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Mitigating Internal Resistance During Organizational Change

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 11:00:14 GMT

Happy April to all! It’s me, Mary, and I’m back to share more positive influence with you. Every month, we explore how you can Find , Be , and Build your positive influence. We help lots of companies with change management, from succession planning to implementing new policies and procedures, we have done it all. We know that internal resistance, when not managed appropriately, is the number one reason why organizational change fails. However, people rarely resist the change itself. So, why does internal resistance occur?

Why Internal Resistance Occurs

While there are many reasons as to why internal resistance can occur during organizational change, most researchers agree that the following are the most prominent:

Fear of the Unknown
Perceived or Real Loss of Control
Lack of Trust in Leadership
Fear of Incompetence
Comfort with the Status Quo

Reducing internal resistance to change will take communication, presence, compassion, accountability, and teamwork. It is possible to mitigate these issues promptly when following the tips below.

Communicate Frequently and Transparently

Communication is always the number one way to resolve issues. A lack of communication about change can allow rumors to fill in the gaps. This increases fear and can dismantle trust in leadership. The most effective ways to communicate during change is to:

Provide regular (weekly or bimonthly) updates from leadership
Foster open discussions to allow for questions
Set clear timelines and expectations for team members.

Frequent and transparent communication builds trust, especially when that communication is upheld with integrity and accountability. Choose to communicate “why” the change is vital to the organization; describe what the future will look like and how it benefits everyone, explain what might happen if the organization decides to remain stagnant, and communicate this “why” at every weekly or bimonthly meeting to ensure it remains top of mind.

Model the Change

Leaders who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk erode trust very quickly and diminish their efforts to reduce internal resistance to organizational change. Employees are always looking to their leaders to model behavior and set the tone for the culture, so if leaders are still using old systems and processes, showing skepticism, or completely ignoring the new system, employees will not plunge into the depths of change happily or willingly. This is how resistance becomes embedded. Leaders must always demonstrate their commitment to change through their actions, not just their words.

Help Your Team Take Ownership

People are less resistant to change when they have the opportunity to shape it. Gather their input, allow them to design new processes that affect their work, and provide them with any training and resources they may need to feel well equipped to deal with the change. They might have a mentor or change buddy that helps them feel more secure, or they could have the opportunity for bonuses if they decide to be a change champion.

A “change champion” is someone on the team who is not part of leadership but who is all in on the change and helps influence their peers in a positive way to adopt the change. These team members are typically respected and liked by peers, so they have already garnered trust.

Address Emotional Concerns

Addressing only logical concerns is a mistake because it ignores a huge part of what it means to be human: Emotion . Change is usually emotional for people, even if they are feeling positive about it. Those who have negative feelings toward change may fear job loss, loss of status, and increased workloads. Leadership must acknowledge these emotions openly at the weekly or bimonthly updates. Be patient when listening, listen to learn not correct or defend, keep an open-door policy, and provide reassurance where possible (but do not lie).

Bottom Line

Organizational changes rarely happen overnight. Successful leaders reinforce their message repeatedly, model adoption, provide compassion and understanding, address resistance openly and honestly, and adjust their strategies when necessary. Change is never easy, but mitigating internal resistance can be done swiftly and positively. If you need support to help you manage organizational change, IA Business Advisors has been assisting clients for 30 years and would love to help your team deal with and prepare for this next journey.

Best Accountability Training Practices for Busy Professionals

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 21:43:17 GMT

Howdy, team, and happy February! It’s me, Mary, here to share more insights about how you can Find , Be , and Build your positive influence. Our team is currently reading the I in Team series in our weekly Gratitude Group, and one topic that continually comes up is accountability. This loaded word can make busy professionals shy away from committing to both self and outsourced accountability, but did you know accountability can actually be really easy? I am here this month to share with you some of our best accountability training practices so you can maximize your time and reduce stress.

Outsourced Accountability

Choose someone in your life that you can rely on to help you when you need an extra boost. This social pressure will help hold you accountable to your commitments. This can be as light or as intense as you need. For some, having a personal assistant who has access to your entire to-do list and schedule is required. For others, simply stating, “I am going to finish X task by Friday. Can you please check in with me on Monday to see how it went?” is sufficient. Outsourcing your accountability helps build your professional identity and demonstrates to others that you are a person who does what you say you will do.

Weekly Accountability Check-in

This accountability training practice can be done alone or with a small group of peers. Set aside 15-30 minutes every week to review the following:

What did I commit to this week?
What did I complete?
What prevented me from completing any tasks?
What are my commitments for next week?

It works because it creates the habit of accountability . Consistency is key. By keeping accountability at the forefront of your week, it becomes an ingrained practice rather than something you are simply striving to do.

Built-In Rewards (and Consequences)

Rewards and consequences are excellent motivators for accountability training. The key here is to make the rewards and consequences something you feel deeply about rather than having them be symbolic. Tying emotion to this helps instill urgency and create meaning. Below are some examples of emotional rewards and consequences. You know yourself best, so get creative!

Rewards

Share your wins with your team for public recognition / praise
Schedule guilt-free rest time
Upgrade a tool or item that you use daily

Consequences

Donate to a cause you do not care about (make it an amount that stings)
Self-awareness journaling time (What excuses did I use? What was I avoiding? What will I change in the future?)
Share your mistakes with your team and invite feedback

Calendars and Commitments

Busy professionals don’t simply remember things; they rely on tools to help them. Your calendar should be your best friend if you want to remain accountable to your team and projects. Time block your meetings, commitments, and work time. If you notice you have availability on your calendar, block it off for a project and use that time to only work on your project. When needed, reduce your commitments. It’s okay to say no ! Overcommitment kills accountability. We only have so much time in a day, use your wisely.

Accountability Training Bottom Line

The best accountability training requires minimal time, creates visibility, and enforces clear rewards and consequences. You don’t need to spend hours every week being accountable to yourself, your team, and your commitments. By making it a habit and keeping it at the forefront of your mind, you can make accountability your next best skill.

If you’re in need of an outsourced accountability partner, IA Business Advisors has been helping leaders around the world for 30 years! Contact us below.

6 Unique Ideas for Positive Workplace Initiatives

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 06:59:32 GMT

Happy 2026, team! Mary here to share more about how you can Find , Be , and Build your positive influence. Typically, in the new year, we would write about setting goals. However, this year, we are taking goal setting up a notch: Let’s talk about setting team goals through positive workplace initiatives.

Gratitude Group

The first unique positive workplace initiative on our list stems from our team at IA Business Advisors. Since November 2020, we host a weekly thirty-minute Gratitude Group session where we all come together to learn about a specific topic and share what we are grateful for. This year, our team reviewed IA’s mission, vision, and values, S.M.A.R.T. Management practices, and best communication tactics for high-performing teams. Next year, our whole team will be reading all three books .

Gratitude Group is a positive and unique way to bring your team together, engage them in learning, and promote good mental health practices. It’s one of our team’s favorite times of the week. If you want to implement Gratitude Group on your team, be sure to first teach them about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs . On days when we might struggle to say what we are grateful for, looking at the Hierarchy of Needs helps us narrow things down.

Mentor Speed Dating

We are all familiar with speed dating, but has anyone tried this concept with mentors? If your organization is large enough, it could be beneficial to gather team members who want to be mentors with team members who would like a mentor and allow them to mingle with each other quickly to see if anyone would be a good fit. This activity can remove bias , introduce team members, and cross pollinate between different silos. Then, you can consider doing the mentor speed dating again later in the year to allow team members to choose a new person.

Steps Challenge

Encouraging your team to be active is an excellent positive workplace initiative. There are many ways you can encourage movement, but one way that is accessible to most people is with steps. Turning it into a gentle competition between departments can up the heat and keep everyone engaged.

Noms and Hydration

Something that is overlooked in many organizations is healthy food and drinks for team members. A super easy and non-invasive workplace initiative is filling the cupboards and fridge with healthy foods and drinks for everyone to enjoy. Below are some questions you can ask your team to remain mindful of everyone’s food preferences and allergies.

1) Do you have any food allergies or sensitivities?

2) Do you have any preferred healthy snacks or drinks?

3) Do you have any other food or drink restrictions we should know about? (Vegan, GF, Keto, etc.)

Hire Day Rewards

Celebrating the day someone was hired is like celebrating a birthday! Teams should be getting excited about the day a team member joined. This celebration can look different for everyone. Some organizations host luncheons to honor a hire day, while others get a small gift and card. Let your imagination run wild! Or better yet, ask your team how they want to celebrate their hire day.

Is your team expanding? Maybe celebrating everyone’s hire day isn’t feasible, so instead you can dedicate one day a month to celebrating everyone who was hired that month. You can make this positive workplace initiative work for you and your team!

Workshops

Keeping your team educated is a win-win for everyone. Smarter team members mean better collaboration and results. Consider hosting workshops to help team members learn financial literacy , retirement planning, goal setting, and so much more. You might even consider asking team members for ideas on workshops to better understand what they want to learn. Alternatively, you can put the workshops up to a vote and let the team decide which they would like to attend.

Positive Workplace Initiatives

Coming together as a team can be rewarding, inspiring, and motivating. We are all in need of some more fun in our lives, so by implementing some positive workplace initiatives, you can make your workplace more enjoyable for everyone. If you don’t like our unique ideas, consider having a brainstorming session with your team. Your people know your business best. Let us know what you come up with to help inspire your team in the new year.

Accountability = Advancement: Why the People Who Win Use a Business Operating System

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 17:56:04 GMT

Howdy, team! It’s me, Mary, and I’m here to share more about how you can Find , Be , and Build your positive influence. Our team over at IA Business Advisors will soon launch our proprietary business operating system (BOS). We want to help our clients harness the power of alignment and stability. Studies have shown that the most competitive companies rely on business operating systems, so if you really want to get your head in the game, here’s why the people who win use a BOS.

Accountability = Advancement

A business operating system helps organizations build accountability structures. Through using the system, team members will be able to review and understand their own and others’ roles, goals, and more. This transparency aids communication , which promotes accountability.

Additionally, issues are dealt with swiftly. In a BOS, there are documented processes and procedures for handling issues, streamlining difficult conversations into aligned solutions. This saves time, reduces confusion, and eliminates finger-pointing. Those without a business operating system will be slow and reactive instead of proactive.

Enhanced Focus

One of the main problems that arises when an organization lacks a BOS is “squirrel brain” (getting distracted easily). However, with the implementation of a business operating system, leaders can agree on a few key priorities that will increase their bottom line. As a result, effort is focused on what actually drives competitive advantage rather than simply being distracted by busy work.

Data-Driven Decisions

With all the data you need right at your fingertips, your business operating system tracks your weekly or monthly key metrics. Through data, it is much easier to forecast future problems and get ahead of them before they become full-blown crises. You can make decisions based on data rather than gut feeling. In many industries, identifying trends early and adapting quickly is how you stay in business. This can only be done with data.

Operational Consistency

Having a consistent company voice and culture is imperative to attracting and keeping high-quality clients and team members. Through the business operating system, teams can deliver consistent experiences. At their fingertips, they can access any documents necessary to remain aligned with the company (policies, procedures, etc.). This is especially important as you begin to scale. A business operating system keeps everyone consistent, so scaling and maintaining high-quality clients is a breeze.

Empowered and Engaged

While some team members might dig their heels in when asked to join something new, many find that their company’s BOS makes them feel empowered. They have access to information about how their role connects to their teammates and the company’s goals. In fact, they may grow to enjoy the system as it offers them ways to set and achieve their goals , create new and healthy habits, and connect with team members who might not be in the same division, state, or country. Through empowerment, internal communication becomes more positive, and meetings have a clearer purpose and structure.

Business Operating System Table of Advantages and Disadvantages

While there are many advantages to implementing the use of a business operating system in your business, we wanted to make a quick and easy table at the end of this blog to help highlight the effects of having (or not having) a business operating system.

Bottom Line

You don’t need to keep putting up with repeated issues. With a business operating system, your company can soar past the competition. IA Business Advisors has developed our own proprietary system called the S.M.A.R.T. Management Business Operating System (SMBOS). It’s easy to use, adaptable for your industry, and fun for team members. Using a BOS has been proven for many years to help align your team, maximize your profits, and scale comfortably. When you’re ready for an upgrade, contact us to discuss your SMBOS options.

Succession Planning for Leaders: Getting Your Team Ready

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 14:51:04 GMT

Happy November, team! It’s me, Mary, here to share another topic that will help you Find , Be , and Build your positive influence. All good things must come to an end; every leader will eventually retire or take a step back from their organization, passing the baton to the next leader. However, many organizations fail to properly plan for this event, which causes immense disruptions throughout the company. Succession planning for leaders should be top of mind years before they step away. When done well, a proper succession plan will ensure business continuity, preserve culture, and empower employees. If you’re planning your exit strategy, here is how you can get your team ready.

Identify and Develop Potential Talent

You might already have a successor in mind, but don’t put all your eggs into one basket. Developing multiple successors for key roles helps distribute responsibility and creates greater flexibility in the event of unexpected changes. Use performance evaluations, feedback, and peer reviews to identify potential successors. You might consider mentoring them or providing opportunities for continued learning. Keep in mind that each new team leader must possess a growth mindset , meaning they will have future potential for learning and agility. If necessary, address concerns about favoritism early by explaining that the purpose of selecting a successor is for long-term growth and sustainability, not immediate replacement.

Communicate Early and Transparently

Communication is truly the bedrock of all relationships. Notifying your team that you are planning to leave or step back is imperative, but you will also need to assure them that you will not leave them with incapable leaders. Be honest about your plan to identify and develop talented people who will commit to business continuity.

During the transition, hold regular meetings to keep everyone in the loop. Being transparent about the changes everyone will experience will help reduce anxiety and build trust. The best policy is to communicate each stage of the plan often, so everyone remains on the same page.

Document and Transfer Knowledge

While you will likely still be around after your departure from the organization, you will want to prepare your team to be without you. That means you must document the knowledge you have and share it with your team. Capture key processes, relationships, and insights from both you and any other key information holders (even if they aren’t leaving). If you don’t have an information-sharing platform already (SharePoint, Drive, Dropbox, etc.), sign up for one and store all the documents there to ensure information is not lost during the transition. If you already have some potential successors, consider having them shadow you while you are compiling this knowledge.

Align Succession Plan with Strategic Goals

Succession planning for leaders includes aligning those plans with the organization’s strategic goals. Remember, you are not simply ensuring new leadership covers current operations but will support the company’s future as well. The more you think about how the organization will run without you long-term, the easier the transition will be for everyone on the team. (That is, as long as you communicate and remain transparent!)

You may also consider evaluating the team in its entirety to determine if there are any critical skills needed over the next 3 – 5 years. If any are missing, close the gaps through either training or hiring.

Celebrate Growth and Change

Change is constant, but that doesn’t make it any less nerve-wracking. Leaders can frame their succession plan in a positive light by demonstrating how the change is an opportunity for the team to grow stronger together. Throughout the process, continue to recognize and celebrate milestones – new promotions, retirements, mentoring success , new family members, etc. – to reinforce a positive culture around transitions.

Succession Planning for Leaders is Easy with IA Business Advisors

Succession planning is a massive task that must be performed with care and due diligence. It requires a long-term plan and effective communication to be brought to fruition with positivity. At IA Business Advisors, we know how much work this takes and how stressful it can be for anyone who is affected. We have helped hundreds of teams successfully transition leadership and remain viable companies long after the original leadership has retired. It would bring our team joy to help you with your succession planning. Contact us today to get started.

7 Misconceptions About Cash Flow Management

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 03:32:24 GMT

Howdy, team! It’s Mary here with the I in Team series, excited to help you Find , Be , and Build your positive influence. Cash flow management (CFM) is an essential aspect of creating and running a successful organization. We can liken this to the flow of blood in a body; without CFM, a business will become lifeless. Keeping the business healthy means understanding what money flows in and out of where, tracking expenses, and projecting what may happen in the future based on past trends. It seems easy on paper, but many leaders struggle to properly understand and manage their organization’s cash flow.

If you’re grappling with healthy cash flow in your organization, perhaps learning about these 7 misconceptions will help you.

1. There’s Nothing to Worry About if I Can Pay My Bills

If you’ve been leading an organization without any cash flow management or forecasting and haven’t run into any issues, you are an anomaly. I promise it won’t be smooth sailing forever. Just because you can pay your bills doesn’t mean you can neglect understanding profits and expenses. As a leader, you must manage your accounts payable and strengthen your financial reporting.

2. Revenue Growth Solves My Cash Flow Problems

If you improve your accounts receivable, that’s wonderful, but it doesn’t solve cash flow problems. More sales do not mean healthier cash flow. For example, if your customers delay their payments or if your organization’s growth requires spending money before the cash comes in, there will be cash shortages.

3. Forecasting is Only for Large Organizations

Forecasting is the most essential aspect of cash flow management. However, it lands at #3 because it aligns heavily with misconceptions #1 and #2. Being S.M.A.R.T. about your accounts payable and accounts receivable begins your financial forecasting journey. Understanding how the business’s financial state might look in a quarter, a year, or five years can mean the difference between staying in business and shutting down.

4. A Positive Bank Account Balance Means I am Safe

Money can move very quickly. Having a positive balance today doesn’t guarantee success tomorrow. Keep in mind that you have recurring expenses that will quickly drain your account, such as payroll, taxes, and supplier payments. Not to mention having an extra cushion to support an emergency. Without proper CFM, tomorrow’s emergency cushion can be easily drained today.

5. Profit = Cash Flow

Many leaders incorrectly assume that if their company is profitable, then it must have a positive cash flow. Utilizing an accounting system can easily show that this is a false reality. Profit is accounting-based, while cash flow is all about timing. Tracking this information is crucial to developing a S.M.A.R.T. cash flow management system.

If accounting isn’t your forte, reach out to IA Business Advisors to discuss our fractional CFO or accounting services. This is often the most feasible option for leaders who can’t afford a full accounting team or who don’t understand how to use proper accounting tools.

6. A Loan Will Fix My Problems

Borrowing money will certainly help temporarily, but relying on a loan without properly understanding your current cash flow is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. You need to address your underlying cash-flow issues, like slow collections, poor forecasting, and overexpansion. A loan can create bigger and more long-term problems if not taken with precaution and understanding.

7. Poor Cash Flow Management Only Hurts the “Boss”

Poor cash flow management hurts everyone on your team! If you can’t pay your employees or vendors, you erode trust and potentially sever relationships. Losing more money is also a possibility due to lawsuits or increased APR. Plus, even if you have enough money to pay all your accounts payable minus yourself, you still go home without a paycheck. Poor CFM hurts everyone.

The Power of Cash Flow Management

With proper cash flow management, it’s easy to avoid cash shortages and operational disruptions. This contributes to a positive company culture by fostering trust and security. Your organization can wade through times of uncertainty with ease because financial stability is a breeze with proper CFM. Supporting long-term efforts and growth is a plausible reality when you understand where your money is going and how often it is coming in.

Keep in mind that cash flow management isn’t static—it requires ongoing monitoring. If you are still feeling lost or don’t want to deal with this aspect of your business, IA Business Advisors has been helping organizations just like yours with fractional accounting services for nearly 30 years. Contact us today to get your business on the right track.

Team Collaboration Training: Strategies for Building High-Performing Teams

Sat, 30 Aug 2025 15:19:07 GMT

Team Collaboration Training: Strategies for Building High-Performing Teams

Hello again! It’s me, Mary, ready to continue our journey through the I in Team series, where we focus on helping you Find , Be , and Build your influence. As advisors, we work with two types of teams: Those who collaborate well and those who do not. If you’re the latter or just looking for more guidance on how to promote collaboration, you’re in the right place. Developing a strategy for team collaboration training can improve overall alignment, accountability, and build trust. You may already have a high-performing team that thrives on collaboration, but if you don’t, here is an easy read with our top tips.

Establish a Clear Vision

It’s difficult to encourage a team to become high-performing if they don’t know why. You must establish a clear vision to anchor your team’s work and propel them toward collaboration. Use S.M.A.R.T. Management to create specific goals and measure success. Help your team align their individual goals with the organization’s goals to help them foster a deeper sense of ownership and pride.

Once you have motivated your team and set a clear direction, take a moment to clarify their roles and responsibilities. If any team member feels confused about their contribution, they may not work at their highest level. It’s prudent to document individual responsibilities and interdependencies to help minimize confusion and maximize collaboration.

Promote Psychological Safety

Team collaboration training will be wholly ineffective if team members do not feel safe or do not trust each other. Distrust is one of the quickest ways to erode a positive team culture and can topple any high-performing team. To avoid this, focus on building psychological safety by encouraging open dialogue, risk-taking, and idea-sharing in a safe space that does not allow judgment. As a leader, you must model this vulnerability for your team and actively invite input from all team members to begin building a culture that fosters openness and safety.

Here are some other ways to help build trust within a team and promote psychological safety:

Remain accountable to your words with your actions
Resolve conflict constructively and without bias
Create bonding opportunities outside of formal work settings

Trust and safety fuel innovation, so feel free to get creative!

Celebrate Wins and Reflect on Losses

Taking a moment to recognize your team’s achievements fuels morale. It shows you are paying attention to the hard work they do to help the team become high performing. By recognizing both individual and team achievements often, you encourage the same level of work for the future. However, take note of how some individual team members prefer to receive praise; if you aren’t sure, read more about effectively praising team members in this blog .

Additionally, team collaboration training will require reflecting on losses and setbacks. Failure should never be seen as negative; promote reflection to consider what did and didn’t work so that the whole team can learn. This can often fuel improvement if done mindfully and positively.

Invest in Development

Investing in your team is investing in your organization. By providing opportunities for continuous learning, either technical or interpersonal, you mold better teammates who contribute to a more positive culture. There are many ways to invest in development:

Create a mentorship program
Offer free or paid courses online or through local organizations
Encourage joining local chambers or other groups
Hire outside coaches to perform team or individual development sessions
Schedule team lunch and learns, and choose someone different to teach each one

Teams that have fostered a growth mindset with an eye on consistent learning opportunities always outperform teams that remain stagnant.

Team Collaboration Training Summary

Fostering team collaboration starts with you. The culture of a team will greatly influence its ability to be high performing. Focus on a clearly communicated vision, build psychological safety, celebrate victories, reflect on losses, and invest in team/individual development to prove your commitment to training. As always, if you have questions or need more assistance, please reach out to us ; IA Business Advisors would love to hear from you.

The Influence of Positive Habits on Leadership Communication Skills

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 15:40:21 GMT

Hi, team! Mary here, ready to continue our journey through the I in Team series where we focus on helping you Find , Be , and Build your influence. Leadership communication skills are often a hot topic as we continue to navigate the change of our developing world. On paper, it’s a no-brainer, but in practice, it can be much more difficult. That’s why, this week, we are sharing our top S.M.A.R.T. Management habits and outlining how they influence communication skills.

Practice Active Listening

Active listening means taking the time to truly hear what someone is saying. You can do this by minimizing distractions, such as phone calls and email pings, and setting your focus on the individual. You can use micro-communications to signal that you are, in fact, active listening: slow head nods, allowing your eyes to rest, crinkling your eyelids, and small adjustments of the mouth. These micro-communications, when done in sync with the speaker, will undeniably signal active listening.

How it helps:

Most experts would agree that the foundation for anyone looking to increase their communication skills is active listening. Without listening, communication crumbles. Active listening signals interest, respect, and time given, which increases trust and builds positive workplace culture.

Speak S.M.A.R.T.

S.M.A.R.T. Management is the foundation of how we help and teach our clients, but it’s also an excellent resource for communication. Speaking S.M.A.R.T. means that your communication is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. How many times have you responded to an email request with, “When do you need this by?” or, “What is this task’s priority?” Leaders who mindfully speak S.M.A.R.T. ensure that every part of their communication is so.

How it helps:

By implementing a S.M.A.R.T. communication strategy, you help make everyone on your team accountable. It helps reduce confusion and time spent trying to figure out what someone wants.

Seek and Encourage Feedback

Many will steer clear of giving a leader, supervisor, or manager feedback because of the unspoken culture that permeates life: We do not give feedback to those whom we see as being “above” us because we do not feel like it is our “place.” I use these words loosely because I’m making a broad generalization. It’s up to positive leaders to break down this barrier! That means that leaders need to openly seek and encourage feedback from their team.

How it helps:

Welcoming feedback shows warmth, openness, and grounded humility. Doing so consistently will retrain and redirect team members to speak up and hold leaders accountable. When held accountable, leaders will be able to see their blind spots and adjust as needed to continue along the path of developing their leadership communication skills.

Practice Mindful Non-verbal Cues

We talked about this briefly in the section on active listening, but non-verbal cues extend past micro-communications because they are not always micro. Non-verbal cues are things like crossing your arms over your body, looking down, and fidgeting. Would it surprise you to learn that you actually say more with your non-verbal cues than you do with verbal ones?

How it helps:

Your body language and eye contact communicate a lot, so by staying in control of your non-verbal cues, you reinforce that you are trustworthy, sincere, and confident.

Reflect and Improve Your Leadership Communication Skills

It’s nearly impossible to get better at something if you don’t take a moment to pause, reflect, and adjust. Like building any habit, you need to take time to figure out what is working and what isn’t so that you can pivot and move closer to your goal of being an excellent communicator.

Bottom Line

Nobody’s communication skills are perfect. We all slip up, even those of us who write blogs like this. All we can do is affirm our desire to be a good leader and take steps to get there. If you can listen actively, practice S.M.A.R.T. communication, encourage feedback, remain mindful of your non-verbal cues, and reflect on your progress, I have no doubt that you will be able to develop positive leadership communication skills.

Would you like an accountability partner? IA Business Advisors has provided one-on-one executive coaching since our inception nearly 30 years ago. Don’t hesitate to reach out. We would love to help you!

The Role of Mentors: Reducing Employee Turnover Through Nurturing Mentorship

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 10:34:45 GMT

Hello team, Mary here! As we continue our journey through the I in Team series , we remain focused on helping individuals and organizations Find , Be , and Build Their Influence. One of the most effective ways we’ve found to create lasting, positive influence within a team is through intentional, nurturing mentorship.

At IA Business Advisors, we know that high-performing teams are built—not born. A major factor in maintaining these teams is reducing employee turnover. While there are many strategies to achieve this, one of the most impactful and sustainable is the implementation of mentorship programs rooted in structure, empathy, and purpose.

Why Mentorship Matters

A well-executed mentorship program strengthens individual and organizational influence. It creates a culture where team members feel valued, heard, and supported in their personal and professional growth. In our work on reducing employee turnover with teams around the globe, we've seen how structured mentorship drives:

Greater engagement and sense of belonging
Faster skill development and performance acceleration
Stronger interpersonal and cross-functional relationships
Higher job satisfaction and career clarity
Increased loyalty and retention, especially among new and high-potential employees

When people feel connected and empowered, they stay.

Choosing the Right Mentors

Let’s be real—mentorship isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay. But those who step into the role of mentor must possess more than just experience. Effective mentors are empathetic, excellent communicators, and genuinely committed to helping others grow.

In line with our S.M.A.R.T. philosophy, mentorship must be both intentional and aligned. When selecting mentors:

Match based on complementary strengths, goals, and learning styles
Encourage cross-departmental mentorship to break silos and deepen collaboration
Set expectations early—mentors aren’t there to solve problems for mentees but to guide, challenge, and support them on their own journey

True mentorship is about helping others build their own influence, not replicating yours.

S.M.A.R.T. Mentorship in Action

As with anything we recommend, your mentorship program must be S.M.A.R.T.—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. Here's how that applies to mentoring:

Specific: Define clear goals for each mentor-mentee relationship
Measurable: Track progress with regular, open check-ins and feedback loops
Attainable: Ensure goals are realistic based on roles, resources, and responsibilities
Relevant: Align mentorship objectives with personal development and organizational strategy
Timely: Set meaningful timelines to maintain momentum and accountability

Mentorship that lacks S.M.A.R.T. structure quickly loses its effectiveness, thus becoming unsuccessful at reducing employee turnover.

Don’t Forget the Little Things

Never underestimate the power of small gestures. Recognition, praise , and authentic storytelling elevate a mentorship program from good to great. Some small gestures you might try implementing:

Create incentives for both mentors and mentees—financial or symbolic
Celebrate progress publicly and consistently
Collect and share success stories to reinforce the program’s value and influence

And most importantly, listen. A feedback system that gathers insights from participants helps you keep a real-time pulse on engagement and impact. This isn’t a one-and-done initiative, it’s a living, evolving commitment to your people.

Final Thoughts

Employee turnover is an unavoidable reality, but it doesn’t have to be a constant disruption. A strong mentorship program nurtures your team’s influence, strengthens culture, and supports long-term retention and success.

Reducing employee turnover isn’t just a goal, it’s a byproduct of intentional influence. And that’s what we’re here to help you build.

If you’re ready to design or improve a mentorship program within your organization, we’re here for you. IA Business Advisors has nearly three decades of experience helping leaders build resilient, high-performing teams through S.M.A.R.T. Management and the principles of the I in Team series.

Let’s reduce turnover—and raise influence—together.

