Tag Archives: teams

Creating Life Balance in 2014

Life Balance should be judged over a year. Not over a day. Not over a week and not over a month!

Hopefully you are using the festive time of the year to take stock and re-energise. Reflect on your successes, achievements and challenges from 2013 and then look ahead to 2014 and beyond.

14No doubt many of you have created New Year Resolutions. If creating more Life Balance is one of those, here are a few tips to help you achieve that goal.

1. Understand that in creating Life Balance you have many periods of being ‘out of balance’
When you judge your Life Balance over a year you will be okay with the fact that at various stages you will be ‘out of balance’ for periods of time. If you have been in a job for a while, or are studying then you will know the peak periods for your work or study. During these periods going on holidays is out of the question and your social life may take a backward step too. This is okay. Take note of when those ‘busy’ periods will be occurring and plan for them. In doing so you can be proactive with your friends and let them know that you may be hard to catch for the time that you have identified.

2. Book and pay for holidays in advance
I learned this tactic back in the late 1990s when I was suffering from overwork and fatigue. At that time of my life I used to wear my unused holidays as a badge of honour. “Look everyone. I work so hard I haven’t taken holidays for years!” As it turned out it was a silly view of the world to have as I was tired and lacked the energy to do my job properly. A good friend explained to me how he managed his energy by booking for and paying for his holidays in advance. That way both he and his family had something to look forward to throughout the year and because the holiday had already been paid for, it actually happened!

In activating this tactic I also learned that amazing deals are on offer providing you book and pay during the Xmas – New Year period (your holiday doesn’t have to be during this period, you just have to have booked it for some time during the year and have paid for it). This has literally saved me thousands of dollars – which contributes to the financial aspect of my Life Balance too!

3. Set physical goals

Lots of people set weight loss goals at this time of year. Unfortunately most people don’t get anywhere near their target weight because a specific weight is the wrong goal to have as your main goal. It is far better to set a goal that involves the achievement of a physical activity such as playing a sport on a regular basis, completing a hiking holiday or  completing a 20 kilometre walk. This year I will be supporting my wife Michelle as she prepares for her third Oxfam 100 Km Trailwallker in May. As one of her training partners I will be doing a lot of walking with her.

To enhance this tactic have ‘rolling goals’. Set multiple goals that will require you to have to keep fit so that you can achieve them. This helps to cut the risk of achieving a physical goal and then slipping back into bad habits after the goal has been achieved.

Use these three tips to help you to create the Life Balance that you desire. If you would like to learn more about creating Life Balance please visit here.

Leadership and Peak Performance Insights From Steve Moneghetti Recording

 

 

Steve Moneghetti is a world-renowned marathon runner who represented Australia at the sport’s highest level over many years.

Steve MoneghettiWhilst competing at these major championships he held a number of leadership roles within the team structure.

Since retiring at the Sydney Olympics he has held management roles at the Victorian Institute of Sport (Board Chairman), Australian Commonwealth Games Association (Mayor of Melbourne Games Village and Chef de Mission of Australian Team in India) and Athletics Australia (National Selector and National Team Manager).

Steve shares his insights about Leadership, Teamwork and High Performance.

Video length: 59:24

Gary Ryan enables leaders and their teams to move Beyond Being Good™.

Leadership and Peak Performance Insights From Steve Moneghetti

Steve Moneghetti is a world-renowned marathon runner who represented Australia at the sport’s highest level over many years.

Steve MoneghettiWhilst competing at these major championships he held a number of leadership roles within the team structure.

Since retiring at the Sydney Olympics he has held management roles at the Victorian Institute of Sport (Board Chairman), Australian Commonwealth Games Association (Mayor of Melbourne Games Village and Chef de Mission of Australian Team in India) and Athletics Australia (National Selector and National Team Manager).

With a degree in Engineering and education qualifications he is now the Director of a successful sports consultancy company.

Join Gary Ryan from Organisations That Matter as he interviews Steve to explore leadership and the achievement of high performance in all aspects of your life.

This is a free online event.

Date: Tuesday 17th December 2013, 10am – 10:40am (ADT GMT+11)

Register now as seats are limited.

Gary Ryan enables leaders and their teams to move Beyond Being Good™.

LinkedIn For University Students

 



LinkedIn isn’t just for people who have started their careers. Used correctly, LinkedIn can help university students to jump-start their careers.

In this video Gary explains how to set up your profile, how to give and receive endorsements and recommendations, how to properly connect with people, how to use the group function effectively and how to build online to face to face business relationships.

While the video is tailored to university students, the tips and step by step guides are useful for anyone who wants to improve how they use LinkedIn to advance their career.

Gary Ryan enables leaders and their teams to move Beyond Being Good™.

Do High Performing Teams Accept Unacceptable Behaviour?

Whenever I conduct leadership development or my Teams That Matter® program I ask, “Do high performing teams accept or reject unacceptable behaviour?”.

The answer arrives with a resounding chorus, “They reject it!”.

Yet how can people reject unacceptable behaviour if the team hasn’t made explicit what behaviours are acceptable and unacceptable?

For example, is answering a phone in a team meeting acceptable or unacceptable behaviour? What about not speaking during team meetings? Or the leader who is always late to meetings? No doubt you may think that these behaviours are clearly unacceptable – at least from your perspective. You might hold the view that ‘everyone knows‘ that these behaviours are unacceptable.

The evidence is overwhelming that ‘everyone doesn’t know‘. The fact that these behaviours exist indicates that not everyone shares the same view that you have.

