Mindset

Five Ways to Find Opportunity in Change

October 14, 2019 by Michelle Ray

“I love change.” How many times have you heard people embrace change with such enthusiasm? Rarely is the likely answer. One could argue that it depends on an individual’s perspective, or perhaps, one’s response to imminent and on-going change is influenced by unexpected circumstances, either personal or professional. The reality is that unless we reside in a bubble or choose to isolate ourselves completely from technology, media, or the world, it is impossible to avert the inevitability of change. [Read more…] about Five Ways to Find Opportunity in Change

Genuine Consistency and Authentic Leadership

August 7, 2019 by Michelle Ray

There is nothing worse than going into work and not knowing what to expect from a manager, a person in a position of leadership.

I don’t know if you’ve had that experience, but it’s something that I have had happen in my career, and it doesn’t make us feel very comfortable because we don’t know what to expect. What kind of mood is that person gonna be in? How do they operate, are they operating consistently?

Now, when we use the word consistency, I’m thinking of that in a positive way. So everything they do, there is a level on consistency. Not necessarily predictability, but a leader, a manager is demonstrating that they are dependable; that, again, they can be trusted; that their words match their actions, and you do know what to expect from that person.

You do know that you’re gonna be supported, you know that you’re gonna be trusted to do what you need to do. So, remember as a leader that when you can genuinely display consistency in everything you do, it goes hand in hand with being an authentic leader.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZES_AZo-Aw&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

How Millennials are Reshaping Corporate Culture

July 17, 2019 by Michelle Ray

According to recent research, millennials would be willing to give up $7600 of their annual salary to find a job where they felt they were experiencing a better environment. Just think about that for a moment.

Think about the fact that this is a completely different mindset, and a different attitude in contrast to generations that preceded them. It also tells us something about the importance of culture to today’s workforce. So we often think about, is that person the right fit? But now I want you to be thinking about the fact that they are also considering whether your business, your organization, is the right fit for them.

So, culture is critical when it comes to talent retention, and keeping great people happy for the long-term, and attracting those people to make sure that they are the right fit for your organization, as much as they are considering you as their employer of choice.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfoWITL2flU&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Developing A Leadership Mindset

June 21, 2019 by Michelle Ray

Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads?

Maybe you’re stuck questioning yourself, or finding it hard to make a personal or professional choice.

We’ve all been there. But you don’t have to stay there.

Great leaders share success and let others shine

June 12, 2019 by Michelle Ray

One of the biggest turnoffs for just about anyone at work, is to be around a leader who takes all the credit.

It’s very important, if you wanna practice authentic leadership, to share your successes with the team, to share team success, to not be the person who is only focused on yourself, and thinking to yourself, well I’m automatically gonna look good when they look good. Now that’s gonna happen. But when your total focus is on you, and wanting to look good of the sake of looking good, your team is gonna recognize that in a heartbeat. And it really does turn people off. And they notice that about you.

So, remember that getting the team excited about success is an intangible motivator. And that means it’s something that you can’t put a price on. So why would you wanna take all the credit and have people feel like they made no contribution? That can be easily remedied by taking a step back, being humble, and recognizing that people can bask in their own glory of success. And you helped to make that happen.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNVakwUu2hs&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Resilience and Optimism as Leadership Competencies – Be Resilient and optimistic!

April 18, 2019 by Michelle Ray

Two great competencies for an executive are resilience and optimism. Is that you? Are you a resilient executive? Because in order to be successful and continue to have success in today’s economy, we need to be able to hone our resilience muscle.

When you think about all the trials and tribulations of your business, all the change and upheaval that you’ve experienced, that has given you the inner strength to continue to face the next opportunity. Resilience is strength. It is something that we all have the ability to tap into because we have weathered the storm.

We have gone through adversity. We’ve gone through personal challenges, professional challenges, business challenges and that’s what makes us stronger. So it is one of the most desirable competencies that organizations are looking for in their executives, is to know that they are resilient and that they are willing to do what it takes to take on the next challenge and to tap into their inner strength in order to make it happen.

Remember, when you are a resilient leader, you will face the challenges, you have faced them with an optimistic outlook and you know that when you look at the world through an optimistic lens, you are more likely to be able to meet that challenge head-on and rise to the occasion by being the absolute best that you can.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i9Sme8-VZo on YouTube.

Communicating effectively is the Secret to Success

April 4, 2019 by Michelle Ray

Communicating effectively. Is that you? Communication is the secret to success. Without understanding others, without understanding that we, when we send a message as leaders, we are ultimately responsible. Your communication is not something that other people should be trying to figure out.

In any communication, there is always a sender and a receiver. So when we are communicating with others, we need to communicate effectively. We need to be clear. We need for others to understand exactly what they mean. The leader who communicates a message and then thinks to themselves, hmmm, I don’t think they got it. Well, if that’s you, then it’s actually your responsibility.