Enhancing Interpersonal Relationships for Toxic Workplace Recovery

Thu, 29 May 2025 16:35:53 GMT

Hello, team! Mary here, continuing our journey through the I in Team series, where we challenge and empower you to Find , Be , and Build Your Influence. One of the most common things we’re asked to help our clients with is toxic workplace recovery. This directly connects to the culture of the team, and while rebuilding that culture takes time and intention, it is absolutely possible. In fact, with the guidance of our I in Team approach and S.M.A.R.T. Management system, we’ve successfully helped more than 19,000 teams evolve into high-performing, values-based cultures. If you’re ready to take the lead and breathe life back into your team, we’re here and ready to support you.

Practice Emotional Intelligence

One of the most impactful steps you can take on your toxic workplace recovery journey is to practice emotional intelligence (the ability to recognize, understand, and manage both your own emotions and the emotions of those around you).

Toxic environments are often the result of emotional disconnection, poor communication, unnecessary competition, and a culture that avoids constructive feedback. Begin by shifting your perspective: respond with empathy, ask thoughtful questions, and use “I” statements. These habits model two traits, emotional regulation and empathy, that influence how your team interacts and solves problems.

Start small. For example, set a personal goal to give one piece of sincere praise or recognition per day. This is a S.M.A.R.T. goal, and it starts to reinforce positive emotional exchanges. Over time, this contributes to a psychologically safe environment where people feel seen and supported.

Foster Open Communication

Once emotional intelligence begins to take root, toxic workplace recovery is just around the corner. Open communication becomes more natural because when team members are aware of their own and others’ emotions, communication becomes seamless.

The number one rule? Listen. Really listen. Without listening, communication is incomplete. Try implementing monthly influence partnerships—team pairings that rotate so members can get to know each other beyond surface-level roles. This creates connection and, when done with consistency (Timely), fosters trust across your team.

Another way to build open communication is by creating a structured feedback loop. Clarify how and when feedback should be given—perhaps during weekly one-on-ones or monthly review meetings—and make sure all team members understand the difference between criticism and constructive feedback. S.M.A.R.T. feedback is Specific and Relevant, and when delivered with respect, it encourages team members to grow without fear.

Lead by Example

As we say throughout the I in Team series, everyone is a leader regardless of title. Whether you’re in the C-suite or just starting your first job, how you show up directly shapes the culture of your team.

To begin, set some respectful boundaries rooted in your values. Let others know what you need to succeed and what behaviors support or disrupt your work. When disagreements arise, demonstrate what respectful disagreement looks like—calm, focused on solutions, and free from personal attacks.

If your workplace has leaned into competition, shift the focus to collaboration. Collaborate on micro-goals, like shared tasks or cross-functional projects. Make the results Measurable and celebrate wins together (publicly, if possible). Consider S.M.A.R.T.-based team-building events (like problem-solving challenges or goal-setting workshops) to reinforce collaboration in a meaningful way.

Final Thoughts

Toxic workplace recovery starts with you. Every interaction, every word, every moment of listening is a chance to model what’s possible. Show up the way you want others to show up. If your team is struggling to rebuild or you need expert guidance, reach out . We’re here to help.

Let’s keep influencing responsibly and positively together.

How to Create a Personal Development Plan That Works

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 03:27:35 GMT

Hello, team! Mary here, continuing our journey through the I in Team series , where we challenge and empower you to Find , Be , and Build Your Influence. One of the cornerstones of our philosophy is intentional self-leadership, knowing yourself so you can show up better for others.

A personal development plan is a powerful tool in building and sustaining your influence. And yet, for many of us, life gets loud—work, relationships, parenting, and everything in between can make investing in ourselves feel like a luxury. But here's the truth: neglecting your personal development erodes your positive influence over time. We’re here to remind you that just five intentional minutes a day can help you build a plan that truly works.

Start with Self-Awareness

Growth begins with clarity. Before you can create a personal development plan, you must first know where you're starting. This means being honest about your current strengths, values, interests, responsibilities, and opportunities for improvement.

Try performing a personal S.W.O.T. analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). Invite honest feedback from people you trust. Ground yourself in reality. Remember, influence without self-awareness is just noise.

Identify Your Development Priorities

Now that you know where you stand, map out where you want to go. Ask yourself:

Do I want to learn a new skill? What is it, and why does it matter?
Am I looking to grow deeper in a current role or responsibility?
Is there a skill I already have that I want to strengthen or refine?

Be intentional. Focus on one goal at a time to avoid overwhelm. Commitment builds confidence, and your personal development plan should reflect a pace you can sustain.

Make It S.M.A.R.T.

As you know from our work in S.M.A.R.T. Management, goals are most effective when they’re Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. Let’s apply that lens to your personal development plan:

S pecific: What exactly do you want to develop, and how will it serve your future influence?
M easurable: How will you track progress and hold yourself accountable?
A ttainable: Is your goal realistic with your current time, energy, and resources?
R elevant: Does this development align with your personal values and current or future roles?
T imely: What is your timeframe? 3–6 months? A year? Be honest because timing matters.

Also, think beyond time. Consider how you’ll grow. Will you read, take a course, engage a coach or mentor, listen to podcasts, or volunteer for stretch projects? Whatever path you choose, make sure it supports sustainable momentum.

Influence Insights from the Team

Here are a few S.M.A.R.T. tips from our team to support your personal development journey:

Journal your progress : Self-reflection turns effort into wisdom. Write it down—you’ll be surprised how much you grow.
Celebrate wins, big and small : Recognition fuels motivation. Don’t wait for perfect—celebrate progress.
Consistency over intensity : Five intentional minutes every day beats five hours once a month. Routine shapes results.

Final Thoughts

Creating a personal development plan isn’t about doing more, it’s about being intentional with your influence. You’re not just growing skills, you’re shaping the version of yourself that others experience. Start where you are, visualize where you’re going, and remember that every step forward, no matter how small, ripples outward to influence the world around you.

Let’s keep building, together.

S.M.A.R.T. Praise: Boost Your Employees’ Performance

Sat, 22 Mar 2025 14:10:40 GMT

Employee Performance Consulting

Hello, team! Mary here, continuing our journey through the I in Team series, where we empower you to find , be , and build your influence. In our team’s Gratitude Group, we were discussing praise at work when one of our members framed it in terms of S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely). Since we focus heavily on this principle at IA Business Advisors, it felt share-worthy. Hopefully, by delivering S.M.A.R.T. praise, you can boost your employees’ performance and create a culture of recognition that drives long-term success.

Being Specific

Praise is most effective when it is specific. Instead of a vague “Great job!” or “You’re amazing!”, take a moment to articulate exactly what the employee did well. Ask yourself:

Why am I recognizing this person?
What specific action or behavior am I praising?
Did they excel on a project? Demonstrate exceptional problem-solving? Show initiative?

Example

Instead of saying, “Great job on the project!” try, "Your detailed market analysis in the Q1 report helped us identify key trends, which directly shaped our sales strategy. Excellent work!"

Specific praise communicates to employees that you are paying attention to their contributions. It also reinforces the behaviors you want to see repeated. When praise is clear and connected to actions, employees feel more valued and understand exactly what made their work exceptional.

Making it Measurable

For praise to be impactful, tie it to measurable results when possible. Recognition based on concrete achievements makes it more meaningful and reinforces accountability.

However, measurement is not just about numbers. It’s also about gauging the impact of an employee’s actions on team morale, company culture , or a client relationship. Consider questions like:

How did their work improve efficiency?
Did it contribute to overall team success?
Did it directly impact company performance?

Example

"You closed five major deals this month, exceeding your target by 20%. That’s an incredible contribution to our sales growth!"

At the same time, be mindful of how much and how you deliver praise. Some people enjoy public recognition, while others prefer private acknowledgments. Too much praise may feel disingenuous, while a lack of praise can lead to disengagement. The goal is to find the right balance for each employee.

Ensuring Achievability

Recognition should be based on accomplishments that employees genuinely earned through their effort and skills. Praise should be realistic and proportionate to what they achieved.

Example

"Your proactive approach in streamlining the onboarding process reduced training time by two days, making it easier for new hires to adapt to our team."

This reinforces the idea that success is attainable through effort, rather than being based on luck or favoritism. If praise feels excessive or unwarranted, it can diminish its impact over time.

Making Praise Relevant

For praise to be meaningful, it must be aligned with company goals and values. Recognition should highlight behaviors that support the organization’s mission and an employee’s role.

Example

Instead of saying, “Nice teamwork!” say, "Your willingness to assist the marketing team on short notice helped ensure our campaign launched on time. Thank you for supporting our company’s commitment to agility and collaboration!"

By making praise relevant, you reinforce behaviors that contribute to the company’s success and show employees how their work connects to the bigger picture.

Acting Timely

Timeliness is key to effective praise. The longer you wait to recognize someone, the less impactful the recognition becomes. When possible, deliver praise as close to the event as possible to reinforce positive behaviors in real time.

Example

"Your outstanding performance during yesterday’s client presentation secured a long-term contract, demonstrating your expertise and confidence."

By recognizing achievements quickly, you not only boost morale but also increase the likelihood that employees will repeat those positive actions.

Bottom Line: Creating a Culture of S.M.A.R.T. Praise

When praise is S.M.A.R.T. , it motivates employees, strengthens engagement, and reinforces company values. To build a culture where recognition drives performance:

Clearly define what the employee did well
Link the praise to measurable outcomes
Ensure accomplishments align with the employee’s role and responsibilities
Connect praise to company values and objectives
Deliver praise promptly to maximize impact

By making praise intentional and structured, you not only boost employee performance but also cultivate a workplace culture where people feel valued and motivated to contribute their best work.

How will you implement S.M.A.R.T. praise this week?

Cultivating a Growth Mindset: Embracing Challenges and Learning Opportunities

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 18:11:02 GMT

Growth mindset in business consulting

Hello, team! Mary here, continuing our journey through the I in Team series, where we empower you to find , be , and build your influence. Cultivating a growth mindset is imperative for self-actualizing. It’s a theory created by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck , and it’s the belief that we are intelligent with abilities that will help us face and overcome challenges. People with a growth mindset tend to love learning and are resilient. If you don’t already, you can have a growth mindset , too. Here are some of our top tips for embracing challenges.

Embrace Effort

If you want to grow, you need to understand that effort is the only way to mastery. Your hard work and talent will be rewarded if you remain resilient in the face of challenges and treat them as learning opportunities. When you experience failure , reframe it. Instead of viewing it as something negative, have gratitude toward it for teaching you something new. There is always something to learn from failure, thus allowing you to continue to grow. When you do have a win, pause to celebrate your progress. Acknowledging your small wins and improvements helps reinforce the belief that growth is possible through continual effort.

Embrace Challenges

To grow, you need to be challenged. As stated, you need to fail. Without challenges, you don’t give yourself the opportunity to win or fail, so you deny yourself the ability to learn. Actively seek out challenges that push you outside your comfort zone. The more you embrace challenges, the more accustomed your brain becomes to seeing them as opportunities for growth instead of threats. Over the long-term, this will help you develop mental toughness. When setbacks happen, bounce back and remind yourself that it’s just a temporary obstacle. Resilience will help you continue on your developmental path.

Seek Feedback

Many people shy away from actively seeking feedback, however, feedback is extremely valuable. It helps you gain insights on how to improve and grow. Having a mentor or someone in the field who has experience will be excellent sources for reliable feedback. If you’re nervous, consider first cultivating a sense of curiosity. By exploring new ideas, techniques, and approaches, you prime your mind for actively seeking new information. Doing so will help you discover creative solutions to challenges you will inevitably face.

Surround Yourself with Positive Influence

Our entire platform revolves around positive influence, so, as a brand, we are constantly encouraging you to adopt a growth mindset. But it’s not just us! Anyone who pushes you to do your best and who believes in your developmental potential is someone who is a positive influence in your life. These positive, supportive environments foster a growth mindset. Be sure to challenge your negative self-talk (if you have any). Positive self-talk is being a positive influence on yourself. Use phrases like, “I can do this,” and “This is an opportunity to improve.”

Don’t miss out on our positive influence:

Bottom Line

Developing a growth mindset is the only way to progress as an individual. If you have no practice with this, start slowly by embracing your effort and developing positive self-talk. Look for people in your life who encourage you and ask for feedback from trusted mentors. Don’t shy away from facing challenges, but don’t give up when you experience failure. Look at every moment as an opportunity to learn and be sure to pause to celebrate your victories. You can do this!

Self-Care for Professionals: Prioritizing Well-being in a Busy World

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 19:36:58 GMT

Self-care for business professionals

Hello, team! Mary here, continuing our journey through the I in Team series, where we empower you to find , be , and build your influence. In a busy world, it can be hard for professionals to find the time to practice self-care. However, neglecting yourself is not the way to be your best influence. You can only be your best if you are feeling the best, which means taking good care of yourself. If you struggle with prioritizing your well-being, you’re in the right place.

Take Care of Your Body

Treating your body well is the number one way for professionals to prioritize themselves; if you’re not feeling your best, you can’t do your best. Sluggishness can be fended off through exercise, eating well, staying hydrated, and getting good sleep.

You should aim for at least 30 mins of physical activity every day; whether that is yoga, walking, going to the gym, or something else is completely up to you. Plus, don’t forget to get up from your desk and walk around! Sitting for too long is not very good for you, so take breaks to stretch and consider getting a standing desk.

We’ve been told since birth that we need a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables (I think everyone remembers seeing the food pyramid in our schools’ cafeterias). Growing up is no exception; when life becomes busy, we might reach for pre-made foods or snacks that are high in sodium, fat, and sugar (devoid of nutrients). To thrive, you need to feed your body and mind with good, whole foods! And don’t forget to drink your water, too.

Sleep is an obvious need, but how much is highly debated. Personally, I need at least 8 hours to function, but I know people who function very well on 7 or even 6. I think most doctors would agree that any less than 6 hours is probably not the best choice, so do your best to get adequate sleep so you can enter REM sleep and clear your mind for your next day of tackling tasks.

Practice Stress Management

Life can be stressful; we juggle work, kids, school, pets, spending time with friends and loved ones, and the list goes on. There is a lot demanded of us in today’s society, so we need to ensure we are practicing stress management in order to properly take care of our well-being. Spending time doing something you love (a hobby or being with friends), taking a moment to celebrate your victories before rushing off to complete the next goal, and establishing a proper relaxation routine are all great ways to manage stress .

Everyone should have a hobby or something they enjoy doing in their free time. There are so many different hobbies out there for us to pick up that it would be impossible to name them all, but some at the highest level might be cooking, baking, painting, gaming, building models, crochet, and I could keep going.

Stop to celebrate your victories! You worked hard to achieve something, it would be inconsiderate toward yourself to not take a pause to recognize all the work you put in to achieve something. It’s very easy to say, “Okay, great. Next.” But slowing down to appreciate yourself is a great way to practice stress management.

In fact, slowing down is, in itself, a great stress management tool. You can develop a relaxation routine for when you are feeling high-strung. That is going to look different for everyone; for me, I like to take a bubble bath, light some incense, and put on some lofi. Incorporating smells, low lights, and comfy activities into your relaxation routine can help slow down your nervous system and make de-stressing much easier.

Establish Clear Boundaries

Setting boundaries isn’t always easy, especially if you’re a people pleaser. However, if you don’t put your needs and schedule ahead of what others need, you’ll never get anything done, you’ll be overworked (and overstressed), and you just won’t feel good. That’s why learning to say no , establishing set work hours versus personal hours, and taking a daily digital detox is a great way to prioritize your well-being.

There are many kind ways to tell someone no. It’s easy to say yes when we want to help or when we have the time, but sometimes we just don’t have the time or the energy to help someone at that point in time. Saying no gives you your time and energy back, allowing you to focus on your priorities.

For some, this tip might not work very well, but, if you can, it would be good for your well-being to set work and personal hours. If you need to compromise, it’s okay to say “5 – 7 am is my personal time, and the rest of the day I will be available for my team.” Some people can say “I only work 9 am – 5 pm” and it works for them, but that’s not everyone’s luxury. So, be sure to carve out “you time” where you cannot be bothered.

Taking a step away from social media, your phone, emails, and anything digital (TV and games included) is so good for your brain. We are constantly bombarding our brains with noise and activities; it’s no wonder people are so tired. Take a step away from the digital at least once a day. For me, this is when I wake up. I say no to my phone and go stretch instead.

Bottom Line

Prioritizing your well-being in a busy world can seem elusive, but it doesn’t have to be. With good intentions, you can carve out the time you need to take care of yourself. Eat whole foods, drink water, get rest, get exercise, find a hobby, celebrate your wins, slow down, kindly say no, set aside time for yourself, and have a daily digital detox. Incorporate these tips into your day one at a time, and slowly but surely you will have a more balanced life with plenty of self-care.

Power of Goal Setting

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 06:23:58 GMT

Business consulting strategies

Hello, team! Mary here, continuing our journey through the I in Team series, where we empower you to find , be , and build your influence. It’s that time of year again where we all start to reflect on the last year and consider what we want our new year to look like. We always like to say that you don’t need a new year to set new goals, but I think we can all agree how good it feels to have something ~feel~ new energetically. There is a buzz in the air that inspires and motivates us to keep growing our individual influence and be better versions of ourselves. So, as a new opportunity is handed to us, we must decide what we are going to do with it. If you don’t know where to start, you’re in the right place.

Reflect on the Past Year

This is something I have been doing for at least 5 years now, and I go as far as to do a monthly reflection. However, if you only have time for a year-end reflection, that is okay, too! First, you will want to set the stage. Set aside time in your calendar to have a date with yourself and review the last year. Go to your favorite coffee shop or light some candles at home. Reflecting on the year helps solidify memories, review what went well and what didn’t, consider goals you gave up on or goals you want to continue, and come up with completely new goals that serve where you see yourself going in the future. If you need a little help, check out these year-end reflection questions to help you get started.

Once you have finished reviewing your year, give yourself a pat on the back! Carving out time for yourself is already a luxury, so thank yourself for doing a reflection. Then, congratulate yourself on another great year. Even if you didn’t do everything you wanted or accomplish every goal you set, you still had the opportunity to learn about yourself and experience life. No matter what, that is always an accomplishment worth celebrating.

Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals

We are constantly preaching about S.M.A.R.T. goals here at the “I” in Team series. For this blog, however, we will add the importance of prioritizing your goals in the new year; you can’t have S.M.A.R.T. goals without being specific about which goal will take priority over the others. We all have a finite amount of time in the day, so it wouldn’t be realistic to set multiple hefty goals if you’re also working, going to school, taking care of a family, or all of the above. Goals need to fit into the obligations we have committed to already.

Once your S.M.A.R.T. goals are set and prioritized, consider if there are any tools you would like to use to make reaching your goals a bit easier. Perhaps you need a physical planner, or maybe you prefer digital. You might find some kind of app or other technology that helps you stick with, measure, and manage your goal. Maybe there is a team member or friend you would like to recruit to help keep you accountable.

Manage Your Mindset

Mindset matters, period. While our platform is all about influence and being mindful of how we affect others, we are not proponents of toxic positivity. You will have good days and bad days when attempting to reach your 2025 goals. However, it’s your mindset that keeps you moving forward. There is a difference between thinking you’re a failure and failing. The former is a poor mindset that can make it difficult to reach goals while the latter is a normal part of life. Keep a growth mindset and remain flexible—life happens.

Continuing visualizing your success even when faced with little hiccups or big mountainous problems. Learn to navigate setbacks without losing focus. Affirm to yourself regularly that you have what it takes to succeed. You might even consider listening to daily affirmations to boost your mood and reinforce your belief in your abilities. Remember the importance of learning continuously (which we discussed last month!).

Bottom Line

In sum, reflect on the past year by setting aside time for a personal review. Celebrate your successes, learn from setbacks, and evaluate goals you pursued, paused, or want to refine. Use S.M.A.R.T. goals: be specific, prioritize, and align them with your commitments. Leverage tools like planners, apps, or accountability partners to stay on track. Cultivate a resilient, growth mindset by acknowledging setbacks as opportunities. Visualize your future success, stay flexible, and affirm your abilities regularly. Remember, reflection and learning are accomplishments in themselves—thank yourself for 2024 journey and prepare to embrace the possibilities of 2025.

The Importance of Continuous Learning: Staying Relevant in a Rapidly Changing Business Landscape

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 14:35:04 GMT

Continuous learning in business consulting

Hello, team! Mary here, continuing our journey through the I in Team series, where we empower you to find , be , and build your influence. If you’ve read our books, articles, or heard Brian speak , you know that we deeply value staying educated within our industry and in those related to our clients and partners. In fact, Brian reads articles daily, immersing himself not only in consulting but in all the industries we touch. This practice ensures that he stays relevant and prepared to serve clients fully, embodying the value of continuous learning. Here’s why this commitment matters.

Remain Competitive

In every industry, trends, technologies, and expectations evolve constantly. By staying informed, you gain a competitive edge and empower your team by sharing insights that benefit everyone. The more aware you are of emerging tools, products, and strategies, the better prepared you’ll be to lead with confidence and influence the direction of your team and organization.

Adapt to Change

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for flexibility and adaptability in all areas of business. As industries continue to shift due to regulations, economic trends, and tech advances, staying educated ensures that you and your team can adapt swiftly , turning potential disruptions into opportunities.

Recognize Opportunities

Identifying and acting on new opportunities before your competition is essential. By understanding where your industry is headed, you can spot market gaps and develop partnerships and innovative solutions that benefit not just you but your entire organization. As you continue to learn and grow, you enhance your influence and open doors for others to do the same.

Build Credibility

To earn and retain credibility in your industry, you need to be seen as knowledgeable and forward-thinking. This credibility extends beyond individual reputation—it strengthens trust across the team and with clients, partners, and stakeholders. By modeling a commitment to continuous learning, you encourage your team to stay informed, creating an organization-wide culture of trust and accountability .

Enhance Decision-Making

Decisions are simpler when you have a deeper understanding of the challenges you face. Staying informed allows you to make choices that align with S.M.A.R.T. goals —specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. By grounding decisions in continuous learning, you support not only your growth but also strategic progress for your team and organization.

Foster Innovation

Exposure to new ideas fosters innovation , both individually and as a team. Learning is rarely done in isolation; by staying open to new methodologies, techniques, and ideas, you invite fresh perspectives that fuel collective creativity. Innovation is essential for lasting business transformation and collective success.

Bottom Line

Staying engaged and informed supports professional success while nurturing curiosity and resilience in a changing world. Embrace learning as a shared goal, helping your team to stay innovative, seize opportunities, and foster trust across all levels. When we prioritize continuous learning, we build a stronger, more adaptable, and influential organization together. Plus, learning is fun!

Emotional Intelligence in Business: Understanding and Managing Your Emotions for Success

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 00:51:44 GMT

Emotional intelligence in business consulting

Hello, team! Mary here, continuing our journey through the I in Team series, where we empower you to find , be , and build your influence. Brian and I discuss emotional intelligence in our book series and we wanted to bring some of the topics we discuss to you here as well. If you’re curious about diving deeper into emotional intelligence, check out our series and the other books linked in this article. If you just need a refresher, the following tips are for you.

Pause Before Reacting

When faced with difficult or emotional situations, take a moment to pause, breathe, and reflect. Reacting based on your emotions will likely not help the situation and could make things worse. By taking a moment to pause, we allow ourselves to sit with our emotions, understand why they are happening and where they are coming from, and consider how we want to respond to move the situation forward in a productive way.

At times, you will be able to pause for a moment and think, but other times, you might need to step away and take a walk or a day to respond. By developing healthy coping strategies , you can handle tough moments with poise. If it helps you, write down the situations that evoke certain emotions. Over time, you may see a pattern which could aid you in knowing when you need to pause in the future.

Build Rapport

Building relationships with the people you work with, whether they be team members, clients, vendors, etc., can help support your ability to be emotionally intelligent because it develops both social skills and empathy for others. We build relationships through active listening, cooperation, and open communication. By making others feel valued, we set ourselves up to collaborate with them more effectively.

Build relationships by asking questions and being genuinely interested in the responses. This strengthens bonds and helps you see the other person as a person and not an object (thus, building empathy).

Book Recommendation: Leadership and Self-Deception

Additionally, practice mastering non-verbal communication . Understanding body language, tone, and facial expressions can tell you a lot about what someone isn’t saying. The better you get to know someone, the easier you will be able to understand their non-verbal cues.

Develop an Emotional Vocabulary

Dr. Brene Brown said it best, “If we want to find the way back to ourselves and one another, we need language and the grounded confidence to both tell our stories and be stewards of the stories that we hear. This is the framework for meaningful connection.” Said another less-eloquent way, when we understand our emotional experience and have the language to describe it, we create paths for connection.

Book Recommendation: Atlas of the Heart

The above recommended book contains 87 different emotions researched over decades to help us gain a better emotional vocabulary to describe our and others’ experiences . In developing our emotional vocabulary, we improve the clarity of our conversations and reduce confusion that can lead to more detrimental emotions and situation.

Encourage Emotional Intelligence in Others

At times, it can be a lot easier to understand and manage our own emotions when we are surrounded by others who share our drive to be emotionally intelligent. Start by encouraging emotional intelligence in others on your team. Lead by example and model good emotional habits (like those listed here). Your emotional tone helps set the culture for the workspace. By understanding and managing emotions, we help lift our team’s culture and demonstrate how successful we can be by being emotionally intelligent.

Bottom Line

Understanding and managing our emotions for increased emotional intelligence helps us navigate complex interpersonal dynamics which is crucial for long-term success in business. Consider when you need to take a step back, build positive relationships with those you work with, develop your emotional vocabulary, and lead by example to help others realize how valuable emotional intelligence is.

Building a Personal Brand

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 09:06:22 GMT

Building a personal brand for business consulting

Building a Personal Brand

Hello, team! Mary here, continuing our journey through the I in Team series, where we empower you to find , be , and build your influence. Over the last 5+ years, we’ve been sharing the lessons from the I in Team series and applying what we’ve learned through 30+ years of building IA Business Advisors. At the heart of these brands is our founder, Brian Smith, whose personal brand embodies authenticity, purpose, and a deep commitment to positive influence. Brian’s journey has been filled with both challenges and rewards, and by following similar steps, you too can build your own personal brand grounded in individual influence.

Discovering Your Unique Value

Before diving into the process of building your personal brand, take the time for deep self-reflection. This step is essential to align your brand with your true strengths and passions. Ask yourself:

What are my core strengths?
What unique experiences shape my perspective?
How can I leverage my skills to make a meaningful impact?

While these questions provide a starting point, the self-reflection process goes much deeper. We explore this in Individual Influence: Find the “I” in Team , where we encourage you to define your "I" — the essence that sets you apart. Being genuine is your greatest asset, and authenticity should be the foundation of your personal brand. Resist the temptation to conform to existing molds. Instead, showcase your individuality. When you align your personal values with your professional journey, you create a powerful narrative that will resonate with others.

Crafting Your Brand Story

Once you have clarity about your unique value, it’s time to shape your brand story. A brand story connects you with your audience by communicating who you are, what you stand for, and why your work matters. This story is a critical piece of your brand's foundation and will evolve as you grow, but its core message should always remain the same.

In addition to your brand story, develop a clear mission statement that reflects your personal and professional objectives. Think of it as your guiding light — it articulates what you aim to accomplish and why. While your goals may shift with experience, your mission should stay rooted in your values, keeping you anchored as your influence grows.

Building Your Presence

In today’s digital world, having an online presence is a must for establishing and growing your personal brand. However, never underestimate the value of your physical presence and genuine human connections. Let’s explore both aspects:

Creating a website or portfolio is essential. This platform serves as your digital home base, showcasing your brand story, mission statement, accomplishments, and testimonials. It also positions you as an authority in your field. Beyond your website, social media is a powerful tool for daily engagement with your audience. Select platforms that align with your brand’s niche and post consistently to stay relevant and visible.

Authenticity is just as important in person as it is online. Attend industry events, join professional organizations, and network with people in your field. Rather than focusing on how others can help you, build genuine relationships. Share your unique value, learn from others, and support each other’s growth. These connections can amplify your influence and open doors to new opportunities.

The Ripple Effect of Consistency

Personal branding is a long-term strategy. Like building influence, it requires patience, persistence, and consistency. As we discuss in Responsible Influence: Build the “I” in Team , your actions create ripples that impact those around you. The same holds true for your personal brand. Consistency in your message and presence will build trust, and over time, your visibility and influence will grow.

Bottom Line

Start with self-reflection, build an authentic story, and cultivate relationships through both online and physical presence. Building a personal brand is a journey, not a race. Stay true to who you are, put in the work, and trust the process. Your unique influence has the power to make a lasting impact on the world.

Productivity problems persist for HR with hybrid workplace ‘fauxductivity’

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 17:07:14 GMT

Hybrid workplace consulting

Productivity and what it actually looks like came into heightened focus during the pandemic and age of remote work. Now, with a majority of workers back in offices in hybrid arrangements, productivity problems have yet to resolve themselves, and instead are evolving as workers try to look busy both at home and in offices.

