45 Days and 29 Work Days

Can you believe it - 2010 is nearly gone? With the end of the year comes the push of reports and budgets, completing projects, and preparing for the interruptions of the holiday season.


Here are some questions to keep us moving:


1. What is the one thing that I can do NOW that will make the biggest difference in my life? It may be personal, professional, or relational - just choose that highest and most compelling goal.


2. Who needs my support, service, or attention in alignment of that goal? Whose support could I request?


3. How can I organize my time, actions, and priorities such that I can achieve or make significant progress on that goal?


4. What do I need to do for myself in alignment with that goal?


5. What do I want to be saying to myself a year from now about my progress or achievement of that goal?


6. What might I be doing, thinking or feeling that would sabotage my ability to make it happen?


Time is quickly passing. It is the little things we do and say in each moment of our NOW that create the results.


Take Charge -- Get Moving!


Love and light,
Diane

Fresh and Engaged?

For many of my unemployed friends and clients, the unemployed state continues to be a much longer ordeal than anticipated. In past years, landing a new position was a matter of doing the basic steps: resume, network, recruiters, interviews, landing. The rule of thumb was a month for every $10K income desired. 


Today the old rules don't apply -- it is the creative and persistent job seeker and sales person who comes out ahead. 


How do you stay "fresh" over the long, long, and even longer job search? In fact, how do you stay engaged as a sales person in the longer sales cycles of today's market? 

• Understand the New Reality. The rules of the game have changed and to win, you have to be willing to change too.

• Reexamine your goals. Has your target moved or disappeared? A friend has been seeking a position as a college administrator with a substantial salary and benefits. His qualifications and expertise are extensive and would serve any institution well. However ... and here's where life is unfair ... he is over 60 years old and is not willing to relocate or take a lower salary, nor is he willing to consider "repackaging" his skills in order to himself into a new arena. The longer he is out of his career, the less desirable he is to potential employers unless he engages with life and work differently.

• Has your industry disappeared or downsized? No matter how painful change may be, it will be even more painful to try to hold on in a dying industry. Let go of the past so you can be able to notice different opportunities.

• Get creative. Break down your past experience into SKILLS that are marketable. NETWORK in order to build relationships. 87% of jobs come through a relationship, someone who knows you, knows about you and your work, or word of mouth. Make sure the right people know you.

Staying fresh and engaged in your work, especially the work of career transition, takes a lot of consciousness. No one will tell you it's easy. And don't overlook the value of engaging a success partner - a coach makes a big difference. You are worth the effort!

Take Charge -- Get Moving!

Love and light,

Diane

S-st-tt-stuttering and Sputtering Out

There I go again! It has been a very long time since my last blog post, and I have to ask myself, “What’s that about?” As motivated and intentional as I may start out, I find that many times I lose focus and simply Sputter out for a while. And guess what – I see other entrepreneurs doing the same thing. Why can’t we just set the goal, develop a strategy, and get moving with focus and consistency?

Here are some reasons AND some ways to change this unproductive pattern.

Reason #1: life happens. People get interrupted, something breaks and needs attention and investment to repair, allergy season saps your energy, company from afar needs attention, other stresses take our attention. Falling off the plan is like stuttering – it’s uncomfortable and it impacts our self-esteem. The good news is that we can overcome the impact of life’s interruptions to our plan.

Solution: Plan for #1 to happen. Know that progress happens in steps and plateaus – you just have to keep on doing the daily small steps that move you forward. It’s normal. It can be briefer if you don’t get stuck in the “stutter”.

Reason #2: it’s not a habit. We all know that it takes 21 days (or more) to install a new habit. If you go 15 days and then forget, the habit doesn’t stick. It takes consistency of commitment for 21 days.

Solution: Get a buddy! Knowing that you are accountable to someone else is a success strategy that will bridge any commitment gaps you may have. This works even better if your buddy is asking you to give the same support for a habit he/she is developing.

Reason #3: you don’t really, really want it badly enough. You think you do, you tell yourself you do, but deep down, it just doesn’t match your sense of what is possible for you.

Solution: tell the truth. What is the purpose, the bigger “why”, for you to achieve the goal? When your actions are aligned with your purpose, the stuttering and sputtering won’t be an option.

So here is my commitment to myself – I am putting these 3 solutions into action starting today for my Send Out Cards biz.
Let me know if you see me starting to stutter on that commitment. I'm going to Take Charge - Get Moving!

Love and light,

Diane

To DiSC or Not To DiSC

"I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort where we overlap."  Ani Defranco, American singer, songwriter

One question that comes up quite often is, "Now that I'm learning about differences in behavior style, do I need to do a guess at their DiSC style with everyone I meet?" 

Good question ... in most interactions, we are so focused on the message we are giving or receiving and what we have to do with the information that it is already too much sometimes. 

How about keeping things simple? If you are already in rapport, in sync, in alignment with the other person, you are probably paying attention on the unconscious level to how that person prefers to communicate and you are automatically adapting. Or they may have a similar preferences to yours. It is when the communication does not feel clear and easy that the DiSC Model can come to the rescue. 

By observing the distinctions regarding task-oriented and people-oriented you can begin to align your style with theirs. (See the previous blog post.)

