Manufacture Your Day by BECOMING A BETTER LEADER
I would like to take this to the next level….
- Leadership = making everyone else better;
- Self-leadership = striving for self-improvement;
I have some really good clients and I am very grateful for every single one of them. On the flip side, I have also walked away from clients because they weren’t a good fit.
It is simple: My work doesn’t include “fixing” people.
My goal is to inspire people to become a little bit better each day, and to make a difference in their lives as well as in the organizations they work for.
If people become more aware about their own shortcomings and they develop a growth mindset, their desire to improve will become unstoppable.
You may have already heard the following conversation between the CFO and the CEO.
CFO asks the CEO: “What happens if we invest in developing our people and then they leave us?”
CEO responds: “What happens if we don’t and they stay?”
Here a a few things to think about:
- Learning new things drives mental flexibility and adaptability
- Being curious is so much better than being furious
- Understanding yourself is a must in order to understand others
- Teaching people “how to think” will bring better results than forcing people “what to think”
- Giving a different meaning to challenging situations will help people to thrive rather than survive
When I worked at Magna I didn’t wait for anyone to offer learning opportunities to me. I created them.
Here are a few examples:
- Learn from your daily tasks: My work in the early stages was to type employee opinion surveys. I learned a lot about the challenges people in the plants have. I also had the online English dictionary open and wrote down all the words I didn’t know. This gave me the opportunity to learn a few new words each day.
- Figure things out: One day I had to print labels and I had absolutely no idea how to do it. I was afraid to ask because I thought people would think that I am not a good fit for the job. It took me about 1 hour but with the Microsoft “help function”, I managed to figure it out.
- Be coachable and take action: My boss told me that it might be good for me to join Toastmasters. I joined within a week of our conversation. I knew that learning how to communicate and how to give presentations would help me tremendously going forward. This was in 2004 and I am still a member. Consistency pays.
- Have a great attitude: I had to do so many boring tasks (filing, copying, preparing binders) but I always tried to see it as the necessary groundwork to get to where I want to be.
- Be courageous: When I couldn’t take the desk job anymore I asked my boss if I could work on the production line in a plant. He looked at me and said, “Karin, you don’t want to do that.” Instead he gave me the opportunity to work on an HR project in the plant. This was a great stepping stone for me.
- Be creative: Dale Carnegie Training was on my wish list of trainings to take but I couldn’t afford it. I built a business case, asked my boss and it was approved.
In a constantly changing world it is important to learn and to grow. If you don’t make a plan to better yourself, nobody else will do that for you.
- Go and attend that training.
- Hire that coach.
- Read that book.
Keep learning, keep improving and strive to become the best you can be. It will be a win-win for everyone involved.
Food for Thought:
Are you tired of mediocrity, complacency, negativity and entitlement? If the answer is yes, you better start by improving yourself.
Please read this article:
