When Motivating Others, Add CAUSE to CONTENT!

John Maxwell is a master communicator both on-stage and in his writings. I recently heard him say that the success of his books (and he has sold millions of them!) is based upon gathering his information but then focusing on IMPACT! This got me thinking out loud about how we as leaders can use that simple formula to motivate others!

Often when we are attempting to motivate or influence others, we rely often on our data, reasoned arguments, well researched content, etc. The problem is that we often stop there. I believe the best leaders use good data but they attach that to even better CAUSES. As Simon Sinek of YouTube fame proposes the WHY (or CAUSE) is always more powerful than the WHAT. Stated another way, effective leaders stress WHY something is important. WHY efforts are worthy of both our time and best efforts. WHY it matters!

Whereas not an exhaustive list, here are some strategies that help propel you from simple information to impact:

Tell Stories – stories are critical – I was listening to the Wharton School Radio (totally geeking out on that channel these days!) on SiriusXM. One of their guests was stressing the importance of telling stories of great customer service and the positive impact it had on improving his business. It created an atmosphere of friendly competition where his staff wanted to share their stories. Stories paint word pictures of the CAUSES that are most important to you!

Keep It Interesting – Author and speaker Omar Periu shared, “until you make it interesting, you are just someone’s interruption!” Find new and different ways to communicating content. Maybe simple signs instead of PPT. Bring in guests or clients to share what is important to them. Remember that people learn best in their own ways. Some are visual, some are auditory, some are tactile, and some need time to reflect. Mix you media and methods to motivate others.

BE Sincere – are you truly passionate about your CAUSE? Share what is most important to you. Talk more about what you are for versus what you are against. People (especially the millennials now in the workplace) like to feel they are part of something big and meaningful – give that to them!

Call to Action – Finally, as John Maxwell shares, it is important to always let others know what you want them to KNOW and what you want them to DO! A clear call to action helps generate focus that leads to the results you are looking for.

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

What are you DESIGNED to DO?

Recently I finished a great book by my virtual mentor, John Maxwell. The book was entitled Intentional Living: Choosing a Life that Matters. In this book, John focuses a lot on “finding your WHY.” You see, once you find your WHY, or the reasons why you believe you were placed on the planet, the WHAT and the HOW takes care of itself. Put another way, your WHY will fuel the WHAT you want to do and then HOW you will be able to do it! This got me thinking out loud about further defining my own purpose and significance in the life of others.

I spent some time last week thinking a lot about this and came across a great article in SUCCESS Magazine by Stephanie Wood. Stephanie outlined a great activity to help you find your meaning or your WHY and I thought I would share it with you.

First, make a list of your personal qualities (i.e. honest, hardworking, playful, creative, etc.)

Second, list all your talents (e.g. public speaking, organizing, motivating, etc.)

Third, think about those activities that you find yourself repeatedly doing (e.g. volunteering, mentoring others, fixing computer problems, or creating a marketing campaign).

Fourth, list your true desires. What do you want to be doing with your life? Do you want to travel, work for a cause, help others develop capital, or lead a high functioning team?

Finally, take a look at your respective list and circle the one word or phrase that best captures your personal characteristic of each category above.

Now it is time to complete the following sentence:

I, (fill in your name) was DESIGNED to (fill in your most valued personal quality) who can (insert strongest talent) because I find myself (fill in the activity that repeats itself often in your life) because I am SUPPOSED to (fill in your truest desire).

Once you do this once, it is OK to refine it a bit but I believe you will be very surprised by the result. You see, I believe each one of us was intentionally DESIGNED to do something important in this world. Something no one else can do but YOU! It is my hope that with that understanding comes the self-realization of just how important and valuable you are!

Here is where I landed in this activity:

I, Bill Faulkner, am designed to Empower Others because I can Communicate Effectively which allows me to Teach important lessons for now because I am supposed to produce leaders for life!

You can find Stephanie’s full article in the December 2014 edition of Success Magazine.

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Co-Founder – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

You are SERIOUSLY in charge!

Perhaps the strongest leadership lessons come from the U. S. military. I am currently reading a great book by two former Navy SEALS turned corporate trainers, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, who declare that at the core of leadership is “extreme ownership” (thus the title of their book!). This got me thinking out loud about what that concept means.

According to Willink and Babin, the best leaders don’t just take responsibility for what is in their job descriptions, the best leaders take extreme ownership over everything their job entails. This includes the:

Strategy

People

Purpose

Values

EVEYTHING . . . that your enterprise is about.

