joelle k. jay – Page 7

As I resume blogging again I want to move forward with a new initiative: a “Best of the Blog” round-up for each month. Putting a practice from The Inner Edge to good use, it is my hope that the monthly round-up will help you embody the eigth practice I outline – to keep learning! We’re often so innundated with information that it becomes difficult to absorb the information we read in any given day, or even week or month.

Jack Welch said: “Good leaders are, by definition, voracious learners.”

So in the spirit of learning and leading, read on for five key takeaways from the blog over the last few months:

How to lead from within. From the post “5 Practices for Leading from Within,” I shared five practices from The Inner Edge that you can use to lead well and live well, too. In short, the practices are to help leaders find clarity to determine what both short-term and long-term success looks like; to find focus in order to keep your attention on the action items that are top priority when it comes to achieving that success; to take effective action so that you can determine what action items are best to tackle in a day instead of spinning your wheels all day; to tap into your own brilliance in order to not only find out what your unique strengths are, but to find out what practices will bring out those strengths; and to feel fulfillment in a way that enriches your life, and allows you to discover and take responsibility for your own gifts.

What is your identity as a leader? In “Identification, Please?” I list many types of leaders, and ask you to be honest with yourself to identity what you can take away from each type. The types include: A business or corporate leader, a professional leader, a community leader, a family leader, an inspiration leader, a thought leader, an action leader, and the leader of your own life. What makes you powerful is developing the image of who you want to be as a leader. The leadership types will help you to sharpen your focus to find out which type of leader you are, and the leader you want to become.

Find out what “the secret wish” is. One of my favorite questions to ask clients is: “What is your secret wish?” In the post “The Secret Wish,” I share an exercise to help you find out exactly what your secret wish is. Simply open a spare notebook, turn the page and reflect. Anything is possible. Think about it. Write about it. Dream. Some wishes are easier to grant than others. Simply stating that wish can be enough to help you hone in on what you need to do to make it a reality, even within the same day. Others can take several years to come true, and some never do. But more often than not, just saying the words aloud makes them come alive.

How to have it all by defining your “all.” In “Having It All” I expose one of the surefire ways to have it all: find out what your “all” is! So many people ask if it’s possible to have it all. Some people say yes, some people say no. To me, it’s the wrong question altogether. To me, the answer to the question, “Is it possible to have it all?” is not yes or no. It’s simply: “Do you know what your ‘all’ is?” If you can clearly define your “all” in a way that is grounded, realistic, and optimistic, most likely you can have it. If you define your “all” as some unattainable ideal that amounts to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, then you might not. In the post I lead with an exercise to help you define your “all.”

Open up to the spirit of possibility. In “The Spirit of Possibility” I help you channel your own potential and infinite possibility. The only way to know what those are is to trust in more intuitive ways of knowing, being and becoming who you want to be – not just by working your life away, but by learning to wish, hope, think, pray, and be in a different kind of way. Author William Bloom, a meditation master and expert in the field of holistic development, offers a helpful definition of spirituality as “that whole reality and dimension which is bigger, more creative, more loving, more powerful, more visionary, more wise, more mysterious – than materialistic daily human existence.”

Leaders are busy, and usually the way we read when we’re busy is the first time we skim, the second time we form an opinion, and the third time we really take in what we read. Let this round-up be your quick guide to learning, and leading, well as we move into July!

You can connect with Joelle on Twitter and Facebook.

With the World Business Executive Coach Summit underway I have been thinking a lot about the critical components that go into leadership, and how leaders can use those components to better both themselves and their business.

In the past few years leaders have been presented with a new set of challenges as businesses have been hit hard with a talent crunch, a generational shift, and an economic downturn, and that’s all on top of the usual 21^st century challenges of globalization, innovation, and technology. Leaders must rise to the challenge. They must, and they will. But in order to do so successfully, they must learn to not only lead their organizations, but also lead themselves. They must learn to practice personal leadership.

