Positivity | Martin Willoughby

15 Feb 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Attitude Permalink

HOW TO GROW YOUR WILLPOWER

Sticky Post By overseer On February 15, 2016

At the 2009 U.S. Open, Serena Williams lashed out at a lineswoman in a profanity laced tirade that not only cost her the match, but also $82,500 in fines. Serena, a former No.1 ranked tennis player in the world and holder of 27 grand slam titles, had a lapse in self-control.? Our ability to self-regulate has tremendous impact on our lives.? The lack of self-control by many politicians and celebrities has led to public displays of the disastrous results (e.g. Rep. Anthony Wiener, Gov. Mark Sanford, Charlie Sheen, etc.).? A study published in 2010, tracked one thousand children from birth to age thirty two and found that the greatest predictor of ?success? in life was the trait of self-control.? Interestingly, in a study with over one million survey responses, participants were asked to list their personal strengths, and self-control was dead last. We seem to know our own limitations when it comes to our willpower. ??Unfortunately, the challenge of self-control has led to alarming rates for crime, divorce and sexually transmitted diseases in our modern times.? In fact, social psychologist Dr. Roy Baumeister in his 1994 book ?Losing Control? argued that, ?Self-regulation failure is the major social pathology of our time.?

For entrepreneurs and business leaders, the ability to exercise self-control is extremely important.

In today?s business environment, we have constant distractions competing for our focus and energy.? We have the vast array of information of the internet readily available ? just tempting us to explore.? We can watch our favorite movies and television shows any time on portable devices we carry around with us.? Even going to the grocery store presents us with a dizzying array of choices as local groceries have now grown into megastores.? Author and performance coach Tony Schwartz noted, ?Self-control is the ability to say no, in the face of temptation, and to take sustained action, despite the difficulty of a given challenge.?? I have the good fortune to interview leaders on a regular basis. One of the common themes I hear is that it is critical for leaders to separate ?the great from the good? by learning to say no.? By saying ?no? to very good things, we are able to ?yes? to the truly great opportunities. Leaders have to make difficult decisions and lead by example.? Nobody wants to follow people who routinely exhibit poor self-control.

Schwartz also emphasized, ?Over the years, we?ve learned that nearly everything people tend to believe about self-control is wrong. Most of us assume the only way to resist our impulses, or persevere under pressure, is to grit our teeth, furrow our brows, steel our nerves, and tough it out. Precisely the opposite is true.?? In his recently published book entitled ?Willpower,? Baumeister shares the results of over two decades of rigorous scientific study on this topic which I believe will reframe how think about self-control.? Baumeister and his co-author John Tierney share that ?willpower is a form of energy in the brain. It?s like a muscle that can be strengthened with use, but that it also gets fatigued.?

What the authors found was that our energy is the key to our self-control.? We all have a pool of energy to complete our physical and mental tasks each day.? Each time we exercise self-control in an important or even trivial matter, we draw down on this available energy.? The energy source in our bodies is glucose, the simple sugar produced in our body from the foods we eat.? Researchers found that there was a direct correlation between glucose levels and self-control.? In fact, they found that, ?As the body uses glucose during self-control, it starts to crave sweet things to eat . . .?? I know when I skip a meal that I become ravenous and my own willpower to eat healthy tends to go out the door ? just give me a piece of pizza!

As we learn more about how our brains and bodies work, we can put this information to use in our daily lives. By learning to improve our willpower, we can create a huge competitive advantage in work and life.? To have more self-regulated lives, we have to learn how to manage our energy.? Below are some of the core concepts from this emerging of field of research that we can start to apply today.

Maximize Your Energy

Based on the research, we could draw the wrong conclusion that we need to have Snickers? bars with us all the time to fuel our glucose so we can exhibit better self-control.? This is obviously not the way to go. However, the key is to maintain healthy glucose levels throughout the day.? Nutritionists would tell us to accomplish that by eating more frequently throughout the day (5-6 times a day).? My own research on this topic has convinced me to be a ?grazer? throughout the day and avoid large meals.? This research also validates the advice your mother gave you to ?eat a healthy breakfast!?? Starting your work day without having a good breakfast puts you at a competitive disadvantage from the beginning of the day.? We also know that we should eat low-glycemic foods which provide sustainable sources of energy throughout the day.? When our bodies crave the afternoon snack, we need to refuel with good sources of glucose and not the cookie or Coke.? ?In addition, the research is clear that regular exercise and sleep all help us maintain the right levels of energy.? The average American only gets six hours of sleep, but performance expert Dr. Anders Ericcson has shown peak performers sleep eight or more hours a night on average. ?The bottom line is that we can be intentional about improving our willpower by better managing our energy levels.

