How Do I Help Others Be Their Best?

Posted on May 31, 2017

“You feel alive to the degree you feel you can help others."
-John Travolta

Our days are filled with mechanical devices that ‘speak’ to us. The refrigerator will let us know when it needs a new water filter. The car will tell us it’s time for an oil change. The printer will demand new ink. The computer will walk us through the installation of new programs.

Our devices give us crisp, clear, and correct bits of information that not only keeps things running smoothly and efficiently, but also keeps things working at its best. Wouldn’t it be nice if the people we interact with everyday provided us with the same level of information?

Effective communication is an essential part of bringing out the best in others.

Discovery Questions

Any time spent thinking about and discussing ways to improve interaction between two people is time well invested. Discovery questions, however, can be powerful tools to gain insight and understanding into the specific needs of others in order to bring out their best.

Here are a few brief examples:

Work Preferences

What are your preferred approaches to how you do your work?
Is there anything you wish others would start doing to help you perform your work?

Communication Preferences

How do you prefer others to talk to you?
What style of communication from others makes you uncomfortable?
What style of communication from others brings out your best?

Biggest Mistakes

What kind of interactions (verbal or nonverbal) make you uncomfortable?
What is your preferred work style?
What kind of work situations do you find stressful?

Incentives

What actions, events, or rewards incentivize you?
What actions, events, or rewards disincentivize you?
What incentives you to go to work each day?

Motivation

What makes you feel good about yourself and what you do?
What propels you towards your goals?

It is only when you truly understand the needs and drivers of others that you can begin to help bring out their best. Communication is the key to that understanding.

Why Help Others?

Posted on March 30, 2017

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own."

-Benjamin Disraeli

Success in life is rarely a solo act. Whether we realize it or not, often our greatest successes in life are made with and through others. It can be both humbling and moving to recall the many ways others have invested their time, energy, and wisdom into our lives.

There is no question that there is a significant impact on the person being helped. But, if you are the one investing in the life of someone else, there are tremendous rewards as well.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards

Intrinsic. There’s an incredible sense of satisfaction that comes from watching someone develop and grow. It can be one of the most gratifying experiences in life to watch someone else-someone you have personally invested in-meet their goals and achieve their dreams. In short, when you help others be their best, you feel better about yourself.

Extrinsic. Taking the time to share life experience, to challenge, to influence, to build up is the most effective form of leadership. Your teams and organization will prosper when there’s the trust and respect that comes from a culture of service. A great leader inspires others to be great.

Are you making a difference in your own life by making a difference in the life of someone else?

Know Yourself

Posted on February 28, 2017

“So, more than anything else in your life, perhaps, it is very, very important to know what motivates you and to make sure that there Is not too big a gap between this and what you do with your life.”

-Ian Robertson, PH. D.

We spend a great deal of our life at work. In fact, the average American will spend approximately 91,250 hours at work during their lifetime. If we stop and think about that for a moment, we realize that is an incredible amount of time, particularly if we lack a sense of purpose and motivation for our work. Too often, we get stuck living someone else’s vision for our life instead of our own.

It takes intentionality to “swim against the current” of life and to choose your own path. It takes self-awareness.

Try asking yourself the following questions (and truly contemplate the answers):

What are your basic needs?

What is truly important to you?

What is your “why” – your purpose?

What gets you excited?

What propels you toward your goals?

What does being motivated mean to you?

This journey of self-discovery is critical to complete. It will not only empower you to make better decisions about your life, at home and at work, but it will empower you to live as a more authentic person.

Let's Make a Deal

Posted on February 1, 2017

In an organization, an important deal is struck between the employer and the employee: the employer seeks to accomplish its goals and objectives by assigning job functions to an employee, and the employee is compensated financially to perform these functions.

That’s the deal.

Unfortunately, this deal isn’t always the best for producing the desired results. Too often this process simply produces “clock punchers,” employees who provide just enough effort to avoid getting fired.

Employers, then, are in need of people who give their discretionary effort and contribute to achieving the mission and goals of the organization. Simply put, they must find ways to create more productive work environments. They must find ways to incentivize above and beyond the financial.

The Win-Win:

One of the most basic needs of an employee is the need for appreciation. While employers must be able to scale their incentive programs and address the needs of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of employees, a “one size fits all” approach to incentives rarely works. However, a focus on creating a level of “mass customization” as part of the incentives process can have an enormous impact on productivity.

When employees are treated as unique individuals with their hopes, dreams, strengths, and aspirations acknowledged, and their need for appreciation met, they will be more engaged and productive. And productive people produce profits!