When a person who scores high on I-Influencing works with a person who is very high on C-Compliance, he needs to slow down and pay attention to the details of the task. Vice versa - when the C needs to have a positive relationship with the I, she needs to warm up a little and start with the big picture before delving into details. 

The D-Dominant preference needs to warm up and relax a little to establish rapport with the I's and S's, and to have some understanding that C's will have far more detail than is needed by the D and that the S's will do anything they can to get the job done, if you just ask nicely.

So the answer to the question "to DiSC or not to DiSC?" is Yes! Just a little attention to what the other person prefers or needs will save time and energy and opportunities.

Take Charge -- Get Moving!

Love and light,

Diane

DiSC and The Law of Requisite Variety

My client, Jack, is a busy manager who recently took the DiSC assessment as part of his coaching program. He liked the DiSC Model and said that he learned a lot about what makes people tick, but asked, “So what do I do with it now? Why should I put any more effort into applying it?”

How about this – More Power!

Do you want to be in control of your interactions with others? Here’s a way to do just that!


There is a body of knowledge called Neuro-Linguistic Programming -- also known as NLP and Neurolinguistics. NLP studies the structure of how humans think and experience the world, and is based on the presupposition that all behavior has a structure which can be modeled, learned, taught, and changed (re-programmed).

One principle of NLP applies well to how we use the DiSC model. The Law of Requisite Variety states that the one with the most flexibility of behavior will control the entire system, including communication. Have you ever noticed a child in the grocery store asking for cookies, candy, toys, etc.? If one behavior and request doesn’t do the job, he will try many other behaviors with lots of flexibility = controlling mom and getting the result.

“So just by adjusting to the other person’s preferences, I get to be in charge?” Jack asked. Right -- Two simple comparisons will help you to adjust your communication style to that of the other person.

1. Are they Direct/outgoing or are they Reserved?

2. Are they more Task-oriented or more People-oriented?

From those two observations, you can narrow their style to 

• Dominant = Direct, Task-oriented; 
• Influential = Direct, People-oriented; 
• Steady = Reserved, People-oriented; 
• Compliant = Reserved, Task-oriented. 

By starting your interaction where THEY are, you establish rapport, eliminate barriers/walls, and build a relationship that supports getting to a desired result. My challenge to you is that you become a Master of The Law of Requisite Variety.

Take Charge -- Get Moving!

Love and light,

Diane 

Communication is a "fat" word

People are different ... duh! When we engage in "communication", we often forget that basic fact and charge ahead in our own style and paradigm of the world. Personality and behavioral preferences affect how and why we communicate the way we do. The word, communication, has as many meanings as there are people using it -- it is a "fat" word.


My favorite tool for clarifying and improving communication behaviors with clients and teams is the DiSC assessment. By making 24 simple selections on the assessment, we get a fairly comprehensive report on our own behavioral and communication preferences and information about how others are different. Aha! So that's the reason for some of the misfires and clashes we've had in the past. THEY communicate differently, have different expectations, and a different  view of the world. 


Is this assessment perfect? Some people say that this kind of inquiry has flaws, and they are correct. However, if I understand how my style differs from others I work/play with, I have a choice of being flexible in order to establish Rapport and a sense of understanding much more quickly. In effect, I can improve my communication effectiveness.


In the next few posts, I'll give you some basics that will help you to review your own DiSC assessment. You can find several sources online, free or for a small fee. You may find as one client recently said, "I wish I had known this 10 years ago!"


Take charge - Get Moving!


Love and light,
Diane

Right Where You Are

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

― Theodore Roosevelt

Transition is a slippery state. When the main thing I want to be true is not yet true, it is easy to focus on what isn’t possible, what I don’t have and where I wish I were. But then what happens to my power to accomplish anything? Simple – it doesn’t show up at all!

Looking for a job, career transition, and uncertain employment situations require us to walk in “trusting the process” and follow Teddy R’s advice.

Do what you can …

1. 1.     Study the various styles and their application so you can create resumes that are effective.
2. 2.     Use the job boards every day – but not ALL day. Learn all the tricks of keywords, refreshing resumes, and searching by keyword vs. job title. (There is a trick to this!) Internet job search activities should comprise about 20-30% of your activity.
3. 3.     NETWORK! 70-80% of your efforts should be directed toward building relationships with people who know people who know people …. Networking is a skill/art that needs to be developed and practiced daily, even after you are employed.

With what you have …

1. 1.     Time. You have a lot of time when you are in transition. Plan and schedule and organize your activities so that your most productive hours are invested in the most important activities.
2. 2.     Relationships. Nurture the ones you have, create new ones, be a resource to others in the process.
3. 3.     Focus, intention, purpose   - no matter what the situation details, you must have these.

Where you are …

1. 1.     Where are you in your career path? Whether just out of school or on the last stop before retirement, where you are is where you ARE. Find ways to tell your story that turns “where you are” into an advantage for the hiring company.
2. 2.     Geography. Will you to consider a relocation? Where do you really want to live? How long a commute could you tolerate for a year or two for the sake of a really great job?
3. 3.     Where are you in your professional and personal development? This is an area that can be addressed during times of transition. By setting up a learning program, you enhance the story to tell during conversations and interviews. You haven’t just stood still during this gap in employment; you have been developing skills and understanding to take forward into your next challenge.

Take Charge -- Get Moving!

Love and light,

Diane

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