Inspirational Leadership

Leadership is about the ability to motivate and inspire people from a variety of backgrounds to a higher level of performance.

One of the main reasons people are promoted into management and leadership positions is because they were effective at what they did in their job. Now, as a manager, the job is to get others to be able to do things as well as or better than we did them. These require a totally different skill set. Our success requires making the transition from doing to leading in order to leverage our skills and our time.

Without motivation nothing gets done but as soon as we try to hold people accountable they get demotivated, right? Not necessarily! There are tools to hold people accountable for their goals, objectives, and commitments and stay motivated at the same time. With this balance, the more control we have over results for ourselves and our team.

Today, more than ever, a manager’s job is to build people. When we can create an environment where people get results, develop new skills, and become successful, we are fulfilling our highest calling as a manager and leader of people. Communicating with strength and sensitivity, being a coach, and building people are a leader’s highest priority.

No matter what we do there will always be the challenges with negative people and performance management. Our results, and the results of our team, depend on how those situations are handled. Fairness, consistency and strength are required in the right places, at the right times and in the right way. Without this, morale can grind to a halt for everyone, effecting productivity, customer loyalty, and employee engagement-all mandatory in today’s highly competitive work force.

Leadership Development Quotes from Dale Carnegie
“If we want to find happiness, let’s stop thinking about gratitude or ingratitude and give for the inner joy of giving.” -Dale Carnegie

“Remember that the other man may be totally wrong. But he doesn’t think so. Don’t condemn him. Any fool can do that, try to understand him. Only wise, tolerant, exceptional men even try to do that. There is a reason why the other man thinks and acts as he does. Ferret out that hidden reason-and you have the key to his actions, perhaps to his personality. Try honestly to put yourself in his place.” -Dale Carnegie

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people, than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. Which is just another way of saying that the way to make a friend is to be one.” -Dale Carnegie

“One of the surest ways of making a friend and influencing the opinion of another is to give consideration to his opinion, to let him sustain his feeling of importance.” -Dale Carnegie

“This is a hurried age we’re living in. If you’ve got anything to say, say it quickly, get to the point and stop, and give the other man a chance to talk.” -Dale Carnegie

“Make a man laugh a good hearty laugh, and you’ve paved the way for friendship. When a man laughs with you, he, to some extent, likes you.” -Dale Carnegie

“Do you know the most important trait a man can have? It is not executive ability; it is not a great mentality; it is not kindliness, nor courage, nor a sense of humour, though each of these is of tremendous importance. In my opinion, it is the ability to make friends, which, boiled down, means the ability to see the best in man.” -Dale Carnegie

“We ought to be modest, for neither you nor I amount to much. Both of us will pass on and be completely forgotten a century from now. Life is too short to bore other people with talk of our petty accomplishments. Let’s encourage them to talk instead.” -Dale Carnegie

“Actions speak louder than words, and a smile says, “I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you.” That is why dogs make such a hit. They are so glad to see us that they almost jump out of their skins. So, naturally, we are glad to see them. An insincere grin? No. that doesn’t fool anybody. We know it is mechanical and we resent it. I am talking about a real smile, a heartwarming smile, a smile that comes from within, the kind of smile that will bring a good price in the market place.” -Dale Carnegie

For more tips like this attend our Engage & Inspire Seminar on 27th July.

Click here to register

Handling Stress and Worry on the Big Stage

The 18th Fifa world cup, the biggest sporting event in the world, is now in full flight, the South African economy is enjoying an estimated boost of $2.85 Billion (US) thanks to healthy sponsorship and fresh stamps in the passports of some 330,000 football fans who will be curtailed by some 41000 police officers deployed specifically to deal with them.

Impressive stats to a spectator, but to a player they mean pressure, stress and worry. The media scrutinizes the every move of the players, so much could of, should have, would have.
Much is written about the players who find the pressure too much, having the physical ability to deliver but not the psychological ability to do so in the big game. The media is then so damming that it is a downward confidence spiral for the player, at the end of the day they are only human and doing their job.

Whilst researching for this blog I was looking at pressure and stress on sports professionals and who of the top performers embody the Dale Carnegie principles. Kelly Slater, the 9 times surfing world champion, who has had 22 years in the worlds top 44 and boasts a higher winning average than any other sportsman. He wins on average 76% of the time he enters in the water at the highest level of competition, the ASP world tour, where at age 38 he is currently ranked #1. To put this in perspective, the more well known winning machine, Tiger Woods, has a PGA record of 29.3% win rate which is the highest ever on the PGA.

Kelly Slater states the majority of his preparation is mental. Before a heat he prepares himself to win and what that will feel like for him, interestingly, he also prepares himself to loose, thinking what that will feel like, how he will react and how his opponent will react. He goes on to explain in his latest documentary ‘Letting Go’ that he only focuses on one heat at a time and if he focuses on the overall competition win, he gets stressed and increases his chances of bowing out in the early rounds.

What does this have to do with Dale Carnegie’s fundamental principles for overcoming worry?

1. Live in “day tight compartments” in this example each heat of competition is a compartment for Kelly, as is each game for the world cup favorites, who cant afford to be focusing energy on the final before they get there.
2. Ask yourself, A) “what is the worst that can possibly happen?” Kelly does this as his pre heat preparation every time, lets hope English goal keeper Robert Green used this principle before the USA match!
B) Prepare to accept the worst, again Kelly routinely does this.
C) Try to improve from the worst, it must work for the 9 time world champion, as 76% of the time he does!

Overcoming the worry and stress allows athletes like Kelly to perform at their very best – consistently. Whilst we cant all be elite athletes, we can apply these simple, yet extremely effective principles to any area of our life which is causing worry and stress.

Angus Firth

Performance Consultant
Dale Carnegie Training London

Actions and values

So there we were in a taxi, when Darrell happened to say down the phone those immediately recognised words "Dale Carnegie". Up to this point our taxi driver was a very chatty and knowledgeable individual who just loved to share everything about the day and the fair city of Dublin. On hearing the words "Dale Carnegie" our cabbie immediately said "one - run, two - zoo..." and quoted ebulliently other snatches from the Dale Carnegie Course. His hitherto animated manner shot into overdrive as he regaled us with stories of his experience on the course in 1982. As always he remembered his trainer, who was the local franchisee.

Well now Darrell and I have a friend in Dublin and Martin Shaughnessy will always be remembered. Not just for his ravings about what the Dale Carnegie Course had done for him and how he has consistently followed the principles and aimed to enthuse others as well. No, not just that, but for something rather more profound. Please forgive the possibility of offence but allow this reportage. Firstly, he said about stress and referring to the trappings and possessions of life - "what does it all matter, we only have the lend of it". How very true! And then, and this one operates only at the deeper level of meaning, "Every cripple has their own way of walking".

This is what he is suggesting - that we all have our own way of getting through life - it does not make any of us the owner of the right way AND it also suggests that we all malfunction in some way and get unconsciously lost in that being the only way.

Allow our actions be a true reflection of our values.

David Pickering
Trainer and Sales Consultant

www.London.dalecarnegie.com

Motivation is What You Need!

‘To succeed......you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you.’ Tony Dorsett

The difference between achieving a goal and not achieving a goal depends on the motivation and inspiration you have driving you forward.

This week the England football team have travelled to South Africa in preparation for the start of the World Cup. They are fully motivated and hungry to win, they will have envisioned themselves lifting the trophy to a huge cheer from the crowd and then returning home to receive a winners welcome from the English fans. When you set yourself a goal imagine what life will be like when you have achieved this goal, picture it in your mind – set yourself a vision for the future.

Create a Vision

Nothing is more personally motivating than creating a compelling vision. Visualize yourself succeeding as a result of the goals you set and achieve. Imagine the benefits of growing as a result of the changes you make -- creating new opportunities, building a more exciting and dynamic future and opening up new opportunities for success.

Inspiration is also an important factor when it comes to succeeding. We are usually motivated to work at achieving something when we have seen someone we respect achieve something similar; someone whose values and beliefs we admire. We can also be inspired by the way someone motivates us to achieve our goals, they can appeal to us in such a way as to make us think and act differently.

The England squad will take their inspiration from the 1966 England football team who achieved their ultimate goal by winning the World Cup and were able to lift the trophy and receive the respect and reward that comes from succeeding. They will also be inspired by their manager Fabio Capello who will give them pep talks before each game and keep reminding them that they can win the matches

Be Inspired

Think of someone who you admire and who really inspires you and whenever you are struggling and feeling de-motivated picture that person in you mind and remember what you admire in them and this will help you to get back on track and succeed. Surround yourself with positive people that will be enthusiastic and help to drive you towards success.

Good luck with your goals and visions for the future and good luck to the England team next week!

If you would like to find out more about setting your vision for the future then please attend our preview of Strictly Business: The Dale Carnegie Immersion Seminar on 10th June – Click here to register.

Sophie Whittall
Marketing & Admin Co-ordinator

www.London.dalecarnegie.com

Communicate to Persuade

One of the most common types of business communication is communicating to persuade. From sales representatives persuading customers to mid-level managers persuading workers and upper management, we spend almost every business day involved in some form of persuasive communication. No matter our role, improving our ability to persuade others is vital to our career growth. Effectively communicating to persuade requires us to be adequately prepared, clear on the action we want our listener to take, and able to provide a compelling reason to take the action we desire. Dale Carnegie recommended a simple three-step structure that can significantly improve our ability to persuade a listener. The formula provides the structure to capture attention, build credibility, eliminate nervousness and call others to action, and it increases the likelihood that we will get results with others. The formula is as follows:

Incident: Relive a vivid, personal experience relevant to the point. Aristotle said, "The speaker's character is one of his most effective agents of persuasion." We must be credible in our example and evidence. We must have earned the right to share our example or give direction. A personal incident is a sure-fire way to grab favourable attention: It pulls people in, opens them up to persuasion and provides evidence as to why our idea is worth considering. In persuasive communication, we spend most of our time providing the situation and evidence before asking the listener to do something.

Action: Call on the listener to take a single, specific action. Too often we assume our listeners will know what to do once we have presented them with evidence to change their thinking or direction. We fail to persuade them if we don't clearly explain what we want them to do. Other times, we may give a clear action but may ask them to do several things -- leaving them unsure about which action should be the priority. Effective persuasion requires us to simplify the message and recommend one clear action for listeners to take.

Benefit: Clearly emphasize how the listener will benefit from taking the recommended action. Again, this portion of the communication must be clear, specific and direct. It must also be based in reality. If the benefit we provide sounds too good to be true, the listener will doubt us. If what we are recommending benefits us more than the listener, the persuasion will seem manipulative and self-serving. So consider the listener's point of view to be sure the recommendation is truly in his or her best interest. This balanced approach will be appreciated and will allow the listener to be more open to what we suggest.

Communicating to persuade is a critical skill to master in our daily business interaction. Dale Carnegie Training's three-step process -- Incident, Action and Benefit -- provides an opportunity to gain the results we desire from others.

By demonstrating that we have earned the right to give direction and are communicating from a position of solid character, not only will we be persuasive, but we also will be compelling. These two factors are a winning combination in our ability to communicate to persuade.

To learn more about how to use Dale Carnegie's three part process and to practice it in a classroom environment sign up for the Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communications and Human Relations.

To find out more Click here.

Dedicating Time to Time Management

An interesting thought in our busy day to day grind, actually dedicating time to time management, it sounds like the age old question, what came first, the chicken or the egg?
Taking the time to evaluate, then focus on what’s really important can be the best 15 minutes of your day.

We all know the modern working world can be a very distracting place, for example last year globally there were 90 Trillion emails sent, 360 billion photos uploaded to facebook, along with an overall 18% rise in internet usage. The stats keep going, but it can be hard to keep up just thinking about it, making it very easy to waste time!

Before we get pulled away into cyberspace, consider these 2 simple techniques for time management.

1) Do your to do list the night before so you can hit the ground running when you arrive the next day.

2) Create time logs. For a 3 day period, record every little thing you do, update it every 15 minutes and analyze where you are currently spending your time. Once this is done, focus on the import tasks which bring you results! Review after 2/3 months again for a 3 day period to note improvements.

Haven't been making time for time management? Want to know more techniques? Join us on the 15th of June for a free interactive session focused on Time Management, one thing I can guarantee is it will be an effective use of your time!!

Angus Firth
Performance Consultant

www.London.dalecarnegie.com

Always look on the bright side of life!

The volcanic ash fallout obliterated many people’s hopes of travel, either for business or for a well earned holiday. Suffice to say I was affected by this. My dream trip to the Bahama’s was suddenly pie in the sky as the air space closed and passengers were stuck in foreign countries looking for ingenious ways to get home.

To say I was disappointed was an understatement but there was nothing I could really do about it, other than be grateful that I wasn’t waiting hours at an airport desperately trying to get home. The key to this was acceptance. Accepting what had happened and then trying to make the best out of a bad situation. After some calls to hotels, I was all geared up for a holiday in Cornwall where I would still be able to take some time out and relax.

So what do you do when things just don’t go to plan? Here are five tips that may help.:

• Acceptance – this really is the key to most things in life...once you have accepted the situation then your mind is free to move on to look at your options


• Avoid dwelling on the situation – by churning the disappointment over and over I wouldn’t gain anything other than the continued feeling of disappointment


• Be willing to compromise – a trip in the UK wasn’t what I had looked forward to, but it was still a holiday


• Focus on the positive – the fact that I wasn’t stranded in a country without somewhere to stay and little money was a relief


• Keep your sense of humour – a little light-heartedness goes along way and really helps your body fight stress and anxiety

Needless to say the break was wonderful and although it wasn’t the Bahama’s I was grateful I could still get away.

Helen Mills
Financial Controller

www.London.dalecarnegie.com