Tag: Confidence

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Personal development

Giving feedback after a presentation

As a presenter, it is always good to receive unsolicited feedback from the audience. The feedback really helps with future script writing and presentations. What resonated? what was not understood? was the tone right? speed?

As an employee, you will hear numerous presentations, take the time to write a couple of dot points on what worked and not worked for you. Its a great way of raising your brand and showing you care about the company and messaging.

Toastmasters is a great way to develop your speech evaluation skills, so if you want to goto the next level then sign up, it will give you loads of skills to really become an expert evaluator.

So what are you waiting for, send some unsolicited feedback on a presentation you attended.

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Personal development

Getting someone’s name right.

A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” – Dale Carnegie.

On Wednesday I had to read out 111 award winners at an internal meeting. I read every name first and last, I asked the person if I pronounced their name incorrectly, please correct me, they did, in front of over 100 staff. I continued as I wanted to get the name right. Thanks for your patience.

We often feel embarrassed about pronouncing names we don’t know how to say. Ask them and then repeat and keep repeating until they have told you, that you have got it right.

In Australia it’s common for people to abbreviate names Ange instead of Angela. It’s ok as long as the person is happy with the abbreviation. Ask them first?

The abbreviation of the initials of the first and last name. This is used when people’s names are difficult to pronounce. Again check with the person they are ok? But make the effort to pronounce their name.

A colleague of mine said to use https://www.pronouncenames.com/search. It’s a great way to practice.

Remember Dale Carnegies saying. A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”

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Personal development

Gail Kelly Live Lead Learn

Thanks to Sue Davies for the loan of this book. Read in less than a week which is totally unusual for me! What a great read. Inspiring and humble.

She is open and honest about her challenges, but more importantly her vision and clarity of what was needed to change the banks is inspirational and exceptionally perceptive. Every CEO needs to have spent time in front line customer situations, without that experience business is too inwardly focused.

Her grasp of the challenges for bank tellers led her to restructure the banks to be centred around the customer and not the internal needs of business. Trust is king and you cannot build trust with your customers if you don’t listen.

In her book Gail quoted “I really battled to have commonsense changes imbedded. I encountered lots of ‘Yes, Minister’ behaviour with the team hoping my attention would move to other things and their lives would return to normal.

In my experience too often leaders are too busy “spraying the next initiative” to follow up and employees become fatigued and realise that they are better to lie low. Persistence in the same goal is uncommon, as when there is not gratification in an outcome, execs move on. The difference with Gail was it was imbedded in her personal values, she was never going to move on, until the customer was served in the way she needed them to be.

I loved Gails honesty about dropping the ball on a number of issues, just because she did not have the bandwidth to manage. Her openness is very refreshing and for anyone who is juggling a lot of conflicting priorities it is not surprising.

Her husband Allan was a rock, but also someone who encouraged Gail to step up with every opportunity and did his fair share around the home.

This is a book that inspires, in spite of Gail’s upbringing in South Africa during apartheid, she has tremendous humility and ability to seek out the truth. She never stops learning and that is something that is important to me today. A must read, regardless of you career, there are so many important life lessons in this brilliant read.

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Collaberation Collaboration Communication High Performing Teams Leadership Personal development

Contact your peers weekly

Throughout my career I have focused on my team more than my peers or other stakeholders. Connecting regularly with your peers (who work for the same leader) not just in meetings is critical for you, your team and wider teams success.

I am not advocating for scheduled sessions, but a phone call to check in and say hi and are you Ok? Is there anything you need help on?

It means a lot to show your peers you care and you are there for them. It also builds rapport and trust, which are essential to support the performance of the team.

Other opportunities to build rapport with your peers who report to the same leader:

Over the last 12 months I have been challenged with support of a certain role and each time I have called on my peers and they have been keen to help. Make sure also that you thank them publicly so they know you appreciate their support.

Your peers are great as accountability partners, helping you to stay on track with your goals. This is great way to work together and build rapport.

Catching up as a group without your boss is also a great way to build the trust and support for each other. Let your boss know, and let them know you want to take away some of the noise by landing key decisions as a team. Also run monthly people only session with your peers to talk about Vacancies, Paternity leave, Talent, bench strength across the business, training, leave and much more. Again this is something you can do without your boss and just share the minutes.

