“You should be a counselor.”

That’s what a friend said to me recently.

“You should be a counselor.”

What’s interesting is that I have heard that a number of times over the last few months from people I don’t normally work with.  This last time was just a few weeks ago.

Some friends from high school and I got together at a buddies lake cabin for a guys weekend. One friend and I sat down to have lunch one day and started talking about business.  He’s a business owner and he started sharing some things that had been going well and some things that had not been going so well.

I listened, asked some questions, and offered my perspective on a couple of his points. We spoke for about an hour and then he said, “man, that felt like therapy! You should be a counselor.”

I share this story for 2 reasons:

1. If you are in a similar spot as my friend… maybe you’re stuck in a rut, or are looking to take things to the next level, but don’t know where to start, give me a call.
2. This experience really solidified for me that if your personality, purpose and passions are fully aligned with what you do as a profession, work is no longer “work”, but an extension of your natural behaviors.

That second point really hit home because this conversation was not planned. We didn’t schedule a coaching or counseling session, we were just talking. But when my friend shared that something was bothering him, my mind immediately jumped to “helping” mode.

“How can I help him?  Or how can I help him help himself?”

And my PURPOSE, I believe, is to help people. It’s even in my tag line- Helping Leaders Lead. I learned early on that my greatest joy came when I could help other people be successful.

My PASSION is people (and the amusement park industry, of course!). I enjoy meeting people, hearing about their journeys and learning from their experiences. I could also talk for days about roller coasters, but that’s another story for another time.

And my PERSONALITY lends itself to serving my purpose and passion. I like having (and instigating) fun, but also enjoy listening to others, analyzing situations, and trying to connect the dots.

If your work is enjoyable and feels like a natural extention of what you do, there is a good chance your 3 P’s are in alignment.

Congratulations!!!

If that’s not the case for you, try this:

• Passion – what do you care about? What do you go out of your way to learn about, or be involved with?  What are you constantly looking for or are aware of – no matter where you are? At a flea market recently, I found a tiny little toy bus that said Six Flags on it. It caught my eye right away and I had to have it. The people I was with said they never even noticed it. Probably because that’s not what they were looking for.  
• Purpose – this is a big picture question… do you help people, build things (I.e. houses, roller coasters or kitchen cabinets), do you solve problems, do you communicate well or do you enjoy inspiring others? This is not an exhaustive list of “purposes”, but will hopefully give you an idea of what to ask yourself.
• Personality– when are you at your most comfortable or productive? Are you on a stage, in an office or on a job site? Are you working with others or by yourself? Is the work largely cerebral or physically active? You can answer affirmative to more than one, and that’s okay. That means you can exist and thrive in many environments.

So if you are in a rut, trying to take things to the next level, or need help aligning your 3 P’s, give me a jingle.  We’ll see if my friend was right! :o)

Thanks for reading!

www.performanceoptimist.com

matt@performanceoptimist.com

407-435-8084

A bunch of Supervisors from Silverwood Theme Park went through the Myth of Employee Burnout Training Program – here’s what they had to say about it.

 

If you liked that post…

Many of you have been faithful readers since I started this blog back in 2009. THANK YOU!! I love hearing about how you use the stories to better yourself and your business and quite frankly, that’s what keeps me going!

That’s also what led me to put together over 80 of my favorite leadership articles into one, free, downloadable eBook.

How do you get it? Click this link and enter your email so we know where to send it.  That’s it.

Should you have any trouble with the download, let me know right away.

Happy reading!!

This story just keeps getting better

Stop me if you heard this before… Sara was trying to figure out if she should hire a sales manager or not.  If you missed that story, click here for the details.

If you heard that story, you know that Sara, with the help of her Mastermind group, ultimately decided to hire a sales manager rather than try to spoon those duties onto her already-full plate.

While that story was really about having a trusted group of peer advisors, that wasn’t the end of the tale.

After I published that post, Sara emailed me to tell me that the person they hired is really working out well… he’s full of energy, has tons of creative ideas and fits the team and culture beautifully.

Then she dropped the hammer.  In addition to all that, attendance is up 34%.

Um.  Okay.  Wow.  How’s THAT for return on investment?

Of course there are many factors that could impact this bump in attendance. The park did debut a new attraction, so that has to be figured in.  Even with that, Sara is pretty confident that their sales guy has had a significant role in their success.