Personal leadership is the leadership of the self. It is the ability to define a direction for your life and leadership, and to move in that direction with consistency and clarity over time. In a positive, unselfish way, personal leadership means putting yourself first. Literally speaking, personal means “about you;” leadership means “coming first.” When you practice personal leadership, you “lead from the ‘inside out.’” The process involves asking yourself, “How do I need to be and act and think in order to be my best?” – a kind of self-driven style well-suited to dedicated leaders who will carry business into the future.

To practice personal leadership, you apply the principles of leadership that make businesses a success…to yourself. So what are these principles, broken down into the critical components and made more digestable for leaders in the digital era who face daily information overload?

Here are five practices for leading from within, from my book The Inner Edge: The 10 Practices of Personal Leadership:

Get clarity. What do you want? Getting clarity means being able to connect clearly and instantly to your long- and short-term ideas about success. In business, this practice often equates to setting a company vision. While a vision is a powerful thing, it’s not quite what you need as a leader. You may have a personal vision for yourself, but in addition, you need the skill of getting clarity on that vision again and again over time. Your vision will change as you change. Getting clarity ensures you don’t make changes in a direction you don’t want to go.

Find focus. Pay attention to where you’re putting your focus and energy. When you find focus, you fix your attention on top priorities even when the world around you is pulling you away. In business, focus shows up in the form of a strategic plan. The strategic plan makes it possible for everyone in an organization to see in a single document the vision, mission, goals, strategies and so on of an organization so they can all can stay on the same page. As a leader, you also need a one-pager to remind you of your priorities – maybe not down an exhaustive list of tactics, but at least the short list of areas that matter most to you. Having such focus is crucial especially in challenging times.

Take effective action. Have you ever spent a whole day busy at work, only to end it wondering if you actually got anything done? You can stop spinning your wheels and start driving with direction, quickly, easily, and with time to spare. Action items are the language of productivity in organizations, but as a leader you need more than a task list. You need to practice the mindsets and approaches to decision-making that help you take only the most effective actions and leave the rest behind. In his research for the book Good to Great, Jim Collins found this kind of results-oriented commitment to action to be one of the hallmarks of leadership in successful organizations. Having witnessed the “the quiet, dogged nature” of effective leaders, he concludes, “Disciplined action without disciplined thought is a recipe for disaster.”

Tap into your brilliance. Simply put, find out what’s unique about you, both positive and negative, and use your uniqueness to your advantage. In an effort to grow human capital, organizational leaders are constantly trying to attract and retain talent. When you tap into your brilliance, you make the most of the talents you already have. This practice captures the spirit of what author and former Gallup researcher Marcus Buckingham (Now, Discover Your Strengths and Go, Put Your Strengths to Work) calls “a strengths approach” to leadership. The philosophy is that we are at our best when we are aligned with our strengths.

Based on Gallup’s 40 year study of human strengths as described in Tom Rath’s StrengthsFinder 2.0, “People who have the opportunity to focus on their strengths every day are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs and more than three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life in general.

Feel fulfillment. In order to be your most effective as a leader, you get to discover what drives you – your values, meaning and purpose – so that you feel fulfilled. “Fulfillment” may not sound like a critical business result, but it is an essential requirement for great leaders.

Stephen Covey writes, “Deep within each one of us there is an inner longing to live a life of greatness and contribution – to really matter, to really make a difference.” Bolman and Deal, authors of Leading with Soul, agree: “Each of us has a special contribution to make if we can shoulder the personal and spiritual work needed to discover and take responsibility for our own gifts.

You can find the remaining best practices and more tips in The Inner Edge.

I also invite you to join Howard Morgan and myself on Wednesday, June 25 at 4 p.m. EDT at the WBECS 2014 as we discuss what is critical to understand when you are coaching someone who is a different gender than you. You can find more information here. Feel free to Tweet me at @JoelleKJay!

You can connect with Joelle on Twitter and Facebook.