Teams need to have an explicit agreement about what behaviours are acceptable, and what behaviours are unacceptable. So how do you make these behaviours explicit?

You host a series of conversations.

First ask, “In any team of which you have been a member, what team member behaviours have really annoyed you because you believe they have detracted from the team’s performance or potential to perform?” Collect the responses and name this list ‘Hindering behaviours‘.

Young business colleagues showing unityI have never had a team not be able to answer this question! Unfortunately this indicates that people like you have experienced your fair share of annoying team member behaviours – which is why the list is so easy to create!

Next ask, “What behaviours should we adopt to help us to be the best that we can be?” Collect the responses and name this list ‘Supporting behaviours‘.

Each list usually has six to 10 behaviours.

Your last question is, “What will we do if we believe that we are seeing the unacceptable behaviours?

The power of this question is that it allows you to define the process that you will take when an issue arises. Yet, because you are having this discussion when there isn’t a ‘live’ issue it enables you to keep the emotion out of this conversation.

When you believe that you are seeing a team member do one of the hindering behaviours, it is important to keep an open mind to their side of the story. Over time I have learned that many people actually believe that they are doing a supporting behaviour when others see it as hindering behaviour. 

These conversations don’t take a lot of time to complete, yet most teams don’t conduct them. Be bold. Be different. Have the courage to make your acceptable and unacceptable behaviours explicit as they will make your challenge of creating a high performing team that much easier!

Gary Ryan enables leaders and their teams to move Beyond Being Good®.

A structure for creating Meetings That Matter

Ron Ashkenas, author of The Boundaryless Organization reports that most managers believe that the majority of meetings are inefficient. Despite ‘knowing’ how to conduct effective meetings they continue to practice ineffective ones.

Ashkenas offers three reasons for this behaviour:

  1. Meetings offer the opportunity for social interaction
  2. Meetings are a practical way of keeping everyone in the loop
  3. Meeting can represent a certain level of status having been attained

He provides the basic tenets of an efficient meeting to be:
“Be clear about what you want to accomplish; invite the right people; send out pre-reading in advance; have an agenda and follow it with discipline; send out notes with key decisions and action steps.”

From my experience one of the problems with the prescribed successful meeting process is that people are too busy to do the required pre-reading. In fact, most managers have reported to me that they don’t have the time to pre-read the prescribed agenda. This is something they do on the way to the meeting or when they first get there.

Managers have also reported to me that they don’t focus on the content of the meeting “…until I am there.”, especially when they are travelling from one meeting to the next.

In this context it seems near impossible to create efficient meetings. Thankfully there is a way, but it will take some of you some time to get used to the ‘instant formality’ that the process creates.Organisations That Matter, Gary Ryan, Yes For Success, Leadership, Plan for personal success

Step 1: Provide an opportunity for staff to ‘check in’ at the start of the meeting (keep it short)
Efficient meetings require all present to be ‘present’ during the meeting. Wandering minds don’t aid efficiency. The purpose of the ‘check in’ is to allow team members to psychologically separate from what was going on before the meeting to focusing on the meeting that is happening ‘now’.

A ‘check in’ can be a single word where everyone is asked to share how they are at that moment through to just those feeling the need to share a recent experience that may be on their mind (e.g. I nearly had a car accident on the way here).

Step 2: Clarify the purpose of the meeting
Even if this is a regular meeting, remind people why it still matters. If the meeting no longer matters then you shouldn’t be wasting your time conducting it!

Step 3: Collectively set the agenda
Publicly create the agenda. A whiteboard is perfect for this task (remember there is power in the whiteboard marker, so while you are teaching people this method it is best to be the ‘scribe’).

Accept all suggestions from all team members. Then select the most important items that need to be addressed today. It is okay to use your positional authority as necessary when completing this task.

Literally place numbers beside each item as you prioritise them.

Next allocate approximate time slots for each agenda item that you have agreed to talk about. These time slots do not need to be equal – they need to be relevant to the importance of the agenda item and how long (in the available time) you have to discuss the item.

Step 4: Set a time-keeper
A team member will need to take on the role of time-keeper. It is amazing how often the simple statement that we have used our available time on an item results in the discussion ending. Please note that this role can (and probably should) move around the team members from one meeting to the next.

Step 5: Make a record of the meeting
Create meeting notes that highlight the agreed agenda and any actions that result from each item. This can be done by using the left hand side of the whiteboard and recording the actions as they arise throughout your meeting. Share the meeting notes in a timely fashion. This can be done by using your smartphone to take a photo of the Action Items and then immediately distribute the photo to all team members. You can leave the meeting without any extra administration tasks to be completed!

Step 6: Reflect on the meeting skills displayed throughout the meeting
This step spends a few minutes providing the opportunity to team members to talk about their thoughts about how well meeting skills were displayed by the team members. Comments such as, “Joan asked a lot of powerful questions today. Especially when she asked me about the most powerful benefits for the organisation that my suggestion would provide. It really made me stop and think more clearly about why this project matters.” provide an example of what might be said during the reflection.

That’s it. Like anything new this six step approach will feel strange at first, but you will get used to it.

Please feel free to ask questions about any of the six steps outlined above.

Please note that this article was catalysed by a recent conversation with one of my Executive Coaching clients. Thanks Elise!

Gary Ryan enables talented professionals, their teams and organisations to Move Beyond Being Good.
View a TedX Talk by Gary here.