Building relationships with your peers is critical to the business success. Just looking at your own team will not demonstrate leadership, make the time for your peers.

Other sources on this topic https://workbravely.com/blog/from-our-coaches/peer-working-relationships/

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Influence Personal development Sales leadership Strategy

Importance of briefing execs ahead of external meetings

Briefing execs ahead of meetings with Execs from outside your business is critical to gain the outcome you are looking for as well as preparing the execs for questions.

Recently I skipped a briefing with my boss ahead of an executive steering committee with on the grounds my boss met with the executive of the Customer regularly. I have never done this, so what processed me to make this call I don’t know! But DONT miss a briefing.

Regardless of how well the executives know each other, what they don’t know is what is happening on the ground that’s impacting the relationship, gaps in process or opportunities for greater sales and other improvement observed by the wider team that may need to be brought to the attention of the exec.

What good looks like:

  1. What is the Customer likely to raise? What’s your response

2. What you would like to ask or opportunities identified? What is their likely response?

3. What other insights can you share, that would be helpful to their business?

If the exec is meeting for the first time, also have link to linkedin profile or summary.

Make sure you send the points in advance. Use summaries for each point not chapter and verse.

Set up 15-30 mins to brief the exec and take them through the points. Help them get familiar with the topics. If a member of your team has pulled this together, get them to do the brief with you in the room or on the call.

Once the exec meeting has taken place, then set up a time for a debrief and include your team members, to ensure all the topics are followed up correctly and updates re progress on any points are given at agree intervals i.e. daily, weekly to your executive as well as agreeing updates for the customers executive, including who is sharing the updates..

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Personal development

Tips on working with a new boss

I am often asked how do you work successfully with my current boss. Firstly that’s a great question to ask if you are working with someone new.

Styles vary enormously and understanding from someone who knows is a great way to prepare working with a new leader. Also as my business coach says ‘never die wondering’ ask them.

Here are five key areas to focus:

1. The more senior the leader the more precious their time is. So short sharpe messages. Summarise always, if they need to know more then they will ask.

2. Never send presentations or emails longer than a few sentences. If you need their time ensure you include in the request the purpose of the presentation: to inform, instruct, inspire or decision making, also include Length of time for presentation and Q&A , when you need to present. Keep it very short and sharp.

3. Bad news or potential bad news early. Here is how to do it https://angelalovegrove.com/2021/02/28/fyi-no-action-required-escalation-possible/

4. Reliability. Know the facts and if you don’t know say so. Passing information which is unreliable will damage trust, so if you don’t know say so and find out the answer quickly.

5. Your job is to make your boss look good. Results, successful delivery of initiatives, insights are all opportunities to elevate your boss.

Most of all have fun! Hope these are helpful.

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Personal development

Showing anger as a leader

Once a leader shows anger or aggression, there is no psychological safety. Trust is 0.

Rebuilding trust is a long road.

There is no place in modern leadership for anger or aggression. Compassion and focus on the person needing the help is essential to building high performance.

If I have feedback, I always ask the team member to think about what they will do differently? What will be the trigger?. I ask them to spend 0 time on ruminating the event as it is emotionally draining and unhelpful. Instead focus on the long term solution.

My tone is always curious, non judgemental and supportive of the learning. I also want to understand what the trigger is for the person, so I can help them in the future.

If you are angry as a leader, reflect on your ego because anger is a reflection of you.

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Book Quotes Coaching Influence Leadership Personal development

You can learn from good and bad bosses.

You can learn from good and bad bosses. None of us are perfect, everyone deserves the best support, if there are behaviours you find offensive, call it out in private.  https://angelalovegrove.com/2020/03/04/taking-responsibility-to-how-we-get-treated/

You can help your boss and they in return will help you. Judgement is the worst human trait. https://angelalovegrove.com/2018/06/04/dont-speak-ill-of-others/

Stay always true to your values. You don’t have to compromise, you need to share what is important to you, so you can build rapport and trust. In return you need to take time to understand the pressure and behaviours that result in your boss’s behaviour. Always seek to understand before being understood, one of my favourite Dale Carnegie sayings. https://angelalovegrove.com/2020/11/24/why-dale-carnegies-how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people-is-my-all-time-favourite-book/

Personal growth occurs when we push ourselves outside our comfort zone. This is the opportunity to push yourself beyond where you have operated before.

