Professional Development Archives - Page 17 of 20

Are Motivated People Different?

Is there something different about being a Motivated Person? Are they unique or somehow different? There is nothing really “secret” about motivated people but of you want to be a successful goal achiever there are some approaches and attitudes which will help you stand out from the crowd.

People who are successful in their chosen field are generally speaking motivated to achieve. They approach things in a way which helps them to achieve the success they want. Whether your goal is to be recognised as an expert in your field; to be the best at what you do; to achieve a promotion or find a new role there are certain behaviours and attitudes which will help you. So let’s take a look at what those are:

Start with small mini-goals.

Start with something small and easy, then grow from there. Sometimes a large goal or even a long-term goal is too overwhelming. You can lose motivation quickly when there is a lot of time left before you reach your goal. Let’s say you have a goal of getting more exercise. Don’t think you have to do intense 30-45 minute, 5-day-a week exercise right from the start. Instead start out with something smaller, say a five minute routine or a ten minute walk for one week. Then the next week add a few more minutes until, by the end of the month, you’re doing 30 minutes of exercise.

Work on one goal at a time.

Working on several goals at once saps your energy and can rob you of your motivation quickly. It’s a mistake many of us make. Keeping your focus is out of the question when trying to accomplish two or more goals at the same time.

Really want what is is that you are striving for.

This is essential. You have to be passionate about your reasons why you want something. Write your reasons down. They have to be reasons you are really excited about and you want deeply.

Commit to it publicly.

Nothing holds you more accountable than sharing it with others. No one wants to look bad in front of someone else. Tell your friends and family, write about it in your blog or on social media. Hold yourself accountable over and over by giving progress updates every week or so.

Build anticipation

. This goes along with the accountability. Build anticipation by setting a date in the future as your start date – say a week or two from when you announce your goal. Mark that date on your calendar. Talk about it like it’s the most important date in your life. Write out a plan for reaching the goal so you know the steps to take when you do start.

Print out your goal

. Post it somewhere where you see it every day, like the bathroom mirror or refrigerator and on your desk at work. Make it a big reminder to keep you focused and excited. Keep focused on the end goal.

Be positive about yourself and your success

. With faith in what you believe, you can conquer whatever you desire. Have a win-win attitude. Keep your attitude positive.

Be proactive

. Don’t let negative people or situations take control. Listen to yourself and how you feel.

Set priorities

. Learn what should come first in your life – only you will know this!

Anticipate pitfalls

. When you make a plan, troubleshoot any problems you may encounter.

Have an attitude of expectancy

. Motivated people know that you get what you expect. Expect great results. Expect to achieve your goal but ensure that you don’t come across as big-headed or arrogant. Confidence in yourself and humility do go hand in hand.

If there is a “secret” of motivated people it is to start with small goals, be really excited and passionate about your reasons why you are reaching for a specific goal, and to hold yourself accountable.

Do You Need A Goal Success Plan?

As we are now moving towards the end of the first quarter of the year it’s a good time to think about how we are doing with our goals for the year.

Do you set off with the best of intentions at the start of the year and set goals, only to eventually give up on them? Maybe you set a goal to lose 20 pounds this year. But by the middle of the year you will have given up completely. If this sounds familiar, it might be because you are trying to achieve your goals in the wrong way. Following through with your goals means you need to know the right way to achieve them. In other words, you need a goal setting success plan.

Let me share 10 steps for goal setting success that will get you back on the right track before more of the year disappears:

Focus on one goal at a time. Many people start out with several goals at once and try to do too much. At the end they become overwhelmed and lose energy and motivation. It’s a very common mistake. It is impossible to maintain your passionate energy and focus when trying to reach two or more goals at once.Choose one goal and focus on it completely. You can always go back to the other goals once you’ve accomplished your primary goal.
Write down your goals and post them someplace you’ll see them every day. Put them on your bathroom mirror, your refrigerator, on your smartphone and on your desktop. Seeing your goals every day keeps you motivated. Having them written down means you won’t forget them or get sidetracked.
Believe in your goal. Have faith in the process and believe you can accomplish it. Make your thoughts positive and turn your thoughts into reality.
Visualise your end result. Think about what your want the finish line to look like. What does it feel like, look like, smell like? How do you feel? Be absolutely clear on what you want to happen.
Create a plan of action to achieve your goal. Write down a list of the action steps you need to take. When you have a goal, but no plan of action, you aren’t sure of what to do next. It’s like driving without directions of where you want to go. You miss deadlines, don’t have priorities and are unorganized. You eventually get frustrated and your goal fails.
Know your “why.” Knowing your purpose or the reason why you want to achieve a particular goal keeps you motivated to take the steps needed to reach the goal. It helps you recognize that the goal is worth working towards.
Commit to your goal. Write down why and how you are committing to your goal and why it’s important. What does the finished goal mean to you, and why is it necessary for you to make it happen? Write down the steps you need to take to make it happen.
Hold yourself accountable. Get outside help like a coach if you need to have someone else hold you accountable. They can provide valuable feedback when you need it.
Stay focused on your goal. There will be times when you get sidetracked or you won’t know the next step you need to take. It’s easy to give up on your goal when this happens. The key is to remain focused on your goal. Take out your “why” and remind yourself the reason you are reaching for this goal.
Review your goals every day. Then take action on them. This keeps your goals fresh in your mind. It also allows you to see which steps you still need to take, and to make any adjustments that you might need to.

If you really want to succeed then you might need to think about a good goal setting success plan. By following these steps and taking action on your goal every day, you have everything you need to succeed.

Does Personal Branding Matter for L & D Professionals?

Do we as Learning & Development professionals need to concern ourselves with the idea of Personal Branding. When we look in the mirror do we see what others see in terms of our personal brand and should we care?

I am sure like me you have read a lot about how it’s important to take your personal brand seriously if you want others to take you seriously. As professionals, whether employed or working for ourselves, we are creating a brand identity for ourselves simply by interacting with others so doesn’t it make sense to give that “brand” some thought and to exercise some control over it?

You might therefore want to consider these tips for understanding the importance of personal branding, defining your own personal brand, and marketing your brand.

Understanding the Importance of Personal Branding

Your personal brand helps you to:

1. Focus on building your reputation as an Learning & Development Professional. Your personal brand is your reputation. It’s the way others see you. If you’re like most people, you may be switching jobs and employers from time to time. Your personal brand is an asset you can take with you wherever you go.

2. Chart your own direction. Being clear about your personal brand you will find it easier to establish meaningful goals, priorities and action plans. Even while taking care of daily obligations, you’ll have a bigger picture in mind.

3. Serve others. Self promotion can go too far, so it’s easy to think that branding is somehow vain or self-absorbed. In reality, your personal brand shows the positive impact you can have on other people and the world around you.

Defining Your Own Personal Brand

These tips will help you create an outstanding personal brand as an L&D Professional:

1. Take an inventory. This should be an easy one for any L&D Professional! Take a good look at yourself. Write out your strengths and weaknesses. Identify your passions. Think about what you’re good at and what you like to do.

2. Distinguish yourself from your colleagues. There are plenty of talented and dependable people in our field. Pinpoint your unique selling point. Maybe you’re a trainer who always gets the very best out of even the most reluctant learner?

3. Talk about benefits. Let your target audience know what you can do for them. Explain how you can boost profits by increasing sales or saving money.

4. Summarise your “mission” or what you do that’s different in 10 seconds or less. Be prepared to capture people’s attention quickly. Let them know what you do in 15 words or less. You can tell you’re on the right track when they ask for more details.

5. Ask for feedback. Ask your family, friends, learners and colleagues to find out what they think of you and your abilities. Show your appreciation for constructive criticism so they’ll keep sharing it with you.

6. Stay updated. Review your personal mission statement every six months. Make new action plans so you’re always getting closer to your goals.

Marketing Your Personal Brand

No-one gets noticed who keeps their light hidden under the bushel do they! Think about using some of these strategies to expand your reach:

1. Increase your visibility. Post fresh content on your website or blog regularly. Stay active in social media. Look for opportunities to help others learn, give presentations, or write articles for professional organisations in our field like the Learning and Performance Insititute or the CIPD.

2. Build A “Fan” Base. Collect samples of positive feedback you get in the workplace. Assemble testimonials from happy learners or organisations and encourage them to make referrals. Word of mouth is often more effective and certainly cheaper than paid advertising.

3. Tell your success stories. Craft brief anecdotes about your accomplishments that showcase your skills and make you proud. Rehearse telling them so you sound natural.

4. Gather Statistics. Numbers sound convincing. Try to quantify the value you can deliver. For example, if you have saved your organisation money by implementing a new learning initiative – get the facts and figures as you would do in your CV

5. Be aware that you have your own dream team. By “dream team” I mean of course your Personal Learning Network. It’s difficult to go it alone. Cultivate your network. Help others to market their brand and they’re more likely to do the same for you.

Years ago when we talked about branding we tended to think about cattle or big corporations, but now everyone is in on the act. Take charge of your personal brand as a Learning & Development Professional and keep learning!

Sector Experience Required! Are You Stifling Innovation?

Do you always need someone who has trodden the same path and climbed the exact same route if you are looking to be innovative, forward thinking and scale new heights as an organisation?

One of the things that I have noticed as I have been looking for a new role as a Learning & Development Manager is that many companies are insisting that you have experience in their specific sector. From my previous experience that has often been a requirement within what is termed the professional services sector (Legal, Accountancy etc) but it seems to have spread to many others as well.

I have seen a number of roles of late where the job specification has sounded really interesting and a good match against my skills, knowledge and abilities. Then tagged on the end of the specification is that phrase “Experience of XYZ sector essential.”

Do you take the risk and spend time applying for the role or do you accept that they have put in place an easy filter to exclude you from the pool of available people? It’s a difficult call because there are recruiters who will recognise that there are people from outside the specified sector who could bring a wealth of experience and new ideas to the role. The sort of people who could introduce innovative approaches to the organisation’s challenges gained from other sectors. But my perception is that all too often it is simply going to be a waste of time because you will be screened out because, as good as you are, you don’t have experience of the specific sector.

But let’s step back and think about what these organisations are saying about themselves when they specify that you must have experience of XYZ Sector. They are the same organisations which will often describe themselves as innovative, forward thinking and focused on developing talent. BUT only as long as you come from the sector that they are in!

So in fact what they are saying is that they aren’t really innovative and they don’t want the best talent available. They don’t want people to come in with new ideas, new ways of doing things, new approaches to the challenges that they face, what they want to do is play it safe. They want to bring someone in who has experience of doing what they do as an organisation but for another company. Yes there are benefits to playing it safe because the new person will take less time to become familiar with their organisation’s customers, clients etc. But is playing it safe really what it’s about when you are competing in an ever more challenging economy?

I have often encountered this disposition towards playing it safe when recruiting in fields like marketing and sales. But in Learning and Development? The profession that in so many ways is about innovating, creating change, approaching challenges in new ways and coming up with different ways of doing things does playing it safe really deliver?

I am sure it will come as no surprise for you to read that Learning & Development is about “learning” and “development.” Key to our roles as L&D Professionals is continually learning and using that learning to create change in different situations. It’s about being innovative, it’s about developing talent and maximising the talent that is available and if organisations are limiting themselves by insisting that you only know about a certain sector then there’s a lot of talent they are missing out on.

In my last role I had the opportunity to manage the delivery of learning solutions for a variety of situations from the delivery of the Census 2011 Helpline with 750 Advisors to regulated training in the debt advice environment. When I applied for a role recently that stipulated that candidates must have financial services sector experience the recruiting manager saw that I had the skill set if not the sector experience. They invited me for interview and we had a really good discussion based on my experience and how I could apply it and bring new ideas and approaches. So there are organisations which appreciate that skills are transferable across sectors but I think more could open their thinking and live up to their claims of being innovative, forward thinking and focused on talent. I will let you know if I get the role!

How To Improve Collaboration In Your Teams

In the world of work today, where more and more specialists are a part of the organisation, leaders who can effectively bring these diverse groups together to get things done are definitely at an advantage. Collaboration is the key and getting team members to work together in cooperation with each other is increasingly essential for success especially as more organisations move to a matrix approach in their management and leadership practices.

Getting a group of diverse people to work towards a common goal can be extremely rewarding to a team leader. It can also be unnerving and frustrating as well. Knowing how to collaborate effectively and to get others to collaborate to achieve can make a significant difference.

So let’s take a look at 6 tips which help you improve collaboration among your team members whether they are direct reports or are working for you from different parts of the organisation on a significant project.

Clearly define the goals and the expected outcome of the project the team is working on. Each member’s responsibilities should be explicitly identified. It may seem obvious to you but you want it to be obvious to the team member as well. They shouldn’t be wondering what to do next or who is doing what. Delegate key responsibilities to your team; those that make an impact on the project outcome.
If you have the opportunity then choose your team by carefully thinking about the people you want to work on this project. Assigning tasks to the right people is necessary to having an effective collaboration. When choosing members, consider each member’s skills, personality, their experience and their schedules.
Are there members of your team who are afraid to voice their opinions or to argue? These members won’t be adding to any helpful and stimulating ideas and need to be encouraged to speak up. Just because they are quiet doesn’t mean they don’t have good ideas. Always include every team member in discussions.
Recognize and celebrate good collaborative behavior. Mention the great work the team is doing in the company newsletter, on a podcast or annual report.
Provide your collaboration team with the right and necessary tools. Do they need specific software or task management tools? These types of tools can be especially important if you team works from different locations.
Once your collaboration is going, continue to mix things up. If the people on your team are collaborating more with people they know, like and trust it might be time to mix up your teams. For example invite the production guys to your design meeting. Better yet send everyone out for drinks or other social building time. This forces all your teams to come in contact and connect with the others.

I am sure that you can think of circumstances where improving collaboration among your team members is sometimes necessary. Team members need to know their role in a project and to be encouraged to collaborate with other members they don’t know in order to build trust to work together cohesively.