L(earn) with Us » Posts by Michele

Kitchen Renovation

Michele — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:05:10 +0000

I turned the door knob of my front door as slowly as if I was entering a haunted house. Holding my breath, shoulders tense I took tentative steps toward…the kitchen. And there they were. Six beautiful new handles on my new kitchen drawers. Gleaming, silver, beautiful architectural drawer handles. Now I get some people are reading this and saying “ummm really? Drawer handles?” That’s why you were holding your breath?”

Well the truth is not really. I was holding my breath to see if this day was the day that my kitchen was finally done. It’s been three months. Three months of living with 2 plates, 2 forks and 1 pot. Three months of take out and restaurant food. Three months of stepping on saw dust, bruised hips from the piled up boxes, worrying about budget and well, just general chaos. And let me be clear. I have been really good about it. Taking everything in stride. I have lived in the moment, never getting fussed or upset, not even when the guys locked me out of my own house because they left the chain on the door. Sure it was raining and it was 8 at night but even then I was focused on the end game, a beautiful new kitchen that I have waited for my whole adult life. And I have to admit I am now out of steam. I just want it done. I am at the point where I have dug deep and I may have just hit bedrock! And then it hit me. This kitchen renovation is a metaphor for change within an organization.

As a leader, we create a vision, one we are passionate about and cannot wait to see implemented. And we start demolition, taking down old ideas, old ways of doing things. Then the construction starts, the new products, the new processes, sometimes even new people. And it takes time. Often there are setbacks, people who we believed were on board seemingly become the biggest detractors, or technology doesn’t work quite the way we thought it would, communication breaks down as people scramble to avoid blame or worse, place blame. And inside of organizations – this is where we, as leaders, often get stopped. Implementing the vision gets hard, we run out of steam and we just go back to the way we have always done things – right at the pivotal point of change! Because we lose sight of the Vision – that passion that ignited us in the first place! We get caught up in all the details of what isn’t working instead of connecting to why we started the work in the first place. Inside of hard, we lose our inspiration and the ability to inspire others, to see that the culmination of all the hard work is right around the corner.

It is like stopping the renovation just as all the beautiful touches are to be installed, those beautiful architectural drawer handles! So for me – it’s another deep breath and I close my eyes and picture my gleaming countertops, the sparkle of the glass tile and the vastness of space to store all of my treasures…in my beautifully renovated kitchen.

The Book of Our Lives

Michele — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:15:20 +0000

Some of us start out with a story. And we believe that this one story defines us and we hold tightly to that story and live that story our whole lives.

Some of us start out with a story and then realize that as we grow we can add many chapters to the book of our lives. As we add the chapters we try to pretend that the very first chapter never existed. We distance ourselves from that first chapter because we want to be a character in a different book. As we disconnect from the beginning of our own story, it can cause the new chapters to appear disjointed, out of context and we become disconnected from ourselves.

Some of us are lucky enough to add many many chapters to our Book and ultimately realize that our first chapter was the beautiful story that started it all. And we learn to honour our whole book. And thus we honour ourselves.

Heading to – What’s Possible Town!

Michele — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:50:55 +0000

The L(earn)2 team was sitting around the community lunch table the other day commenting on the creativeness of David’s latest curry dish and hashing out all of the big world issues that we know we could solve if someone would just ask us. This is something we do daily, get caught up on each other’s lives, the latest happenings at L2 and lobbing out the occasional provocative question about any current hot topic.

I can’t remember whether we were discussing the progress of the Haitian relief effort, the death toll of the earthquake in China, the billions of dollars lost due to volcanic ash or this weekend’s deadly tornadoes in Mississippi, but suddenly it hit me…we are experiencing Disaster Fatigue. Being someone umm… er…over Forty (ok, Forty-five next month!), I still remember when disasters would happen, the world would collectively hold our breath, ache for the loss and frantically scramble to find some way to help. These days it feels like we look up, frown, whisper a word of gratitude that it’s not us, feel a pang of regret for those impacted, and get on with getting on, or worse, waiting for the next piece of bad news. In other words… surviving not thriving.

I think that is a little of what is happening in the economy as well. A couple of years of meltdown, relentless headlines of impending doom, cutbacks and budget-slashing and it feels like many of us are still just holding our breath. Too wounded, too scared or just too gosh-darn tired to believe that the sun really is peeking out and that the economy really is rebounding.