Make Your To Do List

Baumeister and Tierney also found that one the keys to improving our willpower is have a good ?to do? list.? However, this does not mean creating pages of things that we need to get done.? Instead, they noted, ?an executive?s daily to-do list for Monday often contains more work than could be done the entire week.? We tend to have too many goals and to-do?s which diffuses our focus and energy.? Baumeister and Tierney shared a best practice for team members to weekly share up to three goals that they plan to focus on for the following week and to create a weekly accountability loop on those goals.? It is also important to pre-plan your reward for achieving your goal. ?I enjoy the great feeling of scratching an item off my to-do list. It is a simple act but brings me joy!

Clean Your Room

Research has also found that having a messy workspace leads to less self-control.? Unfortunately, those stacks of paper piled up on our desks actually are hurting our ability to exhibit willpower and achieve our goals. By ordering our workspace, we create positive momentum and don?t deplete our willpower resources. ?In fact, a clean workspace is an integral part of the Japanese 5S system of workplace organization used by many companies.

Conclusion

One of the interesting findings from research on willpower is that people with more self-control are more altruistic.? They give more to charity, volunteer more, and are more likely to be concerned about others in society.? ?It is also encouraging to me to learn that I am not a slave to my weaknesses, but that I can actually learn to have better willpower to accomplish positive things in my life.? Through implementing some of the findings described in this article and others from this emerging field of research, we have the ability to improve not only our own lives, but also those around us.? For entrepreneurs and business leaders, reclaiming this character trait of willpower and learning how to grow it could be the most important element of future success.

20 Jan 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Leadership, Motivation and Encouragement Permalink

UNDERSTANDING YOUR MOTIVATIONAL DRIVERS

Sticky Post By overseer On January 20, 2016

I have made my fair share of mistakes as a manager of people.? In my first business out of college, I co-owned a company that managed private and public tennis complexes.? One of our key staff members was the head tennis professional who was a leading tennis teacher in the area.? He had students lined up to take lessons from him which was great for our business.? In my brilliance, I went out and hired another tennis professional without consulting our long time head pro.? Within a few months, my long employee left and went to work for a competitor taking all of his students with him.? In his exit interview, I learned that he enjoyed being the sole head professional and that he did not get along well with the person I hired.? Ouch! This was a painful lesson in managing people and learning to communicate better.

Later in my career, I was apparently not much wiser.? I personally don?t like much oversight or micro-management when someone is managing me. Just point me in the right direction and let me go.? Therefore, my default is to manage that way as well.? Unfortunately, that style does not work for everyone.? I had a very talented law clerk that I hired to assist me with my law firm.? I would share some big picture ideas with him and turn him loose to work his magic.? Unfortunately, when we would reconvene, I would be very disappointed in the work product.? After several failed attempts, he finally said, ?Could you please just tell me exactly what you are looking for, and I will be glad to do it!?? I needed to hear that as a good reminder that many people need clear direction and want more detail in how to accomplish a project.

I have had my occasional good moments as a manager.? In one work setting, I shared an assistant with another co-worker. ?She was a very nice young lady who worked very hard.? The colleague I was working with had a very different management style than me. My colleague had a very stern approach and would become very upset if the work product was anything less than perfect.?? I watched my assistant leave this person?s office many times in tears.? I personally believe you ?catch more flies with honey than vinegar?, and I tried to be an encourager and challenge my assistant in a positive way to be her best.? What I learned from that experience is that my assistant would expend extra effort to get projects done for me, but would do the bare minimum not to get in trouble with my colleague.? In other words, she cared enough to give me her discretionary effort.? That lesson has stuck with me.

