Leadership

Leading Change while Drawing on Experience

November 6, 2019 by Michelle Ray

In times of uncertainty and change, the adage: “Experience is the Best Teacher” is apropos. As leaders, we often find ourselves at the crossroads, realizing that perhaps that we need to move in a different direction. Something may be propelling us to look elsewhere…we may discover the need to take our business in another direction and our team in another direction.

The reason we may find ourselves in this situation is because of the collection of experiences that we’ve had that are telling us to go in another direction. I’ve found that when I am around leaders who can draw on their experiences and see that as a strength, even when some of those experiences may not have been positive, ultimately, they’re able to recognize: “What have I learned from this? “What can I take away from this, and bring into the next situation?” When a leader can demonstrate that they are open to change and personal growth, their teams benefit by witnessing first hand that leaders is setting an example. It becomes evident to your employees that you yourself have had teachable moments and you’ve learned from those experiences too.

Sometimes when other people are stuck, it’s really helpful for you to be able to show them the way based on your experience, the lessons that you’ve learned and how you’ve been able to move forward as a result. When you demonstrate that these teachable moments have served a purpose and you share those lessons with humility, it is an attractive trait in the eyes of your workforce. People will appreciate your transparency and “humanness”. Ultimately, it helps make you a leader that people want to be around… a leader that people want to stay for.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k00ZW6SIWCE&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Michelle Ray (Twitter) is one of the best international leadership keynote speakers in Vancouver. She helps you discover your potential through presentations, coaching and consulting. With over 20 years of experience Michelle has worked with hundreds of companies around the world. She is taking bookings for speaking engagements and can be contacted at MichelleRay.com

Authentic Leadership and the difference between Hearing and Listening

October 30, 2019 by Michelle Ray

How often have you found yourself in a conversation with a leader or manager where you are not being heard? There’s probably nothing more unattractive, in my view, than a leader who lacks the capacity to listen. And listening and hearing are two very different things.

An authentic leader is always paying attention, doing a lot less talking and a lot more listening. Interestingly, the capacity to listen also means that someone may share a viewpoint that is very different to yours. In these situations, great listeners to not react. They recognize and acknowledge, either verbally or through positive non-verbal cues, that they have heard the other person. When you possess the ability to listen to that viewpoint, even if it is different, it can be advantageous in your relationship dynamic to let that person know that you want to hear more about an opinion that’s different to yours. For example, you may ask: “tell me more about your perspective”, or “I would like to understand more about your point of view”, even if you disagree. You can expand on these types of questions by feeding back what was said, keeping in mind that your intention is to show genuine interest, rather than react to the other person’s opinion.

Perhaps we don’t give daily consideration to these examples of authentic listening. However, when you do find yourself in a situation where there’s a roomful of people who do have different opinions to you, the concepts of listening to understand, rather than refute, as well as the difference between hearing and listening may serve you well in the future. An individual’s capacity to genuinely listen is an attractive character trait. In addition, it is worthwhile keeping in mind that the same letters that are in the word listen are also in the word silent.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lfpDIL0PfM&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

The Three C’s that demonstrate Authentic Leadership

October 23, 2019 by Michelle Ray

Compassion, curiosity and courage. Three great traits of authentic leaders.

Having compassion for your workforce, having compassion for your team is all about recognizing when they are going through their own hardships, their own struggles, their own difficulties just as you indeed have gone through yours. Being curious, being interested, genuinely interested in what is going on in the lives of each member of your team and having the courage of your convictions to speak your truth, to speak your mind, to be bold, to take risks, this is something that a great leader is always conscious of. Having the courage to connect, having the courage to be true to yourself and stand up for what you believe, what you know is good for you and good for your team and good for your business. Be the courageous leader, be the authentic leader.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfb4td7gh_Y&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Health, Happiness, and Work life Balance in your Workplace for strengthening employee engagement

October 16, 2019 by Michelle Ray

Health, happiness and work-life balance. Very important values in the workplace and something that we all need to pay attention to.

This continues to evolve because we’re in a time now where it’s expected. Not only do people want flexible hours and they value that well-being even more than a paycheck, people also need to have the time to do what is important to them outside of work. And to recognize that parenting, of course it’s a dual responsibility, people need to have time to parent, to do what’s important for their children, to work for an organization that takes this into account.

Organizations that have a philosophy of expecting their employees to sacrifice everything for the job will soon find themselves extinct. Let’s make sure we do everything to avoid that scenario by championing work-life balance and taking the lead.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaWWhh2APqM&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Transformational Leadership and Leading with Vision

October 9, 2019 by Michelle Ray

Many people talk about transformational leadership, but what does it actually mean? For me it’s all about vision.

It’s all about being a person who is constantly looking to raise the bar, and who is thinking long term, and is very cognizant of the big picture. And this is something that if you possess this ability to lead with vision, it’s much easier to bring other people along with you.

They can be as excited as you are about the future, and they can see that you’re not going through the motions to just achieve something, you’re very purposeful, very intentional, about achieving those results, and doing so with the support of your team, and you know that it’s a team effort. And you’re looking to create something extraordinary. And I think that’s what differentiates a leader who is exciting to work with, and is genuinely excited for everyone else to experience the same feeling.