It’s not the other person’s task to understand what you meant. It’s your responsibility to be clear, and every person needs different communication. Some people, they may not need a lot. They may already have the skills to do the task, but there are others who need more direction, more communication from you. So we can’t communicate with everyone in exactly the same way.

We need to be flexible ourselves, and those leaders who have the ability to communicate effectively understand that one size doesn’t fit all. Being a great communicator is everything because business is all about communication, and business is all about people. So I would suggest if you wanna be a better communicator as a leader, do everything possible to hone those skills to be open to learning to be open to communicating.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIbqu54h2_8 on YouTube.

Key Leadership Traits: The ability to Take Risks

January 31, 2019 by Michelle Ray

SHRM defined one of the most important competencies in leading organizations as taking risk. The ability to risk. Without question, we want to be conscious of taking calculated risk. There is a difference between taking extraordinary risk and taking calculated risks. What kind of a risk taker are you? If we don’t take risks, we simply stand still. Of course today, it’s impossible to move forward without taking some kind of risk. That involves of course being able to let go of the fear and trust yourself. Trust in who you have around you. Trust in your decisions. Trust in your decision-making ability that you are able to take that next step.

Some of the risks we take may seem overwhelming initially, but once you’ve taken that risk and you’ve lived to see the result, you realize that what you actually did will give you the energy to continue to take risks. Being a risk taker doesn’t necessarily mean you are the risk taker extraordinaire, but you have an ability to embrace your fears, move through them and take the next step to take the risk.

This article is a transcript from Key Leadership Traits: The ability to Take Risks YouTube.

On-boarding new Talent (Part 1)

November 1, 2018 by Michelle Ray

As leaders, your most pressing challenge is staying ahead of the curve. When it comes to your talent management strategy, the key to gaining the strategic advantage is your people. No matter how high tech the world continues to be, the success of your business, no matter what industry you work in, is dependent upon retaining the best talent.

Name any segment of the market right now that isn’t feeling he impact of a talent shortage. How did this happen? Well, there are many reasons that can explain the panic mode that businesses are experiencing. The retirement of millions of baby boomers and the availability of millennials to replace them, it counts for much of the struggle. Although, interestingly, organizations have known for some time that they will need to have a strategy in place to attract new talent.

Unfortunately, many haven’t fully anticipated the global competition for talent. In addition leaders at many levels are unaware of the impact of their own reputation. Personally as well as the reputation of their own employer brand on a new hire’s decision to stay.

In this series we’re gonna look at the key elements that you need to have in place to attract and retain the best people.

We need to be asking ourselves, if we’re leading ourselves, are we being the best possible example that we can be?

We manufacture a lot of our fear. All of us should look at leadership as being a mindset. It’s about being the leader of your own life and we have all have to choice to be able to do that.

You know there’s an old adage, people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. And this has total applicably for so many of you who are grappling right now with the talent shortage. Gallop research has found that 50 percent of employees leave because they’re frustrated with their boss. Now why are they frustrated? They’re frustrated for a myriad of reasons. Lack of direction, they can’t see the opportunity path, they feel excluded from the decision making process, or a lack of communication or maybe it could be because they feel that their boss is arrogant or narcissistic or even worse, they’re an egomaniac who takes all the credit when they do a good job.

Now what does this do? It creates a total lack of trust and it makes us feel insecure and start to question what we are doing in this position. So think about how many times you have left a position because of poor leadership. Or maybe the opposite is true. You’ve stayed because of an inspiring, caring leader who validates your work and makes it a priority to build a relationship with you. Every one of us wants that and we also want to feel like we’re doing purposeful, meaningful work and we want to see that connection between what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

So ask yourself, as a leader, are you demonstrating this? You see, leading by example is the one aspect of your talent management strategy that you can control. Jim Clifton, the CEO of Gallop, references the fact that one 10 percent of people have the god-given talent to lead. That is an amazing statistic. You see, for years Gallop has surveyed more than two million people in more than 30 countries on the topic of leadership and while there’s a great deal of emphasis on employee engagement, Gallop research also shows that more than 30 percent of leaders are disengaged. Now that is alarming. So consider the link between a disengaged leader and a disengaged employee.

What this means, and is a reminder for all of us, is that leaders profoundly influence the atmosphere and the direction of an individual’s career path. How can we be inspired to stay when our leaders are disengaged? There is a direct correlation between talent retention and a leader’s motivation. How they are engaged at work is gonna impact your team.

In summary, let’s remember that leaders profoundly impact an employee’s decision to stay or go. Also that leaders who are engaged themselves can engage others. Positive energy is infectious and the key is to remember that you want to be the leader that they stay for.

This post is a transcript of the content of a new video series on YouTube. Check it out here!

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