And maybe even more importantly, he has taken a huge burden off of Sara’s shoulders.  She is now free to deal with the 9,073 other things on her list.  That story of the ROI is a little less straightforward, but there is no denying his impact beyond the sales department.

What decisions are you wrestling with?  What would it mean to you to have a group of people in your corner whose sole purpose was to help you succeed?  If you would like to learn more about the Mastermind process and how it helped Sara, give me call (407-435-8084), send me an email or click here for more details.

Thanks for reading!

www.performanceoptimist.com

Do you NOT play well with others??  Maybe individual coaching is more your speed.

• Personalized program
• Transform your leadership
• Uncover unknown potential

 

Time management tips for leaders BY leaders

If you have ever struggled with managing your time and actions as a leader, don’t feel bad.  Everyone has a tale or seven about how time has gotten away from them or how they haven’t been as productive as they would like to be.

Which is why time management should be at the forefront of every leaders’ agenda.

Especially for new leaders…  learning to manage a whole new set of peers, tasks, responsibilities and employees can just about break most humans.  That’s why when I came across the following advice, I knew that it HAD to be shared!

These time management tips come from two experienced attractions leaders, Meghan Milliken (left) who is a Creative Intern at Herschend Family Entertainment, and Brittany Arndt (right), who is an Operations Leader at Walt Disney World.

I had reached out to Meghan for some help on an IAAPA eLearning course I am working on, and she enlisted the help of her roommate, Brittany.  I was looking for three major time management challenges that new supervisors face.

Here is what they said. You can take their advice to the bank!

Time Management Challenges

• Don’t wear yourself out: when you’re a new manager, this may seem like the time to prove your worth – and what better way is there to show you’ve done that than with working extra hours? What most people don’t realize is that the extra hours put in today, will only lead to a lack of energy tomorrow. It’s not just understanding that balance, but its also understanding you shouldn’t have to prove your worth ethic through self-exhaustion.
• Finding the right time to get to know your team – Respect is a two way street and one-on-one conversations with your team can help, but having to leave for something time sensitive or “more important” can be an issue. At the end of the day, projects like making a bulletin board doesn’t gain your teams TRUST, but talking to them and getting to know them will. Projects may look good on paper, but this is about learning to spend time on something much less tangible, but FAR more impactful on the people you’re leading. After all workplace relationships are the foundation on which your team stands.
• Setting aside time to talk to your leader/boss – This one is especially tricky for NEW leaders with a boss they’ve never worked with before. It can be intimidating to approach them so many people don’t until they need help. This is the point of no return. Where the boss is left to imagine what it is you’ve actually been doing since you started. Instead of reaching this point, take a head start in requesting scheduled meetings with them. Taking the time to talk on a regular basis allows new leaders to learn their boss’ expectations and allows their bosses to offer advice as they pave their new path of leadership.

Some of this may actually sound counter-intuitive, and that’s what I really like about it!  If we only let our intuition drive us, we may never get out of our own way.

The first item on Meghan and Brittany’s list takes patience.  New leaders may not know it yet, but they are in a marathon, not a sprint. Conserving your energy is the only way to survive the long haul. It’s like Lao Tzu said…

Item 2 to me is about where you choose to spend (or invest) your time.  For new leaders, it can be easy to hide behind projects that take time, but offer little in terms building true rapport with your team.  If you look at time as an investment, you can also then look at the ROI (return on investment). “What will this activity do for me, the team or the organization in the long run?”

And how about that last one… are they really saying that in order to save time you have to spend more time?  Well, yes.  But spend it more wisely.  Spend it being proactive rather than reactive. Spend it building something, not putting out fires.

I can’t thank Meghan and Brittany enough for this incredible insight!  If you have time management tips that would help other leaders, feel free to put them in the comments or email them to me here.  Happy to pass them along!

Thanks for reading!

How’s this for a time saver?  With one move you can check “SUPERVISOR TRAINING” off your list!

The Myth of Employee Burnout 8 Week Supervisor Training Program is a ready-to-go training program that teaches your supervisors about leadership influence, communication and more!  Here’s what a recent graduate of the program said:

“I caught myself coasting, being able to sigh and take a breather, and realized No, No, No! If I coast, they coast. So I turned “it” back on. The lessons have made a difference in my thinking.”

Click here to learn more and order yours today!

*Waffles optional.