From Armchair to Action

Bringing your knowledge into the conscious mind

This morning I was preparing for a recording session that I doing very soon on Motivating Yourself as part of a CD series of Business Success Strategies for Notion. It meant that I had to explain concisely the key concepts of how to maintain your motivation.  Easy you might imagine....

However, it was not quite so simple. Sometimes what we do unconsciously and as second nature, is more difficult to bring into the conscious mind.  I found myself reminded of the conscious competence ladder that I use with clients when helping them when they are learning something new. 

So there I was, thinking about the what really keeps you motivated, and having written about it, spoken about it and lectured about it at length - for once I was lost for words.  So I have thought about it more since this morning and listed some of the things that have motivated me this week:

1. The wonderful autumn colours and leaves crunching under my feet, whilst walking the dogs!

2. Getting an email from a US contact of mine who introduced me to one of her colleagues who is doing more and more business in the UK. I decided to invite her colleague to an event I am speaking at, and she is delighted - a great way to motivate me to do a fab speech!

3. Three referrals that are going to attend our Women Presidents Organisation meeting with a view to joining. 

4.  Running a session on dealing with difficult people at a workshop which everyone loved and felt they could apply the techniques immediately

Motivation can be found in the oddest of places!

Extraordinary Women Entrepreneurs all in one room....

What happens when you bring eight of the UK's most extraordinary entrepreneurs together with the media, and 100 other women in business?   Who knows- but I can't wait to find out!

On Women's Enterprise Day, 18th November, Women Unlimited have arranged a fantastic evening of fine dining and networking with women that include Julie Meyer (Ariadne Capital), Karen Hanton (TopTable) and Kanya King, founder of the MOBO awards.

My role in the event is to host a table and speak about what I have learned about extraordinary women entrepreneurs. Can't wait.  My challenge is now to find a sponsor who could underwrite the cost of providing one of my books - Secrets of Successful Women Entrepreneurs to all who attend.  They would have fantastic exposure for their business and even be able to get their company logo on the front cover of the book as a special edition- so if you have any bright ideas of who I should approach, then get in touch.

Using LinkedIn as a marketing tool

One of the best things about being a speaker at the Marketing Forum is that you get an opportunity to hear other people talk about interesting subjects too.  Whilst onboard the Aurora, I went along to a workshop on using LInkedIn.  I use Linkedin a lot and think its great, but had not really thought about if I had a strategy for using it. Luckily Mark Williams from ETN Training put my mind at rest.  He explained how to use it effectively as a marketing tool, with useful advice including:

- never dismiss an invitation with the option "I don't know them" but use "archive" which achieves the same objective but does not negatively impact that persons account. Apparently if lots of people say they don't know you when you ask to connect to them, your account gets some type of limited status. Useful to know.

-joining groups is a good way to expand your network because it then enables you to contact other members of a group directly. The bigger the group, the most access to a wider number of people you have.

-make sure your profile is 100% complete along with a photo

- get active - post questions, respond to status updates, post your own updates - because every time you do so, others in your network will see what you are doing and you keep your name in front of them. 

He had some great success stories to share about how people have benefited from using LInkedIn - and I realised that I DO have a strategy although I did not realise it until now!

Top 5 coaching issues

In my work as an executive coach with business leaders, I come across many common issues and have distilled the top five below:

1.  Influencing - how to influence people whom you have no formal authority over

2.  Confidence - leaders in a new role or those looking to move to the next level

3.  Work/life balance - how to get greater balance between work and home life

4.  Understanding the politics - knowing how to "play the game" in the organisation

5.  What's next? - long term career or life planning

It strikes me that these issues are also of relevance for many people starting out their career too, and not just those at the top of their profession/organisation/company. Do you agree?

Fear is the greatest inhibitor....hear more on Sue Stockdale interview

I talk about this and lots more in my latest interview on KMUN radio. Listen to a taster here or the full interview listen to the podcast here (30 minutes)

Making a commitment and cognitive dissonance

One of the things I learned owhen I first started doing motivational presentations was it was hard to know if anyone ever took action as a result of what they heard.  I reflected on this and wondered what I could do to encourage listeners to take action, and also to get feedback on how they had got on. So I created the concept of the commitment card - where people write down one action they will commit to taking and I follow up with them after a month or so. 

What my intention is behind doing this was reinforced when listening to an episode of a Radio 4 Programme - Persuading Us to be Good where they described the concept of cognitive dissonance and how when people make a public commitment they are less likely to change their minds later.  Aha - I thought that is why I encourage the completion of commitment cards.

Over the years, they have produced some really interesting results.  Many people say that knowing I would follow up with them encouraged them to take the action, others say they felt supported in taking an action related to something they had been thinking about for a while.  No matter what the reason is, it excites me to get feedback that people have taken action - as that is the only way we learn, and get encouragement to take the next step....

Which Hierarchy of Success?

I was reading Seth Godin's blog posting about the hierarchy of success where he talks about the levels that he believes matter:

1. Attitude
2. Approach
3. Goals
4. Strategy
5. Tactics
6. Execution

He poses some interesting questions in relation to these levels.  On reading this it struck me that the hierarchy is much like the NLP Logical Levels of Change where the higher up the levels you look, the greater the focus is on what's really inside a human being and what's driving them.

• Purpose
• Identity
• Values and Beliefs
• Skills and Capabiities
• Behaviours
• Environment

Mission Possible is holding an event next week on the issue of Success - so I wonder what the speakers at this event will have to say on the subject? 

Having reflected on the adventures I have undertaken over the years - it does not matter whether the challenge is to get to the North Pole, escape from a helicopter submerged underwater or running for Scotland, I have learnt that you have to look inside first before you can improve on the outside. The more you understand what drives you, how your beliefs help or hinder and how you bounce back from disappointment, the more you can get better at what you do and achieve the success you desire.

Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) Economic Survey Results 2009

The latest economic survey results from women running businesses with annual turnovers in excess of $1million have just been published  in the USA and whilst the economic situation is still not great, women seem to be more upbeat.

Relative to 2008, regarding financial performance in 2009

31% of companies have grown and

21% are stable and have neutral performance

 

Optimism for 2010

§   82% are optimistic about business performance in 2010

 

Environmental Sustainability

§   54% have made their business environmentally friendly

§   35% are interested in making their business environmentally friendly

 

Greatest threat to the bottom line and factors affecting business

- Economic Conditions

- Customer retention

- Competition

- Human Resources

 

Employees

§   55% plan to increase number of employees or keep the same amount

§   53% have kept employee salaries the same; 15% have increased employee salaries

 

Future Role

§   44% will continue full-time management

§   20% plan hands-off oversight, with presence in the office 1-3 days per week

 

WPO Members

§   61% Believe their business has grown since joining

§   65% Believe the WPO has contributed to economic success

§   81% Believe the WPO helps manage business concerns in the current economic climate

Getting to grips with social media

Whilst I have been blogging and on LinkedIn for ages, I have never really got into Facebook and Twitter, because I was not sure how it would add value to what we do.  This week I listened to a presentation about social media that changed my thinking and as part of it they showed this video.  If nothing else, it will make you think.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8

Who should promote the female brand?

I saw that a new book has just been published on the subject of The Female Brand by Catherine Kaputa. The book aims to provide some insight into why talented women have trouble succeeding in business (mainly corporates I think) and provide some methods that we can use to create our own authentic brand.

I can't help thinking that we sometimes only look at one part of the equation.  Many of the entrepreneurial women I have met, left corporate land precisely because they felt they could not "be authentic" in that environment.  So if they are able to create a female brand that they are comfortable with in their own company, what' stops them doing so in the corporate world?   It's the culture, I hear you say, that's just how it is.  So if the people at the top of organisations (mostly men) don't get the value of a different culture, how are they going to be convinced.  Maybe its time to promote male role models, who can be flag fliers for the female brand too?  Will that help them listen and take action?  Or should we just encourage more women to take their talents elsewhere, build large corporations themselves and create different cultures?  What do you think?