This does not mean micromanagement, however, it means aligning all of the above to work in harmony with the mission before you. It means a deep attention to detail and proactively anticipating both challenges and opportunities. It means modeling that behavior for your team and colleagues so that they will take ownership as well. Stated another way by Dr. Henry Cloud, as a leader, you are ridiculously in charge!

The sad thing is that such a serious approach to leadership runs counter to the “cover your but, I’m not responsible for my actions” parts of our culture. Too often we see politicians, athletes, celebrities, and entertainers rationalizing their actions and receiving minimal to no consequences for behavior that would land most of us in jail or at the very least, out of a job!

So how do you know if you are the type of leader who takes your responsibilities and obligations seriously to the point where you have extreme ownership? It all depends on how you answer these two questions below:

When things go well, do you keep the credit or share it?

When things go bad, do you share the blame or own it?

So what is required of a leader who is SERIOUSLY IN CHARGE?

• Serious Self-Leadership – you have to understand you have to lead yourself and the responsibilities of your leadership seriously before asking others to do the same.
• Moral Courage – I will be the first to admit that taking such extreme ownership is not easy nor is it a lot of fun. I have had serious “ouch” moments in my career when I have had to admit to mistakes and make corrections. That required I stick to the “true north” of my moral compass.
• Commitment in Choice – being seriously in charge requires a deliberate choice to do so. It will not normally happen on its own. It requires us to evaluate our actions against the results.
• “In Spite Of” Responsibility – Even when it is not clear or there are lots of circumstance or reasons surrounding why something did or did not happen, you have to eventually take the responsibility for the final outcome in spite of the confusion, people issues, etc. that surround it.

 Here is the good news. When a leader handles his or her self in this seriously in charge manner, your credibility with your team, colleagues, and even supervisors sky rockets! Further, you will earn a lot of leadership credits with those around you. Finally, you will maintain your own self-respect which I believe in priceless.

If you want to learn more, I would recommend:

• Extreme Ownership: How Navy SEALS Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
• Boundaries for Leaders: Results, Relationships, and being ridiculously in charge by Dr. Henry Cloud

One of my most favorite workshops to facilitate surrounds this issue of leading with integrity and I would greatly enjoy the opportunity to discuss more with you. As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Co-Founder – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

New Year, Now REACH!

If you live in Florida for any length of time, you cannot help but be impressed by the physical and operational size of Walt Disney World. One important reason for such growth and quality is the Walt himself would encourage his team members to “plus” every good idea! Truly a great example of a leader encouraging himself and his team to REACH! The result is the entertainment and marketing juggernaut we see today. This got me thinking out loud about what we need to REACH for or PLUS this year.

Finishing my series of Remember, Resolve, and then REACH, it is important to understand that when we REACH, we are extending our current:

• Thoughts
• Talents
• Abilities
• Aspirations

to get to something better, higher, or stronger. The challenge is that so few of us really do this. According to author and speaker Paul Martinelli, he states that one of the major mistakes people make when setting goals is that they establish goals that they know they can already achieve! That might make things incrementally better, but it won’t “jump the curve”. The point being is that we should always be reaching for goals that we are not totally sure we can achieve. Now, does this mean we will always reach those “plus” goals? No, but on the other hand, we just might! That is when life gets very interesting! Currently there is a film out about a prior Mount Everest expedition. Not only did the climbers need to reach to even make an attempt that few people have ever tried, they had to survive the descent. Whether experienced climbers or relative new comers, they all knew that a successful ascent was not a given, in fact, most expeditions fail. They had to REACH!

So how do we “plus” our lives this year? As stated, Debbie Phillips and Robert Berkley from GroupMV suggest we select a word or theme for the year. Such a theme sets a tone and provides focus for thought, time, and energy. Everything we do can then be directed back to this theme. Some questions to help us stay in focus include:

• Does this action support my theme?
• Will this action help me have more of my theme in my life?
• Will this attitude or behavior increase my chances for fulfilling my year-long theme?

I hope you enjoyed this three part series. 2016 is already shaping up to be an interesting year for me but I hope it is a successful one for you. Just take a few minutes to remember last year’s impactful events, resolve to create meaningful goals, then “plus” them!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Co-Founder – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

How STICKY are your Resolutions?

Last week I thought it would be a good time to address the topic a New Year Resolutions since by this time, they are starting to fade for many of us! Based upon work from consultants Debbie Phillips and Robert Berkley from GroupMV, I developed a three step process of creating New Year resolutions that stick – Remember, Resolve, then Reach! This week, let’s RESOLVE!