Half of managers still believe their staff are engaging in “fauxductivity” — or faking activity and pretending to work while on the clock, according to a new survey from Workhuman including responses from over 3,000 full-time employees in the U.S., U.K. and Ireland.

While 70% of workers say they aren’t pretending to work, interestingly 40% of managers said they themselves are engaging in faking productivity.

Experts say a lack of clear metrics for most roles can make productivity itself tricky to gauge and accordingly difficult for managers to set clear expectations. But other factors like cultures where there is a lack of recognition and acknowledgement within the company hierarchy for the work being performed also drive this.

“Hybrid work is having unintended consequences I think for both in-person and remote workers, in that it's still all about being seen."

- Wende Smith, head of people operations at HR platform BambooHR

“I think that leaders or managers set themselves up for this because they don’t clearly define what they want done in this hybrid environment, so it can lead to more anxiety about what people are doing in the time that they’re not visible, because there’s not really a clear understanding of what work is being done where,” said Brian Smith, an organizational psychologist.

Productivity theater , “fauxductivity”, or whatever you want to call the idea of performatively being busy, looks a bit different in fully remote vs. hybrid environments. But the majority of both remote (88%) and in-office (79%) workers say they take actions to prove they’re online and working, according to a report from Bamboo HR.

For remote workers, that might include keeping messaging apps like Slack open to show an “active” status, participating in social conversations on company-wide Slack channels and even scheduling emails to send at a different time, according to that report.

For in-office workers, that looks like walking around the office so coworkers can physically see them, planning meetings with others in the office and showing up to the office earlier or leaving after their manager.

That survey also found that over 40% of employees feel like they’re going to the office solely for the purpose of being seen by their bosses. Meanwhile about 30% of remote or hybrid workers said they too make a more conscious effort to demonstrate their online presence more visibly since their company issued RTO policies.

“Hybrid work is having unintended consequences I think for both in-person and remote workers, in that it’s all about being seen,” said Wende Smith, head of people operations at human resource platform BambooHR.

Organizations struggling with widespread “fauxducivity” can address the issue first by having managers set clearer expectations for individual employees’ performances. In roles like sales or manufacturing, numbered quotas are typically used, but that doesn’t work in most other roles.

“I think the best measurement is to set people up ahead of time with their expectation and what their workload is and, as they grow in their position, you learn what they can do and you can either add or take away from a person’s ability,” Brian Smith said.

“Productivity ultimately is the responsibility of the manager of the team. And historically, managers use physical presence as a crutch and correlate presence with productivity."

- Rob Sadow, CEO and co-founder of hybrid team enablement platform Scoop Technologies.

The transition to hybrid work has exposed a lack of manager training in this area, said Rob Sadow, CEO and co-founder of hybrid team enablement platform Scoop Technologies. “Productivity ultimately is the responsibility of the manager of the team. And historically, managers use physical presence as a crutch and correlate presence with productivity,” Sadow said.

Hybrid work is “uncovering is a skill set gap for a lot of managers in being able to define what is the expectation for an employee, and what does it mean for them to be productive or not and that’s really, I think, what’s manifesting in this ongoing productivity paranoia.”

It’s a challenge people leaders hope to work through in the coming years. “It’s really focusing on the outcomes and not on the behaviors,” Wende Smith said.

“From the people operations perspective, what we really want leaders to focus on are outcomes and business results, so having really clear expectations, and having really clear deliverables,” she said. “It’s less about your green status if you’re remote, or your visibility if you’re in the office, because I’m measuring you against the expectations that I’ve set forward clearly for you,” she said.

Mastering Time Management

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 15:54:47 GMT

Time management for business consulting

Mastering Time Management

Hello, team! It's Mary here, back with the "I" in Team series, where we focus on helping you find , be , and build your positive influence. Our team recently made the switch to Asana for project management, and it's been a game-changer in streamlining our workflow. This got me thinking about time management, which is a skill I once struggled with. Today, I want to share what I've learned so you can master time management, too. While it might seem challenging at first, remember that time management is simply a habit you can build. Start implementing these strategies today, and within 24-60 days, you'll notice a significant difference in how you manage your time!

Set Clear Goals

Time management begins with setting clear, S.M.A.R.T. goals . Effective time management allows you to achieve both your short-term and long-term goals. Here's how to set S.M.A.R.T. goals:

Specific: Clearly define what you want to achieve.
Measurable: Determine how you'll track your progress.
Attainable: Ensure your goal is realistic given your current resources.
Realistic: Choose goals that align with your priorities.
Timely: Set a deadline to keep yourself on track.

For example, instead of saying, "I want to improve my productivity," a S.M.A.R.T. goal would be, "I will complete three major tasks each day this week."

Once you've set your goals, break them down into smaller, more manageable tasks. Review these tasks each night before bed, or at the start of each week, to prepare yourself mentally. This practice will boost your productivity and free up time for other important activities.

Master Time Blocking

Now that your goals are set, it's time to use time blocking—a powerful technique where you allocate specific blocks of time for different tasks. For example, if you need to write a blog, estimate how long it will take and block out that time in your calendar. This prevents interruptions and helps you stay focused.

Remember to add buffer time—roughly 5 to 15 minutes between tasks—to account for any delays or interruptions. And don't forget to schedule breaks ! You're not a machine; regular breaks help you stay refreshed and focused.

To minimize distractions during your time blocks, identify what tends to divert your attention (e.g., your phone or social media) and take steps to eliminate these distractions. If necessary, set boundaries with your colleagues, such as informing them, "I'll be unavailable from 12 to 3 PM today as I'm working on an important task." This proactive approach ensures you can work without unexpected interruptions.

Avoid the Multitasking Trap

While multitasking might seem like a time-saver, it's often counterproductive. Most people can't multitask effectively. In fact, trying to do so can diminish the quality of your work. Instead, focus on one task at a time to maintain high standards and avoid mistakes that could cost you more time in the long run.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by a growing to-do list, consider delegating tasks to team members or adjusting deadlines for less critical tasks. There's always a way to avoid multitasking so that you can give your best to each task.

Bottom Line

Mastering time management is within your reach. Start by setting S.M.A.R.T. goals, use time blocking to structure your day, avoid the pitfalls of multitasking, and don't hesitate to delegate when necessary. Remember, becoming a master of time is all about building healthy habits —give yourself time, be patient, and you'll see progress.

Ready to take control of your time? Start implementing these strategies today and share your success stories with us!

Personal Financial Wellness

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 22:22:19 GMT

Business financial consulting

The “I” in Team series would like to give a special shoutout and thank you to Adam Stock, CFP® M.S. PFP, whose advisement on this blog was extremely beneficial. If you need help with personal finances, reach out to him and his company, The Next Level Planning Group.

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. I am a little embarrassed to say that I have not always been the best with my personal finances. Learning how to be financially smart so I can have a secure future has been a lot, but it’s also been rewarding.

I considered how my personal finances affected my influence when I started to feel anxious about money. When I feel anxious, I am not my best self. I think irrationally, feel rushed, and have this weight on me that changes the way I view the world. So, I decided to make a change! I decided to start managing my personal finances so I can secure a successful future, and I want to share what I have learned with you.

Spend S.M.A.R.T.

Managing personal finances, especially with the goal of having a secure and successful future, is nearly impossible if you do not set S.M.A.R.T. goals for yourself. You should set both short-term and long-term financial goals by clearly specifying your financial objectives. Perhaps you want to buy a home, start a family, or save for a comfortable retirement. Then, you must make your goal measurable: How much do you want to save per week/month? Consider if your goal is attainable: How much money do you make a month and how much can you put away? Don’t set an unattainable and unrealistic goal by setting the bar too high. Be realistic about what you can afford right now, even if it’s just a little bit of your earnings, and start putting that money away. There is no better time than the present.

You will also want to ~literally~ spend smart. One way to do this is to create a realistic budget (or spending plan) and stick to it. For example, a popular method is the 50/30/20 plan: 50% for needs, 30% for wants, 20% for debt payoff, savings, and retirement. Start by considering how much you pay in rent, groceries, subscriptions, and anything you must spend money on during the month. Be sure to create a line item for fun (things you want)! But not too much fun. Avoid impulse purchases that you don’t need or that put you over your spending plan. You should be allowed to purchase fun or gift items but remember your overall goal and stay within your budget to successfully manage your personal finances.

Save Save Save!

If you’re here, it’s unlikely that you already have the finances required to reach your goal. The whole purpose of this blog is to help you understand how to reach your personal financial goals, and that will require you to save money! You should have at least two savings funds. The first is an emergency fund should anything happen to you or your job. An emergency fund should have 3 – 6 months’ worth of living expenses. If you don’t have this already, perhaps this can be your first financial goal! If you already have an emergency fund you are comfortable with, move on to regular savings for your desired goal. Have your checks automatically deposited into your savings account, or you can set up your checking account to automatically transfer a portion of your check into your savings account. Sometimes goals are easier when you can automate them. Do this today and in a few months, you’ll be amazed at how much you can save!

Make Investments

We are talking about multiple types of investments here. First, invest in yourself and your wellbeing by having health insurance. Having adequate health coverage can help protect you against any unforeseen or emergency medical expenses. You can also invest in life insurance, especially if you have dependents. Provide your family with financial security in the event of your death. The other types of investments most people are familiar with. If you can, start saving money directly from your paycheck into a 401(k), IRA, or Roth IRA. Do you work for a company that matches your 401(k) contributions? That’s great! You immediately receive a 100% return on every dollar you invest. Additionally, you can diversify your investments by using an app like Robinhood; spread your investments across various asset classes (stocks, bonds, real estate, etc.) to manage your financial risk.

Bottom Line

Having personal financial wellness doesn’t need to be difficult! Just start small with S.M.A.R.T. savings and set your goals. Create a spending plan and stick to it as often as you can by living below your means. Doing this can help you save as much money as you can which will help you achieve your goals much faster! Don’t neglect your investments, especially in yourself. With a little planning and commitment, you can be financially secure.

Balancing Ambition and Well-being

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 15:57:20 GMT

Business consulting balance

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. After the pandemic, the lines between professional and personal became blurred. While some of us bounced back easily, there are many who may still struggle with balancing ambition and well-being. Keep in mind that this balance will look different for everyone and is defined individually. We are hopeful that these strategies will collectively help you maintain the delicate balance between achieving your ambitions and nurturing your well-being.

Set Clear Goals and Priorities

If you are familiar with our brand, you know we always teach about creating S.M.A.R.T. goals . Balancing ambition and well-being is no different. If you wish to lead a life that allows you to be successful both professionally and personally, you must be S.M.A.R.T. Be specific about what success looks like in both of these areas, create measurements that allow you to determine if you are meeting your goals, keep your goals attainable for what you have or will have in the near future, ensure you are being realistic about what you can achieve in a timely manner.

Being timely (or using appropriate time management techniques) will allow you to remain S.M.A.R.T. Schedule both professional and personal tasks, including rest, hobbies, and time with family and friends. Carving out time for yourself is necessary because you only have 24 hours in a day; in the words of my friend who is very good at doing this for herself, “If I don’t take the time, someone else will.” She means that if she doesn’t schedule time in her calendar for her personal needs, someone will schedule that time in her calendar for their professional needs.

Reflect and Adjust Regularly

Whenever we preach about S.M.A.R.T., we always add the little caveat that you need to reflect and adjust your goals regularly to ensure they stay S.M.A.R.T. Life is not predictable. Even when you have all the information you can gather, goals can still elude us. Instead of giving up or becoming frustrated, slow down, take a step back, and reexamine what you need to do and adjust in order to reach your goals. This requires you to embrace flexibility. Be like bamboo and bend in the wind; becoming too rigid will make you break.

Foster Supportive Relationships

Surround yourself with people who possess the qualities you wish to have or who inspire you to keep going. Having positive, hardworking, supportive people around you will encourage you to be positive, hardworking, and supportive of yourself. These can be colleagues, coworkers, friends, or anyone you feel helps elevate you. There is something to be said about knowing someone through the company they keep.

Practice Self-Care

If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t meet any of your goals, personal or professional. You need to get regular exercise, even if it’s just a walk at lunch or after work. Get outside or into a gym and have some you time. Exercise reduces stress and can assist you in working through problems. Some of my best ideas come to me when I am at the gym. Eat a healthy and well-balanced diet; feed your mind and body with nutritious foods. Your body is constantly generating new cells , billions every single day. Everything you put into your body becomes part of you, literally.

Get enough sleep! You’ll know how much is good for you. Some people prefer 6 hours a night, while others may need 9 or more hours. If you feel tired every single day, you might not be sleeping enough. You should always seek professional help if there is something you need help with. Whether you talk to a doctor about your health, a psychologist about your mental well-being, or a coach to help you develop new skills, you are never alone.

Bottom Line

Balancing ambition and well-being requires setting S.M.A.R.T. goals. Clearly define success in both professional and personal realms and use metrics to track progress. Effective time management is crucial; schedule work and personal activities, including rest and hobbies. Regularly reflect and adjust goals to stay flexible. Surround yourself with supportive people and prioritize self-care through exercise, a balanced diet, sufficient sleep, and professional help when needed.

Avoiding Toxic Positivity

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 18:49:08 GMT

Avoiding Toxic Positivity in Business Consulting

Avoiding Toxic Positivity

Hi team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team Series, where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. A few weeks ago, IA’s Gratitude Group discussed toxic positivity and its effects. Toxic positivity is the belief and pressure to ignore negative or painful emotions, putting a positive spin on even the hardest life events. Toxic positivity often leads to emotional repression, forcing individuals to believe that they should feel ashamed for feeling negative emotions or like nobody understands them. Avoiding toxic positivity can be beneficial for you and people around you. While it’s okay to have a positive attitude and outlook, ignoring the other side of emotions can be detrimental to your health.

Internal Toxic Positivity

Internal toxic positivity is when you don’t allow yourself to feel and accept your emotions, often telling yourself to stay positive . This is typically due to shame for feeling the emotion. Emotions are part of the human experience, so to avoid internal toxic positivity, follow these three steps.

Be Transparent

Being transparent with yourself about what you are feeling means having enough respect and self-compassion to allow yourself to feel. When you’re honest with yourself about your emotions, you make it easier to get rid of those emotions. Additionally, you can also weaken their hold the more often you are honest with yourself about them. By acknowledging their presence, you avoid emotional repression .

Validate

Knowing when you are feeling emotional is typically easy, but classifying those emotions isn’t always easy. For those who have been repressing their emotions, emotional identification becomes more difficult as they are typically classified as the highest-ranking emotions (anger, sadness, happiness). Additionally, it’s always possible there are multiple emotions present at one time. This can, again, make it even more difficult for those repressing their emotions to categorize the emotions they feel. One tool that can be used to aid in validating and identifying emotions is an emotion wheel . Emotions are valid, but the more you understand them the less power they have.

Have Empathy

Empathy and self-compassion are imperative to avoiding toxic positivity. You may feel both grief and happiness at the same time, and that is normal. Having empathy for yourself means realizing that emotions are part of the human experience and that you are allowed to have them. Empathy encompasses validating, identifying, and understanding your emotions, but with yourself.

External Toxic Positivity

Avoiding being toxically positive with others may be difficult if you are toxically positive with yourself. While you work on being less toxic with yourself, consider using those same (or similar) tactics with others. Below are three steps to avoid toxic positivity when interacting with others.

Listen

While being transparent with yourself requires you to listen, you also need to listen to others. By listening to others when they are describing their emotional state, make them feel acknowledged, heard, and validated by repeating back to them what you hear. For example, “I hear that you are experiencing immense grief right now,” or, “It sounds like that event made you feel very angry.” Don’t offer unsolicited advice, but if you want clarity on what they are looking for, ask them if they want advice or someone to empathize with them.

Have Empathy

Empathizing with others is a lot like empathizing with yourself. Showing empathy means being able to understand other’s emotions and demonstrating that understanding through some kind of support. Having empathy for the bad parts of being human is okay. Yin and Yang come from ancient Chinese philosophy and methodology, representing complementary forces, like good and bad. The symbol for Yin and Yang denotes there is some good in the bad and some bad in the good. Having empathy for others (and yourself) means accepting this fact.

Language

To avoid toxic positivity, you have to change your language. Toxic positivity often sounds like, “good vibes only,” “everything happens for a reason,” or, “it could be worse.” These are invalidating statements that can make people feel shame for feeling emotions. Emotions are not something to be shameful of. Replace these phrases with, “all vibes welcome,” “life is full of peaks and valleys,” or, “you aren’t alone in this experience.”

Conclusion

While positivity serves us greatly in many regards, when it becomes toxic positivity it becomes detrimental to our mental health . Overcoming toxic positivity and emotional repression is not an easy task, but it is possible. It takes willpower and habit building to rewrite your mind’s natural way of thinking. To continue spreading your positive influence, you must have compassion and empathy for the spectrum of human emotions, both with yourself and those you influence. Once you do so, life will, ironically, become more positive.

Unlock Your Leadership Potential

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 14:37:10 GMT

Unlock Leadership Potential

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. If you’re an emerging leader, you will face unique challenges and opportunities as you grow into your role. Finding your influence, being a positive leader, and eventually building high-performing teams is how you will unlock your leadership potential. But where do you start? Here are some top tips to help you navigate unlocking your leadership potential.

1. Cultivate Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is understanding your strengths, weaknesses, habits, reactions, emotions, communication style, and leadership style. To gain self-awareness , engage in regular self-reflection, seek feedback from peers and mentors, and use tools like personality assessments (such as DiSC Workplace and Kolbe). For example, you might ask colleagues for feedback on your recent project management approach to identify areas for improvement.

2. Develop Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and use your emotions positively and constructively. It also involves understanding others' emotions. By improving your emotional intelligence, you can better manage stress, resolve conflicts, and build stronger relationships with your team. Practice active listening and empathy to enhance this crucial leadership skill.

3. Communicate Effectively

Clear and transparent communication is essential for being a positive influence. As a leader, convey your visions, goals, and expectations clearly. Foster a culture where your team feels safe speaking freely with you. Encourage open dialogue by regularly soliciting feedback and showing appreciation for your team’s input.

4. Use S.M.A.R.T. Goals to Develop Objectives

S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) are the quickest and most efficient way to develop and reach your short-term and long-term objectives. Engage in strategic planning by using S.M.A.R.T. and encourage your team to contribute to this process. Maintain a focus on results and hold yourself and your team accountable for performance. Set clear goals, measure progress regularly, and adjust as needed when roadblocks arise. It’s better to adjust than to give up.

5. Seek Mentorship and Coaching

To truly unlock your leadership potential, find mentors who can provide guidance, support, and valuable insights based on their experiences. Additionally, consider working with a coach to develop specific leadership skills and navigate challenges more effectively. Mentorship can offer new perspectives and accelerate your growth.

6. Build Strong Relationships

Networking and relationship-building are essential to creating a high-performing team. Establish strong connections with colleagues, mentors, and other industry professionals. Foster a supportive team environment by showing genuine interest in your team members’ personal and professional growth. Strong relationships form the foundation of trust and collaboration.

7. Foster a Positive Work Culture

Creating a positive work culture is crucial for team success. Promote collaboration, inclusivity, and positivity within your team. Recognize and celebrate individual and team achievements. Remember, fostering a positive work culture starts with you as the leader. Your attitude and behavior set the tone for the entire team.

8. Empower Your Team

Empowering your team means treating them with respect and trust. Delegate effectively and inspire them to be autonomous by giving them more responsibility. Encourage their input and involvement in decision-making processes to foster a sense of ownership and accountability within the organization. Empowered teams are more motivated and productive.

Bottom Line

By implementing these tips, unlocking your leadership potential becomes a structured and achievable process. If you want to dive deeper into these concepts, consider purchasing our books. The “I” in Team series was created for emerging leaders to assist them in developing the skills and mindset necessary to lead effectively and drive their teams and organizations toward success.

First Book: Individual Influence: Find the “I” in Team

Second Book: Positive Influence: Be the “I” in Team

Third Book: Responsible Influence: Build the “I” in Team

Unlock your potential and lead your team to success with the insights and strategies shared in our series. Happy leading!

Building Mental Toughness for Success

Thu, 02 May 2024 17:06:49 GMT

Mental toughness in business consulting

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Something that all leaders need to face on their path is building mental toughness, which involves developing resilience, discipline, and a strong mindset to overcome challenges and persevere in the face of adversity. Leaders face all kinds of problems and obstacles with their people, processes, and technologies, therefore, growing in these areas is pertinent to their long-term success. If you find that you are struggling with your mental toughness, here are our top three tips for building your inner fortitude.

Develop a Growth Mindset

To be successful in any area of life, you must have a growth mindset. Dr. Carol Dweck theorized that humans typically fall into two types of mindsets: Growth and Fixed. Those who experience a growth mindset see the world as being full of opportunities and are confident in their ability to overcome challenges. They also believe that they will continue to learn and grow every day until they pass on from this lifetime. To them, there is no limit or barrier to continuing to develop oneself. Conversely, those who experience a fixed mindset believe they will not continue to grow and develop throughout their lifetime; instead, they believe they have learned everything they can and reached their capacity. When obstacles present themselves, they tend to give up and don’t have faith in their abilities to overcome them.

In reading the above, you will know which camp you fell into. The goal is to either already have a growth mindset or to switch to a growth mindset if you find you experience a fixed mindset. Many who are fixed-minded will not believe it is possible to switch, but Dr. Dweck’s research shows it differently. You can change your mind and the way you see yourself and the world. Yes, it will take some work, but it is possible and necessary in order to build mental toughness for success. Should you need a boost to get started, here are some affirmations you can say out loud to yourself three times a day:

I am capable of growth.
I am capable of learning.
I can overcome any obstacle that comes onto my path.
My reality helps me reach my fullest potential.
I can develop any skills I wish to see manifest in my life.

Set Clear Goals

Developing mental toughness includes discipline. One of the best ways to practice being disciplined is to set clear goals and attain them. Our top recommendation for setting and reaching goals is to use the S.M.A.R.T. process. S.M.A.R.T. stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. When setting S.M.A.R.T. goals , all you have to do is follow the acronym! Keep in mind that altering your goals once you have gotten started is completely reasonable and should be done in order to not abandon a goal in its entirety. Modifying a goal is not failure, it is growth mindset! Just like you, goals can change.

Let’s use an example to help you understand how to develop a S.M.A.R.T. goal. For example, let’s say you want to learn how to communicate more directly. Your S.M.A.R.T. goal might look like this:

S: I want to learn how to communicate more directly.

M: I will measure my growth by asking my friends, family, and colleagues for feedback on my communication skills.

A: I have a growth mindset, so I know I can accomplish this goal; it is attainable to me.

R: I have trusted people in my life that I can rely on to be truthful with me, so I will be able to measure my progress easily. It’s realistic for me to tackle this goal because I want to do it and can measure it easily.

T: I want to evaluate my growth every month; therefore, I will chat with those I trust every month. My goal is to become better at communicating directly within one year.

Keep in mind that there will be times when you will fail at your goals, but that doesn’t mean you are a failure or that you should give up. Abandon your fear of failure and lean on your growth mindset to bolster you to keep pushing forward or to reevaluate if the goal is truly attainable and realistic for you at this time. Pivoting is not failure; the only true failure is ceasing to try.

Manage Stress

Being tough, disciplined, and resilient can take a toll if you do not take care of your mental , emotional, and physical health. Mental toughness takes work, which means it takes energy, and not all of the experiences you find yourself in will be positive ones. You must know how to take the time to manage your stress, give yourself a break, and refresh yourself. Otherwise, you risk running into burnout. Everyone manages stress differently, so you will need to know yourself and what it is that helps you feel rejuvenated. For some, it’s a walk outside, reading a book, or going to the gym, and for others, it might be taking a bubble bath, baking some goodies, or taking a nap. You cannot be “on” all the time, so make space in your day to relax and reflect. Carving out this space for yourself will help you manage your stress.

Bottom Line

The biggest thing to remember throughout life is to try to remain positive and see the lighter side of things. Have faith that everything will work out the way it is meant to. You can manifest everything you desire by developing a growth mindset and putting in the work to reach your goals. However, guard against burnout by properly managing your stress by taking time for yourself at least every day, if not, then every week. Building mental toughness is necessary for success, and you can do it!

The Art of Decision Making

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 20:01:04 GMT

Decision-making strategies for business consulting

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find, be, and build your positive influence. Decision making is something we all must face whether we want to or not. Making confident and informed decisions is essential for personal and professional success. In fact, deciding to not choose is actually deciding; you’re deciding to not decide. There is no wiggling our way free of decision making. So, if you want to get better at the art of decision making, here are our top tips.

Gather Information

Before you can make an informed decision, you will want to gather as much information as you can. This can involve doing your own research through search engines or books, consulting experts in the field, or seeking advice from people in your life who know you well. In fact, getting an outside perspective can help you gain valuable insights or raise considerations you may not have thought about on your own. During your research, explore alternative options. Avoid settling for the first solutions that come to mind, especially for big decisions. You will want to consider the pros and cons of each choice carefully so when you do decide, you will feel confident you are walking the right path.

Assess Risks and Benefits

Understanding the risks and benefits of the decision you are trying to make will help you go into that decision with your eyes completely open. This kind of research, known as due diligence, helps you understand potential outcomes of each potential decision. You will want to know what the long-term implications are, if any. You can ask yourself, “Will this benefit me in the future, or will it lead to unforeseen problems?” Take your time during this process. Often when anxiety comes from decision making, it’s because there is not enough information for someone to feel they are making an informed decision. So, if you don’t have to rush this process, don’t!

Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Clearly define your goals by using the S.M.A.R.T. process: Be specific about your goal, set realistic measurements, ensure your goal is attainable with what you have now or what you will have in the future, and make the decision in good time for you. Going through this process will help you stay focused on decision making so that your next move aligns with your goals.

Take Responsibility

Once you have made a decision, you must own it. Accept both the successes and failures that come from making that decision and use each moment as a learning opportunity to help you with making future decisions. If the decision doesn’t turn out as you expected, try to be flexible. Be prepared to adapt and adjust your approach if necessary.

Bottom Line

Decision making doesn’t have to be daunting if you can take the time to approach it through the lens that due diligence provides. However, not all decisions will allow you to research, assess, and set goals; in those cases, you must do your best with the information you have. Remind yourself that making decisions is something that everyone must go through, so you aren’t alone. Ask friends and colleagues to support you and offer insights from their perspective. Once you decide, own your decision and the successes and failures that come from it.

Networking Strategies for Introverts

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 07:36:54 GMT

Networking strategies for introverts in business

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. While it might seem surprising, I am, in fact, an introvert! Many of my team members at IA Business Advisors are indeed introverts. For those of us who might be a little quieter and shier, networking can seem really daunting. It’s difficult because we need to rely on networking no matter what job we have; networking allows us to build relationships with those in our field or those who may benefit from the services we offer. The question you have to ask yourself is, “How is anyone going to find me if I don’t network?” But fear not! We are here to help you be brave and tackle building connections. Here are our top networking strategies for introverts.

Set Realistic Goals

Many people think that the goal of networking events is to talk to as many people as possible, but that doesn’t necessarily work for introverts. Since introverts tend to enjoy deeper, more meaningful conversations with people, it can be exhausting for them to talk to a lot of people in short succession. Therefore, set realistic goals for yourself for each networking event. Focus on fostering quality connections so you don’t feel as overwhelmed. Plus, by fostering these quality connections, you build relationships where you can be recommended and introduced to people within their sphere of influence.

Prepare and Research

If your introversion is accompanied by anxiety, preparing yourself by researching can help ease those feelings. If you’re attending an event, research what the event is about and who is hosting the event. If you can, you might even research some of the people in attendance. Having this information can help make conversing easier. You can even prepare a few conversation starters or questions to help initiate discussions around what you learned during your research. Also, prepare a short, concise introduction about yourself. This can make it easier to initiate conversations without feeling overwhelmed.

Arrive Early and Attend Smaller Events

Arriving early to an event can help you ease into the environment before it becomes crowded if it’s a larger event. However, for introverts, it might be nice to find smaller events to attend. Smaller events can be less overwhelming and provide a more intimate setting to foster meaningful conversations.

Use Your Strengths

Contrary to what many people think, introverts are actually very good at communicating because they listen actively and ask appropriate questions to keep a conversation going. This is a huge skill in networking because the more you can make people feel heard, the more they will like you and trust you. Everyone wants to feel understood, and introverts generally make space for others to feel accepted and appreciated. So, stop looking at your introversion as a weakness and recognize it for all its strengths! Use your power of listening to connect with others.

Follow Up

If you follow our advice of building meaningful relationships with a few people at a time, following up with them after the event should be easy. Take a moment to send a personalized message or email to those you met at the event. This helps to build and maintain your newfound connections. If you want, you can even write a stock message and fill in some personal bits for each person to make it easy on yourself. Here is an example.

Hi [NAME]!

It was great chatting with you today [ABOUT]. I particularly enjoy the [TOPIC] and your insights into it. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you need anything. I would be more than happy to connect you with other people at [YOUR ORGANIZATION] if you like.

Chat soon!