There was an article in the Globe and Mail on Monday entitled, ”Are you suffering from post-recession workplace disorder?” and as I was reading it I yelled, “Yes, yes – that’s it!” Ms. Wendy Leung writes that “the economy may well be recovering, but those of us who have become accustomed to operating in survival mode are having a tough time adapting to a more upbeat climate…”

Well, I am not sure that we are having a tough time adapting ; I am just not so sure that most of us see or believe that the economy is in fact recovering. When the economy was in the downturn you could not escape from the thunderous anthem of “the sky is falling, the sky is falling.” While these days we have the odd story or anecdote of good news, the bandwagon does not seem as full or rowdy. How then are our teams to know – to know that it is time to switch to Thrive mode, the future is ours to create, that is time to start thinking about What is possible???!!!

I mean, ask yourself, have you clearly put on the indicator that says we are making a left turn to What’s Possible Town? We aren’t really just expecting our people to pick themselves up and move forward all on their own, are we? I mean – let’s be honest – we have put some of these guys through the wringer. Many, many of us have really had our confidence shaken and our energy reserves tapped to exhausting levels. So wouldn’t it be great to now turn our efforts to building instead of dismantling?! To creating environments where Winning is the battle cry – not Maintain, Maintain? As Leaders, one of our primary roles is to create environments for people to be their best, environments that inspire, environments that foster a culture of success and possibility!

So I ask you – Have you truly declared a change in direction?

5 Tips for Creating a Culture of Possibility

As Leaders, it is time for us to focus on re-creating the confidence of our teams and setting aggressive agendas for success. While the tips below are in no way meant to represent a full-scale plan for renewal, they are a quick and easy way to begin the shift toward a renewed sense of optimism!

Tip #1

Declare the new destination. Be it growth, culture, morale, and/or engagement. Before you ask people to get on the bus TELL THEM WHERE IT’S GOING!

Tip #2

Ask them to get on the bus. As you share the new plan – ask for input on the plan – create a culture of contribution and therefore accountability.

Tip #3

Have enough supplies for the trip. This doesn’t mean you have to spend money – but don’t be afraid to ask “what do you need in order to make the journey?” You might not be able to give them everything but giving them something is a start.

Tip #4

Get third-party validation. Ask your customers to share a great story about your team or organization. It creates a powerful, “See? Its working!!!” mentality.

Tip #5

Reward desired behaviours. I mean make some noise!!! You want to create a buzz of good new; an atmosphere of possibility. Start small if you need to – remember you are creating a new trend.

Economic Consciousness

Michele — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:52:52 +0000

I am pleased to say that YTD revenues are 17% ahead of last year! Yes – that is right 17%. If I may, not bad performance during THE WORST ECONOMIC CRISIS EVER!! Oh wait. I don’t believe that last line. I remember very early on saying to my business partner Doug – “this is not an economic crisis – this is an economic consciousness. And I consciously choose to believe that we are going to do great this year and continue to grow the company!” And away we went – choosing everyday to believe that we could create something bigger then last year, impact more people then last year, and have a bigger team then last year. And everyday it was a choice. I chose to cancel my subscription to the morning paper because it made me depressed to read it, I chose to walk away from conversations that were all doom and gloom because it did not create the right mind set for me, we chose to invest in redoing our website because we knew we could recoup the investment, we chose to invest in learning and development for our team because our people will create our results. Now don’t get me wrong – I am not saying that everyday those choices were easy to make. Some days they were down right hard. A meeting would cancel here and a project would get downsized there…and I would think….okay here is a choice point moment…do I move into reaction mode or to I stay committed to the intention and vision of growth. Isn’t that a great phrase – choice point moment. I borrowed it from a wise woman and have made it my own. And I chose and continue to choose my intention. Some days I need help so I reach out to people who I know will provide me with energy when mine is waning, or I simply take a few minutes to reconnect to what Doug and I are committed to accomplishing. And all of this got me to thinking how often we operate unconsciously, without a vision or an intention or a least a very fuzzy view of what we want to create. It’s almost like someone smeared dirt on the lens that we use to visualize our lives. And without a crystal clear image in our minds of what we want to create, how in the world do we expect to make choices that will ensure our creation comes to life. Without a picture so vivid that it feels as if the we are living in the frame, how will we recognize those “choice point” moments? Do I stay at work late or do I go home and play baseball with my son, do I eat that burger or do I grill up some vegetables, do I make that sales call or do I play around on the internet, do I take 30 minutes to quietly coach my staff or do I rant and rave for 10 minutes? All of these moments are choice point moments. And choices will be made each and every time. For most of us, these choices will be made unconsciously because are so busy doing, that we spend no time connecting to creating. Or worse, we don’t acknowledge the picture we have created in our head. The one that says, this is going to be the worst year ever, my kids are a pain, I have no money, my company is going to shrink this year! And surprise, surprise we get exactly what we envision. The good news is I have discovered that I can create a better vision, I can choose to visualize and therefore create a picture so full of joy, abundance and success I walk around most days in awe and gratitude. And when I don’t like the results I am getting, I now know I have not spent enough time in connecting to my intention, my vision. I now know, if I don’t like the results, I don’t need to do more. I need to connect more to, Who do I want to be? What do I want to create? What do I want my organization to b – what does it look like? sound like? feel like?

Choice Point Moments

Michele — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:39:29 +0000

I am pleased to say that YTD revenues are 17% ahead of last year! Yes – that is right 17%. If I may, not bad performance during THE WORST ECONOMIC CRISIS EVER!! Oh wait. I don’t believe that last line. I remember very early on saying to my business partner Doug – “this is not an economic crisis – this is an economic consciousness. And I consciously choose to believe that we are going to do great this year and continue to grow the company!” And away we went – choosing everyday to believe that we could create something bigger then last year, impact more people then last year, and have a bigger team then last year. And everyday it was a choice. I chose to cancel my subscription to the morning paper because it made me depressed to read it, I chose to walk away from conversations that were all doom and gloom because it did not create the right mind set for me, we chose to invest in redoing our website because we knew we could recoup the investment, we chose to invest in learning and development for our team because our people will create our results. Now don’t get me wrong – I am not saying that everyday those choices were easy to make. Some days they were down right hard. A meeting would cancel here and a project would get downsized there…and I would think….okay here is a choice point moment…do I move into reaction mode or to I stay committed to the intention and vision of growth. Isn’t that a great phrase – choice point moment. I borrowed it from a wise woman and have made it my own. And I chose and continue to choose my intention. Some days I need help so I reach out to people who I know will provide me with energy when mine is waning, or I simply take a few minutes to reconnect to what Doug and I are committed to accomplishing. And all of this got me to thinking how often we operate unconsciously, without a vision or an intention or a least a very fuzzy view of what we want to create. It’s almost like someone smeared dirt on the lens that we use to visualize our lives. And without a crystal clear image in our minds of what we want to create, how in the world do we expect to make choices that will ensure our creation comes to life. Without a picture so vivid that it feels as if the we are living in the frame, how will we recognize those “choice point” moments? Do I stay at work late or do I go home and play baseball with my son, do I eat that burger or do I grill up some vegetables, do I make that sales call or do I play around on the internet, do I take 30 minutes to quietly coach my staff or do I rant and rave for 10 minutes? All of these moments are choice point moments. And choices will be made each and every time. For most of us, these choices will be made unconsciously because are so busy doing, that we spend no time connecting to creating. Or worse, we don’t acknowledge the picture we have created in our head. The one that says, this is going to be the worst year ever, my kids are a pain, I have no money, my company is going to shrink this year! And surprise, surprise we get exactly what we envision. The good news is I have discovered that I can create a better vision, I can choose to visualize and therefore create a picture so full of joy, abundance and success I walk around most days in awe and gratitude. And when I don’t like the results I am getting, I now know I have not spent enough time in connecting to my intention, my vision. I now know, if I don’t like the results, I don’t need to do more. I need to connect more to, Who do I want to be? What do I want to create? What do I want my organization to be – what does it look like? sound like? feel like?

Today I choose to get more conscious, in all areas of my life. I hope I have a 1000 choice point moments today so I can get busy creating my vision.

Creating the Economy We Want

Michele — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:23:46 +0000

This morning I had another request for our services. The person loves the work we do, feels that our company makes a real difference and that we offer unique capabilities. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? Unfortunately, the request also came with an all too common commentary on the current economy. In other words, ” I love you guys but can you do it for free?” I believe the exact quote was ” in such tough economic times, I do not have a budget.” I agree that these are economic times, I do however take exception to them being called tough economic times. The economy is the economy, as cyclical now as it as always been. It is our individual and collective behaviour that creates the adjective of “tough”. It occurs that our connection and commitment to a bad economy is the very essence of what is creating the economy that we so abhor. If each of us, in our own sphere of influence, would commit to growing the economy, to making a contribution, I can say with conviction that we could replace the adjective of tough with the more palatable adjective of robust. If we shifted 90% of our energies to creating growth instead of cost cutting what could we collectively cause? I understand that a shift of this magnitude takes courage. I understand that a shift to the positive is not the popular path. It’s just that when I look at leadership – I believe that leaders are paid to be courageous and forge paths that while not always popular are insightful and forward thinking. Of course – this is just one girl’s opinion.

What type of Leader are you?