How we lead and inspire others in the workplace matters.? Gallup has some very interesting research on our workforce in the United States and the impact of employee engagement versus disengagement. ?They have been tracking employee engagement since the late 1990?s, and they have administered over 25 million employee surveys to measure employee engagement.? In a?recent report, they found that only 30% of the U.S. workforce is engaged in their work, and the ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees is roughly 2-to-1.? For work groups with engaged employees, the results are phenomenal ? ?higher productivity, profitability, and customer ratings, less turnover and absenteeism, and fewer safety incidents than those in the bottom 25%.? ?In addition Gallup found that, ?Organizations with an average of 9.3 engaged employees for every actively disengaged employee in 2010-2011 experienced 147% higher earnings per share (EPS) compared with their competition in 2011-2012.?

However, in contrast those with an average of only 2.6 engaged employees for every actively disengaged employee experienced 2% lower EPS compared with their competition during that same time period. ?Gallup also estimates that active disengagement costs the U.S. $450 billion to $550 billion per year.? These disengaged employees are more likely to steal from their companies, negatively influence their coworkers, miss workdays, and drive customers away.

What I have realized in my journey is that most businesses today are PEOPLE businesses.? We either win or lose based on how well we have engaged employees working together to accomplish organizational goals. That is how you build a great brand and create loyal customers.? As we continue to distance ourselves from the industrial age into the knowledge economy, it is paramount that we as leaders understand that our employees are not cogs in a machine but living, breathing people who have hopes, desires, dreams, and NEEDS.? If we are going to unleash the greatness in our organizations then we have to unleash the greatness of our people.??

In my work with organizations, I frequently use personality tests like DISC? or Myers Briggs?; however, my favorite tool is the Birkman? assessment because it helps you understand your ?needs? as well.? If a person?s needs are not being met then they are unlikely to be a productive employee in an organization. The challenge is that people don?t walk around with their ?needs? spelled out on their resumes.? They may not even be clearly known by the individual.? As a leader, we can learn how to inspire and motivate our team members by understanding what truly motivates them.

In my search for an efficient way to practically apply these principles, I discovered a tool to help streamline this process.? Dr. Carl Hicks, a native Mississippian, co-developed with Birkman International a new tool called Understanding My Motivational Drivers.? This assessment combines the objective statistical input from millions of people who have taken the Birkman with Dr. Hicks? practical experience in working as a business consultant for several decades.

The assessment produces a short report which addresses five key topics for individuals:

(1) How to work with me

(2) How to talk to me.

(3) The biggest mistakes you can make with me.

(4) How to incentivize me.

(5) What motivates me.

I asked Dr. Hicks about this tool and he shared, ?I believe that being your best requires that others treat you as you want to be treated. This report can serve as the vehicle that permits you to review, confirm, share and discuss your expectations in an objective manner.?

I believe that tools like the ones that Dr. Hicks created are extremely important because they help individuals increase their self-awareness and leaders better understand how to unlock the greatness in their employees.? I encouraged leaders to follow the Platinum Rule which means that we treat people in the way that they want and deserve to be treated. The harsh reality in life is that the only person you can truly change is yourself.? Therefore, one of the ways that YOU can change is to make sure that you are seeking to understand what motivates your teammates and seeking to be a positive example of how to lead by helping people meet their needs. You may just be the catalyst for helping to take your organization to the next level!

07 Dec 2015

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Managing Your Business, Motivation and Encouragement Permalink

SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION!

Sticky Post By overseer On December 7, 2015

Even back in the 1970?s, Daniel (Rudy) Ruettiger was an undersized football player.? Standing 5 feet 6 inches and weighing 165 pounds, he was a longshot at best to play on Notre Dame?s football team. Through courage and commitment, he made it as a ?walk on? onto the scout squad which helped the varsity team prepare for games.? On November 8, 1975, Coach Dan Devine allowed Rudy in his senior year to dress out with the team for the final game against Georgia Tech.? He only played two plays that day.? One was a kickoff and the other was the final play of the game where he sacked the quarterback.? At the end of the game, Rudy?s teammates carried him off the field. Rudy was only one of two players in Notre Dame history to be carried off the field by his teammates.? This dramatic story was captured in the movie Rudy, and the image of him being carried him off the field is a moving example of showing deep appreciation.

The Challenge: Keeping Good People

While it is unlikely that we will ever parade a co-worker through the office on our shoulders, we do have the opportunity to show appreciation to our employees and co-workers in the workplace. This is not just a ?feel good? exercise, but instead a solid best practice of successful companies. A number of surveys suggest that the number one issue facing business is finding and keeping good employees. High employee turnover can have a direct impact on the bottom line. The costs of turnover include recruiting replacement costs, administrative costs, lost productivity, training, and supervisory time. In fact, experts estimate that the costs of employee turnover average twice an employee?s salary.

The mistake is to assume that if we just throw money at employees that it will ensure that we keep them.? While monetary rewards are nice, the reality is that employees want to feel valued and appreciated in their jobs. In The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, Dr. Gary Chapman and Dr. Paul White noted that based on extensive research, 89% of managers believed that employees left jobs for more money; however in reality, only 12% of employees actually reported that they resigned over compensation. In a four year analysis of more than 100,000 employees worldwide, the Corporate Leadership Council discovered that while workers ?join companies for rational motives (better compensation, benefits, and career opportunities), they stay and work hard for emotional ones.?

In The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave, employee retention expert Leigh Branham noted, ?Everyone wants to feel important, yet many organizations make their people feel quite the opposite. It could be seen as a lack of simple appreciation, or a greater focus on making numbers, and not valuing employees.? The Gallup organization has conducted extensive research based on interviews with more than 17 million people over more than 30 years.? They identified 12 core elements that link directly to critical organizational outcomes. Interestingly, one of the core elements was that, ?employees receive regular recognition or praise for doing good work.? Gallup also found that almost 70% of the employees in the United States say they receive no praise in the workplace.

The Opportunity: Showing Appreciation at Work

Dr. Gary Chapman, best-selling author of The Five Love Languages and Dr. Paul White, a nationally recognized family and business coach, teamed up to write their book to help us understand how we are encouraged in the workplace as well as how to best show appreciation to others. Their book provides the tools, resources, and information to help apply these concepts in a practical way in the workplace.? One of the most compelling aspects of learning to show appreciation in the workplace is that it can be done for very little cost, yet it can accomplish significant results. For those that may think showing appreciation is too ?touchy feely,? the reality is that there is a significant return on time and investment for creating a positive work environment where appreciation is shown.? The key is simply being intentional about how we show appreciation so that we don?t take a ?one size fits all? approach.

In fact, providing the wrong type of appreciation can actually do more harm than good. Chapman pioneered the idea that we all have different communication ?languages.? He has described the five languages as words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, tangible gifts, and physical touch.? Chapman and White have applied and adapted these concepts to the workplace to show how we can better communicate appreciation to our co-workers and employees.? They developed the Motivating by Appreciation (MBA) Inventory to identify your individual language of appreciation.? Purchasers of their book are provided a code to take the test and determine their appreciation language.

We tend to show appreciation based on our own language and not that of those around us.? By taking the time learn the languages of your team, you will be able to much better show them effective and meaningful appreciation.? In today?s economy, it would be foolish to just think, ?Well, my employees should just be thankful they have a job.?? This view is short sighted and misses the point that by taking a little time to show appreciation in the workplace based on individual needs, leaders can create a positive work environment that is more pleasant and productive.

Build a Great Habit

I believe that great companies have great habits.? Being intentional about communicating personalized appreciation is one of those habits.?? It is important to recognize the challenges that can exist to effectively create this great habit.? One of the biggest challenges is the ?tyranny of the urgent? that keeps everyone so busy that they don?t take time to communicate effectively. Don?t let showing appreciation fall into the ?important but not urgent? bucket that never gets done. Take time and be purposeful on this important task. Finally, some people may not feel comfortable showing appreciation.? The more you educate yourself on this important area the more comfortable you will feel.? Also, remember this is not about you, but what you can do for other people.

As the old saying goes, ?nobody cares what you know, until they know that you care.?? I hope that you will consider the value and benefits of making your workplace one in which appreciation is shown.? Remember, even if your whole workplace is not on board with this concept, we each have the opportunity to create a positive impact by starting to show appreciation to those we work with today!