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Taking time for yourself is so important. Vacation is about changing your pace and taking time for respite and recovery from the intensity of day to day life.

I recently spent some time vacationing with friends and noticed how breaking away from our daily routine can be such a struggle. Just prior to this vacation, I was feeling exhausted; this was burnout setting in. On our first day together, three of us (my friend, his wife and I) sat at the breakfast table and were logged in checking emails and doing our normal daily routine. I looked up and saw that we were not breaking away from what was causing the burnout. I started laughing. When questioned on my laughter, I said, “I’m putting this away and I am giving myself five days of ‘not working.” I put my laptop away, reached for my Kindle and then reminded myself, “no electronics until I return home,” and the Kindle was put away too. I pulled out a book (hardbound) and began my quest to relax without plugging in.

Without the distraction of electronics, I felt inspired to have casual conversations with others while cooking meals, dining, sitting on the deck together, taking walks and more. I just enjoyed being in community. I also committed to an established quiet time daily to let my mind clear and to relax into the moment. I did not need to go anywhere; I was not in a rush; I was committed to allowing my body and mind respite from my professional pursuits and outside pressures. My behavior attracted others in the house to make their own commitment to 90 minutes of quiet time for themselves, use it to support their vision and restore what had been diminished over the past several weeks or months.

When we drove home, I felt relaxed, though not fully rested. I could sense that five days was not enough. I am now blocking out all the fifth weeks on this year’s calendar as my “respite care” time, empowering renewal around what is important — time for me.

Are you setting aside some time to relax, refresh and energize? Maybe it’s time to make this commitment to yourself.  Click on the link below to schedule a complimentary 30-minute call.

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COMPLIMENTARY EXPLORATION

Terry Schaefer offers a complimentary 30 minute call where you can explore how to grow your business past your own expectations.

Schedule Your Call!

While on a call with a prospective client, I heard something that got my attention. This CEO shared that he has a 6 year old son and he felt he was missing too much of his son growing up. I asked him what was causing him not to have the time to spend with those that are precious to him. His silence, though short, was deafening.

His response was that there was not enough time in the day. This lead to a discussion around having very clear intentions, expectations and priorities for the important situations in one’s life. If you don’t structure your time for what is important, then you will lose out on having the life you want.

The key is to develop daily habits that allocate the time as you desire. Getting proper nourishment, hydration, sleep, etc. (the basics to living) sets up a routine that provides great structure to do the activities that have real meaning.

I recently discussed this topic with my own coach. I asked how he found the time to create priorities, both business and personal, that kept him balanced and whole. His answer was short and quick. “Creating healthy habits focused on self care are the basis for me to stay balanced and without them, my life becomes chaotic.” It became clear that when I keep my priorities in focus and take great care of myself, I stay in balance and am rewarded with better peace and satisfaction and less struggling.

Is it time to examine what’s not working for you anymore? What other ways are there to get your needs met? Would you like to take 30 minutes to explore this further? Click on the link below to schedule a complimentary 30-minute call.

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COMPLIMENTARY EXPLORATION

Terry Schaefer offers a complimentary 30 minute call where you can explore how to grow your business past your own expectations.

Schedule Your Call!

Personally or professionally, everyone in your organization brings a boat load of talents, wisdom, intellect, motivation, and dysfunctionality. It is the leader’s job, with the manager’s help, to find, develop, mold, integrate and manage a cultural performance development plan to get peak performance from the people in the organization.

Many tools are in the tool chest. Which tools are growing your staff from their natural and fully engaged selves? How can you let your leaders and managers become better at what they are hired to do? There are many educational tools in the market that support structural learning from the outside in to teach new skills. Good to have, though missing something. What would happen if the manager / leader let the employees have time to share their thoughts around some simple topics? This would expand collaboration between people and provide regular reminders of their commitments they have made. The ‘total is greater than the sum of the parts’ appears. Could your culture self-monitor and self-regulate to gain better outcomes?

The most important element in this whole process is for each staff member to honor a personal commitment to make their performance development plan a priority. And a priority that is part of the organization’s value system where each and every person owns and honors within your organization. This plan sorts the people who are committed to growing, expanding their uniqueness, and willing to focus on their personal habits and seek to improve or eliminate those that don’t serve them or the organization. It is truly an educational rebirthing from the inside out.

