaps that is why Pulitzer Prize--winning columnist George Will once described his idea of heaven as "infinite knowing."

Recognizing the limits of our knowledge in invaluable, whether we're analyzing problems, figuring out relationships--or even puzzling over the big existential questions. Why are we here? Where did we come from? What is it all about?

Scientists, philosophers, and theologians have struggled with these for thousands of years. And still wrestle with them today.

As Nobel Prize-winning particle physicist Leon Lederman wryly observed, the universe is the answer. What we still don't know is the question.

This humble attitude has been embraced by great minds throughout history, from Aristotle to Newton to Einstein to Gandhi.

As Sioux Indian Chief Ota Kte observed a century ago, "After all the great religions have been preached and expounded, or have been revealed by brilliant scholars, or have been written in books and embellished in fine language with fine covers, man--all man--is still confronted with the Great Mystery. 

Stay hungry and humble,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

The "Secret" to Inspirational Leadership

 

What would Tesla be without Elon Musk? Amazon without Jeff Bezos. Or Virgin without Richard Branson.

On the flip side, 21 years ago WorldCom had the most impressive array of telecommunications assets on the planet. But with Bernie Ebbers at the helm, it didn't matter. He drove the company right into bankruptcy.

 Ebbers served 13 years at the Oakdale Federal Correctional Complex for orchestrating the biggest corporate fraud in U.S. history before dying in 2020. (And I need hardly remind you of what chieftains Ken Lay, and Jeff Skilling did for Enron employees and shareholders.)

In the business world, physical assets are essential. Patents and trademarks are invaluable. Positive cash flow is wonderful. But, at the very heart of things, every organization is a team of people. And just as a winning sports team requires a great coach, every organization needs inspiring leaders at every level. Because if the team isn't rowing in the same direction--the right direction--you won't get far.

I was reminded of this while attending a conference years ago where the keynote speaker was one of America's all-time great football coaches Lou Holtz.

Holtz is not just a multiple winner of "Coach of the Year" honors. He is the only coach in NCAA history to lead six different programs to bowl games. And the only coach to have four different teams reach final top 20 rankings.

Throughout his career, Holtz earned a reputation for both developing winning teams and quickly rebuilding broken ones. He has written six books on leadership (My personal favorite is "Winning Every Day: The Game Plan for Success"). He claims he is the only man in America who has written more books than he has read.

Don't let him fool you. Lou Holtz is a living example of inspirational leadership. I hadn't intended to take notes, but a minute and a half into his talk I was scouring the table for a coctail napkin.

"Leadership begins with recognizing that everybody need four things," said Holtz, "something to do, someone to love, something to hope for, and something to believe in. Strategic plans don't excite anybody. Dreams excite people...And every employee, every team member, wants to know the same thing: Do you really care about me? Every successful organization shows its people they genuinely matter."

You may not coach a university football team or run a Fortune 500 company. But I bet you're in a position to provide inspirational leadership. How? First, by setting an example. Second, by letting the people around you know how important they are.

In a piece entitled "Godly Work" in an issue of Forbes Magazine, Columnist Rich Karlgaard related a story he was told by Nancy Ortberg, an emergency room nurse who was finishing up work one night before heading home.

"The doctor with whom I was working was debriefing a new doctor, who had done a very respectable, competent job, telling him what he'd done well and what he could have done differently.

Then he put his hand on the young doctor's shoulder and said, "When you finished, did you notice the young man from housekeeping who came in to clean the room?' There was a completely blank look on the young doctor's face."

"The older doctor said, "His name is Carlos. He's been here for three years. He does a fabulous job. When he comes in he gets the room turned around so fast that you and I can get our next patients in quickly. His wife's name is Maria. They have four children.' Then he named each of the four children and gave each child's age.

The older doctor went on to say, "He lives in a rented house about three blocks from here in Santa Ana. They've been up from Mexico for about five years. His name is Carlos,' he repeated. Then he said, 'Next week I would like you to tell me something about Carlos that I don't already know. Okay? Now, let's go check on the rest of the patients.'"

Ortberg recalls: " I remember standing there writing my nursing notes--stunned--and thinking, I have just witnessed breathtaking leadership."

Fostering mutual respect among colleagues is perhaps the most important ingredient for building and sustaining a healthy organization. It is people who matter most.

Yes, business will always be about meeting the deadline, closing the deal, finishing the project, and growing the business. But if your work life is nothing more than the single-minded pursuit of wealth, recognition, and accomplishment, you will wake up one day and find that SOMETHING is missing.

That's because true success is not just about achieving your dreams. It's about helping those around you reach theirs, too.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.