Monthly Archives

Many of us are fascinated by stories of people who came back from terrible injuries to accomplish incredible physical feats or who lost more than 100 pounds and kept the weight off. How do they do that?!

During the month of October, I’ve focused on the theme of transformation, looking at how sustainable change takes hold. People are motivated by different things, but it seems clear that a big part of lasting change is simply making a firm commitment to take that first step, however small.

The magazine Psychology Today printed an article called The 10 Rules of Change, and the first rule was to break down complex behaviors into their component parts and tackle them one at a time.

When I think about the effort and discipline required to get into a new routine, it’s easy for me to come up with excuses if the new routine is a dramatic departure from what I’m currently doing, but if I choose small changes, those excuses are harder to justify.

When I think about the effort and discipline required to get into a new routine, it’s easy for me to come up with excuses if the new routine is a dramatic departure from what I’m currently doing, but if I choose small changes, those excuses are harder to justify.

Want to improve your diet? Rather than trying to go from a burger-and-fries connoisseur to a vegan purist overnight, consider adding a vegetable to each meal for a while. Then, maybe, you can learn to cook a vegetarian dish that is tasty enough to make you forget you’re missing the meat.

Want to find a little more peace and balance? Rather than signing up for a three-month yoga retreat, try meditating for five minutes a day. Seriously, five minutes can make a difference. Five minutes may become ten, which may become twenty, but start with five.

Breaking down your big goals into steps so small you KNOW you can accomplish them will help you make progress. Progress is intoxicating.

Breaking down your big goals into steps so small you KNOW you can accomplish them will help you make progress. Progress is intoxicating.

And remember, it’s okay if you don’t achieve every goal exactly as planned; even the small ones can get away from us sometimes. The key is to stay committed. Write your big goal somewhere visible (a Post-It note on your computer monitor?) as a reminder.

What are your big goals? What one action could you take today toward achieving those goals? If one of your goals is to improve communication in your organization, let me know! And if you’d like to receive a little communication inspiration straight to your inbox, subscribe here.

Many successful people continually strive to improve. They ask themselves (and others), “What can I do better? How can I get stronger? What’s the best way to out-perform my opponents? How can I achieve more?”

These are useful questions to be sure, but too often the answers focus on improving weaknesses rather than capitalizing on strengths. If you’re an extrovert, you’re going to have a hard time enjoying uninterrupted quiet time more than your introverted colleagues. If you’re a big-picture person, you probably won’t become the most detail-oriented person in your company. Or as one of my more creative friends suggested, “You don’t want to race a goat up a mountain if you’re a fish.”

“You don’t want to race a goat up a mountain if you’re a fish.”

Recent studies confirm what common sense has always suggested: we make more progress in less time when we utilize our strengths. I’m not suggesting you should stop trying to improve in areas where you struggle, but consider focusing the majority of your time on using your strengths to their best effects.

Once people hit their 30s, they often have a sense of what they’re good at, but if you’d like a more formal process, you can use assessments like the Gallup Strengths Finder or the Myers Briggs evaluation (a quick version of the Myers Briggs test can be found at 16personalities.com). My friend and colleague Marc Carson administers personality-based assessments using the Majors PTi exam.

Having gone through Marc’s process, I definitely have more insight into why certain functions are easy or hard for me, and I realize that some of the skills I’ve always taken for granted are not necessarily easy for everyone. The process also helped me understand how other personality types approach certain types of challenges. The more I learn, the more I can help my clients (especially when we’re dealing with crisis communication).

In the book Good to Great, author Jim Collins suggests that the primary reason some companies surpass others to become great is their decision to narrowly focus their resources on their field of key competence. I think the same is true for humans. I have a finite amount of time and energy.  I don’t want to divide my time so that I get a little better at everything. I’d rather use that same energy to get a LOT better at one or two key skills that take advantage of my natural talents.

At some organizations, leadership teams post their core strengths on their office doors so colleagues coming to meet with them can frame discussions in a way they will best understand. Some people want you to cut to the chase immediately, and provide background information as needed in response to their questions. Others like to understand the big picture first, so they can see where your information fits into the strategic direction of the company.

Knowing yourself and your audience will help you use your talents and communicate with others more effectively.

Knowing yourself and your audience will help you use your talents and communicate with others more effectively.

If you need help communicating with others, let me know. I’d love to use my strengths to bolster yours.

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