StartingOverNow.com
Articles
How Not to Blow Your Cool and Make Better
Decisions in Real Time
Leaders transform vision into reality by rallying their team around
more than just a well articulated idea – by truly engaging them in the
strategy to get there. Execution of the strategy is where most leaders
and businesses fail because the variables that affect strategy are not
static but dynamic – constantly fluctuating: barriers to entry,
competition, personalities, scarcity of resources and more.
Many things are outside of a leader’s control. Markets and the
economy oscillate. Lending access varies. Customer perception and
loyalty are influenced by social media. Staff members come and go
as the average employee only stays with a company roughly 4 years
these days.
If you as the leader cannot adjust your vision and your strategy in a
dynamic synergy with the flux of your team, stakeholders, the market,
and a global economy you are not poised to realize your goals.
Someone else will beat you on this measure. You can’t be stuck.
You can’t explode in front of people. You have to easily adjust to
challenges in real time.
My clients who are effective leaders are bound by a moral code of
ethics whereby they apply character, strengths, skill, and values to
advance their mission by engaging their team. They are able to
change their behavior and sustain the change to affect outcomes
because they have prepared ahead of time to know how to execute
under fire.
You wouldn't wait until a ski lift takes you to the highest mountain in
the resort to learn to ski. You need to know, already, who you are and
what you believe: not what your colleagues believe or the company
believes or your friends believe, but what you believe.
Leaders identify their strengths and build a barracks of skills so that
they may respond effectively at a meeting, to a client, or to a
dissatisfied customer with the finesse of a consummate and valued
professional. If you need specific skills you don’t have, get them.
Think through character issues - morality, honor, ethics - ahead of
time so that you have the strength to address challenges head on
with a steadfastness of nature that reinforces a productive and fulfilled
culture of employees.
How to Make Better Decisions in Real Time
1. Make a list of needed skills. Write down all of the skills that you
need to elevate you to the level you want to be. Not just to fulfill your
current role.
2. Write down one thing you can do to build each skill. If you need
better knowledge in a particular industry, ask colleagues to
recommend a course or mentor for you. If you need a better image,
spend time analyzing colleagues in similar roles or industries or talk
with an image consultant.
3. Make a list of five of your biggest strengths. People who have not
matched their character and professional strengths with their life’s
work continue to feel unsettled and under-fulfilled. They may make
erratic decisions or operate inconsistently with an impersonal
persona. This article can help you define your strengths. http://www.
startingovernow.com/Articles/Strengths-
Free_Tools_to_Help_You_Define_Your_Strengths.html
4. Keep your list of strengths in your desk as a reference. When
you are faced with a difficult decision, approach the issue from the
perspective of each of your strengths. If you can’t decide whether or
not to invest in a marketing plan, address it from your already defined
strength of “resourcefulness,” and your strengths of “compassion”
and “practicality.” Most importantly, which of your strengths will help
you in a difficult situation so as to not lose your “cool?”
5. In an eruptive real time situation, draw on your strength.
Whenever you feel threatened or that you may react in a way that is not
in alignment with your values, remove yourself from the situation so
that you may draw on your best strength to deal with it. Tell the person
or team that you will get back to them with an answer once you have
had time to process it. If you are not able to leave the room, draw on
the strength that you have already defined that best equips you to deal
under fire.
Lead by example. You establish your corporate culture and empower
your team by having the confidence to know who you are, what you
believe in and what it is you need to learn. Others will want to learn if
they see that it is OK to not have all the answers all of the time. What
is it that you need to learn? Start now!
Sign up for Mary Lee’s free Executive Coaching e-newsletter at
info@startingovernow.com.
Get Mary Lee’s free tip sheets on “Strengths – free Tools to Help You
Define Your Strengths” and “How to Turn Thought Into Habit for Your
Team” at Articles and Tip Sheets.
Mary Lee Gannon is the president of Gannon Group - a full service
executive coaching, training and consulting firm that provides
turnaround strategies for people and organizations by improving
team performance, executive leadership skills, board performance,
planning and project execution. Mary Lee’s personal turnaround came
as a stay-at-home mother, with four children under seven-years-old,
who endured a divorce that took she and the children from the country
club life to public assistance from where within a short time she
worked out of that to the level of CEO. Her book "Starting Over - 25
Rules for When You've Bottomed Out" is available in bookstores and
at with online book sellers.
Decisions in Real Time
Leaders transform vision into reality by rallying their team around
more than just a well articulated idea – by truly engaging them in the
strategy to get there. Execution of the strategy is where most leaders
and businesses fail because the variables that affect strategy are not
static but dynamic – constantly fluctuating: barriers to entry,
competition, personalities, scarcity of resources and more.
Many things are outside of a leader’s control. Markets and the
economy oscillate. Lending access varies. Customer perception and
loyalty are influenced by social media. Staff members come and go
as the average employee only stays with a company roughly 4 years
these days.
If you as the leader cannot adjust your vision and your strategy in a
dynamic synergy with the flux of your team, stakeholders, the market,
and a global economy you are not poised to realize your goals.
Someone else will beat you on this measure. You can’t be stuck.
You can’t explode in front of people. You have to easily adjust to
challenges in real time.
My clients who are effective leaders are bound by a moral code of
ethics whereby they apply character, strengths, skill, and values to
advance their mission by engaging their team. They are able to
change their behavior and sustain the change to affect outcomes
because they have prepared ahead of time to know how to execute
under fire.
You wouldn't wait until a ski lift takes you to the highest mountain in
the resort to learn to ski. You need to know, already, who you are and
what you believe: not what your colleagues believe or the company
believes or your friends believe, but what you believe.
Leaders identify their strengths and build a barracks of skills so that
they may respond effectively at a meeting, to a client, or to a
dissatisfied customer with the finesse of a consummate and valued
professional. If you need specific skills you don’t have, get them.
Think through character issues - morality, honor, ethics - ahead of
time so that you have the strength to address challenges head on
with a steadfastness of nature that reinforces a productive and fulfilled
culture of employees.
How to Make Better Decisions in Real Time
1. Make a list of needed skills. Write down all of the skills that you
need to elevate you to the level you want to be. Not just to fulfill your
current role.
2. Write down one thing you can do to build each skill. If you need
better knowledge in a particular industry, ask colleagues to
recommend a course or mentor for you. If you need a better image,
spend time analyzing colleagues in similar roles or industries or talk
with an image consultant.
3. Make a list of five of your biggest strengths. People who have not
matched their character and professional strengths with their life’s
work continue to feel unsettled and under-fulfilled. They may make
erratic decisions or operate inconsistently with an impersonal
persona. This article can help you define your strengths. http://www.
startingovernow.com/Articles/Strengths-
Free_Tools_to_Help_You_Define_Your_Strengths.html
4. Keep your list of strengths in your desk as a reference. When
you are faced with a difficult decision, approach the issue from the
perspective of each of your strengths. If you can’t decide whether or
not to invest in a marketing plan, address it from your already defined
strength of “resourcefulness,” and your strengths of “compassion”
and “practicality.” Most importantly, which of your strengths will help
you in a difficult situation so as to not lose your “cool?”
5. In an eruptive real time situation, draw on your strength.
Whenever you feel threatened or that you may react in a way that is not
in alignment with your values, remove yourself from the situation so
that you may draw on your best strength to deal with it. Tell the person
or team that you will get back to them with an answer once you have
had time to process it. If you are not able to leave the room, draw on
the strength that you have already defined that best equips you to deal
under fire.
Lead by example. You establish your corporate culture and empower
your team by having the confidence to know who you are, what you
believe in and what it is you need to learn. Others will want to learn if
they see that it is OK to not have all the answers all of the time. What
is it that you need to learn? Start now!
Sign up for Mary Lee’s free Executive Coaching e-newsletter at
info@startingovernow.com.
Get Mary Lee’s free tip sheets on “Strengths – free Tools to Help You
Define Your Strengths” and “How to Turn Thought Into Habit for Your
Team” at Articles and Tip Sheets.
Mary Lee Gannon is the president of Gannon Group - a full service
executive coaching, training and consulting firm that provides
turnaround strategies for people and organizations by improving
team performance, executive leadership skills, board performance,
planning and project execution. Mary Lee’s personal turnaround came
as a stay-at-home mother, with four children under seven-years-old,
who endured a divorce that took she and the children from the country
club life to public assistance from where within a short time she
worked out of that to the level of CEO. Her book "Starting Over - 25
Rules for When You've Bottomed Out" is available in bookstores and
at with online book sellers.
StartingOverNow.com
Articles
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this site are:
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goals
To chart your road
map to success
click here for FREE
"Worksheets and
Articles."
FREE resources on
this site are:
* Starting over in
their career or
personal life
* Empty nesters
* Entrepreneurs
* Networking
* Job Seekers
* Starting all over
again
* Going through a
divorce
* Looking for career
opportunities
* Seeking FREE
career advice and
education
* Finding mentors
* Setting new life
goals
To chart your road
map to success
click here for FREE
"Worksheets and
Articles."
Turnaround Solutions for People & Organizations
Gannon Group is a full service executive coaching, consulting and
training firm that provides turnaround strategies for people and
organizations. We improve team performance, executive leadership
skills, board performance, planning and project execution through
Executive Coaching, Management Team Development, Board
Development, and Training in the areas of...
Healthcare
Business
Operational Excellence
Strategic Direction & Meeting Facilitation
Fundraising
Association Management
Non-Profit Management
Personal Turnaround
Sales
Communications & Public Relations
Contact Gannon Group at info@startingovernow.com.
Gannon Group is a full service executive coaching, consulting and
training firm that provides turnaround strategies for people and
organizations. We improve team performance, executive leadership
skills, board performance, planning and project execution through
Executive Coaching, Management Team Development, Board
Development, and Training in the areas of...
Healthcare
Business
Operational Excellence
Strategic Direction & Meeting Facilitation
Fundraising
Association Management
Non-Profit Management
Personal Turnaround
Sales
Communications & Public Relations
Contact Gannon Group at info@startingovernow.com.
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FREE Resources
to help you:
1. United States of America's
primary source on career
information:
www.onetcenter.org
2. Wage Estimates
www.salary.com and Bureau of
Labor and Statistics
3. Organize Your Job Search -
Post a Question etc.:
www.cvtips.com
4. Starting Over After Divorce:
www.womansdivorce.com
5. Starting Over for Women:
www.makingbreadmagazine.co
m
6. Self Improvement:
www.selfgrowth.com.
7. Job Postings, Resume
Advice and Resources:
www.careerbuiler.com
8. Templates for: business
plans, competitive analysis,
start up costs and more:
www.score.org/business_toolbox
.html
9. Federal/Sate/Local
Government jobs:
www.USAJOBS.com
10. U.S. Government's Free
online courses, webinars and
podcasts for workforce
development:
www.onetacademy.com.
11. Occupational Outlook
Handbok 2008-09 by Bureau of
Labor and Statistics:
http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.ht
m
to help you:
1. United States of America's
primary source on career
information:
www.onetcenter.org
2. Wage Estimates
www.salary.com and Bureau of
Labor and Statistics
3. Organize Your Job Search -
Post a Question etc.:
www.cvtips.com
4. Starting Over After Divorce:
www.womansdivorce.com
5. Starting Over for Women:
www.makingbreadmagazine.co
m
6. Self Improvement:
www.selfgrowth.com.
7. Job Postings, Resume
Advice and Resources:
www.careerbuiler.com
8. Templates for: business
plans, competitive analysis,
start up costs and more:
www.score.org/business_toolbox
.html
9. Federal/Sate/Local
Government jobs:
www.USAJOBS.com
10. U.S. Government's Free
online courses, webinars and
podcasts for workforce
development:
www.onetacademy.com.
11. Occupational Outlook
Handbok 2008-09 by Bureau of
Labor and Statistics:
http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.ht
m
| Mary Lee Gannon is interviewed on Mind Your BIZness |
Listen to Mary
Lee's interview
"From Welfare
to CEO" on the
Renee Bobb
Show on
BlogTalk
Radio.com.
Lee's interview
"From Welfare
to CEO" on the
Renee Bobb
Show on
BlogTalk
Radio.com.
Gannon Group/StartingOverNow.com
Executive Leadership Coaching - Productivity Solutions for People and Organizations
Executive Leadership Coaching - Productivity Solutions for People and Organizations
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Team with Values and Watch
Productivity Grow - A
Manager's Toolbox"
and the Executive Coaching
Newsletter.
Team with Values and Watch
Productivity Grow - A
Manager's Toolbox"
and the Executive Coaching
Newsletter.
Mary Lee Gannon's
Book "Starting Over" is
available in bookstores
everywhere or at
Amazon.com - 5 Stars!
Book "Starting Over" is
available in bookstores
everywhere or at
Amazon.com - 5 Stars!
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