Here are some of the observable results that will tell you something is out of alignment:

• Meetings are too long without measurable results or next steps.
• Priorities and goals are late, delayed or miss their mark.
• Greater amounts of operational mistakes.
• Team members’ ideas being oppressed.
• Limited buy-in and stalemates of moving forward as a team.

Are any of these true in your organization? Are you concerned about these behaviors? There are answers to rectify these behaviors, but you have to be committed to address them first before you see the change you want. Need some help? I invite you to click on the link below to schedule a free 30-minute discussion.

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COMPLIMENTARY EXPLORATION

Terry Schaefer offers a complimentary 30 minute call where you can explore how to grow your business past your own expectations.

Schedule Your Call!

Have you ever heard, “If I educate my staff, will they leave with what knowledge they’ve gained”? And the best response I’ve heard to that is, “if you don’t educate your staff, they will hold you hostage by not performing.” It may be even more. If your staff is 5% actively disengaged, are they actively working on disengaging the systems and processes you have worked hard to develop? Is this what you want?

So, how can you let your leaders and managers become better at what they are hired to do? There are many educational tools on the market that support structural learning from the outside in to teach new skills. Good to have, though missing something. What would happen if the manager / leader let the employees have time to share their thoughts around some simple topics? This would expand collaboration between people and provide regular reminders of their commitments they have made. The ‘total is greater than the sum of the parts’ appears. Could your culture self-monitor and self-regulate to gain better outcomes?

Patrick Lencioni’s famous book, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” focuses on team dynamics and personal collaboration. Absence of Trust, Fear of Conflict, Lack of Commitment, Avoidance of Accountability, Inattention to Results are the five dysfunctions. Everyone plays with one or more of these, and it cripples organizations that don’t consciously address them as part of their regular meetings. And the Actively Disengaged person wallows in splendor in an organization that isn’t addressing these. Building TRUST is the first element in the process. Getting to really know your fellow workers is critical to success.

A scheduled performance development program builds teams that function well. Does this subject ring a bell for you?

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COMPLIMENTARY EXPLORATION

Terry Schaefer offers a complimentary 30 minute call where you can explore how to grow your business past your own expectations.

Schedule Your Call!

Coaching is about letting the intuitive and inventive muscle of curiosity uncover new and novel approaches to problem resolution and cultural innovation. When someone is there to point out areas that need to be addressed, the person receiving the information is provided the option to explore different courses to take. An engaged worker in that position is exercising his/her innovative style. Given the right tools, greater outcomes abound.

Managers with a coaching mindset can enhance engaged workers to be stellar performers, while non-engaged workers get the chance to address their barriers to enlighten themselves to become more intellectually and motivationally involved with their work. Any actively disengaged workers can be assessed to change, or be given the chance to find appropriate employment that fits them better. Using a coach approach to performance development gives everyone the choice and chance to advance.

We all have had people in our lives that have influenced us in one way or another (teacher, family, friend, coach, etc.). What simple and powerful tool did they use to help you do something different. Coach Sweeney – my golf coach – helped me understand how my swing was out of alignment. Once I could hear, visualize, and feel what I was doing wrong, and identify a better method to follow, I changed. My drives were perfect faders, my short game was precise, and his simple correction helped my putting. Coach Sweeney observed what was going on, listened to me, asked provoking questions, and provided feedback that helped me correct what I was doing wrong. He was similar to my current business coach, there to help me address my blind spots, chokepoints or thought processes to let me remove my own obstacles.

Providing coaching to help engage an employee is an objective and subjective process. Objective to help this person be the best they can be, and Subjective to point out barriers/habits that just don’t work. Building respect, collaboration, and support are the essential elements to help enhance an employee’s unique talents, thoughts, and life experiences in driving performance, success and personal well-being. If you have interest in learning more about coaching, you might want to check out this article that discusses the characteristics of an effective coach.

Having a coach is not a fad. It is a performance development tool that provides greater results with less effort. Have you implemented a performance development tool that creates greater engagement with less effort?

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COMPLIMENTARY EXPLORATION

Terry Schaefer offers a complimentary 30 minute call where you can explore how to grow your business past your own expectations.

Schedule Your Call!