A big part of making and keeping resolutions is how they are constructed. Creating great GOALS is the key to progress! Here are a few pointers:

• Write them down (as reminders)

• State in the affirmative (want to’s versus have to’s!)

• Tell others (as a means of support and accountability)

• Calendar what you can (so that you know your target due dates)

• Create metrics (what will successful goal attainment look, feel, or sound like?)

Once this is completed, it is important to keep them in front of you and review them regularly. Also, try to anticipate what the challenges will be? For instance, if you have a fitness goal, how will upcoming business or vacation travel interfere with that? How about looming deadlines for projects impact your leadership growth goals? An anticipated problem can become a managed problem! Finally, if it is a big goal (and I hope you have plenty of them!), break it down into manageable parts. Think about things you can do every week versus every day. The point is to create movement and we only move by moving!

Next week, I will finish this series with the last element I labeled REACH! I hope you will keep reading and keep making progress.

In the interim, if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Co-Founder – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

Before You Resolve, REMEMBER!

Now that we are about two weeks into the New Year, are resolutions starting to fade? Researchers tell us it takes about 2 – 3 weeks of consistent action to solidify a new habit but we all have experienced the good intention resolution that never seems to work out. So I started thinking out loud that NOW versus EARLIER would be the better time to talk about stating resolutions that’s will actually stick with you. This topic will be the theme of my next couple of blogs.

I ran across a great article from Steve Davis who publishes a resource called Master Facilitator Journal.com. Steve shares that why so many resolutions fail comes down to the following:

• We are unclear about what we really want.
• We are running away versus toward something in our resolutions.
• We set resolutions that we know we can already achieve!
• On the other hand, we set totally unrealistic goals (like mine to be a rock star drummer this year!!).
• We set goals and resolutions without considering building a support system around them!

So based upon work from consultants Debbie Phillips and Robert Berkley from GroupMV, here is a three step process of creating New Year resolutions that stick – Remember, Resolve, then Reach!

REMEMBER –

First, take a few minutes to REMEMBER or reflect upon this past year. Just pull out your electronic or paper calendar and write down all the SIGNIFICANT personal and professional events that occurred. Make sure to include events that were positive as well as negative, challenges as well as successes.

Next, just look in amazement at all your experienced this past year! I bet it was an incredible collection of life events.

Finally, once you complete the first two steps above, then reflect on the following questions.

• What was truly memorable about last year?
• Who came IN or OUT of your life?
• What were your biggest successes?
• What were your greatest disappointments?
• What were the biggest surprises?
• What was the single most impactful event?
• What patterns emerge for you?
• How do you want next year to be different?

You will need to make sure to answer these before moving on to RESOLVE which I will discuss next time (so yes, you will need to make sure you read next week!)

In the interim, if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Co-Founder – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

EVERYTHING You Do Matters!

 Our work and faith can be mutual expressions of each other! This is the premise of a great book I am reading called Every Good Endeavor by Timothy Keller. Perhaps one of the most impactful assertions he makes in the Introduction is that if you believe there is more to life than this one, then every good endeavor, no matter how small, matters. Not only does is matter NOW, it matters FOREVER! This got me thinking out loud about our work as leaders and the impact it has far beyond this current place and time.

You see, when you lead others, you influence them, you change them . . . you literally alter the course of their history. The same is true in terms of what we DO. Our work disrupts, improves, and/or alters events, conditions, and situations. This is both a powerful and empowering thought.

Think about the doctor that improves the quality of life of a parent so that they have many more years with their children. The college professor that mentors a young adult and helps them find their potential. Or the business owner that creates employment opportunities in a community. ALL of this matters and its impact last a very long time.

Granted, a lot of what we do in our day in and day out lives appear mundane and ordinary. Seemed from this new perspective, however, maybe that is not the case! Maybe, just maybe, EVERYTHING we do in our leadership lives has significance far beyond what we can even imagine! In his new book on Intentional Living, John Maxwell shares that when you intentionally use your day to day life to produce positive change in the lives of others, you live a life that MATTERS!

So with this powerful concept that everything we do matters in mind, how can such a prospect:

Impact the work that you do?

Impact who we do it with?

Increases the value of our efforts?

Legendary coach John Wooden encouraged his players to “make everyday a masterpiece!” I encourage you to do the same because not only WHAT you do matters but YOU matter!

If you want to hear a recording of John Maxwell’s recent teaching on Intentional Living, feel free to access the link below:

John Maxwell Intentional Living Teaching

If I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Co-Founder – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc