What are your thoughts about this? Please comment below.

The Enlightened Leadership Team

Technorati Tags: DIFFICULT TIMES, leading change, SOFT PART

Employee Engagement practices can be quite important in your leadership skill development. Please share your thoughts about what is important to you in keeping YOU engaged. Share your disappointments and your gratitude below (comments).

Our best,

The Enlightened Leadership Team

Please help me improve on what I am doing by taking a few minutes
to answer the questions. I will be choosing a few each week and
posting my feedback here on the blog. The responses we get will
aid me in creating better content for you in the coming weeks and
months!

If you are visiting us for the first time, please leave your name
and email to the right and we will gladly send you
the first few chapters to my book, Leadership Made Simple. You
will read about:

• An introduction to the Framework for Leadership™

• The “Hard” part (management) vs. the “Soft” part (leadership)

• List of challenges you may relate to

• Measurable successes

• Right questions (Effective Questions™)

• Forward Focus vs. backward focus

Thanks for reading and check back with us later this week when
I answer the question you have about your biggest challenges.

Ed

PS: I’m just starting to get the hang of Twitter and Facebook.

You can follow me here

Technorati Tags: leadership-made-simple, survey, toughest-challenges

These bright, talented people have systems and processes for
accomplishing many aspects of their work, whether a surgeon who has
a  specific proven procedure for a particular type of operation, or
a manufacturer with a systematic build process, or an engineer or
scientist who has a proven process for solving problems, or a project
manager who has learned the optimal flow of work to accomplish a
project on time, on quality, and on budget.

These same people, as managers of people, need a system or framework
for bringing out the best in people. This is the aspect of a
manager’s (team leader, executive, supervisor) role that we call
leadership – the people or soft part of their role.

Now, the surgeon begins her operation with a series of specific,
repetitive steps that she has confidence will work. Sometimes,
surprises will confront the surgeon, and she must deviate from her
known procedure to solve a problem. This in no way diminishes the
importance of her known, repetitive process for a particular type
of surgery. Would you want a surgeon operating on you who’s thinking,
“Let’s see, how do I want to do this operation today. Maybe I’ll try
something I’ve never done before?” I don’t think so! I personally
would like to think my surgeon has done at least 100 operations just
like mine and all of them successful!

Realistically, in “doing 100 operations just like mine,” they’ve
encountered the need to deviate from the proven process to solve an
unexpected problem. It is having a proven process for which they have
confidence that allows them to make the deviation when needed.

The “proven process” does not mean it is always the perfect solution,
but it does give confidence that the procedure will work in most
cases, and best positions them for the situations that occur that
require deviations from the norm.

Likewise, there is a systematic approach, our Framework for
Leadership™ if you will, that provides the manager (or professional)
a proven approach for optimizing the performance and effectiveness
of people, teams and organizations.

The Framework very often works exactly as prescribed, giving
confidenceto the practitioner that the process will yield the
expected results they seek — whether to solve, or …maybe it’s
virtually always about solving a problem.

Sometimes it looks like other things, like:
- aligning team members to a shared objective
- getting a project back on track
- solving an individual performance issue
- negotiating for resources needed
- collaborating with other people, teams or institutions to
accomplish a mission

Perhaps, it’s always solution finding. That’s the promise of the
Framework. It doesn’t matter what you’re wanting or needing to
accomplish.

NOTE: Our book, “Leadership Made Simple: Practical Solutions to Your
Greatest Management Challenges,” is 100% about using the Framework
for Leadership, including 40 real examples. If you don’t have it yet,
you can get it HERE for 40% off list price – just for reading this
post!

Best regards,
Ed Oakley

Technorati Tags: Framework for Leadership™, soft side

Following is Tool Number 5.

Number Five is Contribution.  As you know, when you do something for someone else, it gets you out of your mess.  The trouble is that when people perceive that times are hard, they stop doing for other people.  They stop doing things with an open heart. They stop giving to charities. They stop contributing.  Contribution spreads joy, and joy goes in all directions.  If you’re worried, give.  If you’re scared, do.  If you’re paralyzed, act.  If you like to sing, sing.  Contribute, whatever it is.  Contribute.

Critical times are only as critical as you think, and flying is much more fun than falling.  Do you see how close they are, really?  Falling and flying – neither of them have anything to stand on; both of them happen in mid air, both of them ultimately end on the ground.  What’s the difference between falling and flying?  Are you setting the direction or is gravity?  That’s the difference.  In flying you set the direction and because of it gravity waits.  If you are not setting the direction in your life, gravity takes over.

Let’s talk about something else to help you be a better person: that is the whole idea of waiting.  Sometimes waiting is perfect because the time isn’t now.  Sometimes you wait for something different to come and save you.  You wait for your kids to leave home.  You wait for enough money for something.  Please let waiting be your friend.  Waiting is a wonderful thing when used correctly.  If you want to do something, and there’s no flow, the answer isn’t to push and worry.  It’s to look with your focus, your intuition, your self, and ask “Where is that flow?”  There is always flow.  Find it.  It may not be going in the direction you thought it should.  Finding the flow will help you wait when you should wait and act when you should act.

There are really two kinds of waiting.  There is a passive waiting; waiting for someone else to do something.  Passive waiting is dangerous because you’ve given up your energy, power and your initiative.  Remember the difference between flying and falling?  When you’re not actively setting the direction gravity takes over.  Passive waiting is just asking for gravity to bring you to the ground.  Active waiting is where waiting is a choice, not an excuse.  Active waiting is using the stillness of life to easily get what you want.  When you are blocked in something in your life, really look and see if you are somehow passively waiting or actively waiting.

So enjoy these times and all times!

What are your thoughts on THIS tool? Please leave your comments below.

Jonette Crowley and the Enlightened Leadership Team

Technorati Tags: ACTIVE WAITING, contribution, FLOW, set direction

Following is Tool Number 4.

Number four is Enjoy the heck out of it!  Take the risk, trust yourself, have a smile on your face and see where the roller coaster takes you.  Sometimes when you are facing critical times the first thing you lose is your good humor.  You need joy, humor!  None of the other tools, Self Acceptance, Focus, Risk Taking mean anything if you’re not enjoying it.  Pure joy, silly joy, humor!!  One thing people notice about the Dali Lama is that he smiles and laughs.  The most important thing is not that he’s a spiritual leader; the most important thing is that he is a man of light.  People of light take themselves lightly.  Humor is their number one interaction with themselves and the world.  If there’s a leader who is somber, dry, and very serious find another mentor.  Do not be oppressed by all the things you are doing for others. If you’re not enjoying it, stop. Joy.

This isn’t really a step, but I invite you to stop dramatizing what is so.  What is so is just what is so.  When we dramatize the good or the bad, we take the truth away from it.  So, a hint to make all of these tools for critical times work is to see how much you’re addicted to drama and how it actually is a false sense of joy.  It isn’t joyful, it is hollow.  It takes you from authenticity and reality.

What are your thoughts on THIS tool? Please leave your comments below.

Jonette Crowley and the Enlightened Leadership Team

Technorati Tags: humor, JOY, tools for critical times

Following is Tool Number 3.

Number three is Take Risks.  Be that eagle that jumps off the cliff.  A risk is only a risk before you do it.  Haven’t you been in a situation that seems risky – you’re riding a roller coaster; the worst part of the ride is the part up that first hill.  Once you go down, that’s the best part because you’re surrendering to gravity.  Risk taking is doing things differently than you’ve done them before, treating people differently than you’ve been treated, trying something you don’t have the recipe for.  What is the most dangerous thing in critical times?  It is approaching the new horizon in the old vehicle.  You don’t get a new vehicle unless you’re willing to change.  Change is probably the hardest thing to do in critical times, but risk taking and change are the most important tools.  Decide what your tolerance is for change.  If you’re comfortable with big change, go for it.  If you’re not comfortable with a big change, cut it up and make small changes.  If you’re afraid of a big risk, cut it in half and take half of a big risk.  Excuses are not acceptable.  Excuses are a poor man’s reason for staying poor.  Excuses are a poor soul’s reason for staying weak.  Excuses are an adolescent’s reason for blaming the rest of the world.  Take Risks, no excuses.

What are your thoughts on THIS tool? Please leave your comments below.

Jonette Crowley and the Enlightened Leadership Team

Technorati Tags: CHANGE, take risks, tools for critical times

Following is Tool Number 2.

Number two is Focus.  If you continue to focus on all the things that you think are going wrong, or worse, the things that might go wrong, you will destroy any sense of peace you’ve managed to attain.  You are in charge of your focus.  A misguided focus is a misguided life.  If you focus on contribution, abundance, self-acceptance, acceptance of others, love and gratitude, you will draw those things to you.  As you focus on what might go wrong, what has gone wrong, who’s elected and who isn’t… your focus is like your nose.  You go where your nose goes.  You go where your focus is.  Number one is Self Acceptance because you have to have a self before you can focus.  Choose your focus or else it will be chosen for you.  If you don’t choose your focus it’s not likely to be where you want it to be.  It’s likely to go to the lowest common denominator.  It goes to the sludge at the bottom of the pond.  It is vital that you realize that you choose your focus. Focus shouldn’t be democratic.  90% of people are generally focused on all that’s going wrong.  Don’t go with the majority on this.

What are your thoughts on THIS tool? Please leave your comments below.

Jonette Crowley and the Enlightened Leadership Team

Technorati Tags: focus, tools for critcal times

Following is Tool Number 1.

The number one point during critical times should be number one at any time: Self Acceptance.

We can read about this in every how-to book in every bookstore, but it doesn’t mean we’re any better at it.  Self-Acceptance.  First, Self-Acceptance starts with actually looking at you.  You can’t accept yourself if you’re looking in every other direction than inside.  In critical times step number one is surrendering to what is—not necessarily agreeing with it, but not resisting or fighting it.  That puts you in yourself.  It takes you away from the conflict.  When you’re focused on your smallness or darkness then you can’t see your grandness.  When you focus on your grandness, sometimes you deny the smallness.  Darkness, shadow, and light – it takes them all to make a photo.  You are all.  Surrender to what is.  Self-Acceptance.

Think of three current and specific things that are grand about you, that are great, that you’re proud of.  You may notice that each one has a specific feeling associated with it. Whatever the feeling is, one at a time let the feeling of those qualities move into your cells until they totally merge with who you are.

Think of three things about you that are your shadow side, things that might be a little dark about you.  Think of specific things – only three though.  You can be honest; no one is listening to your head.  Those have feelings too. They are different than the first 3 feelings in their quality and tone.  One at a time, accept those three things as qualities that merge and dissolve into your cells.  Self-Acceptance.  Notice how you feel.  Did those dark things destroy the grand things, or did it make you feel more whole, stable, full, and honest?  When you accept not just the idea but also the feeling of all of you, you’re stronger.  Accept all of you.  If you were perfect you would have wings and a harp.  No one ever asked you to be perfect, they ask you to be perfectly you!  Feel the solidity and strength of yourself now.    Self-Acceptance, the number one tool in critical times.

What are your thoughts on THIS tool? Please leave your comments below.

Jonette Crowley and the Enlightened Leadership Team

Technorati Tags: SELF-ACCEPTANCE, tools for critical times

Yesterday was Memorial Day in the United States, a very special day

when we take time to be grateful to those who gave that ultimate

sacrifice – their lives – for the freedom of the rest of us.

I was not personally involved in a major celebration. Instead, I took

extra time…

… to read stories of fallen soldiers in the newspaper and

online. During the day when a short documentary would come up

on TV about a family’s sacrifice, or if I saw a report of a special service

being held, I just stopped what I was doing and allowed myself to

move into a deep feeling of gratitude.

I bought a poppy out in front of the grocery store from an elderly man

who was a veteran of foreign wars. As he shared how the poppies

were made by and bought from disabled soldiers and that 100% of

the proceeds were going to veterans in need, I found myself grateful

for him and all the others involved in this important cause. I proudly

wore the poppy.

As the day went on, I couldn’t help but notice how my little moments

of gratitude were so valuable for ME! I truly HOPE my gratitude is good

for the souls of those who died for our freedom. I’m PRETTY SURE my

gratitude is appreciated by the families of those who sacrificed their

lives. But I KNOW those moments of gratitude were good for my own

soul.

Those special moments of gratitude had a cleansing effect and had

me realize at a beautiful, deep level how trivial most of my worries and

concerns really are. What a blessing to feel that.

Then, this morning I woke up naturally and gradually with a

beautiful sense of peace and gratitude – significantly deeper than I

have felt in some time. I realized that the emotional and honest

appreciation and gratitude that I had felt throughout Memorial

Day was spilling over wonderfully into my new day.

Wow, what a special way to start any day, I realized – in appreciation

and gratitude. What a blessing this entire experience has been

for me. So, I quietly slipped out of bed, put on my robe, and went

downstairs to right this little post.

So, my plan is to take a few minutes tomorrow morning as I awaken

to think about what I am grateful for. I’ll be running on that question,

“What am I grateful for?,” even as I drop off to sleep.

I can only imagine, as I work with my team today at 

Enlightened

Leadership Solutions

, how my starting my day from gratitude will

naturally spill over to gratitude for them and everyone else I

encounter during the day. That will make me a better leader -

I have no doubt.

Leading from a place of gratitude is a powerful place from which

to lead.

I would enjoy your thoughts and comments about this!

In gratitude for YOU!

Ed Oakley

Technorati Tags: appreciation, gratitude, memorial day, POPPY