With the open honest feedback about your bosses behaviour, you also get it back in return. This has been some of the most transformative coaching I have received in my career.

You can learn from good and bad bosses

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Personal development

How to make it safe with your boss to give feedback

In my 40 year career I have had bosses that are uncomfortable giving me feedback when asked. The reasons are varied, but its important that you make it safe and support your leader to feel comfortable.

If you have acted defensively in the past, they will be reluctant to share feedback for fear that you will react in the same way.

Here are some tips to help you make it safe for your boss:

  1. Share what you are personally working on with your boss, so they can see you are keen to improve. Share progress on what’s working not working for you and how you are changing your approach.
  2. Share feedback from others on areas you need to focus on. Share who gave you the feedback and what you are doing to address.
  3. Once you have done the above, ask do you have any feedback for me, on areas I need to work on, or anything I have shared already.
  4. When they give you feedback, play back to them what you have heard. Then reflect and say thank you this information is priceless, I will work on this. Then share all the progress, so they can see you demonstrate the self awareness to work on improvements
  5. Use self deprecating humour to show that you don’t take yourself to seriously. May make your boss laugh.
  6. When something does not go to plan, share with your boss what happened and how you plan to turn the situation around. Bad news early

Sharing progress with your boss on your self development journey is vital to your future success and it really helps your boss feel comfortable sharing feedback and observations which are essential for growth

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Personal development

Want to call out the lack of diversity at the exec level

An ex colleague and friend called me re: lack of diversity at the exec level in the organization she recently joined. Her question was on how does she call out the lack of diversity.

The answer is, not advisable to call it out, what is advisable is how you are prepared to help the leaders and HR team to change.

What does that mean?

  1. How do ensure males become the best sponsors for women? This is the single reason for women not getting to the top, as without a sponsor its impossible. Sponsorship is promoting the success and ensuring the failures are learned from in a supportive way. The largest gap is sponsorship of women in their 40’s and 50’s. You can help here by encouraging each senior exec to sponsor a women and then give them the support and coaching. https://angelalovegrove.com/2019/10/07/the-difference-between-a-coach-mentor-and-sponsor/
  2. Most senior men are comfortable coaching younger women. They are more fearful of coaching older women, that fear is how women will react to feedback. The key is here is for women to ensure their bosses know they embrace feedback. Value the time they take to walk through examples where they can improve. Share progress and learnings, so over time your boss enjoys the conversations and enables them to become a better leader. Encourage both parties to have more open dialogue. https://angelalovegrove.com/2020/03/30/feedback-is-critical-for-growth/
  3. Where a senior male leader has not had female leaders on their exec team, broach the subject with HR about getting a coach for the exec. This is a common approach for male execs who know they have difficulty with women to work with a coach to help them overcome their bias, Often the coach needs a women to work with the exec to develop the skills and capabilities. Over a decade ago I was fortunate enough to work for a senior male exec who approached me to work with his coach to help him overcome his bias. I learnt a fortune about what causes the issues for the males and how I could help him.
  4. Ensure your emerging leaders are equipped to lead women. I talk openly about the differences and encourage my female and male leaders to discuss what causes them challenges re: female behavior v;s male behavior’s. Over time they begin to adapt and the females thrive under their leadership. This is critical if we want to change the future for women in the workplace.
  5. Call out privately with individuals bad or poor behavior towards women. I previously had a boss who constantly criticized strong female leaders in front of his leadership team. I was appalled as he did not do this in relation to male leaders. The first few times I stewed over it and then the next time, I pulled him to one side in private that I found his comments offensive and please stop. A couple of times of pulling him to one side did the trick and no more offensive comments in front of me. https://angelalovegrove.com/2020/03/04/taking-responsibility-to-how-we-get-treated/
  6. Don’t judge! None of us are perfect. It’s important to lock the judgement up, you cannot coach or support when you are judging.

All the best with changing the work place and I hope the 6 steps are helpful.