Practice Self-Care

We have a mantra at IA Business Advisors: You can’t be your best for anyone else until you are first best for yourself . What we mean by this is that you must take care of yourself in order to exude your most positive influence onto others. Therefore, if you need to take a break at an event, do so. Find a quiet corner or step outside for a few minutes. When you get home, congratulate yourself. Recognize that networking can be challenging. You’re doing great stepping outside of your comfort zone. Be kind to yourself and acknowledge the progress you have made.

Bottom Line

Remember, networking is a skill that can be developed over time. It's about building genuine connections which is something introverts excel at. Find what works best for you and embrace your introverted qualities, such as listening and thinking deeply, as strengths. Set realistic goals and prepare for each event. Arrive early and take breaks when needed. Show yourself some love and compassion for the process of growing and remind yourself that you are not alone. There are lots of introverts out there pushing themselves to shine in an extroverted world.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 16:07:25 GMT

Overcoming imposter syndrome in business consulting

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. One topic we have covered in IA Business Advisors’ Gratitude Group is imposter syndrome. This phenomenon is a purely internal experience where an individual feels as though they are not competent, qualified, or successful within their area of influence. Imposter syndrome occurs despite external experiences that prove an individual’s worth and merit. It’s typically characterized by feelings of self-doubt and perfectionism. If you’re here, you’re likely experiencing the effects of imposter syndrome yourself and want to find your way to the other side, or maybe someone you care about is going through this and you’re looking for ways to help them. Either way, you’re in the right place!

The Effects of Imposter Syndrome

As mentioned, those who are plagued with imposter syndrome are likely perfectionists who are experiencing an immense amount of self-doubt. Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there. Those who are living with imposter syndrome are constantly in fear of being exposed as a fraud (due to their self-doubt) and worry their colleagues will soon realize they are not competent. They also downplay their achievements and have difficulty accepting praise from others. Rather than acknowledging their hard work and accepting the accolades that come with it, they say they could have done more and dismiss positive feedback. Imposter syndrome can have a serious impact on mental health , leading to anxiety and overwhelm. The constant tension of these emotions begins to diminish both the professional lives and personal health of an individual. The first step to overcoming imposter syndrome is recognizing that it is a common phenomenon. Other ways to overcome this bully are below.

Seek Support

If you identify that you are feeling like an imposter, ask for support from trusted friends and coworkers. Taking this step will be difficult, considering a key component of this syndrome is fear of being “found out.” However, getting those who know you to help you is key to getting out of the trap. You must take the leap and trust others. Share your experiences and have faith that the support you receive is real and not out of pity. Many people can relate to imposter syndrome, so you will likely build a community through your bravery. If you identify any negative thoughts associated with this, share those as well. Having another person share their perspective of your work with you can help get you out of the trap of believing you are an imposter.

Celebrate Your Achievements

It might sound counterintuitive since those experiencing imposter syndrome don’t feel as though they deserve the praise from their achievements, but if you have gotten this far you should know that is simply not true. While celebrating yourself might feel uncomfortable at first, you have to practice doing it so that your comfort level grows. The first time is usually the hardest, but just like with any habit , the more you do it, the easier it gets. Keep a record of your big and small achievements to constantly remind yourself of your worth. And please note, that perfection is unattainable, so your list does not need to be narrowed down to things you believe are “perfectly” done. Below are some examples of achievements that require no perfection. Please keep in mind that what might be small to you, might be big to someone else. These things are subjective, and only you can decide what achievements belong on your “big” and “small” lists.

Keeping your cool in a meeting with a difficult client
Mediating an argument between two or more coworkers
Replacing the toilet paper in the bathroom without being asked
Finishing all your tasks in a day
Asking for help

Bottom Line

Imposter syndrome is often irrational. It’s important to trust in the hard work you put in every day and the achievements you make. If you find that overcoming imposter syndrome feels like an impossible feat, it may be time to seek professional help to resolve more deeply rooted issues. Talking to a therapist can help to identify any underlying causes that make you believe you are not worthy of the accolades you receive. You deserve to feel good about the work you do every day. Staying healthy is one of the best ways to ensure your influence remains positive. And remember, you are important, you matter, and you are enough.

Adapting to Change: Navigating Transitions in Your Career and Personal Life

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 11:12:00 GMT

Business consulting transitions

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. The new year always seems to bring change, and no two people will handle change the same way. Therefore, not all of this month’s tips will work for everyone. However, it’s important to keep in mind that when your organization is going through change, everyone is going to feel it. These tips are aimed to help you personally, or to help guide others in your organization, with adapting to change gracefully. If you can act as a pillar for others during turbulent times, consider how much positivity is added to your team culture (spoiler – it’s a lot!).

Communication is Key

Whether you are the catalyst for change or not, communication is the best thing to help you and others adapt. First, any information that can be shared should be shared; transparency during change can help ease anxieties. This doesn’t mean anxiety won’t be present, but the more you talk with your team about what you know, the better it will be for everyone. Something everyone should seek to learn is how any changes may affect their positions; if the change is going to eliminate some jobs, be honest. Rip off the band aid and don’t let anxieties of whether or not people will continue to be employed fester. Keep everyone well-informed each step of the way.

If you are a team member who is not part of the catalyst for change, don’t shy away from asking any questions you may have. It’s very likely another team member will appreciate the answers to the questions you have, too. If transparency isn’t as clear as you hoped, seek clarification on the specific aspects of the change that you do not understand. Stay informed by participating in meetings and reading emails . Share everything you learn with your colleagues to keep them in the loop for transparency’s sake.

Reframe Your Perspective

It can be difficult to see change as a positive if it is something you naturally fear or protest. However, reframing your perspective around change can truly ease some of the anxieties or apprehensions that accompany it. These are our team’s tops tips for reframing your perspective to one that is more positive (which are great for sharing with your team, too):

Seek Support

For some, even having all of the information and keeping a positive mindset isn’t enough to curb the apprehension felt around change, and that’s okay. Sometimes people just need to know they have someone looking out for them, which is why seeking support during turbulent times is so crucial. We are naturally wired to look to our community to uplift us when we are uncertain, so the same idea can be applied to teams. Find someone in your life that you trust that you can be honest with about your insecurities. Whoever you choose will know you well and will offer valuable insight into how to move forward with confidence.

Bottom Line

Change is a universal experience but how we respond to that change is unique. Some say that change is the only constant, so today is a good day to learn how to navigate change like a champion. The best thing you can do when facing change is to gather as much information as you can to get a clear picture of what lies ahead. Consider viewing the change as an improvement and keep in mind that someday it will become a habit. If all else fails, discuss your concerns with someone you trust to gain an outside perspective.

The post Adapting to Change: Navigating Transitions in Your Career and Personal Life appeared first on IA Business Advisors .

Dealing with Difficult People at Work

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 04:38:34 GMT

Dealing with difficult coworkers

Dealing with difficult people isn’t always easy, but it’s important to remember that they are people who deserve your kindness and compassion.

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. From time to time, we all have to deal with difficult people at work (and in all areas of life). It’s just something we have to get used to. However, we don’t have to let toxic, negative, or unaware people get us down. While it may be tempting to reflect their negativity back to them, this never helps. In fact, toxic or difficult people can plummet morale and affect cultural wellbeing. By joining in, you add to the negativity and leave the instigator feeling like a victim (as people who are unaware or unwilling to confront their toxic behavior often see themselves as victims). It might sound bleak, but trust me, this is a great opportunity for you to grow ! Here are some tips for dealing with difficult people at work.

Understand the Types

First, it’s important to understand that there will be difficult people who go into one of two primary categories: Those who are aware of their behavior and do it on purpose, and those who are unaware. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to tell if someone is being manipulative or ignorant because those behaviors can often come across in similar ways at times. When confronted with their behavior or ignored, toxic people respond with anger, denial, or even retaliation. But this doesn’t mean that everyone will respond this way! Sometimes, if people are unaware, they simply need a gentle nudge to understand how their behavior affects others to open themselves up to taking accountability and choosing the opportunity for growth that is presented to them. These people are not truly “toxic people” in that they wish to grow.

Second, psychology professor and personality researcher Joshua D Miller, Ph.D. has studied and identified seven traits that are characteristic of difficult people. Please note that we may all exhibit some of these traits at one point or another in our lives but that doesn’t make us bad people. These seven traits are: Callousness, grandiosity, aggressiveness, suspicion, manipulativeness, dominance, and risk-taking. Dr. Miller even created this educational-only quiz to help people understand how difficult they may be, based on findings from his research. You can find that quiz (for fun) here .

Stay Kind

The most important thing to do when dealing with difficult people is to remain kind. Don’t stoop to their level or lose awareness of your emotions. While it can be easy to retaliate and meet their toxic behavior, this never helps the situation. Remember, difficult people are still people and are worthy of kindness, compassion, and empathy. Stay above the situation and take the high road , avoiding actions you might regret. If you need to take a break and walk away, there is nothing wrong with that. Regrouping and centering yourself when dealing with difficult people demonstrates healthy behavior to everyone and influences others to take the high road, too. If you would like to learn more about kindness and composure, read Chapter 1 of Positive Influence: Be the I in Team .

Establish Boundaries

There are some people who may interpret being kind and having compassion and empathy as being weak. However, I believe these are some of the strongest and most meaningful characteristics that you can exhibit in the face of adversity. Unfortunately, there will be times when you will need to stick up for yourself or others and not let bullies run rampant. Establishing boundaries and putting yourself first is of the utmost importance. When you take care of yourself, you can be your best self. When you are your best self, you perform at your best for your position and your team. Dealing with difficult people can be made much easier by establishing boundaries (what you will and will not tolerate).

Don’t Let Them Get You Down

It can be easy to let toxic behavior affect you negatively, especially if you take it personally. Don’t absorb the negativity that others are putting out and be on the lookout for any negative self-talk that can come into play when dealing with difficult people. Remind yourself that other people’s behavior is a reflection of them and not you. You have the right to be happy, and, in doing so, should remember your self-worth.

Bottom Line

Dealing with difficult people is not always easy, but it’s important to remember that they are people too. Some will take accountability for their actions when confronted with it, while others will claim the position of victim. Take the high road and stay true to your positive growth. Stick up for yourself and others, when needed, but do so with mindfulness. Don’t let their negativity follow you around the office or home by not taking what they say or do personally. If all else fails, ask someone you trust to help you come up with a better solution.

Setting Boundaries at Work

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 19:01:50 GMT

Setting boundaries in business consulting

Setting Boundaries at Work

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Setting boundaries, in any relationship, can be difficult for some, so if you struggle with setting boundaries at work, we can help! Setting good boundaries with team members is essential for maintaining a healthy work-life balance and protecting your wellbeing. The skills listed below may be applied across any relationship, but we put this list together with the workplace in mind.

Identify Your Priorities

Setting boundaries at work means understanding your priorities in both your personal and professional life. For example, someone who has children might have different priorities than someone who does not. You need to consider both what your life looks like currently, as well as what you might want it to look like in the future. In doing so, you must recognize your limits and determine how much time and energy you are willing to commit. Someone who has children might not be able to volunteer for extra projects or attend afterwork events often. Conversely, someone who doesn’t have children might appear to have more time on their hands. Everyone’s boundaries will look different, but it’s important to respect them all.

The goal of identifying your priorities is to set clear working hours and let your team know whether you are willing to give more time outside of your normal working hours . (We will discuss exceptions in a section below!) It’s important to avoid overextending yourself unless absolutely necessary. Doing so can impede your work-life balance and may have consequences. Consequences can fall anywhere on the spectrum and range from being too tired and snipping at team members to falling asleep behind the wheel. Know your limits and make an effort to communicate them effectively.

Communicate Clearly

Open communication is the pillar behind setting boundaries at work. It’s okay to say “no” when it’s necessary. Politely declining additional tasks or commitments that exceed your capacity is perfectly acceptable, however, you might consider whether there are any tips or alternatives you can suggest when declining. If and when it is necessary, consider delegating the work that you do not have time for. Just remember that when you delegate, you still remain responsible for the outcome. If you want to hand over complete responsibility, this must be communicated clearly.

By sharing responsibility with your team, you help yourself and others prevent burnout. When possible, say “yes” to help team members when you are able. By saying “yes” when you are available, you clarify the limits of your boundaries and make yourself a reliable person to go to when your team needs help . Be sure to not cross your boundaries when doing this. Sacrificing your wellbeing is almost never worth it.

Be Mindful of Your Wellbeing

It’s important to avoid feeling guilty when you are setting boundaries at work. Boundaries are there to protect your wellbeing and maintain long-term performance and happiness. Without boundaries, you could experience burnout ; then, you aren’t operating at peak performance which is what helps your team the most. If you feel stressed about saying no or setting these boundaries, consider taking a moment for a walk, deep breath, or make yourself a cup of tea.

Three things you can do to stay mindful of your wellbeing while keeping your boundaries are taking regular breaks, even if they are short, being mindful of how you use technology, and protecting your personal time. Taking breaks will help you recharge and keep you operating at your best all day. Not taking effective breaks can lead to burnout. When taking breaks, don’t bring technology with you. Take a full break from all things (technology included). Consider limiting how often you check your work emails or messages when you are not at work. Outside of emergency situations, try to avoid checking work emails or taking work calls during your personal time. By making a conscious effort to protect your personal time while outside of work, you begin setting boundaries that can help you bring your best to your team when you’re on the clock.

Lookout for Exceptions

We would like to note first that maintaining consistency with your boundaries is of the utmost importance. However, there are exceptions to every rule, and you will need to exercise thoughtfulness when debating whether a situation requires you to cross your established boundaries. Maintaining consistency helps your colleagues understand that you are serious about your boundaries, but being able to acknowledge exceptions shows others that you are also a team player. This is going to look different for everyone, so you will need to decide what is right for you at the moment.

Bottom Line

You will need to regularly review your boundaries and adjust them as needed, considering changes in your personal or professional life. Evolution of boundaries is only natural, and when you recognize a shift occurring in terms of a specific boundary, you might need to affirm yourself by saying, “I know this boundary was different in the past, but this is what I need today and going forward.” By communicating honestly, you help lead by example and demonstrate to your team that it is possible to set and follow healthy boundaries. This is an ongoing process and exceptions may challenge you but remember to keep your wellbeing as your top priority.

Mindfulness In The Work Place

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 03:35:32 GMT

Mindfulness in business consulting

Mindfulness in the Workplace

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Mindfulness in the workplace is becoming increasingly more common and it’s easy to understand why. Practicing mindfulness can help to reduce stress, improve focus, and build positive culture by enhancing personal well-being; when we feel good, we have a positive influence. If you haven’t encountered what mindfulness is, here is a basic definition: Mindfulness is remaining conscious of the present moment as well as one’s own reactions to the present moment. If you would like to incorporate mindfulness into your work routine, look no further! Here are some practical tips for you.

Set an Intention

The purpose of setting an intention is to mindfully create a path for your day; this keeps you on task and guides your actions. Starting your day with an intention helps keep your mind anchored and gives you something to come back to if you start to feel stressed or anxious. Your intention can be a simple phrase or goal, whatever works for you. Some examples are below:

· I intend to finish X project today.

· I intend to be present and focused during all my meetings today.

· I intend to let go of the negativity associated with my failure yesterday and focus on the positive today.

· I intend to be helpful for my team during today’s event.

· I intend to take breaks and practice mindfulness in the workplace today.

Single-Tasking

It’s important to note early when discussing multitasking that we at the “I” in Team series do not believe multitasking is effective. It is our belief that more mistakes are made when multitasking, essentially dissolving the time saved. To practice mindfulness in the workplace, try single-tasking. By focusing on one task at a time, you are able to give it your full, undivided attention. In doing so, you might be able to think of better solutions, notice minute details, and (possibly) be more efficient than if you had decided to multitask. If you have too much work on your plate that drives you to multitask, consider asking for help . Single-tasking will improve the quality of your work.

Meetings

If you would like, you can start meetings with a quick mindfulness exercise to get everyone focused and into the present moment. Two mindfulness exercises that come to mind are taking a few moments for some alternate nostril breathing or you can do a short, guided meditation . In addition to starting your meetings with mindfulness, you can also run your meetings mindfully. Have a meeting schedule laid out and stick to it. Be aware of how much time you allocate to each task to ensure you do not go over the meeting time. This is being mindful of your team’s schedules.

Other Mindful Acts

There are a few other acts you can do to practice mindfulness in the workplace. First, when you take a break from work, consider taking a mindfulness walk. It’s best to do this slowly; focus all of your attention on taking slow steps. Notice how your feet feel, if there is a breeze, the sun on your skin, and any other small details. This is a refreshing way to clear your mind. Second, you can practice mindful eating. Eat slowly and savor each bite. Notice the texture, taste, and smell of your food. Finally, schedule a moment at the end of your day for a mindful reflection. By reflecting on the challenges and successes of your day, you create a sense of closure and transition more easily into personal time .

Bottom Line

Mindfulness is a skill that needs to be developed and practiced consistently. Incorporating small moments of mindfulness in the workplace can positively influence your well-being and productivity, spilling over into your team’s culture and affecting it positively. But beware: When taking a moment to be mindful during a break, you mustn’t work during that break. You must step away from your desk or close your eyes. Do not multitask mindfulness. If you can do this consistently, you will have a new, healthy habit.

Tips to Improve Your Memory

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 17:56:07 GMT

Memory improvement strategies for business consulting

Tips to Improve Your Memory

Hi team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Memory isn’t always guaranteed and it’s something we need to be mindful of. Exercising your brain is just as important as exercising your body, and working to improve your memory is an excellent place to start. Here are some of our top tips to improve your memory.

1) Be mindful of your healthy habits

Being healthy is the number one way to improve and maintain your memory, which is why this tip comes first and is longer than the others. Since being healthy encompasses several aspects of living, evaluating your current habits and setting goals in areas where you may need to improve are excellent ways to boost your brain. Taking care of your health means several things. First, make sure you are getting enough sleep every night. Everyone is a little different, but you should aim for a minimum of 6 hours per night. Sleeping allows your brain to move information into long-term memory and clears away the “tangles” of the day, keeping your mind fresh.

Drink lots of water. There is conflicting research on the minimum amount of water you need every day to avoid dehydration, but my personal rule is one ounce of water per pound I weigh. That may be too much for others, and a more common consensus is about 64 ounces of water per day. Play with it and decide what is best for you or consult your doctor if you have questions. Water helps your blood create more red blood cells, which gives you more energy, which can help with memory. Exercise (and the energy needed for exercise) helps your blood flow throughout your whole body, including the brain .

Be sure to eat well and fuel your body with healthy foods! My two biggest tips for eating healthy are: 1) drink enough water, and 2) eat your vitamins. In case you don’t know, the vitamins that our brain and body need can be found in various food sources, but if you know you aren’t getting enough of a particular vitamin, you can always add a supplement to your diet. Basically, eat lots of fruits and vegetables and eat food diversity. Avoid excessive alcohol and caffeine intake as these substances can inhibit memory retention. Moderation is key. Consider replacing alcohol with sparkling water, and coffee with tea or a coffee-alternative like Dandy Blend (which tastes just like coffee without all the downsides).

2) Use senses, emotions, patterns, and images

Otherwise known as mnemonics, you can use your senses, emotions, and recognized or created patterns or images to improve your memory. Some tips for using your senses are to chew gum, candy, or something small while you are studying or doing something you want to remember. When you get that flavor back into your mouth, your brain will link the flavor to what you want to remember, and it will come back to you much easier. Similarly, you can do the same with scents. For my engagement and wedding, I picked out a special perfume that I only used for those occasions. Now when I smell that perfume, I feel all the beautiful emotions from those days. I do the same for trips! Anyone can do this, not just women. For me, I like getting travel sized perfumes so I can have lots of different scents for different occasions.

You can also use your emotions or feelings to create memories. This isn’t the best route for everyone, but if this method doesn’t work for you, you can use images or patterns instead. The application of using emotions or images is very similar, where you experience something and either save the emotion or the image. When you purposely feel that emotion or look at that image again (even if it’s just in your mind), the memories you attached to it will come back. You can also use rhyming or music to remember something. Have you ever heard a song and it brought you back somewhere, even if it wasn’t a particularly eventful memory? It happens to me a lot.

3) Stay organized

Some people will find this difficult, but being organized is all about habit creation and the will to want to be organized. If your home, office, or notes are cluttered without any system, you may have difficulty remembering tasks or other things. Please understand that if your notes only make sense to you, even if they don’t make sense to anyone else, that is completely okay! They are meant to be a tool for your memory to thrive. You just need your own system that works for you. Keeping your space clean of clutter and unimportant items will help your brain feel that it has more space, too. Being organized can also help to reduce frustration; have specific areas in your home and office for where you put your keys, wallet, shoes, phone, and anything else you need that you may lose if you set it down somewhere randomly.

Bottom Line

If you want to improve your memory, it isn’t always easy, but it’s certainly not impossible. Since everyone is different, different tricks will work for you! But one thing we all have in common is having a body and a brain that needs to be taken care of with good sleep, healthy food, and plenty of water. Take care of yourself so you can live a healthy life with good memories. Try different mnemonics, whether using your senses, emotions, or images to help you remember details. Be sure to keep your environment organized; as within, so without.

How to Politely Interrupt Others

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 17:52:52 GMT

Effective business consulting communication

How to Politely Interrupt Others

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Our Gratitude Group was recently discussing the art of listening and the topic of interrupting others came up. We all interrupt from time to time, sometimes because we are excited or maybe we want to make sure our point gets heard before the person or group moves on to a different conversation. Our consensus was that interruptions are generally rude; however, we wondered how one might politely interrupt others. Interruptions don’t always need to be rude or compulsive, and we are here to help you gain confidence in communication when it’s necessary to politely interrupt.

Reasons for Interrupting Others

There are many reasons why we may want to politely interrupt others. As stated, two of those reasons might be that we are excited, or we are worried that the conversation will move on before we can get our thoughts out. However, if you interrupt out of excitement or desire to speak your mind, be sure that your contribution is valuable. If you don’t have something to say that adds value, it can come across as more rude to those engaged in the conversation (for example, if what you say is off topic or has already been stated).

Another reason might be that you are in a time crunch and need to walk away from that person. The other person should understand if you need to run as we all find ourselves in moments where we don’t have time to chat, but there are polite and impolite ways to leave a conversation before it is naturally finished. You might also find that you need to get the attention of someone who is deep in thought or in conversation with someone else. The key here is to decide if you are going to interrupt or keep moving, but don’t awkwardly hover around and wait. Go for it or walk away!

When to Interrupt

When in conversation, it’s best to avoid interrupting in the middle of someone’s sentence. There are certainly exceptions to this rule, but the best path is to look for an opening to quickly interject. One example might be waiting for whoever is speaking to take a breath. While they pause, you can jump in with a polite phrase to let them know you don’t wish to derail them, but you would like to express your knowledge on the topic. If the speaker doesn’t appear to be taking any pauses, another time that might be beneficial to politely interrupt is at the end of a phrase or sentence. Sometimes it can feel uncomfortable to interject, but there are polite and impolite ways which we list out below!

Polite Phrases

Do you mind if I jump in?
Before we move on, I would like to add…
I’m sorry to interrupt, but…
Would you mind explaining that a little more?
Pardon me [name] …
Excuse me [name] …
That reminds me…
May I interrupt for a moment?
Can I stop you there for a moment?

Impolite Phrases

It’s my turn to talk.
Hold up…
I already said that.
You’re not listening to me.
Be quiet!
Wait a minute!
Clears throat aggressively

Bottom Line

We won’t deny that interrupting others can be uncomfortable, but we hope that you agree that sometimes it is necessary. Whether you need their attention, to leave the conversation, or wish to contribute your point, there is a way to politely interrupt others. Consider your timing and read the room . Above all, when you use polite language and do your best, you can interrupt anyone without feeling guilt or anxiety.

How to Nicely Say No

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 17:47:39 GMT

Business consulting boundaries

How to Nicely Say No

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. There are times when some of us may find that it is difficult to say no; for some, it might always feel impossible to say no! However, always saying yes (even when you want to say no) can deplete your energy and wear you down. Your time and your energy are both precious resources and they should be expended wisely. So, whether your inability to say no stems from a need to please others, avoid disappointing them, or avoid creating conflict, this blog will help you nicely say no.

When to Say No

First, you don’t need a reason to say no. If you don’t want to, then you don’t have to. It’s really as simple as that. But if you’re looking for some other ways to indicate if you should say no, one is if it goes against your values or makes you feel uncomfortable by crossing a boundary. You don’t need to say yes to anything that makes you feel uncomfortable. Another reason to nicely say no is when you are already booked up and don’t have time to spare. Everyone runs into this in their life, so the other person should understand that you can’t make more time for yourself to help them. Remember, time and energy are precious, so don’t overextend yourself or you may find yourself feeling burnt out.

Communicate Directly

When you do say no, if you tend to err on the side of people pleasing, be sure to use direct communication so there is no confusion about your answer. For example, don’t say, “Ask me next month” if you already know that your answer is going to be no. Be honest and state that you don’t want to do it and leave it at that. If you leave room for doubt when you say no, people will continue to ask you and you will have to continue saying no and kicking the can down the road. The objective when you nicely say no is to set your boundary directly. However, if you really do want them to ask you again, don’t shy away from saying they can approach you at a later time. It’s all about being S.M.A.R.T. in your communication and sticking up for yourself.

Different Ways to Nicely Say No

There are some people who will feel uncomfortable just saying “no,” so we have compiled a few alternatives for you here. And while you don’t need to give an excuse for why you are saying no, some may find it comforting to state their reasoning. You can also check out this blog for over 80 additional ways to nicely say no.

You’re so kind to think of me, but I can’t.
My bandwidth is low right now, so I won’t be able to make it work.
I have another commitment so I’ll have to say no.
I’m sorry, but I don’t think that is a good match for me.
I can’t do that right now, but maybe another time.
I’m not comfortable doing that.
The timing isn’t right for me.
I would rather not, but I appreciate you asking me.
Unfortunately, I can’t say yes.
I’ll have to decline.

If others continue to push you even after you have said no, politely ask them to respect your choice and hold your ground. If necessary, leave the conversation or get help if they continue to harass you.

Bottom Line

You shouldn’t have to worry about pleasing others if it takes too much time or energy away from what you have already committed to. Don’t let stress or anxiety pressure you into going against your values or crossing your boundaries. Others should respect your right to nicely say no without any hostility against you, as you should do the same for them. If you communicate directly and honestly, people will know what to expect from you and won’t be as surprised in the future.

How To Ask For Help At Work

Sun, 11 Jun 2023 17:43:44 GMT

Business consulting support

How To Ask For Help At Work

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Sometimes people feel that if they ask for help at work that they are weak or inadvertently admitting that they are a failure. However, this is far from true! When you ask for help, you show humility and build positive team culture through inclusion of strengths that differ from yours. We have some steps that can make asking for help much easier. Check them out below if you are new to admitting you need others to help you accomplish your tasks.

Step 1: Make a List

Before approaching someone on your team with your problem, make a list of all the solutions you have tried (and make sure you have actually done them). This means you want to exhaust all your options prior to asking for help at work. Search your shared drives for information and ask your favorite search engine. Even simple solutions that seem obvious are worth trying. By making a list of what you have done, you demonstrate that you have put effort in and you eliminate those options when approaching someone for further assistance.

Step 2: Decide Who to Ask

Not everyone on your team will have the skills or knowledge to help you with your specific problem. This is why choosing the right person is vital to getting your problem solved. You may even decide to have a backup in case your first choice is busy or unable to help you find a solution. After you’ve decided who is appropriate to ask for help, be sure to time your inquiry appropriately. Ask if they have a moment or if they have a time that might be best for them.

Step 3: Stay Engaged

The point of asking for help is to learn so you gain more tools for facing problems in the future. What you don’t want to do is dump your problem on a colleague and then leave while they solve it for you. Doing this is more like delegation rather than asking for help. Stay engaged and listen to learn .

Step 4: Stay Open-minded

Asking for help can be difficult sometimes and you may find that the solutions your team member offers are different than what you expected. Rather than shooting them down, try everything they suggest and see if they are correct. This will require you to stay open-minded to the solutions you are offered.

Step 5: Document the Solution

Once you have found the solution to your problem, log that solution for use at a later date. This will help you remember and will give you a tool to try next time you are faced with an issue.

If and when you choose to ask for help at work, avoid creating a narrative that you are weak or don’t deserve the help. Asking for help from others is what makes you strong and it can help build a positive company culture as you learn more about the strengths your teammates have. Someone will be able to help you, it’s just a matter of finding the right person. And don’t forget to be thankful and show your gratitude towards your team members for giving you their time and assistance!

How to Hold Yourself Accountable

Mon, 01 May 2023 18:52:23 GMT

Accountability in business consulting

How to Hold Yourself Accountable

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. A topic that came up in our team’s Gratitude Group a few weeks ago was accountability. Technically, we were talking about holding each other accountable and how we do that as a group; however, born from this conversation was the topic of self-accountability. Essentially, we felt that holding each other accountable can only go so far as a key part of that accountability is the accountability you have to yourself. The conversation lulled and the seed was planted for this blog to be written. You may wonder how you hold yourself accountable, and we will outline a few ways here!

What does it mean to hold yourself accountable?

When you hold yourself accountable, you are being responsible with and for your life. You know when to admit your failures and don’t blame them on others, and you are humble about your successes and recognize those that help you. Being accountable means understanding that your life is in your hands. You control yourself; this means you control your thoughts, actions, emotions, goals, and more.

Review Your Communication

How you talk to yourself (and subsequently others) signifies how well you are able to hold yourself accountable. And if you want to be more accountable, you need to examine the language you use. Changing your mindset can help you gain the courage needed to take control of your life. Remove laissez-faire language from your communication style , including “might” and “should/would.” Replace with concrete language, such as “will” and “must.” Changing your words to be more concrete can help give you the boost you need to stay accountable to your actions, set goals, and more. Language is more important than many realize, and starting here will help you hold yourself accountable.

Find a Routine that Works for You

Now, not everyone thrives on a routine, but many do. And you’ll never know if you do or don’t unless you try it. Many who love their routine find that it helps them stay accountable to themselves because the routine they have developed provides them a platform to take care of themselves. When you take care of yourself, it can make holding yourself accountable much easier. Being mentally and physically healthy prepares you for this. Additionally, a routine will help you understand how much time you have in your day to get your work done, which leads to our third tip.

Develop Time Management Skills

If you wish to hold yourself accountable, you must understand how much time you have in the day and utilize it to its fullest. Developing time management skills helps you identify how long certain tasks will take you and block out your day. This way, you know what to expect from yourself in the day. Of course, exceptions happen, and your day may be thrown off sometimes, but don’t cater to the exceptions. Time management skills allow you to have enough time to care for yourself, do your work, and have free time.

Bottom Line

Holding yourself accountable doesn’t have to be scary or abrasive, and doing so will increase your positive influence toward yourself and others. There are consequences to not holding yourself accountable, including eroding the trust others have in you. You must care for yourself by reviewing your language, setting a routine, and developing time management skills. With just these three simple things, you can improve your ability to hold yourself accountable in no time.

Spring Cleaning Your Routines: 10 Morning and Evening Routines That Will Help You Win the Day

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 08:00:00 GMT

Business consulting routines

By: Billy Banks

It’s a new quarter. The days are getting longer. April showers are soon to turn into May flowers. And yet, you just hit the snooze button for the third day running. Now, instead of easing through the morning, you have twenty minutes to wolf down breakfast, throw on some clothes, and get settled at your desk for the first of several back-to-back Zoom calls. It’s not even 8am and you’re already feeling overwhelmed and playing from behind. To top it off, you’re also feeling burnt out because you know that the stack of To Dos in front of you is now going to stretch into the weekend.

You’ve tried going to bed earlier. You’ve tried squeezing in a workout over your lunch break. You’ve tried the Pomodoro technique, time blocking, bullet journaling, inbox zero. Nothing has worked. Nothing has stuck for more than a few weeks. Tops. Why? Because these solutions are merely hacks on a system that has gone haywire. It’s time to try doing something new; to build on top of something that you can anchor to – it’s time to build a routine.

“Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition.” – W.H. Auden

Having a morning and evening routine sets you up for success. They help you to automate certain tasks, help you to think and plan better, and enable you to get more done with less effort. By doing so, you’ll get the important stuff checked off timely and have a chance to enjoy more time during your week ahead. Building a routine requires discipline. It takes deliberate effort to show up, keep pushing and build the muscle. And the very act of repeatedly showing up helps sharpen the saw. As you continue to show up, you can add other skills to your routine to boost your productivity and mental health. But before we dive into that, let’s step back and delve into the world of routines and take a look at why they are important.

What are Routines?

A routine is a series of actions that you do repeatedly. Often, these actions occur on a subconscious level, without you being fully aware of them. For example, in the evenings, some of us brush our teeth, wash our faces, change into our pajamas, and get into bed. That’s a routine. Waking up at 5am to work out, then shower, and eat breakfast is an example of a morning routine. Waking up, scrolling through our social media feeds, walking the dog, and then grabbing a cup of coffee as we head out the door, is another example of a morning routine. Routines are, simply put, a series of actions that you repeat in your life at regular time intervals. A routine can be a collection of actions that you do daily or weekly, monthly or annually – if you do it time and again, it’s a routine. In and of themselves, routines are neither good nor bad. They are merely habitual actions that occur in a given timeframe. To level up, we should practice becoming aware of our routines, bringing them forward into our conscious mind, and then by adding positive actions, we can make them powerful.

Thyla Twarp, author of The Creative Habit , writes about one of the secrets of her success.

“I begin each day of my life with a ritual,” she writes. “I wake up at 5:30 A.M., put on my workout clothes, my leg warmers, my sweatshirts, and my hat. I walk outside my Manhattan home, hail a taxi, and tell the driver to take me to the Pumping Iron gym at 91st street and First Avenue, where I work out for two hours.
It’s a simple act, but doing it the same way each morning habitualizes it—makes it repeatable, easy to do. It reduces the chance that I would skip it or do it differently. It is one more item in my arsenal of routines, and one less thing to think about.”

The key here is that Thyla makes her actions repeatable. She follows the same series of steps every morning. It becomes automatic. It puts her in an optimal state of mind to start the day. As James Clear says, “The key to any good ritual is that it removes the need to make a decision: What should I do first? When should I do this? How should I do this? Most people never get moving because they can’t decide how to get started. Having a ritual takes that burden off your shoulders.”

If you listen to Tim Ferriss or any other podcast that discusses the habits of successful people, almost all of them will cite their morning and evening routines as keys to their success. Whether it’s a single act or a series of steps, the ritual of repeated behaviors provides the cue to their brains that it’s time to either power up or power down. And anyone experienced in creating routines will also tell you that it took them a lot of experimentation to figure out what works best for them and that once they locked it in, success tended to follow.

How do Routines Work?

Our brains are information filtering machines. We cannot possibly absorb all of the inputs that are fed into our brains on a daily basis. To overcome this overload, our brains create shortcuts. Often these shortcuts become habits. It’s like putting our brain on autopilot so we can perform other tasks. Think of the last time you drove home from the store. You’ve done it so many times, you don’t have to think about it. Next thing you know, you are pulling into your garage. If someone asked you about what you saw – the cars you passed, how many lights were red, you’d most likely be stumped. You were on autopilot. Building routines harnesses the power of habit formation to remove decision fatigue and put us in an automatic state saving some of our time and energy for more important things.

According to James Clear in his book Atomic Habits , habit formation works like this:

First, there is a cue . Our brain is continually surveying your internal and external environment for hints about where potential rewards may be lurking. Cues trigger our brain to initiate a behavior to seek out that reward – it could be triggered by a smell, an image, a sound. For me, when I hear my alarm clock, I know it’s time to get up, go downstairs, and workout.

Second, the craving . This is the motivation behind each one of your habits. Every craving is linked to a desire to change your internal state – to seek out and obtain the feeling that it delivers. Like the flooding of dopamine following a workout, a massage, or having sex. In this case, I crave the feeling of getting my blood pumping and listening to music to start my day.

Next, the response . This is the actual habit or action you perform. Its successful occurrence is a function of the friction between craving and doing and your ability to actually do the task at hand. While I desire to workout, I’ve learned that to make it easier, I plan ahead by putting my workout clothes, headphones, and glass of water in the basement where I exercise. No other decisions are required. Just go.

Lastly, the reward . This is the end goal of every habit. The dopamine hit. The endorphins. The satisfaction or conversely, the lessening of stress or anxiety. After working out, I’m awake. I feel invigorated and ready to tackle the day.

If your behavior is insufficient in any of these four stages, it won’t become a habit. Eliminate the cue and your habit won’t start. Reduce the craving and you lessen the motivation to act. Increase the friction and you won’t be able to do it. And if the reward doesn’t satisfy like a Snickers ^® bar, then you’ll have no reason to try it again in the future. As James Clear said, “without the first three steps, a behavior will not occur. Without all four, a behavior will not be repeated.”

To learn more about habit formation, I strongly encourage you to read Atomic Habits by James Clear. Until then, we can take what we’ve discussed here and explore different routines that you can add to your evenings and/or mornings to set yourself up to win the day.

5 Evening Routines That Will Help You Win the Next Day

Morning routines are powerful and where most of us start. But I’m going to argue that if you truly want to win the day, it starts the night before. It’s an opportunity to calm your mind and set yourself up for the next day. And equally important, it helps set you up for a better night’s sleep. Here are some evening routines you can explore to improve your sleep and prepare for tomorrow.

Too often, we only focus on what we still have left to do. This creates anxiety and causes our minds to race. But here’s a chance to rewrite the script. To end the day on a positive note by reflecting on what you did do. By reviewing what went well, it lowers our stress levels and gives us a greater sense of calm at night.

There are a variety of ways to do this. You can hand write them in a journal or keep a log in a digital format. I use the following prompts and it typically takes me about 5-minutes each night to reflect on the day as it comes to a close:

Another great way to put yourself in the right state of mind is to write down things that you are grateful for. Your routine might include expressing gratitude for one thing, or it might involve multiple expressions of gratitude. Whether you write one, or five, if you take the time to record these thoughts regularly, it will become a routine.

Dwight Eisenhower is noted for saying, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” In other words, having a plan ahead of time allows you to be better prepared for when things change. Better yet, when you take time to plan your next day, you know exactly what you need to do first and can prioritize accordingly.

Also known as eating the frog , you identify your most important tasks and then block out the time needed to do those first. By attacking these items before the distractions and interruptions of the day start to pile up, you can save yourself headaches later on. An added benefit of doing this the night before is that you prime your subconscious for action while you sleep. When you wake up the next morning, you’ll find that you wake up with new ideas about how to tackle the problem or task at hand.

Write down your three most important tasks to complete the next day. Schedule them in your calendar being sure to protect the first item. By focusing on these three items, you will find you get more done and can handle the distractions that are inherent in our busy world.

When it comes to sleep, the blue light emitted by all of our favorite technological devices can wreak havoc. It’s good practice to turn those screens off at least 30-60 minutes before going to bed. Instead of scrolling, which only activates our brains, I recommend reading some fiction. Reading a book is a great way to power down and immerse yourself in the world of story. It also enhances your vocabulary and creativity and may help to unlock insights in your subconscious while you sleep.

The key here is to minimize the decisions you need to make during the morning hours. Think of every decision you need to make in the morning – what to wear, whether you need an umbrella, what you will eat for lunch – as things that take both time and energy. By doing some advanced planning the night before, you save on both which gives you back that energy and time for other tasks.

Here’s a list of things that you can do the night before that will help set you up for an efficient tomorrow: Lay out the clothes that you’re going to wear. Pack your gym bag. Make your lunch. Prep the coffeemaker. Pack your work bag with everything you’ll need. If you have kids, help teach them to plan ahead by picking out their outfits and preparing their backpacks so that everyone can get out of the house without frantically running around.

The final key to a successful evening routine is going to bed at the same time. Every night. This action primes your brain for relaxation and makes falling asleep much easier. Waking up at the same time each morning is the critical second piece. In time, you’ll find you don’t need an alarm clock. Your body finds its own rhythm based on your consistency.

In addition to going to bed at the same time every night, keep screens out of your bedroom. When you read, do it in another room so that your brain associates the bed with sleeping. Make sure your room is as dark as possible, even a small amount of light can prove to be disruptive. Finally, experts agree that you get better, higher quality sleep in a cooler environment. Ideally, your bedroom temperature should be between 62-66°F.

5 Morning Routines That Will Help You Win Today

Depending on what you want to accomplish, there’s a wide variety of things you can do as part of your morning routine. You shouldn’t attempt to do them all and should remember that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you. The key is to experiment in order to find a routine that works for you. I’ve tried and cycled through a lot of them. Here are the ones that have stuck for me.

When I was younger, I was a night owl. As I got older and especially once I had kids, this no longer worked. What did work was waking up before the rest of my household and using that time to execute my routine and start my day. Sitting down at my desk, flicking on my mood lamp, all the while, the rest of the house and much of the world still sound asleep, sawing logs. I am always amazed by how much I can get done when the world around me is quiet.

How you choose to use this time is up to you. My advice is to put the oxygen mask on yourself first. Use the time to help nurture your soul. Whether you decide to journal, meditate, exercise, go for a walk, set your intentions for the day, the time is yours. For others, this may be the ideal time to knock out your emails so you can be focused and present for your meetings and other work. For others, this may be the time to do your most creatively challenging work – writing that article, working on that presentation – when your mind is most focused and distractions are near zero, you may find that this style of productivity puts your mind at ease.

However you choose to spend your time, the one thing you are sure to find is the satisfaction of taking advantage of this time to put a major boost in your productivity. You will start the day with a sense of accomplishment, without feeling rushed, and with a growing readiness to tackle whatever the day sends your way.

I’ll admit, this one took me awhile to fully adopt. Lots of fits and starts. I tried a number of different techniques and tools. What I eventually learned is that taking as little as 5-10 minutes to either meditate or focus on my breathing is an excellent transition from sleep to my next morning routine activity – journaling. What changed things for me was guided meditation. The sound of someone else’s voice guiding me through the practice and helping me when I got distracted helped this activity become habit.

I recommend trying an app versus doing it solo. Headspace, Calm, Waking Up and Peloton (amongst others) all offer a variety of guided meditations with different interval lengths. Find the style and format that suits you best. Start small – just 5 minutes – and then, over time, increase your time to 10 minutes, and then add more if it fits your schedule. If you are interested in learning about different breathing techniques, I highly recommend the book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art , by James Nestor.

For me, meditation is like priming. When I open my eyes up at the end of my meditation time, I feel ready to begin my next activity – journaling.

Now that I’m awake and primed from my morning meditation, I am ready to open my journal. Once here, there are a few things I like to do. Sometimes, I do a brain dump, writing down thoughts as they pass through my mind. This strategy is especially useful and appealing when there is something vexing me or giving me undue worry. The act of getting it all out of my head and onto the paper in front of me helps me see new ways of dealing with or solving the underlying issue.

Goals. By planning your day the night before, your brain was working while you slept. Rewriting my goals once morning is upon me activates this activity and from time to time, leads to a breakthrough – a new way of seeing something that I hadn’t considered before.

Other times, I will practice gratitude by writing down three things that I am grateful for. Research continues to expound on the science and benefits of gratitude . Studies have shown the benefits of expressing gratitude have wide-ranging effects, from improving relationships and emotional health, to benefitting your sleep, mental energy levels, and overall happiness.

Get moving. We all know the benefits of exercise, especially starting our day with it. Exercising in the morning increases blood flow, releases endorphins, and boosts your metabolism. It gets you ready and primed for the coming day, increases your overall energy levels, helps you sleep, and keeps you healthy.

The best part, you don’t need to have a “go big or go home” mentality. If you can’t make it to a gym, you can go for a walk, or do some light yoga or stretching, or go on YouTube to find all kinds of home workouts that help you start your day. It’s better to get 10-15 minutes of heart-healthy exercise in the morning than nothing all day.

Another great benefit of working out early is that you’re more likely to eat a healthy breakfast and stay active throughout the day. Which leads to the final item on the list.

Now that you’ve worked out, your body wants to stay on that high so what you put into it afterwards really matters. That means your first meal of the day should be rich with nutrients like protein and carbs. These help with muscle recovery and with replacing their glycogen stores or energy.

The best things to eat, preferably within an hour or two of exercising:

These nutrient dense foods will give you energy, and they will also fill you up so you’re less likely to snack later. Instead of food cravings or energy sinks, you are now ready to tackle the day with a newfound clarity and focus.

Bringing it home

Many of us live our lives in reactive mode. We wake up, hit the snooze button or grab our phones and start scrolling. We’ve ceded our attention and focus to someone else’s agenda. As a result, we feel rushed and busy before we’ve even started our day. We rush to get ready, and at times, barely even acknowledge our loved ones as we race out the door or down to our home office.

Our whole day is reflective of the way in which we start it. The whole purpose of setting up winning routines for your evenings and mornings is to get out of survival mode. To get back into the driver’s seat and to begin doing the things we say we want to do but don’t have the time for.

The above are merely suggestions. Use some, or none, or all of them. Find what works for you. Experiment. The key is picking a few things that work for you and then being consistent. Consistency is what lets those efforts compound. As they compound, the activities become automatic.

Take advantage of the arrival of spring. Give yourself the space in the evenings and in the mornings to orient yourself and get ready for what lies ahead. Build these powerful routines and watch your efforts compound. Slowly at first, but then, as you shift from reactive to proactive mode, watch as you get more done, are more connected to others, and feel better physically and emotionally. Having routines removes stress and helps you start the day on the right foot.

The post Spring Cleaning Your Routines: 10 Morning and Evening Routines That Will Help You Win the Day appeared first on IA Business Advisors .

Avoid Burning Bridges Due to Overreaction

Fri, 14 Apr 2023 17:33:47 GMT

Business consulting conflict resolution

Avoid Burning Bridges Due to Overreaction

Hi, team! It’s your friends, Brian and Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. One topic we cover in our new book, Positive Influence: Be the “I” in Team , is pitfalls, and burning bridges due to overreaction is a huge pitfall. Though not in every case, one of the common byproducts of overreaction is, in fact, burned bridges. Burning a bridge means moving on with your life and severing all ties with someone so they no longer affect you. It means that, regardless of what that person may do, you will never again extend an option for them to benefit from you in any way—and vice versa.

Overreaction can cause us to burn a bridge with someone, or it may cause someone to burn a bridge with us. Either way, burning bridges is a huge pitfall and can affect our influence for the rest of our lives. Many of us have been told to never burn a bridge, and it’s a good piece of wisdom. Burning bridges isn’t the best way to go about dealing with issues. Although, some exceptions do apply, which we will cover here.

Why do we burn bridges?

There are bridges in life that will need to be burned , sometimes just for your emotional, psychological, or physical health, and other times for the health of your organization. When you burn a bridge, you are shedding a burden for good. That is the final act that severs all ties and eliminates the burden. If you find that you are consistently returning to thoughts of the bridge that was burned, then you did not burn the bridge effectively, or that bridge may not have needed to be burned.

The reasons for burning bridges are as numerous and complex as humans. They are unique to what that person values , wants, and perceives. Burning a bridge is a very personal decision, one made through the lens of our experiences, making the decision subjective to each of us. While there is no simple formula, the path to burning a bridge should be made thoughtfully and not out of pure emotion. It is ill-advised to make impactful decisions like cutting ties when the wounds are fresh. Give yourself some time to think and weigh the value of your decision.

We also recognize that while burning bridges can be a positive decision, it’s not always a positive experience. The pitfall is that burnt bridges occur when we set up situations that enable them to be burnt. Acknowledging burnt bridges allows us to identify if there is something within us that makes burning bridges possible. While we may be the ones burning the bridge, we too should reflect about how we contributed to the need for the burning.

Moving On

There are also risks involved with burning bridges. While burning a bridge can eliminate a burden or other issue that is negatively affecting you or your organization, there may be emotional or social repercussions, or “scars”, that can affect how you behave in or think of future relationships. When we burn a bridge, we create a need to fill the void created. Whether that is a friendship or a business partner, we will look to fill the hole in our lives after we have removed someone from it.

The effect of having to fill the gap can trigger several other pitfalls . We may make assumptions about how others will treat us or what capabilities are necessary to support our growth. We may overreact to new situations based solely on our past experiences. We may take newcomers for granted instead of working to develop a relationship with them. We may make these choices because the fear of having to burn another bridge is a possibility that we may find difficult to face.

Remaining Composed

Burning bridges may feel good as we burn them, but it is a pitfall for a reason. In the end, it is not an advantage (not always, at least). Knowing how to refrain from burning a bridge and moving on in a different way is one of the most advantageous paths we can take to move forward. The best way to avoid burning a bridge is to keep your composure. When we act unprofessionally (which is usually part of an overreaction), make assumptions about intentions, or jump to conclusions, we are setting ourselves up for failure. We must remain composed with open communication to work through the small issues, so they don’t build up into larger issues.

We may need to take the high road to avoid burning a bridge. It may not be fun, but sometimes it’s better to just let things go in order to save something for down the road. We need to take accountability for our part in the issues we are facing and try to understand the perspective of the other person. It is possible that we are to blame for the want to burn this bridge; it is a difficult pill to swallow and may be difficult to even consider, but in the heat of the moment, maintaining composure is incredibly important. Emotions don’t allow us to see a picture fully or clearly.

Be ready to be accountable for your actions and adopt a humbler approach toward rectifying the issue. This final attempt to stop a bridge from being burned may require sacrifice on your end. You must ask yourself if it is worth it. You must decide if whatever you have to sacrifice is worth saving the friendship or partnership. Sometimes the ends do justify the means. The positive aspect of this is that you can control the means.

Bottom Line

In the end, you cannot control what other people do. You must do what is best for yourself and those around you. Your influence should be your top priority because you always want to have a positive influence. Sometimes that means changing your approach toward solving a problem if someone is trying to burn a bridge with you. Sometimes it means being the one to burn a bridge with other people. Only you can decide what is right for you, but do so without overreaction in a composed and humble headspace.

Using Structure for Accountability

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 08:00:00 GMT

Business consulting accountability strategies

Hi, team! It’s your friends, Brian and Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Many people in IA’s leadership development program and the “I” in Team series tell us that they can’t (or don’t know how to) hold people accountable without being aggressive; others say they don’t like confrontation. Many more feel that accountability is negative. We are here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be. In fact, for most organizations, it’s easy to use structure for accountability. We would venture as far as to say that structure cannot be maintained without accountability.

Structure and Accountability

We will give you a quick definition of what structure and accountability are to ensure the positivity of these two things is communicated concisely. Structure is what holds your organization together. It’s the processes, policies, and procedures , the documents that ensure accuracy and consistency. Accountability is a tool that is used to correct and enhance behaviors while ensuring responsibility is maintained. When used together, they become a powerful tool to ensure all team members (present and future) uphold the image and culture of the organization.

Accountability is Positive

Contrary to many opinions, accountability can be amazingly positive. Holding people accountable and wanting to be held accountable allows us to reach level five of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (self-actualization and self-fulfillment), where we can strive to be our best. When we hold ourselves and others accountable, it’s not only kind, but it’s vital to the strength of the organization. If leaders don’t hold others accountable, then there is no point in having a structure in place. Using structure for accountability is vital to the success of any business.

Organizations with a high level of accountability develop an environment and culture where trust is built as the employee–employer relationship matures. People like to know what the consequences are; by understanding the structures in place and knowing they will be held accountable, people are more comfortable and trust their organization. We have found that many individuals simply do not know how to hold others accountable. This can create a negative environment full of tension.

Tactics

The wrong way to hold people accountable is to bark at them about what they did wrong. This is not constructive and doesn’t help your team learn how to move forward or how to avoid making the same mistakes in the future. The best way to hold people accountable is to approach them openly and positively with clear communication . Having clear communication about what went wrong and offering steps to fix the issue usually gives leaders and employees, or peers, a positive interaction in accountability. The key to successful, and ultimately positive, accountability is to be honest and offer help if needed. Give them the benefit of the doubt and aid them in learning how to operate within the structure.

Bottom Line

We have found that this approach towards accountability serves multiple functions. It resolves the issue in a positive way, teaches the person who may have caused the issue to slow down when moving forward, and creates an opportunity for everyone influenced by the issue to experience how issues can be resolved. By using structure for accountability, we can influence positive change for our teams moving forward.

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The Importance of Diversity in Organizations

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 08:00:00 GMT

Diversity in business consulting

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. In honor of Black History Month (and in the spirit of fostering growth and inclusion for all types of diversity), our team decided to put together our thoughts on the importance of diversity in organizations. While this blog will certainly not highlight all the ways in which diversity is important, it will help outline the basics. Should you be curious and wish to dive deeper into the topic of diversity in your organization, one of the best resources is Harvard Business Review’s section on Race, Equity, and Power at Work .

Support Growth

One of the number one reasons why diversity in organizations is so vital is because there are numerous types of diversity that must be celebrated, and, in doing so, you bring valuable insight into your team. With diversity supported, you promote growth within your organization by ensuring fresh ideas are constantly circulating, people engage in healthy discussions that support personal and professional development, and you put yourself ahead of the competition. To provide a simple example, let’s look at food. If you lack food diversity, you don’t get all the vitamins and minerals you need, your tastebuds will probably get lonely, and you will eventually burnout from boredom. However, if you can eat a diverse array of foods and celebrate those foods, then you keep your body running in optimal condition, your tastebuds are happy and look forward to eating, and you won’t have to worry about boredom creeping up and creating a stale environment.

It sounds like a silly comparison (food to people), but it’s an easy way that we can understand why diversity is so valuable to the growth of an organization. Since organizations are considered entities, they must be treated and nourished as such. And the best entities take in, celebrate, and enjoy the diversity of humanity. Organizations will not only realize increased innovation and creativity from their diverse teams, but they will also quickly see an increased bottom line . So not only is fostering diversity in organizations what is best for the community, but it is also best for the longevity of the company. However, it is vitally important to understand that diversity will not simply happen because you have differing people and minds on your team. Diversity will not stay or grow if inclusion is not a core tenant of the company’s culture.

Fostering Inclusion

Building diversity in organizations will likely not be possible if your team lacks the ability to be inclusive, but what does inclusion mean? What does it look like? In the simplest terms, inclusion is about treating people as people rather than treating them as objects. By this we mean that you foster compassion, communication, and a desire to understand that every other person on this Earth is just as valuable as you are. People all have their own dreams, wants, and desires; they are just like you and me. When we treat people as people, we see them as equal to us and extend our compassion toward them. This opposes seeing people as objects, where we see people as pawns to our plan and refuse to see them as someone who is just like us (meaning, they are also a human being).

Fostering inclusion on your team isn’t about being perfect; it’s about creating positive connections that build trust. Will you make mistakes at times? Yes. But this is normal and should not deter you from trying to hold compassion for yourself and others. We are all human, which means we are all imperfect and make mistakes. The best ways to foster inclusion are to have a growth mindset and be open to having new experiences, learn from different perspectives, and help others to feel valued, heard, and appreciated for their contribution. We all want to feel like we are respected for being ourselves, regardless of how we may look or sound or by what makes us diverse in ways that others may not be able to see. One of the most important aspects of fostering inclusion in the workplace is having leaders who support building positive culture.

Positive Culture

Culture is people ; it is propelled by how each individual member acts toward themselves and others. This is ultimately led and demonstrated by the leaders of the company. While anyone can ultimately strive to build a positive culture in their organization, it’s typically the people who others look up to that will set the tone. Unfortunately, if leaders don’t take it upon themselves to actively build a positive culture, the culture will be left to build itself. This typically turns out poorly.

However, if you strive to build a positive culture that fosters inclusion and diversity in your organization, then you will see innumerable benefits for all stakeholders. Employees will have better performance, productivity, satisfaction, engagement, and motivation (with decreased turnover). It can also help to attract top talent and instill a positive reputation within your community, as well as increase shareholder value .

Bottom Line

The importance of diversity in organizations should not be overlooked. If you want to be a proponent of the beauty of humanity (diversity), it starts with you and how you treat those around you. Diversity will increase the likelihood of your organization’s success for the foreseeable future as you bring together great minds for collaboration. You will get the best out of all your people if you make them feel included, appreciated, and valued for their contribution to the team, rather than making them feel judged. This all starts with a positive culture propelled by leaders and adopted by the rest of the team.

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Poor Justification in Business

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 08:00:00 GMT

Business consulting strategies

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the “I” in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Welcome to 2023! Let’s start this fresh chapter off on the right foot and discuss something that happens frequently in business: Justification for poor actions. Justification in itself is not always a bad thing, but if it is used to avoid accountability or to excuse poor behavior, then it is not a positive. Poor justification in business can destroy even the sturdiest of relationships, and, in rare cases, dismantle an entire organization.

Being a Leader

Justification in business is used daily. Most circumstances are controllable, and those that aren’t are an exception to the rule. For example, if you miss a deadline and don’t communicate prior to missing the deadline that you don’t have the bandwidth to achieve the deadline, you will have to justify why you missed the deadline and that excuse will likely not be justifiable. However, communicating prior to missing the deadline in order to make your goals S.M.A.R.T. avoids the need to justify and ensures team members all remain on the same page.

Businesses rely on the ability of their employees, contractors, and vendors to perform. If you find these people justifying their actions when they fail to do what they have promised, you allow justifications to stand unquestioned which can degrade culture. Communication is key , and there are always exceptions to the rule. You must identify when these justifications are legitimate or if someone is just trying to get out of accountability. Allowing employees, contractors, and vendors to underperform by accepting their justifications without question impacts your entire organization.

As a leader, part of your job is pointing out that X circumstance or Y claim is not your problem and should not become your problem (unless it is an exception to the rule). By accepting justifications, you are making their problem your problem. Consequently, you will now have to justify your company’s inability to perform to someone else, and you may be the one who loses the sale/customer/relationship because of another person’s actions. This is where your leadership is applied. The sooner you can eliminate the use of justification in business to cover up for poor performance, the sooner you will be able to amend the negative process and provide a positive experience for your team and customers.

Real Life Example

This example is written directly from Brian Smith , co-author of the “I” in Team series.

