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Improving Your Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

May 31, 2013

Good morning. We are blessed today to have some old friends from Mississippi visiting with us last night and this morning. Friends grass - Laauren 2013are a blessing from the Lord!

Most of us desire to improve our emotional intelligence (EQ) as we know that it is important. At my work, it is considered a critical skill. In fact, one of our mantras is “Relational Effectiveness Drives Organizational Performance“. So, if it is so important, then why does it seem so hard?

According to the Harvard Business Review article “Can You Really Improve Your Emotional Intelligence?” there are five key points to consider:

1. Your level of EQ is firm, but not rigid. We are greatly influenced and formed by our genetics and early childhood experiences. However, you can change, but it requires a great deal of dedication and guidance and unfortunately few people are willing to try.

2. Good coaching programs do work. The author states that a well-designed coaching program can easily achieve improvements of 25% with benefits not only in the workplace but at home as well.

3. But you can only improve if you get accurate feedback. Most of us are unaware of how others see us, especially leaders. So, we need accurate feedback in order to understand how we are truly impacting others.

4. Some techniques (coaches) are more competent than others. There are methods that are better than others, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and enhancing psychological flexibility and so on. So do some research on the best methods as well as the best coaches.

5. Some people are more coachable than others. You have to want to change and if you are trying to help someone else, they have to want the coaching / change for it to be effective.

Improving our EQ is important to us in almost all the areas of our lives. What are you doing to improve your EQ?

Hope you have a great weekend!
BG

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“8 Things You Should Not Do Everyday”

April 20, 2013

I saw this article on the Inc. website this morning and thought I would share it with you.

They suggest that everyday you make a commitment not to:

1. Check my phone while I’m talking to someone.

2. Multitask during a meeting.

3. Think about people who don’t make any difference in my life.

4. Use multiple notifications.

5. Let the past dictate the future.

6. Wait until I’m sure I will succeed.

7. Talk behind someone’s back.

8. Say “yes” when I really mean “no.”

It’s a good article and worth a quick read - click here to go  to the article.

Enjoy your weekend!

BG

 

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A Blogging Template That Works

March 23, 2013

Good morning – beautiful morning here, but the weatherman says we have another winter storm (in the spring??) coming our way Sunday.  Oh well.

Michael Hyatt is one of my favorite bloggers and on his video post today he explains how to design a blogging template. If you enjoy blogging I would recommend you check out his post today.

Here are the highlights:

  1. Start with the headline.
  2. Write a great lead paragraph.
  3. Use a relevant image.
  4. Tell a personal story.
  5. Make your content scannable.
  6. Invite others into the conversation.

Check out Michael’s blog - it is a good one!

BG

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Four Components to Listening Better

October 29, 2012

Good morning! Getting a bit nippy here in northeast Indiana.

Listening well is a skill and one many of us have yet to master. It is a weakness of mine that God has convicted me of so I am trying to develop this critical skill. Fortunately Ambassador not only places a great value on this skill, they also teach you how to listen.

One tool they have is the four components of effective listening. (click here to read Ambassador’s article on this subject)

  1. To hear is to focus all of my senses on what the speaker is communicating, making it as easy as possible for him to say what he means and to have confidence in my full attention.
  2. To understand is to comprehend what the speaker means. This has nothing to do with evaluation or agreement; that comes later. I should be able to communicate back what they said to their satisfaction.
  3. To consider is to evaluate what difference his input should make in what I feel, think, or do.
  4. To give feedback is to expose how I will consider her input and to express appreciation for it. This can be done immediately, even before I have had time to thoroughly consider all of the implications of the input. Later, I can expose how I have incorporated it into my thinking and what I have done or will do as a result.

Start incorporating these four components into your listening and see how much more effective you become.

Have a great week serving our Lord!
BG

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The Adventure Begins!

September 4, 2012

Good morning from Fort Wayne, Indiana – our new home. Today beings a new chapter in our lives as I report in for my first day at Ambassador Enterprises. Ambassador is a fascinating company that seeks to glorify Jesus in all they do . Their Purpose is: “To daily live in such a way that others are drawn to God.” And their Mission is: “We invest in leaders and organizations to build high-trust, high-care, high-performance teams.” Quite a group of people!

Just a reminder for you as you start off this short week – do what is important first! Not email, paperwork, voicemail or whatever. No – focus on the most important thing you have to do today – first!

Check out this post on the 99U blog, “The Key To Creating Remarkable Things” - it makes sense!

I hope you  have a blessed week serving out Lord and others!
BG

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Is the Pursuit of More Causing You to Have Less?

August 13, 2012

Good morning on a brand new week! One nugget for you from Life Action Ministries’ Revival Week last week from a good friend of mine – “We are changed by Jesus when we are with Jesus.” Spend time with Him, in His Word and you will be changed.

I have been contemplating on and reading on how less is more. About how our pursuit of more stuff, status, money, responsibility, and so on is less in how it is a wrong focus and distracts us from the right priorities in life. The interesting thing is – the more we desire to accumulate, the less joy we have in our lives. Scripture makes this abundantly clear for one result of pursuing “stuff” is the crowding out of Jesus in our lives.

One blog that is interesting and will challenge you is The Minimalists written by two young men who were hugely successful in the business world at a young age who found themselves empty. They will definitely challenge your thinking in regards to “stuff”.

Another good article is on the Harvard Business Review site entitled “The Disciplined Pursuit of Less“. The author, Greg McKeown, shares a story about a man. Enric Sala, who finally settled into a career he was passionate about by earning to say no to more.

Mr. McKeown gives us three questions/approaches to use to evaluate things:

First – use extreme criteria. Example, when looking at the clothes in your closet, instead of asking yourself will I possibly wear this sometime in the future, ask yourself, do I absolutely love this piece of clothing? Changes your perspective.

Second – ask what is essential and eliminate the rest.

Third – beware the endowment effect. If we own something we attach more value to it that it usually is worth and hang on to it even though we don’t need it. so when looking at something you own, simply ask yourself if you did not own it, would you be willing to buy it?

So are you strategically eliminating the nonessentials in your life? The hard part is that it often involves saying no to good things or good opportunities that are not what are best for you and your family.

Be strategic and eliminate the distractions, the nonessentials in your life and focus on what is best.

Hope you have a blessed week!
BG

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A Critical But Underutilized Management Skill

July 30, 2012

Good Monday morning! Over the last few weeks I have mentioned about how dry it was here and about how I did not have to mow. Well, we have had some rain and my yard has gone from a desert to a jungle. Amazing how fast it recovers!

There is one thing that we could be doing better that would motivate our staff, empower our staff, develop our staff, allow us to focus, reduce overwork, and maintain priorities. However, we avoid that thing and we don’t cultivate the skill – all to our detriment and to the detriment of those we lead. I wonder why.

This most critical of skills is simply delegating. For whatever reason we fail to learn the skill of delegation and we and others suffer as a result. Amy Gallo in her Harvard Business Review article “Why Aren’t You Delegating?” has some thoughts. Check out her article. I have some theories as well. But ask yourself – why aren’t you delegating? What is it that you fear will happen if you delegate?

Also – check out my post on “Delegating – the 5 Levels” for some practical guidelines on how to delegate.

So – just try it today – delegate something!

Blessings on your day & week!
BG

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Want to be More Productive? Go to Sleep!

July 19, 2012

We finally have some rain here in southwest Michigan – what a blessing!

Do you want to be more productive, more energetic, and live longer? Try getting at least seven hours of sleep each night.

Most of us get six or less hours of sleep a night which leads to fatigue, poor thinking, and poor health. In fact, getting less than six hours of sleep a night on a prolonged basis increases your chance of heat disease by 48 percent.

Tony Schwartz, in a Harvard Business Review blog post goes into detail the benefits of getting seven to eight hours of sleep a night versus the six to six and a half most of us get or the less than six hours 30 percent of us get each night. The difference is astonishing.

Simply getting one or two more hours of sleep each night on a consistent basis will radically transform your life.

So what is keeping you from doing so? Habit? Do you really have to stay up to watch the news? Do you really have to check out everyone’s Facebook? Do you really need to surf the Web for a couple of hours?

Try changing your habits just a bit and feel better, be more productive, be happier, and live longer. Just try it!

Rest well tonight!
BG

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5 Marks of a Leader

July 3, 2012

I enjoy reading Michael Hyatt’s blog as so many others do. In a repost today (he’s on vacation) he talks about 5 marks of an authentic leader. Theses marks are:

  • Authentic leaders have insight. 
  • Authentic leaders demonstrate initiative.
  • Authentic leaders exert influence. 
  • Authentic leaders have impact. 
  • Authentic leaders exercise integrity. 
Some great points and I encourage you to read his blog for a fuller explanation of his points.
Have a great Independence Day celebration tomorrow!!
BG
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Improve Your Effectiveness with The 90 Minute Rule

June 22, 2012

Good morning! It is Friday!! I hope you have a great day and a great weekend. Make sure you take some time this weekend to reconnect with the Lord and your family.

It was a windy day for Frieda!

The 90 Minute Rule is a powerful tool for increasing your effectiveness that I have heard for some time from others, but most especially Tony Schwartz on his site The Energy Project and I wrote on this back in 2010 (click here to see the post).

It appears that research has proven that for the typical person, 90 minutes is the longest amount of time a person can stay intensely focused on a task before losing energy and effectiveness.  So the key is to find 90 minute blocks of time within the best part of the day for you to focus on the most important task you have before you that day. During that time, shut down your email, Twitter, close Facebook, put your cell phone on silent and remove all other distractions and for 90 minutes focus on what is most important that day. At the end of 90 minutes, get up and stretch get a healthy snack and take a short break.  And then, if your schedule allows, go for another 90 minutes. However, if you have only that one 90 minute block a day, then discipline yourself to use it. You will be amazed how productive you will become.

It is a discipline and a hard one to cultivate, but if you develop this discipline you will radically change your work life for the better.

Again – have a great weekend!
BG

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