2 more reasons to bake cookies for the team

In the last post we shared two of the four reasons that executives, leaders, and business owners would benefit from baking cookies for the team. Not only is it encouraging to others and acknowledges effort, we know it supports connectivity and even shared vision.

When leaders work to collaborate, share and connect with their teams, they build a sense of common vision and unity among the tribe. While leaders may have great demands placed on them, that their teams don't know about, sharing time to give back can co-create a sharing of the proverbial burden. It gives the image that we are all in this together and 'I' (as leader) appreciate your efforts toward 'our' (as team) success.

The remaining 2 reasons for leaders to bake cookies and share them with the team, really speak to the soul of the team. Now while you may not don the tie and apron for the effort, the gesture alone speaks volumes.

Consider these two reasons as a plug to step outside what may be your comfort zones and try these on for size. Just like baking, it takes a clear recipe for success and the following may be just what your team needs to go to the next level.

Reason #3 - Nourishes the soul. While there may be no true nutritional value in your cookie recipe, the value to the soul factor is priceless. Showing the team that supports your vision that you care so much, to take the time to actually bake cookies, provides nourishment that does not have a rating scale per say. It elevates the soul level of the team to a place that can only be measured by output and communication levels. The team will pick up and move and you will likely be surprised how much you learn from sitting down with them, sharing cookies.

Reason #4 - Calibrates the team. Our teams can get out of sync pretty quickly if we aren't careful. The folks that work with you to create those extraordinary results, can get out of alignment just like the wheels on your car. Far too many leaders take the approach of a heavy hand to put things back in order. Unfortunately, that is a short lived and detrimental approach to the long-term success pattern of your team. Finding something that creates an openness for sharing and infuses a bit of fun into the day, brings the team together into alignment. Now, you still want to have a strategy in place for maintaining/sustaining that alignment and that may best come from an outside source to put it in place. The bottom-line is that to have a well aligned team, you will need to calibrate on a regular basis. Bringing everyone to the table to share some cookies can be just the infusion of fun, a simple antidote with great rewards.

To learn more tips and strategies for building a successful team, you may want to sign-up for our Ezine or to receive recipes for crowd pleasing cookies, click here.

Whatever route you take in an effort to build a stronger team, do what you can to find the support to remain consistent and thoughtful with your approach. Leaders have people around them to be the boots on the ground and get the work done, our teams need leaders that encourage, support and calibrate to sustain success.

3 simple steps to Master the Mindset

Mastering our mindset is perhaps on of the greatest success strategies I know in working with executives and business leaders. It is also one of the most challenging things to do. Why is that?

Well, working with clients at all levels of management and business success I have noticed a parallel. It is the same parallel that our mastermind group members experience and even my friends.

Our mindset motivates and activates us toward success or failure.

The very thing that gets in the way for so many people is the thing that often is ignored or put on the shelf for later. Mindset. It is also (I believe) one of the most powerful tools we posses. When we take off the blinders, lift up the headphones and move away from the screen, we begin to engage in a new way. It is at that moment a person really begins to channel the power of their mindset into defining their success. It requires commitment to the process and a bold willingness to try on something and even uncomfortable to move toward mastery.

So, how do we engage with our mindset for our advantage? Here are 3 simple steps to get you moving in that direction.

Step 1: Get the Picture. When we have a clear picture of what we want, where we are moving toward or the end result of our goal, we have a greater chance of achieving it. Identifying that image and getting a tangible reminder to go with it helps to keep it very present and top of mind. The awareness the picture creates supports the action.

Step 2: Affirmation - Affirm where you are going, not where you have been. Once you have identified your vision, gotten the picture and created that tangible piece to hold onto, use your words to affirm the outcome. Focusing on where you are moving to and what it will feel like to be there will draw you closer to your success. Speak your affirmation as if you have already received it, that is the key to successful affirmations.

Step 3: Dispute Negative Nellie - You may live with these people or work with them on a daily basis. You may have a committee in your own head at any given time. We know that we become most like those we spend the most time with, so if you are hanging with negativity, it's no wonder your mindset is set toward the opposite of what you want to achieve! Try this instead. When the negative word or even thought comes up around your situation or goal, take back the power and shout it down! Then follow it up with your affirmation. Remember, words are powerful, use them wisely.

It is important to take the temperature how you view your world and the fears or successes that drive you. When you do, you will get a clear picture of what might be getting in your way to success. That very picture in turn can be used to shout down the negativity and fear. By stomping it out and speaking what you want instead, you will begin to move closer to what you want.

For more on the Power of Mindset, you can email me to receive your free copy of the audio file on the subject.

Going with the Flow or Walking the other Way?

Changing our mindset and standard operating procedures is not an easy task. However as leaders, it is your responsibility to not just be up for the challenge, but to model the way. Your organizations have thought enough of your skills and qualities to provide you with some extraordinary tools, share them. Now you may be wondering how to more effectively use them. Not uncommon at all.

Some of the things you might have noticed is how negative the world is. You've noticed it in the newspaper. You've noticed it on television and you have noticed it in the office. If you are like me, you may be amazed at how negative people really are! People often talk a lot about what's wrong with the world, not what's right in the world. While we know it's always been there, the Reticular Activating System (RAS) is what is picking up on it now. Remember that when your awareness has been activated to what is going on around you, you have one of two choices to make. A) go with the flow or B) walk the other way.

Unfortunately, what we often do is join in the negativity instead of standing against it. Remember, the more we affirm the behavior we don't want (in self and others,) the more we or they become like it. So the more we continue to go along with the negativity, the more we become...negative. And worse of all, it keeps us in a box versus allowing us to stretch and grow.

Imagine for a moment if we put up a moratorium on All negative self talk and negative hitch hiking. All means All folks. What might that be like? Share your comment here, we would love to hear your tips and struggles with "abolishing the negativity."

Coaching Q's

Where have you noticed negativity in your workplace?

What limiting beliefs might you have around canceling out negativity?

How has your negative self talk gotten in your way to leading effectively?

What action will you take today, to change the way negativity shows up around you?