To give you an example of this, one of our companies has seasonal products that are planned out in advance of each season. One of our vendors, who is our manufacturer/supplier for a certain product, has been aware of our seasonal trends and needs since 2010. In 2015, this vendor missed a key delivery date during our busy season, putting us and our customers at risk. He justified missing his delivery date by blaming his suppliers. However, he failed to communicate to his suppliers that his business was growing and would have more demands. Instead, our vendor decided to burden all his clients with poor planning by altering his manufacturing schedule and not communicating this to anyone.

As COO of the company, I was notified within three days of the vendor missing his delivery deadline. Upon review, I noted that we had placed our typical order at our typical time and were not notified about any delays. I also found out that this vendor had missed several delivery dates in the nine months before this incident. I didn’t find out about the other missed deadlines because our team willingly participated in this vendor’s justification, choosing to uphold personal relationships instead of policies and procedures. After learning this had been going on for nine months, we decided it was time to find a new, reliable vendor.

By early summer, we secured a new vendor. We toured the plant and determined that this company ran at a sustained and planned capacity that ensured sales fluctuations would not interfere with our regularly needed production runs. In July 2015, we placed our first order with our new vendor. They delivered on time and as anticipated. We ceased all further purchase orders to the previous vendor.

Two weeks later, our previous vendor attempted to deliver the order we canceled that was over a month late. His justification for ignoring our cancelation was that we committed to order through the end of summer, to which I responded that our commitment was based on timely delivery and meeting our anticipated demands. I told him that repeated missed delivery dates and violations of his part of our agreement superseded our commitment to buy a certain amount of product through the season. Today, that vendor’s company ceases to exist.

Bottom Line

Justifications for poor behavior, communication, or performance won’t always take down an entire enterprise, but they can. You must rely on your positive leadership skills and company culture to steer your employees, contractors, and vendors to use communication rather than justification in business. Justifications should be used sparingly, when they are the exceptions to the rule, rather than “the dog ate my homework” kind of stuff. Hold your team accountable for their actions and inactions to ensure you avoid instilling justification into your company’s culture.

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The Importance of S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 18:31:00 GMT

Individual Development

As we’ve stepped into the new year, we have had all this talk about goal setting and making sure its S.M.A.R.T. but why is that important? Why is applying S.M.A.R.T. to your goal setting important for success? This year we will give you all the tools you need to make sure that your goals don’t become a failure of the past that you have to try again in 2024.

Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals

First, we set our S.M.A.R.T. Goals making sure all our goals were specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Applying S.M.A.R.T. to your goals keeps us on track to achieve them but, it also let us know that our goals can be modified if they need to be to fit our needs. It’s vital to apply S.M.A.R.T to your goals otherwise you can lose sight of what you’re working towards.

Goal setting may seem easy but it’s also important to reflect on past failures to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes twice. To move forward we must reflect on the past and understand past errors. For more on reflecting on past goals to move forward read our related blog using the link below.

Related blog: Reflecting on the Past to Create Future Goals

Why All Your Goals Should be S.M.A.R.T.

Goals are part of every aspect of life, personal goals and career goals all provide us with a sense of direction. When you set a goal, you are working towards bettering yourself with a target to aim for. Making your goal S.M.A.R.T. guides you to hitting that target without missing! Often individuals set themselves up for failure when they set goals that are unrealistic and has no sense of direction. S.M.A.R.T. goals set you up for success because it makes your goals more organized.

Finding Success in 2023

There is more to success than just making a list of things you want to achieve and hoping for the best. Creating S.M.AR.T. goals gives you a game plan. Asking yourself important questions: who is involved in this goal? How will I know I have reached my goal? Do I have the resources to achieve this goal? Does this goal match my other efforts and needs? And most importantly does my goal have a deadline?

Sitting down and applying S.M.A.R.T. to all your goals this year can ensure your success in 2023. It’s important to understand, that all your goals will be easier to achieve once they have been analyzed and you don’t give up. Success in 2023 will be effortless this year if you apply S.M.A.R.T. to your goals.

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Lookout for Cultural Pitfalls

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 08:00:00 GMT

Cultural pitfalls in business consulting

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the I in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. When you’re working on building your organization’s culture, you will undoubtedly come across several pitfalls. When you think of pitfalls, imagine the unforeseen circumstances that have set you back in the past. These can be things like procrastination or negativity; they are challenges you must overcome. Pitfalls are natural to every situation in life, and it’s important that you work to recognize when and how they occur in order to avoid them in the future. This means that, as a leader, you must be on the lookout for cultural pitfalls.

In the Box

One major pitfall on any team is placing yourself or others in a box and rejecting any information that exists outside that box. This can also look like confirmation bias, holding your beliefs so close that any information you receive that doesn’t align with those beliefs is immediately dismissed. For example, one way teams can be in the box that we see regularly is with political affiliation. When you choose to place yourself into a box, it’s hard to see the viewpoints of anything outside that box. The pitfall of labeling ourselves can make it difficult to have productive or positive conversations. What could be thoughtful conversation can quickly turn ugly and degrade team culture. As the leader, you must lookout for cultural pitfalls such as these so seeds of negativity and rejection are not sown on your team .

Taking People for Granted

Another pitfall that can prohibit the growth of positive culture is taking people for granted. Nobody wants to be taken for granted, as everyone wants to be recognized for their efforts. If they are left feeling disrespected or undervalued, negative feelings will grow and fester and you will likely experience high turnover. Taking people for granted can be something as simple as failing to thank them for performing tasks for you or going above and beyond, to something more serious such as emotional manipulation or bullying . Taking people for granted will quickly degrade positive cultures and can lead to several issues, including absenteeism or theft.

Delegation

Don’t get me wrong, delegation can be used as a positive tool for propelling culture; however, it can also lead to taking people for granted if we don’t follow proper delegation protocols. When used properly, delegation can help your team become more responsible and thoughtful. Proper delegation is a learning experience that should help team members bond and create mutual respect. It helps everyone learn lessons, make mistakes, and grow. Delegation can teach leadership, accountability, teamwork, and so much more. When done incorrectly, it can be a cultural pitfall because it can lead to procrastination or scope creep. This means that whoever is delegating their tasks to someone else does not check to ensure the person they are delegating to fully understands their new tasks or has the tools necessary to complete them. Cultures that delegate with care and hold people accountable are cultures worth cultivating.

Overreactions

Be wary of overreactions taking over culture. Cultures that are run by overreactions are typically operating in an environment that is reactive rather than proactive. Reactive environments cause unnecessary stress and anxiety in culture. Reactive cultures can lead to failures in responsibility, miscommunications, issues with delegation, taking for granted, assumptions, and several other negative traits that can bring down an entire team. The more violent and consistent the overreactions, the more imbalanced the culture becomes. None of these are to say that they can’t happen every once in a while; there are always exceptions to every rule. However, consistency is what culture is built on and leaders must remain diligent and lookout for cultural pitfalls to avoid creating negative cultures.

Bottom Line

Building positive cultures take time, effort, and thought. Cultures should never be built haphazardly. Unregulated cultures that are built without thought are typically difficult to control, which is why leaders must be on the lookout for cultural pitfalls. Keep in mind that even if you are engaged in building your cultural, you might come across these pitfalls anyways (which is natural). The best thing you can do is alter the behaviors of these pitfalls to hopefully steer the whole team towards a more positive culture with better actions taken by each team member.

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Managing Cliques on Teams

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 08:00:00 GMT

Managing team dynamics

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the I in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. One example of leaders being tested on their ability to create and maintain a positive company culture is when we see cliques develop on teams. Grouping with those who are like us is only natural since we tend to gravitate towards those who are like-minded; however, cliques can put a strain on the team environment. As people may begin to feel left out, leaders must remain cognizant of their surroundings to ensure team culture and morale remain positive. Groups should not be separated or defined by race, gender, sex, age, or any other feature that makes us diverse. Teams should be defined as individuals working towards a common goal, and to do this, leaders must diligently manage cliques on their teams.

Issues with Cliques on Teams

One issue with cliques on teams is that those cliques are automatically labeled with assumptions. Those assumptions, unfortunately, can become the definition of each person in the group rather than the people themselves or what they truly believe in. We begin to look at them as a unit—as one mind all thinking the exact same thing. This poses a problem to company culture , as you want your company culture—rather than smaller cliques—to define your team. It’s only natural to feel like you want to belong. However, the group you should feel like you belong to is your entire team or maybe your department, but hopefully not a small subset/clique of that team/department.

Another issue with cliques on teams is that they divide us and can have an impact on whether a person is a positive influence , a great team member, or a diligent worker; what we need to always remember is that what matters is what is on the inside and how that person decides to use their influence. Positive leaders will not care about superficial things or things that separate us, and they will work to find quality team members who promote the company’s culture and fill the position to the best of their capabilities.

Dealing with Cliques on Teams

Leaders must call cliques out to break them up when they see them begin to negatively influence the team (even if it’s just a few team members). How you interface and address cliques on teams will be imperative to growing and developing your company’s culture. I want to point out the obvious exceptions here. It’s natural for departments to group (as briefly mentioned earlier); for larger companies, when departments are formed, those departments usually assimilate and band together as they spend all their time working towards the same goals. However, it’s when those departments become an outright clique—meaning, they reject others who are not part of the department and behave rudely towards them through dismission—and that clique starts to impede on the positive company culture that it becomes an issue.

To help dissolve the clique, considering performing some team building exercises or schedule some time for the team to spend together outside of work (for example, going to a pumpkin patch or apple orchard in the fall). Cliques typically form when they realize they have something in common that others don’t, so they bond over their similarities. This can be dangerous for the team because it could instill an “us versus them” mentality which is counterproductive to achieving goals. When you create an environment where people can get to know each other on a deeper level, you help stimulate a culture of understanding. The goal of this is to dissolve the clique while making it easier for everyone to speak freely and feel that they belong .

Bottom Line

Being a leader means protecting everyone on your team from the harshness that can ensue if cliques are allowed to tear down the desired company culture. Use your influence in a positive way to make your team, your company culture, and yourself better. While cliques may not be all bad all the time, it’s better to nip them in the bud early before they become too crystalized to allow any other team member to integrate. Keep in mind that the desire to belong is strong within each of us, and if you wish for your organization to do its best in reaching its goals, you must create a team that makes each individual member feel as if they belong.

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Normalize Pronouns in the Workplace to Improve Culture

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 08:00:00 GMT

Business consulting diversity

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the I in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. One topic that is close to my heart is the topic of diversity, and it seems to keep coming up. It’s been at the forefront of discussions for the past two+ years, leaving the market saturated with conversations around why diversity is so important when building teams . With many of these articles discussing why diversity is vital for growing organizations, I want to pivot our minds to something a little more actionable: What can we, as leaders, do today in our organizations to start providing a safe space for our diverse team members to thrive? One idea that comes to mind for me is to normalize pronouns.

This one comes up for me because I am immersed in the LGBTQ+ community and one topic I am aware of in this space is pronoun usage. Normalizing pronouns in the workplace is one actionable step leaders can take towards helping their team develop a growth mindset , promoting diversity and self-exploration, and inspiring individuals to stay engaged. In taking a simple action like this, organizations work to build a positive culture rather than simply discussing it and leaving it to build itself (which is dangerous).

Inclusion and Respect

While it might seem a little silly to those who identify with their assigned pronouns, I assure you that this is a meaningful step you can take to foster safe diversity and inclusion on your team. Imagine if you woke up one day and everyone around you kept calling you by a name that didn’t belong to you, but you knew that you had to respond to that name even though it didn’t feel right. It would be invalidating of how you see yourself and how you wish to be addressed and respected by those around you. The same is true if we can normalize pronouns in the workplace and respect the wishes of others by attempting to see them the way they see themselves. This helps promote a culture of understanding diversity and perception .

Pronoun Choice

For me, I was born as a female and I identify as a female, but I don’t mind if people use “They/Them” pronouns for me. “She/Her” pronouns are more aligned with how I see myself, and there are some who identify as female who will prefer those pronouns all the time. Conversely, if you’re male and identify as such, you may prefer “He/Him” pronouns exclusively. However you choose to identify—as long as it feels right to you—is correct.

There are some people, like me, who don’t really care either way which pronouns are used for them. Then there are some people who consider themselves non-binary or genderqueer , meaning they don’t feel that they identify with either masculine or feminine characteristics/energy (or they may not identify with them all the time, leaning into genderfluid ). This is why, for some, using “They/Them” pronouns is important, because in their reality they do not identify as being a “Him” or a “Her.” The pronouns “They/Them” offer a perfect middle ground for our friends in this community, and by using them and normalizing the usage of our own gendered pronouns, we can take an actionable step towards promoting and cultivating diversity within our organizations.

Change Your Mind and Grow

Something I am asked by clients and other team members is to explain why “They/Them” pronouns exist as many find them confusing, and I don’t blame them! Something we are taught from a very young age is that we use “They/Them” to discuss groups of individuals, so when we start thinking about using these pronouns for a singular individual it can make our brains freak out a little bit because we don’t understand.

Learning new information and being wary of it is common. Change is hard but normal , so it’s necessary to keep organizations growing in a positive direction. It’s difficult to change your thinking if you have grown up being taught that the proper English usage of “They/Them” is for multiple individuals. But if you look closely you will find that there are times when “They/Them” pronouns can be used to refer to singular individuals when their identity is unknown. For example, if you order food to your home and it comes to the door to be delivered, you might say something like, “They are here!” You wouldn’t say “He or she is here!” because that feels unnatural. When you don’t know someone’s identity, you will most likely default to gender neutral pronouns if your mind hasn’t been tainted by the bias of seeing them and placing them into a gendered bucket. And, yes, this is still correct English.

The I in Team Series

You may or you may not know this, but there is a reason why we use the pronouns “They/Them” when writing the I in Team series and referring to (I)individuals. It’s because we aim to use inclusive language to help all readers resonate with the message of our work. This was an intentional action on our part; the word “individual” is non-gendered, and to use “He/Him” or “She/Her” pronouns for it would be exclusive to the reader, regardless of if they choose to use gendered or non-gendered pronouns.

When we normalize pronouns in the workplace, we create a safe space for people in the LGBTQ+ community to feel safe being themselves. The question I keep coming back to relating to the topic of diversity is, “What is the point of talking about this if we aren’t going to do anything about it?” We are past the point of just being able to talk about the importance of diversity; leaders should be aware enough by now to understand this importance in building great teams, so now is the time when we need to start taking actionable steps towards fostering that diversity on our teams.

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How to Build Healthy Habits

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 15:40:13 GMT

Business consulting healthy habits

Hi team, Mary here! With 2021 right around the corner, I’m sure some of you are looking ahead to better and brighter days. One of the things I love most about a new year is how excited people get about their new year’s goals! (Notice how I said “goals” and not “resolutions.”) Unfortunately, approximately 80% of people give up on their new year’s goals by February! Hence, why I refuse to call them resolutions .

Creating new year’s resolutions is usually about building healthier habits. One of the most popular is going to the gym regularly. Habits take discipline and dedication to take root in your life, so they become automated. It’s estimated that actions take 21-60 days of repetition to firmly become habits. Usually, these habit-forming resolutions are abandoned , for one reason or another, and forgotten about until the next new year comes along.

I believe creating healthy habits starts with dedication to yourself. You start forming new habits because you know they will be good for you but can become discouraged if you miss a day or multiple days, giving up on the habit creation altogether. When dedicating yourself to making new and healthy habits, you need to employ some empathy for yourself too. Don’t feel discouraged for not being perfect. Instead, feel uplifted and remember why you set out to start creating a new habit in the first place. One of the best ways to start creating new habits is to evaluate the ones you currently have.

Evaluate Current Habits

When you decide it’s time to add new habits into your routine, the first thing you need to do is evaluate your current habits. Some habits are completely automated and perhaps even subconscious (like, biting your nails) while others are intentional (like going to the gym). Subconscious habits are usually harder to spot as they are typically performed while in the subconscious-mode state. Nonetheless, write down and evaluate all your current habits that come to mind. You can add to this list over time as you discover some of the smaller subconscious habits you have. After you have your list, you will want to determine which of those habits are negative influences on you. Do away with negative habits to make room for positive, healthy ones.

Build Healthy Habits

Building healthy habits starts with dedication to yourself and pursuing a better life. It might be helpful for you, when you decide to create a new habit, to write yourself a note to encourage your future self to stick with it! We often forget why we set out to create new habits but reading a letter from your past self could help keep you on the right path. Even if you make a mistake, pick yourself back up and keep trying. The only person you let down by not sticking to better habit development is yourself. Wayne Dyer once said, “You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, ‘I release the need for this in my life.’”

Make a Routine

Once you know what healthy habits to put in place, you will want to schedule them into your daily routine. If you can fit in these new habits with ones you already have or during a time when you are already doing stuff for yourself (like, getting ready in the morning), you will have an easier time remembering to perform the habit each morning. For example, when I wanted to make the habit of taking my new vitamins every morning, I put my vitamin container next to my contact lens case. Therefore, when I put my contacts in, I would see the vitamins and remember to take them. Consider writing a sticky note to yourself and sticking it somewhere, like your bathroom mirror! Or, if you’re addicted to your phone like many of us are, finding a habit tracking/creating app or using your calendar or reminder app to help you might be your best route!

Habit development isn’t an easy task. It takes time, discipline, and desire to change. With the new year right around the corner, now is the perfect time to start considering your current habits and some goals you have for your future. Keep in mind that you’re only human, and all humans make mistakes. Making a mistake is not a license to throw your entire habit development plan out the window. Instead, show yourself some kindness and keep moving forward towards your goals. Adjust these goals as needed to keep them relevant in your life.

How to Cultivate Emotional Intelligence

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 19:06:28 GMT

Emotional intelligence in business consulting

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. One of the main topics in my weekly conversations with team members and clients is emotional intelligence. They want to learn more about it and develop habits to increase their emotional intelligence abilities. Emotional intelligence encompasses two huge aspects. The first aspect is the self; being able to accurately identify and manage emotions is a key part of emotional intelligence. The second is with others; being able to accurately identify and respond to the emotions another individual is feeling. Some researchers even believe that emotional intelligence, or EI, is more important for leaders and managers in the modern era than IQ. If you’re looking to control your influence , here are some ways to cultivate emotional intelligence.

Self-Evaluation

Before you attempt to understand and respond to others’ emotional states, you must understand your own first. One of the hardest things to do is transparently evaluate yourself with 100% honesty. Something our mind tends to do to protect us is to lie and tell us a story that fits into the reality we want, but these stories don’t serve us in our ability to be truly emotionally intelligent. Instead, challenge yourself. Ask yourself how others may perceive you and your ability to be emotionally intelligent. What might they say? Would you agree with them?

There is no need to judge yourself in this process. Judgment will only hinder your growth, not help it. Instead, evaluate yourself with compassion and try to understand where your emotions come from, what they are triggered by, how often they come up, and if you feel they are appropriate responses to your environment. If you struggle to understand what your emotions are, where they come from, and why, try starting with an emotion wheel . When you feel an emotion, try to correctly categorize it. Doing so will lessen the negative effects of negative emotions as giving a name to something often makes it more manageable. Once you know what the emotion is, consider where it comes from and in what other situations it has presented itself.

Observe and Listen

A key part to emotional intelligence is observing our mind without judgment to better understand where emotions come from, as well as observing how our words, actions, and emotions affect others. To cultivate emotional intelligence in both ourselves and with others, we must slow down, observe, and listen. Those who are emotionally intelligent know how to respond to others who are feeling emotions as well as how to handle their own emotional response to dealing with the situation. They do this by observing, correctly analyzing the emotions, and listening for opportunities to help alleviate the emotional suffering. Conversely, they know when there is nothing they can do to help and call upon their skill of empathy , which will allow them to respond to the situation without creating a barrier.

Those looking to build skills of emotional intelligence should spend twice as much time observing and listening than talking. The more information that is discovered, the easier it will be to respond accurately. The same is true for our own emotions; the more we observe and listen to the emotions we feel—correctly categorizing them—the better we can challenge or have compassion for our own state rather than immediately acting upon them. Again, the better you become at understanding yourself, the easier it will be to observe and listen to others who need you. It’s akin to the classic airplane safety tip: Always put your mask on first before helping others (or always understand your own emotions first before helping others).

Curiosity Over Judgment

Leaders and managers must choose curiosity over judgment when dealing with themselves and their team. Curiosity allows us to explore, ask questions, gain a better understanding, and meet ourselves or the other person where they are in the process. If we immediately chose judgment, we create a barrier between us and what we want to understand. Judgment will always hinder your ability to be emotionally intelligent. In my experience, judgment tends to come from a place where we don’t feel good about ourselves, so we project that onto others (or ourselves) as a means to alleviate our stress without self-reflecting on what is truly wrong.

Conversely, choosing curiosity is a form of emotional intelligence in that we accept that not everyone is perfect, and we continue to want to respond in a way that is helpful. When we have curiosity for ourselves and others, it becomes easier to explore the complexities of emotions as we train ourselves to want to explore them. If you are used to judging yourself and others, you will need to challenge yourself to grow the habit of being curious and asking questions. In doing so, you may find that your own stress is alleviated as this tends to help soften the judgment of ourselves.

Self-Awareness

Perhaps the largest component of cultivating emotional intelligence is self-awareness, but self-awareness doesn’t come out of nowhere. It takes patience, observation, and curiosity to develop awareness of oneself. You must become aware of your emotions, how they feel in your body when they arise, how you respond to them, and how you project them into the world. But your self-awareness doesn’t end with your emotions.

To be truly emotionally intelligent, you must be wholly self-aware. You must understand your strengths and weaknesses, your preferred communication style, how big your tank of willpower is, what leads you to burnout, and so much more. Self-awareness is born out of transparent self-evaluation. The more truthful you are, the more self-aware you will become.

If you wish to cultivate emotional intelligence because it is something that doesn’t come naturally to you, the key will be to have compassion for yourself . This is not an easy process, but it is worth it. Only you have the power to control your mind and change the way you see and respond to the world. In doing so, you will not be perfect. The most emotionally intelligent individuals understand that imperfection is part of the human condition, and it is having compassion for yourself and others that allows us to enter a world of true emotional intelligence. Controlling the mind is a journey and one that must be forgiving. Always choose curiosity over judgment and continue showing yourself compassion as you grow.

When to Burn a Bridge

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 19:08:24 GMT

Business consulting strategies

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. One of the topics we talk about in Be the I in Team is burning bridges, but even though we talk about it in our book, it feels harder to write an advice blog on the topic. I’ve read several other articles and even elicited the opinions of my team. To preface this writing, I will say that burning a bridge is extremely personal and the reasons for doing so are far more diverse than I will be able to mention. Please know that this blog will do its best to give a well-rounded view of when to burn a bridge (or when to let go). Your experience is unique, and my hope is that this blog will provide some guidance on your journey to discover whether or not it’s time to burn a bridge.

Slow Down

We talk about slowing down a lot at The I in Team series, typically because slowing down allows us to gain more control of our emotions and thoughts. When you’re considering whether or not it’s time to burn a bridge, the first step you need to take is to slow down. This can look different for everyone. For some, it may mean taking some space and time away from the person you are considering burning a bridge with. For others, it could just be a night of your favorite activities and showing yourself some love. The biggest thing to remember here is that slowing down means giving yourself time to process your emotions and get to a place where you can think logically.

Once you’ve slowed yourself down enough to think clearly, you can start asking yourself questions to determine if the issue you are experiencing with this person is because of you or them. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but there are times when you will experience issues with others that are not because of them. These are typically due to a fear of intimacy, so you may push others away before they can push you away. These feelings are valid and may be rooted in some trauma, but burning a bridge with someone because of your fears (rather than their behavior) can often deepen and exacerbate those fears and emotions. Regardless of what you discover while slowing down, the best second step after you’ve gained conscious thought is to communicate your perspective .

Communicate

Communicating how you feel to another person isn’t always easy, but it is necessary for your own growth and the growth of your relationship with that person. In most cases, it’s only fair you give this person a chance to change their behavior by being honest about your perspective. However, there are exceptions to every rule. For example, if you’re experiencing physical abuse. There are some times when even communication can’t help you and you need to move immediately to step three (which we will cover in a moment) which is putting yourself first. But, in most cases, communicating and being honest about your perspective of the relationship is the best second step.

Even if you are afraid of intimacy, you should be able to be honest about that. Whatever your reason is for setting some boundaries and having communication with this person, they should respect that. If they don’t, that might be a sign that it’s time to let them go. If you’re discussing an issue you have with how they treat you, you need to give them some time to adjust their behavior. Keep in mind that people will only change if they want to change, but you can’t force anyone to change. If you find that, even after communicating, someone isn’t changing how they treat you, it may be another sign that it’s time to walk away. You deserve to be respected and surrounded by people that give you positive energy more often than not. The life you are living is your experience, and, ultimately, you must always put yourself first.

Put Yourself First

For some, it’s easier said than done. Putting yourself first is the ultimate act of self-love and is necessary, even if it is difficult. Here are some things you might want to be on the lookout for in your relationships when you know it’s time to put yourself first and start letting that other person go (after you’ve tried communicating): they are constantly weighing you down with negativity or drama no matter how much energy and support you give them in hopes they will be content, they are an attention hog and show no interest in you, they lie or withhold information from you, they expect too much from you without giving anything in return, they gaslight or manipulate you, they don’t treat your other friends or family well, they don’t allow you to be yourself in front of them, or they try to hold you back. While this is not an exhaustive list, it’s a good starter list to get you thinking about who in your life doesn’t respect you enough to keep around. Letting someone go, or burning a bridge, is ultimately an act of self-love.

One question that came from my discussion with my team: Is it possible to let someone go without burning the bridge? The consensus was yes, that it is possible. Letting someone go is simply putting distance between yourself and that person. It could mean talking or seeing each other much less, or even not at all. Burning a bridge is ending the relationship forever for good, severing all ties to that person. Sometimes, all you need is some space from someone to slow down, cool down, and evaluate what kind of relationship you want going forward. In the end, you need to do what is best for you. Always put yourself first. If you don’t put yourself first, you can’t be your most positive influence. As we always say here at The I in Team series, your influence is your single greatest responsibility. Treat yourself well and influence responsibly

Positive and Ethical Leadership Qualities

Mon, 16 May 2022 19:10:37 GMT

Ethical leadership in business consulting

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Everything we teach here at The I in Team series helps current and aspiring leaders understand what it means to possess positive and ethical leadership qualities. Being an ethical leader has an immense influence on your team; it can be the difference between building a high performing team and going out of business.

Presence

Being present and available is one of the key qualities of ethical leadership. This means your physical presence is necessary. Absent leaders (leaders who do not show up to work, are late for work, or who do not engage with their employees) are considered unethical leaders. The foundation of leadership is being present to lead your team. For those who are leading a remote team, being active and checking on your team frequently will show your presence. If you’re leading a remote team, try to communicate with them often as you would in a traditional office.

Communication

Communication is often the hardest aspect of leadership, but it is vital to building a high performing team that rallies with you to meet organizational objectives. How you communicate your thoughts and emotions will determine the communication culture of your entire organization. This doesn’t mean you have to be perfect, but it does mean that you need to work to communicate effectively with yourself and others. Ethical leaders are not ones who are perfect; they are ones who know they can grow, learn, and adapt.

Growth Mindset

Having a growth mindset means that you believe you and others are capable of growth, as opposed to a fixed mindset where you would believe that you and others are stagnant and unadapting. When you adopt a growth mindset , you believe in and empower yourself and your team members. This makes an ethical leader because they know their team possesses the skills necessary to complete organizational objectives, as well as one who understands that failure is inevitable. Coming to terms with the fact that failure will happen is imperative to being an ethical leader because you and your team will fail but it’s how you move on from those failures that defines your organizational culture. Having a growth mindset combined with a heavy dose of objectivity will allow you to remain ethical when helping your team recover and learn from failure.

Objectivity

Objectivity is required to be an ethical leader, especially when you are dealing with multiple people who have diverse lives. If you are not naturally objective, it will take some practice and patience with yourself as you learn this new skill, but it is imperative to gain the ability to be objective so that you can make equitable decisions. Being objective means overcoming bias and bigotry; it means slowing down, remaining present, and growing your ability to be emotionally intelligent so that you can respond to situations appropriately. Leaders who are objective are ethical because they create a culture of accountability and compassion.

Compassion

Compassion is a necessary trait in life; it is the understanding that everyone deals with difficult situations combined with the wish to alleviate the negative consequences of those situations. While we can’t help everyone, we can have compassion for them. Having compassion for yourself and your team allows you to communicate with them effectively and objectively, knowing that they are a human being with wants, desires, and motivations just like you. Compassion builds an ethical leader because it allows you to treat your team with respect. In combination with all the ethical leadership qualities listed here, any compassionate leader can compel their team to reach even seemingly impossible goals.

While this list is certainly not exhaustive of what it takes to be a positive and ethical leader, they are some of our top five ethical leadership qualities. In contrast, unethical leaders are ones who are absent, dishonest, corrupt, unfair, manipulative, and more. Unethical leaders can deteriorate teams and cause high employee turnover, low engagement, low creativity, and more. The negative effects of unethical leadership can severely impact an organization’s ability to grow and be successful. If you wish to create a company that thrives, you must be an ethical leader.