So leading with vision is another great trait of the authentic leader.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeLYm1kCrTY&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Personal Transparency and Successful Leadership

September 25, 2019 by Michelle Ray

In so many situations where I’ve found myself meeting leaders, working with leaders, I would say that probably one of the biggest struggles that they encounter is this question of how transparent should I be? How much should I reveal about myself?

I believe that transparency doesn’t mean that we reveal every single detail about our lives but it’s about consistency and being that person at work that is the same as that person at home and when you’re transparent, you’re very comfortable within your own skin. You’re willing to practice humility, you’re okay with admitting when you’ve made a mistake and that persona is something that is very genuine and again it’s another trait of authentic leadership because people can feel that you’re open to talk about anything.

And you’re open to be candid about times where things might not have gone so well for you, whatever time that might have been in your career and again, it’s just revealing that part of yourself that humanizes the relationship and please remember, that’s what people are craving from you. They wanna be able to feel that they can talk to you and connect with you and you will achieve that when you remember the importance of being transparent as a leader.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qiY64IHgGg&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Millennial engagement in the Workplace and their Sense of Purpose

September 11, 2019 by Michelle Ray

In my conversations with HR professionals, it’s astounding to me that they are telling me that despite all the effort and energy that their organizations have put into creating more engaged workplaces, we are still finding that less than 30% of Millennials are feeling engaged in what they’re doing.

Now how can this be? As I said, all the effort, all of the energy? Well, the reason for it is that the workforce is not feeling connected to the purpose of their work and the purpose of their organization. So, to me this translates into a lack of communication regarding the vision in addition to the fact that at every level, people need to personally feel connected to the vision.

So, if we take more time to actually communicate the vision and let people know not only what their contribution is to that vision, but why what they’re doing matters, then if we do more of this, then we’re gonna have a more engaged workforce. It’s a problem that’s easy to rectify. It’s just simply about taking the time to meaningfully connect and communicate in every way possible so people see their purpose and therefore feel more satisfied and engaged in what they’re doing.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWy3tzighXM&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Predictors of Job Satisfaction and your Leadership performance

September 4, 2019 by Michelle Ray

One of the most talked about topics is the idea of looking at the predictors of job satisfaction.

So what are those predictors? Well one of them that comes to mind immediately is, of course, who is the leader? Because we want to be happy with where we’re working, and we want to be working with a leader who really shows that they care. Again, if we find ourselves in a situation where the leader is not helpful or keeping us engaged or showing interest in what we’re doing, it naturally leads to us feeling disaffected and disconnected to our work.

So one of the most important things that every organization needs to do is think about who is in that leadership role and how that contributes to the job satisfaction and the success of each team member because they have such an impact, and this happens especially when you have a lot of contact with your team members.

So it’s very important to realize that your role as a leader is gonna make a difference in terms of people feeling happy, productive, and satisfied in everything they do at work.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USt0WLyNIgY&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Self-awareness in Authentic Leadership

August 28, 2019 by Michelle Ray

So, as a leader, one of the most important things that we want to keep in mind is how people are evaluating our behavior, they’re evaluating how we come across, and everything is based on perception.

So, if you wanna be seen as the authentic leader, the person who is genuinely communicating with their team, genuinely communicating and showing that you care, then it’s very important for you to be self-aware and understand that when you are interacting with others, what kind of state of mind are you in?

What is your emotional state in that moment, when you make the decision to connect with one of your team members, when you’re sharing some news with them. When they come to talk to you about a problem that they might be experiencing, it’s so important to be conscious of how you’re coming across, to be mindful that there’s a time and a place for everything.

And if you’re in a state where you’ve got so much on your mind and one particular time of the day might not be the best for having a very important conversation about business or about the performance of a team member, remember it all starts with your level of acuity, your self-awareness.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40MYQce3hjE&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Why leaders need to stay Focused on Long Term Results

August 21, 2019 by Michelle Ray

Are you a leader who cares about long-term results? And when I say long-term results, I’m not just talking about the bottom line and having a healthy bottom line. I’m talking about being a leader who really takes the time and recognizes that effort and hard work that goes into achieving great results, that it’s okay to have setbacks.

It’s okay to make mistakes, and it’s okay to not just be checking all the boxes to see whether or not you’re covering what needs to be done but also that you have your eye on the future, that you’re conscious of being that visionary and that it’s okay if, perhaps, you don’t necessarily have the results you want in the short term but that all those setbacks will ultimately lead to an extraordinary long-term payoff, and it may not necessarily only be profitability.

It can be the way that your team responds to you, that they feel a part of the culture, and this is all because long-term results are also associated with building trust. We can’t automatically get our team to trust us. It takes time for them to really genuinely believe you as a leader. So all of that will pay huge dividends as long as you are focused on being the absolute best that you can be, the best genuine, caring, authentic leader that you can be.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSPCIwiKX2g&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Leadership

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