The Puzzle of Perception

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:14:38 GMT

Business consulting strategies

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Brian and I were recently in Hawaii with our new publisher ( Made for Success ) drafting the content for our third book when we had an interesting discussion centered around what it means to understand that the world is “gray.” This “gray” world is rooted in objectivity and pragmatism, as well as the understanding that for everything that exists, the opposite also exists. It became a discussion about the puzzle of perception, how we each perceive the world in vastly different, and perhaps even opposing, ways. While there is no definitive answer to the question, “Who is right and who is wrong?” we are going to attempt to tackle this puzzle so that you can begin to ponder what it means to be objective while remaining confident in your perception.

Four Sides to Every Story

Our discussion started with the idea that there are four sides to every story: 1) Yours 2) the other persons 3) the perception of anyone you tell this story to 4) the truth. The fourth side is the side that caused much debate because “the truth” is nearly impossible to know. Every bit of information that we take in becomes tainted by the lenses through which we see the world (our perception). When we describe our experience, our communication is filtered through these same lenses, which is, again, filtered by new lenses of the person listening to us. We each form our own “truths” based on how we perceive and interact with the world. However, that doesn’t mean that our perception is the “true” perception; there is no way to say what is the “truth” because our mind warps reality to fit with our perception.

Does that mean we are all liars? No, it just means that we need to remain mindful that others may perceive the same situation differently based on their unique lenses. Does this mean that we can’t root ourselves in our own “truths?” No, we can still choose what we anchor ourselves to ( our values ) and strive to remain consistent in our beliefs through self-reflection and logical reasoning. However, this also means that we need to understand that whatever values we choose to root ourselves in, there are people who will directly oppose us. This is hard to wrap your head around because your mind wants you to believe that your way of perceiving the world is the only way…the correct way.

If you’re interested in reading more about the four sides to every story , click the link to read our blog on IA Business Advisors.

What is Truth?

If we cannot ever be sure of what is true, how do we know what the truth is? Unfortunately, we don’t. The truth we come to terms with in our mind is based on a variety of factors, including trusting others, how well we know ourselves, and our perception. We must put our faith and trust in others that they will tell us their perception truthfully, but we must also understand that their perception is tainted by their personal worldviews. This allows us to remain objective and listen with the intent of learning more about the speaker. Does that mean what you are hearing is wrong? You will have to decide for yourself based on what you know about the person and how much faith you have in their ability to communicate with you honestly.

When deciphering what you will believe to be true, you need to know yourself and understand the lenses that influence your perception. This will be a little difficult as we all have lenses that taint our view that we might not be aware of: bias. Nonetheless, the more you know yourself, the easier it will be to understand how you interpret information. And while it might seem that this writing is trying to confuse you, we only mean to help you understand that there are opposing views anywhere you look and that you must remain mindful of this fact by understanding the nuances of “truth.”

Good vs Bad

This section is going to be quite philosophical and possibly triggering, so I will do my best to explain linearly to aide in supporting the claim that we cannot know the only “truth.” The idea of good and bad is completely subjective, meaning, what one sees as bad another may see as good and vice versa. I’ll use a personal example to help describe what I mean by this. I am vegan and personally believe it is wrong (bad) to kill life; I see doing everything we can to prevent killing life as good, hence why I am vegan. In opposition to me are those who may enjoy hunting, fishing, and eating meat; they do not see taking life that doesn’t belong to them as wrong. So, who is right? Neither of us because we each root in our own values and perceptions of the world. Both ideas exist on the same plane.

Let’s take the example to the extreme and discuss killing humans. Is it okay to kill humans? I would say no, because that is my belief. However, what if we could sacrifice one human to save many, would that make killing okay? Say, for example, if Adolf Hitler had been murdered before taking reign of Germany, his death would have saved six million people (at least). Does that make killing Adolf Hitler (before knowing how truly devastating he was for our world) okay? Is it right to save the many for the few? Additionally, there are laws in place meant to deter us from killing our fellow person. However, we still have war. We still have mass shootings. We still have people on death row, some who are completely innocent. I cannot say for you where the good and bad is rooted in these scenarios because I can only describe how I see the world from my perception, but I challenge you to remain objective and try to come outside yourself to understand the world from new, often conflicting, ways.

If you made it to the conclusion, you probably feel a bit confused and overwhelmed. That’s okay and completely normal. I’m trying to explain concepts that are hard to grasp, hence why our discussion centered around the “gray.” My goal with this writing is to challenge your ego to help you understand that there is more than one way to see the world, and just because you feel you are right doesn’t mean that you are. In the pursuit of growing in your positive influence, challenge yourself to be objective while holding compassion for those who oppose your way of being, thinking, and living. We all exist on this planet together, so the least we can do is be understanding of the diversity of life. In fact, it should be celebrated. Without your opposite, you wouldn’t be able to define yourself; light cannot exist without the dark.

Cultivating patience in an immediate gratification world

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 19:16:44 GMT

Business consulting patience strategies

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. For some time, I’ve been thinking about what it means to be patient in an ever-changing world and how our privilege with access to technology can make us feel more impatient as we begin to demand more to feel gratified. While the tools we use can be great for helping us be more productive, I wonder if they also make us believe that things can happen quickly regardless of if you’re using technology or not. Patience is a virtue as impatience can lead to poor judgment, irrational behavior and decision making, and having a pessimistic view of the world and others. If you feel your patience waning, you can work to give yourself peace.

What is Patience?

Patience, in the most basic terms, is the ability to endure without succumbing to negative emotion or intent. This looks different for everyone because what one may find difficult to endure, another may thrive. Nonetheless, patience is when you (from your perspective) can wait without becoming annoyed, stressed, or angry. While some may feel that patience is automatic, it is not. You control your patience through your thoughts and what you choose to become attached to. You can certainly grow your ability to be patient.

Growing Patience

One of the best ways to grow your patience for others or situations is to consider other perspectives. For example, when you begin to grow impatient because your partner is running late for dinner, or the line at the grocery store isn’t moving, try to step outside of your perspective and consider the moment from another perspective . Your partner may be late because their car broke down or they had to wait for their manager to sign off on something. The line at the store may be long because there is a new cashier training and they didn’t expect the store to be so busy. When you can reframe your experience and consider other possibilities, it’s easy to feel patient for things that you can’t control. This comes with a little emotional intelligence , empathy, and compassion.

Two other great methods to practice growing patience are to be mindful and show gratitude. Practicing mindfulness can aide in your ability to see other perspectives, but it can also make you less impulsive as you become more aware of your mind in the present moment rather than allowing a negative emotion, like anger, sweep you into feeling impatient. If you identify impatience setting in, take a few long, deep breaths to calm your nervous system. Additionally, you can practice distracting your mind by showing gratitude . Instead of focusing on what is going wrong and irritating you, focus on what is going or has gone right and feel thankful.

Your Health and Patience

Cultivating patience comes with a variety of health benefits, some are long term while others can be felt immediately. Those who are patient usually experience better mental health. This makes sense because feelings of anger, resentment, or annoyance often accompany impatience. Aside from many of these negative emotions increasing your blood pressure and cortisol levels (stress hormone), experiencing these negative emotions that often come with impatience can disrupt your mood for days, weeks, or even longer depending on how often you become impatient or ruminate on that experience.

Other research has found that impatience can lead to a number of not-so-fun bodily symptoms, including but not limited to: acne, headaches, and ulcers. This is because impatience, as mentioned, usually creates cortisol which can lead to these symptoms, prevent a good night’s sleep, and weaken the immune system. This becomes a vicious cycle as those who are dealing with cortisol, lacking sleep, or feeling sick are more likely to be less patient (and who can blame them!). It’s not fun to not feel good or to feel stressed out, but that’s what makes it more important to work to get ahead of the curve before it gets to a point where you are burnt out and have difficulty cultivating patience.

As with all habit building , the goal is not to be perfect right away but to make incremental steps to being and feeling better. If you are regularly impatient, consider where you are impatient the most and start practicing there. Many people have road rage and become impatient while driving, and this is a great place to practice seeing from another perspective. Slow down, breathe, be mindful, and remain present to cultivate patience. Your body and mind will thank you.

Influence and the butterfly effect

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 20:20:48 GMT

Business consulting influence

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Many of us have heard the theory that if a butterfly flaps its wings at just the right time and location, it can cause a hurricane on the opposite side of the world. This theory is known as the butterfly effect and it stems from chaos theory. The butterfly effect is a complex idea that when explained in simple terms may sound like this: everything, no matter how small or large, has the potential to influence actions that are seemingly unrelated.

In more complex terms, Jamie L. Vernon writes , “some complex dynamical systems exhibit unpredictable behaviors such that small variances in the initial conditions could have profound and widely divergent effects on the system’s outcomes. Because of the sensitivity of these systems, outcomes are unpredictable.” (And if you’re interested in learning more about chaos theory in an easily digestible way, check out Fractal Foundation .) As you may surmise, the butterfly effect is much like our individual influence, and this blog will help you understand the power of your influence.

The Influence Ripple

Much like a butterfly flapping its wings and influencing the weather, your thoughts, words, and actions influence all who are around to witness those things. You influence yourself through internal self-talk, whether you align your words with your actions, and more. You influence others by interacting with them, and these interactions (influence) cause ripples that you may or may not be aware of. For example, if you hold the door open for someone, it may seem insignificant to you because you were already there, but you don’t know how the person you held the door for perceived that action. They could be having a terrible day and that small act of kindness influenced them for the better. Conversely, if you yell at someone, you never know how that person will shape their perception of you or how they may handle your negativity. It’s possible, in both scenarios, that those people could go off to spread their own positive or negative influence from your positive or negative actions. This ripple that you don’t even see is what makes your influence matter.

You Matter

You matter because your influence matters. You are the rock that causes ripples in the pond after it is thrown. The butterfly effect says that one small act can influence a major event just as your thoughts, words, and actions influence other thoughts, words, and actions in ways you could never fathom. You will never understand how you influence someone because you are not them, but you matter because you do influence them. And when you influence someone, their influence impacts others (which you become a small part of). Some say that we are all about six degrees from everyone in this world, meaning we are each six people away from knowing everyone. That means all our influences are connected to one another, and it’s through our influence that we create positivity or negativity . When you understand that you matter, which path will you choose?

Live Consciously

Being more aware of your influence and how your influence relates to the butterfly effect allows you to live life more consciously . Consider how your influence ripples out from you to alter the influence of others, does that change how you behave? Or, consider how you speak to yourself and the perception you choose to see of the world, does that change how you think? When you start pondering your influence, be sure to employ some empathy and compassion for yourself. We are all human, so we all make mistakes.

If a butterfly flaps its wings and can cause a hurricane, imagine what your small acts of influence can do. Imagine what kind of impact you can have when you give someone experiencing homelessness a few dollars, or when you allow someone to merge into traffic easily when the highway is backed up. Think about the last thing that positively or negatively influenced you. How are your thoughts, words, and actions influenced by others?

How to keep your New Year's resolutions

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 20:27:10 GMT

Business consulting strategies

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Welcome to another new year; another chance to renew yourself, grow, and spread your unique influence. Some may feel it is cheesy, but the new year represents rebirth for us all. A new page for us to write in our books of life. Many feel motivated by this fresh beginning to set goals, resolutions, words, or whatever else to develop themselves and improve their lives. I am personally of the opinion that you can do this year-round, but the new year usually motivates the masses towards bettering themselves.

We at The I in Team series want to challenge you; set one goal for this year that encourages you to grow. Your goal can be as simple as an intention through a word to something more complex and robust. This year, The I in Team series’ “word” is influence; this word will guide all of our other goals and subsequently our actions. In every moment when you are reaching for your goals, you are both your number one supporter and worst enemy. Only you can control the willpower needed to reach your goals; will you choose to stick it out or give up on yourself? Please join me in bettering yourself this year so that everything you influence will benefit from the best version of you. Below are our top tips for achieving a successful new year’s resolution (or intention/word/whatever you like).

Related Blog: How to Build Healthy Habits

S.M.A.R.T.

Any goal or intention must go through the S.M.A.R.T. process. This is because all goals and intentions are more easily reached when they are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. One of the best things about laying out all your goals in this process is that it makes it super easy to review what may or may not be working down the road. A few weeks into achieving your goal, you may find that your goal isn’t as specific as you need it to be, or you may find that the measurable actions you set for yourself are not attainable within the defined time frame. Last year when we wrote our new year blog post, we centered it around this S.M.A.R.T. goal development process. Check it out to discover some questions you can ask yourself in each part of the S.M.A.R.T. goal development process.

Slow Down

It’s easy to give up on your goals because it doesn’t take any effort to stop doing something or reaching for something. When you start feeling burnt out, slow down but don’t give up. Slowing down will allow you to reevaluate your S.M.A.R.T. process and determine if you need to update your goal. Remember, your goal grows with you! Don’t be afraid to reexamine it and change the way you approach reaching the goal. As long as you stick to your original intention or end goal, the way you get there doesn’t really matter. The point of setting goals or intentions is to grow and become better in yourself and your unique influence. If the goal becomes too much or too draining, evolve it to be something you can work with. Slowing down will allow you to reevaluate with ease, give you some breathing room, and hopefully restore your willpower.

Believe in Yourself

If you don’t believe in yourself, you become your own worst enemy. End the self-criticism and negative self-talk; uplift yourself by believing you can reach your goals, develop yourself, and grow in your positive influence. This is known as having a growth mindset , and you need a growth mindset to reach any goal or intention you set for yourself. Believing in yourself can sometimes be compromised when you experience burnout or have willpower depletion. So, if you feel these negatives start to creep into all the progress you’ve made, slow down and consider some things that can give you energy. For some, that may be making a cup of tea or watching your favorite movie; for others, it might be going on a hike or inviting guests over for dinner. Whatever it is that gives you power and restores your energy, write those things down, keep them close, and perform them when you need to so you can stay on track for reaching your goals.

Whatever it is you choose to work on this year, we challenge you to choose at least one thing. Life is about growth and development; if you aren’t taking these moments to learn more about yourself and the world, then what are you spending your time on? You deserve to find yourself in this life, be the best version of yourself that you can be, and build your positive influence so that those around you can benefit from all that makes you uniquely glorious. Make your goals (or intentions/words) S.M.A.R.T., slow yourself down to regain your willpower, and believe in yourself. We certainly believe in you.

Discover your influence

Fri, 31 Dec 2021 21:52:31 GMT

Business consulting influence

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the I in Team series where you can find, be, and build your positive influence. There is no better time than now to discover your influence. Your influence is your single greatest responsibility as a human being. How you decide to influence others has a ripple effect on those around you, which may lead you to wonder, what is influence and how do I ensure it is perceived positively? There are many ways to exude your influence in your own, unique way, and in this blog, we will give some examples that could resonate with you.

What is influence?

Influence is the direct and indirect impact you make on those around you, much like the butterfly effect . It’s how you move others with emotions, words, and actions. Your influence is the perception that others have of you. How you choose to make others see you and what you do with your influence can dramatically alter the outcome of things you may never even know occurs. Our goal with the I in Team series is to make as many people as possible aware that you have abundant opportunities to influence others. You owe it to yourself and those you influence to ensure that your influence is positive. To do this, we need to define the difference between positive and negative influence.

Positive vs Negative Influence

While the differences between positive and negative influence may seem obvious, they aren’t always. What determines positive and negative influence isn’t necessarily the act itself; sometimes it is determined by the perception of the person being influenced. There are certainly some examples of positive influence (which we cover below) where most of us would agree that they are perceived as being positive.

Let’s define what a positive or a negative influence is. A positive influence is when an individual contributes to a project, moment, situation, event, and more in a positive way. It’s when we act in the best interest of ourselves and others without being selfish. When we spread positive, happy, light energy, we are using our positive influence to make the moment better.

A negative influence is the opposite; when an individual contributes to a project, moment, situation, event, and more in a negative way. It’s when we act selfishly, emotionally, or egotistically by spreading negative, hurtful, dark energy. We know when we have spread negative influence because we may feel remorse, guilt, or shame afterwards. Negative influence may selfishly serve us in the moment, but it doesn’t make us feel good in the long term.

Please note that being selfish or emotional is not always considered a negative influence; emotions are part of the human experience and sometimes we need to behave selfishly to protect our influence and be positive in most spaces we occupy.

Actions for Positive Influence

When we intend to have a positive influence, it can be difficult to understand or even notice if others perceive our intentions as negative. One of the best ways to recognize if others have perceived our positive influence as negative is to observe. Observing someone’s immediate reaction can tell us a lot about how they are feeling in that moment. Have open communication if you think your positive influence is being perceived as negative. Below are some ways you can practice positive personal and professional influence.

Personal Influence

Volunteer doing something you’re passionate about
Take care of your mental and physical needs
Hold the door open for someone
Let someone merge into traffic
Pick up trash on the sidewalk
Say please and thank you
Compliment someone
Buy someone coffee
Be kind and humble
Practice patience

Professional Influence

Understand Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and where each team member falls
Learn the names of everyone you work with, including janitors and security
Spend quality time with each team member and get to know them
Acknowledge coworkers’ strengths and capitalize on them
Congratulate someone for a job well done on a project
Bring in donuts and coffee for someone’s birthday
Help coworkers set goals and achieve them
Keep an open-door policy when possible
Leave a kind note at a coworker’s desk
Respect others’ time

Keep in mind that to be human is to be imperfect, so there are going to be days when you might define your influence as being negative and that’s okay. The goal is to be self-aware, continue learning, and strive to grow to be your best the next day. When you discover your influence, you discover what it truly means to be your full self.

10 Tips for Positive Influence

Fri, 31 Dec 2021 21:45:58 GMT

Positive influence in business consulting

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the I in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. We all face times in life where being a positive influence can feel difficult and we are often stuck in our negative ways of thinking, so much so that we find it impossible to get out of those patterns. It may not happen to everyone, but it does happen to most of us from time to time. In those moments, adopting positive influence actions seems impractical, and it’s even harder to know where to start. Even if you don’t face these times in your life, knowing how to be a positive influence is imperative for long-term success. Stemming from our philosophy that your influence is your greatest responsibility, here are our 10 top tips for positive influence.

1) Slow Down

Going too fast can become cyclical, causing us and those we influence to speed up in various areas of our lives. Going too fast can make us anxious or forget that we have influence to be mindful of. By slowing down , we become more present and are therefore better able to control the influence we exert onto others.]

2) Be Honest

Being honest with ourselves and others is how we can build positive, trustworthy relationships. Sometimes being honest is scary, but it’s the only way to grow productively, remain proactive, and correctly fix mistakes. If you aren’t honest with yourself or others, it can create gaps and cracked foundations of understanding which can lead to issues when moving forward as a team to complete goals.

3) Be Self-Aware

When you realize what your best is and can achieve that, you will fully understand what it means to influence others positively. Self-awareness encompasses understanding how you think, act, and react in the present moment to current stimulus, whether that be from other people or your environment in general. This self-awareness, like slowing down, allows you to control your influence.

4) Enjoy the Present Moment

Too often do we forget about the present moment . Find time each day to enjoy the present. There is a time and place to be caught up in the moment, but in doing so you lack the ability to slow down and can lose touch with your influence. By being present, you give yourself enough awareness to appropriately respond to people and your environment rather than react.

5) Be Accountable

If you say you are going to do something, then do it. Hold yourself accountable to follow your words through with promised action. This is similar to being honest in that you are honest about your intentions to act and hold yourself accountable to following through. Being accountable to others raises your influence and ensures you are reliable and trustworthy, two traits of those who influence positively .

6) Learn From Mistakes

We all make mistakes; some are big and others are small, but in all mistakes there is a path to learn. We grow and become better humans from the mistakes we make. This aligns with having a growth mindset, or the understanding that you will need to learn and grow in order to develop. Nobody is perfect, so leading the way by understanding we all make mistakes and learning from them helps others feel empowered in their mistakes, too.

7) Keep Learning

Learning can come from a multitude of things: reading books/articles/blogs, taking classes online or in a classroom, having discussions with peers, listening to podcasts/audiobooks, watching videos, and more. This goes with having a growth mindset , knowing that you will continue to learn and grow as life goes on. Keep learning to keep your influence positive. Growing yourself means growing your influence.

8) Be S.M.A.R.T.

Set personal and professional goals to continue growing. Make sure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. S.M.A.R.T. goals help keep you accountable and promote personal development.

9) Show Gratitude

It can be easy to take for granted the things and people we are lucky to have in our lives, so be mindful and show gratitude . Humbling yourself in knowing that you are never working alone and showing others that they are valued through your gratitude for them displays your positive influence for others to follow with grace.

10) Be Your Best

You need to go out and focus on being the best you you can be so that those you influence can benefit. While some may deem this quest to be selfish, I assure you that it is not. In striving to be your best, you help more people and yourself. In knowing your influence, you thrive and help others thrive.

We at the I in Team series believe that your single greatest responsibility as a human being is the immense power of your influence. Only you can decide how to wield it. Everyday you wake up, you are given an opportunity to be the catalyst for positive change. No matter how small it may seem, stay rooted in who you are and exude compassion, love, and kindness in all your actions. With your commit to truly knowing yourself, we can help make our world a better and more diverse place.

What is inclusive language?

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 20:40:38 GMT

Inclusive language in business consulting

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. Our gratitude group just celebrated one year of showing gratitude together every week, so we reviewed everything we have learned together over the past year. One of the topics we learned about was inclusive language. With our world growing in ways to connect and modes for communication, it is important to open your mind and do your best to remain inclusive, both in your actions as well as your words. However, culture dictates the language we use so it becomes first nature—we don’t question it. In this blog, we are going to discuss what inclusive language is and why it is important, some examples of inclusive language, and how you might implement it in your life.

What is inclusive language?

Inclusive language is when we use words, whether verbally and written, that attempt to include everyone who will read and/or hear it. It is language that aims to not exclude groups inadvertently. Traditionally, it is meant to be inclusive of underprivileged or minority groups. When implementing inclusive language, the goal is to bring harmony to speech and writing through avoiding demeaning or offending people or groups. Additionally, using inclusive language is important because you never know if someone who is seemingly included may have strong ties to or a passion for any given underprivileged or minority groups. Those who work on developing their inclusive language, while not always perfect, show an open mind and willingness to understand that which they are not part of.

Why is inclusive language important?

Communication is powerful; whether it be our internal thoughts or thoughts which we put out into the world through spoken word or in writing, communication is how we interact with and respond to the world. So, the words we use are important and they tell people who we are on the inside. Using inclusive language creates spaces for those that may otherwise feel uncomfortable or unwelcome for individual characteristics, many of which they often have little control over. We are all born as we are. Therefore, acknowledging the vast diversity and beauty of humankind through inclusive language is one way we can demonstrate our acceptance of different perspectives, identities, and ideas.

Examples of Inclusive Language

First, I will discuss the difference between person-first and identity-first language in terms of those who experience disabilities. Then, I will provide some examples of ways in which you can change your language to be more inclusive for all in today’s society.

Person-First Language

Person-first language (PFL) is when you acknowledge that the person you are speaking to or about is first a human being and second has a disability. This shows respect for that person and allows them to be seen as a whole, a human, rather than a singular part, their disability. For example, using inclusive language, you would say “a person who has a disability” rather than “a disabled person,” or, “a person who is blind or visually impaired” as opposed to “a blind person.” PFL aims to acknowledge individuals as humans first and foremost and seeks to eliminate the practice of reducing an individual to a defined disability.

Identity-First Language

Identity-first language (IFL) is the opposite of PFL; it puts the disability before the person. While this is likely self-explanatory by now, an example of this would be describing someone as “a bipolar person” rather than “a person with bipolar disorder.” It is noteworthy to say that when you meet someone who has a disability, it is kind and compassionate to ask them if they prefer PFL or IFL. This shows that you care, recognize their worth as an individual, and would like to use language that makes them feel comfortable and included. In some cases, that person may prefer IFL. This has been found true with a larger population of the Deaf/hard of hearing and Autistic communities. Don’t make assumptions; use person-first language if you aren’t sure and if given the opportunity to ask their preference, ask!

Examples of Inclusive Language

Below are some examples of inclusive language based on underprivileged and minority groups.

Developing a Habit of Inclusive Language

Like all habits , you must show patience and compassion for yourself as you work to develop and improve your language. Because a lot of the language we use is cultural in nature, for example, “Hey, you guys!” (when talking to a mixed-gender group) it can be harder to recognize when we do it and therefore more difficult to change that language. Additionally, you may find that some women don’t mind being called “one of the guys” but you will also find that some do mind. It’s best to err on the side of caution to ensure everyone feels included by you in the spaces you create and occupy.

To develop this habit, start with one sector you know you can work on with room for improvement. It may be that you want to be more inclusive in your religious or gendered language, or perhaps how you refer to families or perceived class status. Choose one to start with and work on incorporating that language into your everyday thoughts and speech. It would be beneficial for you to come back and review these examples or conduct an internet search of other examples to keep the new vocabulary you hope to instill at the forefront of your mind.

Overall, the goal of developing more inclusive language is to ensure that your audience, no matter how small, feels included and safe with you. The safer you make others feel, the more your positive influence grows. We all show the world who we are each day through our interaction with each other, and how we respond to positive and negative situations. By developing healthy habits in hopes of making others feel included, we demonstrate our ability to value and appreciate diversity. Like with all habits, have patience and compassion for yourself as you grow. We believe in you!

Discover Your Core Values

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 19:51:13 GMT

Core values in business consulting

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with the I in Team series where you can find , be, and build your positive influence. Recently, my team and I were discussing core values and their importance in leading our moral compass, but many of them inquired as to how they knew what their core values are when they value them so much. We all hold several values in our lives, but there are a few that are considered our core values. These values can guide our decision-making, help us in crisis, and give us a foundation to come back to when we are feeling unsure of ourselves. My hope is to help guide you in discovering your core values, as well as discuss the benefits of doing so.

Choosing Your Core Values

You may value many things in your life, creating a list so long that you may not even remember it. Even looking up images of values on Google produces hundreds of potential results for you to choose from. It can be overwhelming to glance at these lists and think, “I value almost all of these in my life!” While it’s great to value so many positive things in life, it’s vital to discover your core values. Your core values are your top three to five values that guide your moral compass every day. They are your set of beliefs that influence how you treat yourself, how you treat others , and how you influence overall.

Nobody but yourself can choose your values for you; they must resonate with you at your core and feel like second nature. These values support who you are as a unique individual. To choose your values, first, you need to look at a list. Consider your life experiences (both beautiful and painful), your accomplishments, how you behave naturally every day, who you want to be as you continue to grow, and people you admire and look up to. Can you identify any patterns? Maybe some of your core values are born out of some of the most painful moments in your life, or maybe you aspire to be more like your favorite mentor and want to hold their deepest value at your core as well.

If you struggle to figure this out, here is a free personal values assessment . Remember, with all assessments, you will need to determine how true the end result is for you. Keep a notepad next to you with all the values you hold and compare it with the assessment result to see if you agree on these top five as your core values. I took the assessment result and found the assessment rang true for my values:

Compassion
Health
Curiosity
Peace
Love

Benefits of Identifying Your Values

As mentioned, the benefits of identifying your core values are vast. Along with guiding your moral compass and decision-making process, identifying and acknowledging your values can help you achieve the following:

Find your purpose in life: What do you want to do, and who do you want to be?
Guide behavior: When pursuing habit-building and identifying your growth opportunities , discovering your core values makes it easier to behave authentically. Additionally, your values will serve as your moral compass when dealing with difficult situations or people.
Increase your confidence: Your values will make you feel more secure in yourself; the more you know yourself and the more you feel guided to make the right decisions in life for you, the more confident you will feel in yourself and those decisions.
Better decision-making: This was mentioned, but your values will help guide your decision-making, helping you make decisions that are best for you.
Establish your individuality: While there are certainly others who will share your values, chances are they won’t share all of them. You can further solidify the unique individual you are by fully knowing yourself, and that means you need to discover your core values.

Pursuing Your Core Values Daily

Once you have your core values, you should pursue them daily. Every decision you make, the conversation you have, and the thoughts you allow to permeate your mind should always come back to your core values. You can ask yourself every day if you are staying true to yourself and upholding your values. As we always say at the I in Team series, your influence is your single greatest responsibility as a human being. To pursue your most positive influence, strive to inject your core values into your thoughts, words, and actions.

When you discover your core values, you discover more of yourself. While we all value several things, the ones at our core become our guiding compass in life and allow us to make the best decisions, be confident in ourselves, and find our most positive influence. No two influences are the same, as no two people are the same. Grow into your individuality and own it authentically when you find, be, and build your core values.

HOW YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCES YOU

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 15:49:22 GMT

Business consulting strategies

Hi team, Mary here! It shouldn’t come as a shock, considering 2020 was one environmentally influencing year, but your environment plays a huge role in what influences you every day. It affects your mental health, including your outlook on life and stress, depression, and anxiety levels. Understanding what in our environment influences us and how is the first step we can take towards combatting negative environmental influence.

Types of Environmental Influence

There are a few types of environmental influence that could be affecting you, including physical and social factors. Physical factors are things having to do with your body and your physical environment around you. Social factors include your family, friends, coworkers, and wider community.

Physical

Check out some examples of physical environmental influence below.

Your Home, Office, and Car: These are among the top places you spend your time. How these areas look (meaning, how clean and organized they are) influence your mental health daily. Living in a clean and organized home can increase your positive outlook on life because your immediate surroundings are also positive. Note: When we say “organized” we don’t mean you have to Marie Kondo your home! You might have a ton of stuff and keep it organized in a way that suits your needs. Your process of organization doesn’t have to match others’ processes.
Pollution: In case you don’t know already, air pollution affects your health! Psychology Today reports in this article titled The Impact of Air Pollution on Mental Health that air pollution can increase suicide risk and depression.
Sleep Deprivation: When you’re sleep deprived, your mental health declines. A good night’s sleep can boost your immune system, act as a light painkiller, prevent weight gain, increase heart health, increase your positive mood, reduce stress, increase productivity, and improve memory. Read more in this article titled 10 Benefits of a Good Night’s Sleep by VeryWell Health.
Weather: Bad and extreme weather can influence your mental health! Dealing with snowstorms, constant rain, lack of sunshine, and freezing temperatures is never fun for anyone. Seasonal affective disorder , anyone?
Smoking: You already know the risks associated with smoking.
Eating Habits: If your doctor hasn’t told you already, what you put into your body has a direct effect on your mood and health. Check out this article Nutritional psychiatry: Your brain on food by Harvard Medical School.

These are just a few examples of physical factors that can influence your mental health. Try to remain mindful of these influences, even if they are negative. What other physical factors do you encounter daily?

Social

Check out some examples of social environmental influence below:

Stigmas: People experience racism, sexism, ageism, and other forms of prejudice that can have a serious impact on their mental health.
Relationships: Friends, family, lovers, co-workers, and strangers are all part of your relationships. The people you choose to surround yourself with has a major influence on your mental health. Don’t surround yourself with people who will mentally, emotionally, or physically abuse you. Choose relationships that lift you up and make you feel more positive about life.
Community: The community in which you live has a tremendous influence on you. Impoverished communities versus wealthy communities have different influences on human beings. No matter where you come from or where you are now, you absolutely have the capability to be a positive influence and have a positive outlook on life.

Social factors influence your mental health so pervasively because humans are social creatures! What other social factors influence you daily?

Realizing that our environments can influence us may help us overcome the negative side effects that can come from negative environments. Your environment doesn’t have to look like someone else’s to be positive or make you feel content. Part of your environment is your outlook, and if you can try to remain mindful of what influences you, you can try to remain mindful of how you see the world. Just remember, it’s okay to have bad days! It’s okay to feel negative and emotional. It’s how you pick yourself back up that defines you. Don’t let your environment drag you down! Instead, lift everyone and your surroundings UP with your positive influence.

Fixed vs Growth Mindset

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 23:12:27 GMT

Growth mindset in business consulting

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team series where you can find, be, and build your positive influence. I have mentioned a few times in past blogs fixed versus growth mindsets and it seems to be a topic that many people are curious about (which is awesome!). At The I in Team series, we strongly value a growth mindset and believe that a growth mindset is imperative to securing your positive influence.

The growth and fixed mindsets are terms coined by Stanford psychologist, Dr. Carol Dweck, who studies human motivation through psychology and sociology. Her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, expands upon her theory of the growth versus fixed mindset. The brain is just like any other muscle in the body; it can be grown and developed with some patience, hard work, and mindfulness. However, if you convince yourself that you cannot grow your mind, then you won’t.

Fixed Mindset

Those who experience a fixed mindset believe that they cannot grow. They believe their abilities and intelligence are stagnant; essentially, that we are born with what we have, and we can’t do anything about it. A fixed mindset becomes a vicious cycle, one that is difficult, but certainly not impossible, to break. There are several factors at play in this cycle. It starts with the belief that you cannot grow, learn, or develop. Enter: Confirmation Bias. Once you believe something, your mind will look for information to confirm that belief and reject information that doesn’t fit. So, anytime someone with a fixed mindset fails or doesn’t live up to their or others’ expectations, their minds reaffirm that they cannot grow, learn, or develop. This pushes those experiencing a fixed mindset further into this belief.

Another reason confirmation bias plays such a huge role in the fixed mindset is because those who have a fixed mindset put limitations on themselves. They develop learned helplessness because of this belief. They cannot recognize their own deficiencies, meaning they cannot correct them. You would need to believe that you can learn and grow to correct behavior, so those experiencing a fixed mindset cannot even admit to themselves that they have faults because that would require them to do something about it.

Qualities of the Fixed Mindset

Below are some qualities of those who are currently experiencing a fixed mindset:

• Believes that failure is an end

• Very resistant to change

• Rejects new ideas immediately

• Views feedback and criticism as a personal attack

• Less likely to take creative risks and be innovative

• Avoids problems out of fear of failure

• Documents and attaches self to past achievements without striving for new ones

• Lacks open-hearted kindness, meaning they feel that encouraging others to succeed or be happy could make themselves look bad in comparison, so they avoid empowering others or being genuinely happy for their success

Growth

Those who are experiencing a growth mindset are, essentially, the opposite to those who are experiencing a fixed mindset. These are the individuals who believe, and know, that they can grow, learn, and develop. They recognize the brain as a muscle that can be worked. When individuals experience a growth mindset, they believe that they can master any skill or talent as long as they put in the effort to do so. Like the fixed mindset, confirmation bias plays a huge role here as well. When individuals believe that they can grow, learn, and develop continually throughout their entire lifetime—no matter their age, abilities, talents, skills, or intelligence—they perpetuate this belief through confirmation bias.

When those who experience a growth mindset fail, they view it as an opportunity to learn and try again. They do not become discouraged or use negative self-talk to bring themselves down. They uplift themselves, and through their confirmation bias they solidify their belief that they can grow, learn, and develop. Individuals who have a growth mindset make excellent leaders as they are the ones who are continually working on themselves and their positive influence. They know that they cannot be their best influence if they believe that they cannot grow. Additionally, those who experience a growth mindset believe that others can grow too, often encouraging others to take on challenges, fail, view things in different lights, and develop themselves.

Qualities of the Growth Mindset

Below are some qualities of those who are currently experiencing a growth mindset:

• Believes that effort can cultivate new intelligence, skills, and talents

• Views failure as an opportunity

• More likely to take creative risks and innovate

• Embraces problems as opportunities to learn

• Views feedback as a chance to improve

• Views life as an exciting journey for continuous growth and practice

• Has open-hearted kindness, meaning they encourage others to succeed and find happiness while feeling genuine happiness for another person’s success and happiness

Switching Between Fixed and Growth Mindsets

It is absolutely possible to switch between these mindsets. While it is less likely for those who have a growth mindset to switch to a fixed mindset, it is possible. There are circumstances in life that could lead someone to break a belief in themselves and stop growing, learning, and developing. More likely is that someone would switch from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. The tricky part is that nobody can do this except for the individual. By this, I mean that those who are experiencing a fixed mindset will need to muster up the courage to face their ego and say they are wrong to believe that they cannot grow, learn, and develop. Developing positive self-talk will be imperative to moving from a fixed to a growth mindset. Those with a growth mindset can help those experiencing a fixed mindset by providing guidance, insight, and encouragement, but until those experiencing the fixed mindset change their own internal self-talk, they won’t change. It all starts with you and only you have the power to change yourself and your mind.

Conclusion

Our world is full of individuals experiencing either a fixed or growth mindset. I’ll leave it to you to decide which is better, but I certainly know which I think is better to perpetuate a positive influence. At The I in Team series, we believe that cultivating the most positive experience for yourself and those around you includes believing in yourself and encouraging others. If you don’t believe in yourself, you’re tearing yourself down. If you don’t encourage others, you harbor feelings of resentment. These do not put any positivity into our world. You deserve to enjoy life, to laugh at mistakes, and to get to know yourself and how far you can go. Aristotle once said, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” If you don’t allow yourself to grow, how can you truly know yourself?

Top 6 Successful Leadership Qualities

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 23:15:06 GMT

Leadership qualities in business consulting

Hi, team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team Series where you can find , be , and build your positive influence. If you think about current and past leaders of organizations, do any of them possess the same successful leadership qualities? Several studies have shown that leaders are different as much as they are similar. However, there are six qualities that are shown to be possessed by the most successful leaders. The leaders who possess the below six qualities run organizations with team members who are more driven, creative, enthusiastic, productive, and positive.

Being Goal Driven

Leaders should be results oriented; this is how organizations thrive and strive. Successful leaders who are goal driven do two things:

1) They set and achieve their own goals

2) They help others set and achieve their own goals

Part of being a successful leader is ensuring everyone on your team is not only aware of your organization’s goals, but that [GBK1] they are setting their own goals as well. If their goals align with the organization’s goals, that’s great! When everyone on the team is aware of the current goals and is [GBK2] striving to meet those goals through their own goal setting, organizations will almost certainly succeed in their industry. Leaders must motivate their team to set and achieve their goals, as well as giving them the tools necessary to do so.

Having Excellent Communication

Employing excellent communication skills is imperative for any leader, especially if they are going to successfully aid in their team’s goal setting and achievement. Leaders who know how to communicate with a diverse set of individuals while ensuring everyone stays on the same page requires practice, patience, creativity, and energy. One of the most powerful tools successful leaders have is their spoken word, privately and face-to-face, with an employee. One-on-one communication followed up with supportive action can reap tremendous results. Consider establishing an open-door policy, if you don’t already have one; if you need focus time, schedule that time for yourself consistently and communicate to your team why you need the focus time and when you will be taking it.

Empowering Others

Empowering others, in part, means making them feel good and like they are valued. Some people possess the quality of being able to transfer positive energy to others, thus, empowering them. Behavioral experts refer to this as positive energy transference , and this brings out the best in others. When your team feels empowered in their abilities and understands that they are valued in the organization, they will strive to meet their and the organization’s goals. Successful leaders can empower employees by getting to know them, understanding their dreams, and helping them link their dreams to the organization’s vision, mission, goals, or values.

Having Empathy

Having empathy for your team aids in successful leaders’ [GBK3] ability to communicate and empower their team, and vice versa. Empathy is the ability to recognize, categorize, and understand an emotion another individual is feeling, as well as being able to communicate or demonstrate that understanding in a way that makes the experience positive for the team member. One of the keys here is avoiding toxic positivity and not making the conversation about yourself. Show your team you care about them by being empathetic to their needs, feelings, goals, and current situation.

Being Pragmatic

While it may seem that being pragmatic goes against having empathy, this is not true. In fact, being pragmatic can aid successful leaders in their pursuit of empathy and empowering their team. When leaders understand that part of human nature is emotion, coupled with the fact that life is messy, they can use pragmatism to communicate more effectively. Being pragmatic doesn’t mean doing away with emotion, it means the opposite. It means taking into account all the variables, understanding your team, and making decisions that are practical. Being pragmatic combined with empathy is a step towards high emotional intelligence . To be practical, leaders must have a wholistic understanding of their team.

Having Structure & Being Organized

Without structure or being organized, leaders couldn’t possibly create successful organizations. Leaders must be structured in their work, remaining consistent and organized to maintain order within the team. If leaders can help their team remain structured and organized as well, their team members will stay on target for deadlines, be more likely to meet their goals, and remain productive.

Conclusion

Successful leaders are ones who employ positive habits for both their own and their team’s benefit. The above six qualities are shared by nearly all successful leaders. To be a positive influence on yourself and your team, you must continually grow, learn, and develop positive habits. If you are lacking any of the above, identify what you would like to work on and ask for outside accountability to help you develop your goal. If you require leadership coaching, contact our team at IA Business Advisors . We would love to help you find, be, and build your positive influence.

[GBK1] Do you need that here?

[GBK2] Should this be are?

[GBK3] Should this be leader’s since it is referring to an individual as you used “your” ?

The Influence of a Simple Gesture

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 23:18:25 GMT

Business consulting impact

Hi team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team Series where you can find, be, and build your positive influence. I have a question for you: Are simple gestures a thing of the past? I’m thinking handwriting a thank you card or note for someone you haven’t seen in a while, leaving an encouraging letter on a co-worker’s desk, holding the door open for a stranger, or even simply smiling at someone on the street. It seems that some individuals have forgotten the positive influence a simple gesture can bring. If you want to be a positive influence , consider bringing simple gestures back into your life after reading the below.

Slow Down

One of the easiest justifications for not performing or creating a positive act for another person is that we are simply too busy. Life is fast paced. We become caught up in our own worlds and next thing you know we’ve missed someone’s birthday or an important milestone. Being a positive influence through simple gestures never has to take a lot of your time, but it will require you to slow down and be more present. Do you understand the influence that small actions have on the overall perception of who you are as a human being?

When you slow down just enough to spark positivity in someone else’s life, whether you know them or not, you increase your positive perception in their minds. You may have a perception of yourself that is positive, but the perception you hold of yourself is rooted in your world view. Others perceive you quite differently; that’s why some people love you and others dislike you. Furthermore, if you spark positivity in someone’s life, you are giving them some of your energy to be used elsewhere. Your influence ripples out from you. If you set the example, slow down, and offer sincere, positive, simple gestures, others may follow you. This creates a chain reaction of positive events, something we need more of.

Positive Influence

By becoming the catalyst for positivity and overall positive influence , you create a reputation for yourself. Not only do you create a reputation for making others feel good, but they will most likely want to be around you and develop a relationship. When you can uplift others with your positive influence, you not only show others who you truly are but you, again, set the standard for behavior. While not everyone is the same, meaning not everyone’s positive influence looks the same, this still sets the precedent that we should try to instill positivity in others’ lives, whatever that may mean to us and however we may do that. Using simple gestures to demonstrate positivity takes minimal time and energy out of your day and means the world to others.

Don’t Take Others for Granted

Often, when we forget about simple gestures, like saying please and thank you , or hello and goodbye, people may feel taken for granted or forgotten. It’s easy to take things personally, and others may not be so easy to let you off the hook for making them feel undervalued. Taking others for granted, whether it be the tasks they perform, the energy they bring, or even their daily routine, can cause negative influence. Respecting others’ time and the value they bring to the team can only bring positive influence and make them feel like they belong. Remember your influence when the fast-pace of life tries to force you to take those around you for granted.

Conclusion

We could all use a little more positivity in our lives, and one way we can do that is by performing simple gestures. Don’t mistake this as a giving only exercise; by giving positivity to others and seeing how your positive influence affects them, that brings you back positivity, too. All that is needed to create a positive experience for yourself and your teams through the use of simple gestures is to slow down, remember your influence, refuse to take others for granted, and choose one thing per day on the list above. Can you imagine a world where people slowed down just enough to care about how they influence others? I can, and it’s a much more beautiful world. We can create that together. It starts today, with you. Are you ready to be a positive influence ?

Take the High Road

Mon, 17 May 2021 23:21:52 GMT

Business consulting strategies

Hi team! It’s your friend, Mary, with The I in Team Series where you can find, be, and build your positive influence. This week, I want to focus our attention on what it means to take the high road. Taking the high road is subjective to each of us; at The I in Team Series , we believe the high road is when you take the path that helps the most people and hurts the least amount of people. Sometimes taking the high road means leaving someone or something behind so you can continue to grow in your positive influence. It can mean swallowing your need to speak when the timing isn’t right or being patient while you give someone an extra five minutes of your time. Taking the high road is always taking the right road, but you must understand what that path means and how to find it.

Finding the High Road

The high road is always the right road, but sometimes finding it can be difficult. First, you must weigh the paths you have in front of you. Ask if these choices, and subsequent decisions, influence anyone other than you (most decisions do), and then ask which choice will produce the most positive influence. When taking the high road, remember to put yourself first if the decision will influence you the most. We believe that in order to give people your most positive influence, you must live life for yourself and put yourself first. Some may find this selfish; some will say this is taking the low road. Taking care of yourself so you can have a positive influence is anything but selfish. So, when considering the high road, you will need to take yourself into account first, and then evaluate which decision will positively influence the most people.

Making decisions can be difficult when you don’t know what the outcome will be, but you have to trust yourself to weigh the pros and cons and analyze the information you have. Be diligent and seek out more information and trust your instincts. Ask people you can trust for their opinion if you need an external source to weigh in. You may find that one day, you are walking on what you believe is the high road, but you may find yourself standing alone.

Walking the High Road

Walking the high road can be a lonely road, as most people find it difficult to take the high road. You may become unpopular and shunned by peers for the decisions you make in life, but if you know that it is your high road then you must stay true to yourself. Let’s digress to a story about a man named Nicolaus Copernicus , who was a mathematician and astronomer in the 1500s, and the first to suggest that the Earth and all the planets revolved around the sun, rather than the Earth being the center of our solar system. He made several great strides in astronomy, including correctly hypothesizing why planets go into retrograde .

However, this was at a time when everyone believed that the Earth was the center of the universe and that everything moved around a stagnant Earth. Copernicus was utterly rejected by society, thrown in prison, denounced by his faith, and all but killed for his ideas (which, most, were later proven to be true). At no point did Copernicus waiver from his findings, and he spent his life trying to help others see the truth about our world. He died being mocked and shunned by society and faith. We now know that the Earth does in fact revolve around the Sun. This is one of my favorite stories of human strength and will. It would have been easy to retract his statements to be accepted by society and his church, but he refused. He knew what was right and he died trying to teach others. There are high roads that you will walk alone, but you must keep empathy in your heart for those on the low road.

Observing the Low Road

Choose curiosity over judgement. Do not judge those who cannot see the high road, be curious as to why they can’t or why they refuse to walk it with you. Having empathy for those who are walking the low road is another form of taking the high road. Like Copernicus, the best you can do is speak what you believe to be true from your perspective. Educate others and encourage them to be curious. Do not view others as being judgmental when they ask questions in a tone that questions your position; appreciate that they are looking for knowledge and view them as curious, even if they can’t control their tone. Being on the high road means holding empathy for those who are not with you, whether they choose not to be or don’t know how. Just because others haven’t joined you on the high road yet, doesn’t mean they won’t. Taking the high road is the mark of a leader.

Conclusion

Taking the high road is always taking the right road. Whether it is to benefit yourself or to help others, your high road is always right. When faced with an opportunity to take the high road or the low road, envision your hands with one up and one down; the one up is the high road, the road that will bring the most positive influence to you or others, and the hand that is down is the low road, the road you take when you are not your best self (most likely to induce feelings of guilt later on). Taking the high road may seem scary, difficult, or impossible at times, but if Copernicus could do it in the 1500s, you can do it today.

Prepare for the Future, Focus on the Now

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 23:25:47 GMT

Business consulting strategies

Hi team, it’s your friend Mary! During one of my meditation sessions to help alleviate anxiety, my guide discussed the importance of staying in the now and focusing on the present moment. She said that if we focus on the now, we will always be ready for the future, stating that most anxiety comes to us as we anticipate the future or review the past. This has helped me immensely and my hope is to explain how we can slow down and get into our now. As Brian wrote in Find the “I” in Team , “Live in the present; the most important moment in your life is the present moment. It is in the present that all things are learned, lost, and forgotten.”

The Past

The past only serves to teach us. Reflecting on the past is encouraged but becoming trapped in an illusion of reflections doesn’t help you learn or grow. The past can trick our minds into believing we are reliving the experience again, coupled with the same emotions we felt as the memory occurred, but it’s only a reflection of what once was. Don’t let your mind fool you into thinking this is real again or that you have to observe the memory in the same state as it occurred. You can observe memories from afar, detached from their emotions , in order to learn and grow.

The best way to avoid this trap is to get ahead of it. When you start to feel your emotions rise as a memory comes to you, immediately question those emotions. Questioning the emotions tied to the past serves you by helping you learn from the experience in a more pragmatic way. Only you have the power to retrain your brain, but you can only do so if you do the work and that means getting ahead of your reactionary thoughts. Question what your mind tells you is reality because your mind is the only reality you live in. Your mind is the only trap you have, and it’s excellent at trapping you in negative or untrue thought patterns. What you tell yourself is what you will see. This is your reality and you’re in control .

The Future

We cannot control the future; we can only influence it. Dreaming of the future, planning, and being strategic are not the same as fretting about what is to come. If you are being deliberate in your thoughts, whether they be past or present, time is not wasted. However, concerning ourselves with how others will react to us, what others will think, or what may or may not happen to us or those around us in the future is time wasted when it causes unnecessary anxiety. We fret about the future because we fear we may not be ready to handle it. I promise you, that if you stay in the now, you will always be ready for the future. The future is now.

The Now

Yes, the future is now. And now. And now. And so on. Time is a social construct we use to stay organized and to make sense of this rock that we are on. There is no future. The only future is in your mind. There is no past. The only past is in your mind. There is only now. The future and past do not exist now, but the future and past can only exist now if you allow it to in your mind. You only have the now, the present moment, to hold onto and view as reality. We easily become trapped in our minds with thoughts outside the present moment, but that isn’t real. It’s only real to us because we live inside our own created realities.

One of the best ways to focus on the now is to get out of your mind and into your body. Move your awareness to your heartbeat (that never stops, without you asking), your breath (that continues without consciously thinking “take a breath”), your blinking eyes, feel your extremities and wiggle your fingers and toes, or feel the roof of your mouth and taste what’s going on in there. Take long, slow, and deliberate deep breaths as you focus on moving your awareness from your mind down into your body. This feeling, this stillness, is your present moment. This is your now. Your only opportunity in life is to seize your now, whatever your now may bring.

Slow Down

Slowing down is something that we discuss redundantly at The I in Team Series, but it’s the most useful tool for any situation. We know that, in the heat of the moment, slowing down may seem impossible. To be honest, retraining your brain to stay focused on the now is difficult, but not impossible. You have to slow down, be deliberate with your thoughts and actions, and put effort towards slowing yourself down and being present.

Learn More: The Benefits of Slowing Down

Conclusion

I’ll be honest, staying in the present moment really isn’t easy. I’ve been working on this for five years and I can say with certainty that I’ve made progress, but I’m not yet where I want to be as I still deal with crippling anxiety and depression. It doesn’t help that we are coming out of a devastating pandemic that increased anxiety and depression fourfold in our country (USA). I will promise that staying in the present is worth it. Every time you interrupt your engrained thinking patterns, every time you pull yourself out of your mind, every time you TRY you are making progress. You can absolutely change your life and your way of thinking, but you need to give yourself permission. Encourage yourself and others to live in the present moment.

Dealing With the Communication Debt

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 23:27:31 GMT

Communication strategies for business consulting

Hi team, Mary here! After almost a year of living in the pandemic, many of us are still finding ourselves burnt out, exhausted, and maybe even unmotivated. I’ve been asking myself how I can be feeling more burnt and stressed out than when the pandemic began, when I read an article discussing the communication debt . Communication debt isn’t a new concept, but it’s become much more severe as we have all entered working spaces that are far more digital than they once were.

Communication debt is, essentially, the negative emotions you feel when you are unable to respond to communications, whether they be emails, texts, direct messages, or even group chats. “Communication” refers to the various types of communication you receive throughout your day, and “debt” refers to the growing mound of responses you have to get to at some point. This can usually create feelings of anxiety or avoidance and can cause issues in productivity. Dealing with your personal communication debt will take some time, practice, and willpower. Below are our top tips for dealing with your communication debt.

Put the “No” in Notification

By this, I mean, turn off your notifications (I just couldn’t resist the catchy sub-header). You don’t always have to keep your notifications on. For me, it really disrupts my deep thought work if I see a message bubble pop up on my screen from Microsoft Teams or I hear an email come into my inbox. We discuss the issues of multitasking a lot on The I in Team Series , but even if you’re not intending to multitask you can experience the same issues of multitasking because of the communication debt. If you become distracted by a group thread, either on your phone personally or one you are included in at the office, that line of communication is forcing you to multitask as you either think of a way to respond or worry about having to respond to that later (adding a task to your to do list).

The best way to combat this issue is to silence your notifications! Utilize the technology you have to work with you and not against you. If you have children or those who depend on you for emergencies, set a special ringtone for them to go off only if they call you (and set this expectation that calls during business hours are for emergencies only). Use Do Not Disturb on your phone and anywhere else you can (I love DND on Teams). You don’t have to be available for everyone 24/7 and you shouldn’t be! This is where communicating healthy boundaries comes in.

Set Healthy Boundaries

Setting boundaries so that you can deal with communication debt more easily is better for everyone. When you set boundaries, you protect yourself and ensure you are getting what you need to be your best self. One example of a set boundary that is universal is the closed door . When someone’s door is closed, you know they are in Do Not Disturb mode. However, we don’t have the luxury of closing our door when we are all working from home and connected solely via technology. One way you can offset this is by either blocking time for yourself to answer emails and only answer emails during that time, or by blocking time for yourself to do deep mind work and then alerting everyone to those times. Be sure that if you block time for yourself to do deep mind work that you also set reminders for when that time block will end (or, ask someone to get you at a certain time).

Again, set the expectations you have with those around you. Healthy individuals will respect these boundaries and work with you to ensure all needs are taken care of on everyone’s terms. Sometimes you might have to sacrifice a little bit for the sake of your own comfort, but that’s okay! As long as those around you are doing their best to respect and acknowledge your boundaries, you are in good company. Plus, pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone is always encouraged to promote personal growth!

Conclusion

You might already have a system for tackling your communication debt, like zeroing out your inbox or unsubscribing from junk emails, but you’re always going to have more communications to respond to. Therefore, you need tactics to lessen the severity of the negative influence of the communication debt. First, you need to know yourself . Who are you and what do you need? Second, you need to love and respect yourself enough to set boundaries, including saying no to notifications. Finally, practice self-love. The world around us is becoming increasingly more demanding as we all work harder and longer days to keep up with that demand. If you practice self-love, know your worth, and strive to have a positive influence, you can tackle the negative effects of communication debt.

The Problem with the Golden and Platinum Rules

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 23:46:36 GMT

Business consulting strategies

Hi team, it’s your friend Mary with The I in Team Series where you can find, be, and build your positive influence! This week, I want to discuss my personal opinion on the Golden and Platinum Rules. To review, the Golden Rule is, essentially, "treat everyone as you would want to be treated" and the Platinum Rule is "treat everyone as they want to be treated." While these both offer great guidelines for hopefully treating others with love, kindness, and respect, I think they miss a huge component of humanity: Mental Illness. I know when I'm depressed, anxious, or in the pits, I don't want to be treated well; more so, I don't feel like I deserve love and kindness because my mind tells me I don't. This is the primary problem I see in the Golden and Platinum Rules, but before I propose my solution, I want to dive into these rules a little further.

The Golden and Platinum Rules

The Golden Rule, in some variation, has been written in religious text for centuries. It essentially reminds everyone to stay mindful of how they treat others lest someone treat you the same way. It promotes a sense of empathy and social awareness. Although, it is a bit egocentric. It’s a rule that tells you to treat others the way you would want to be treated, assuming you believe you deserve to be treated well. I know that for me and others who suffer from depression, anxiety, or other mental illnesses, not everyone feels that they are worth being treated well all of the time. So, for example, if I followed the Golden Rule while in a depressed state, I probably wouldn’t treat others very well. Why? 1) Because I feel horribly about myself and the world and 2) If I were hypothetically following the Golden Rule, I would treat everyone the way I felt I deserved, which I’m certain nobody wants.

The Platinum Rule was proposed and developed by Dr. Tony Alessandra and Dr. Michael J. O’Connor. On Dr. Alessandra’s website , he writes,

“The Platinum Rule accommodates the feelings of others. The focus of relationships shifts from ‘this is what I want, so I'll give everyone the same thing’ to ‘let me first understand what they want and then I'll give it to them.’”

Dr. Alessandra and Dr. O’Connor were absolutely correct to propose a rule that focuses on the other person more than the self. This ensures you are attempting to give someone what they want, but it leaves out what people need. Sometimes people want things that aren’t good for them, as I hope you understand by now with the example above. While we want to accommodate the feelings of others, we also need to be mindful that sometimes the people closest to us don’t know what they need to feel better and in those moments we should offer them love and support with no strings attached.

How I Approach Treating Others

To be honest, I didn’t know what to call it. But, the way I approach treating others is to, “Treat everyone the way you would want someone to treat the person you love most in this world.” Perhaps, this is redundant, as many people’s favorite person is themselves. Personally, this rule works for me. I don’t always have the best mental health and reminding myself to treat others the way I would want someone to treat Spencer, my fiancé, is really helpful. No matter what kind of mental issues I’m battling, I always want Spencer to be treated with love, kindness, and respect. To be honest, I just can’t say the same about myself, although I know those thoughts aren’t true, the mind can be tricky.

I believe following a rule like this will help everyone be more socially aware. Spreading a positive influence is the best way to combat the negativity of the world. If we can increase our emotional intelligence, do our best to realize when we aren’t feeling so great, and strive to treat others the way we would want someone to treat those we love the most, I know we can increase our positive influence. Maybe not every day, but we aren’t meant to be perfect every day. Life might kick us down, or we might have a bad day with a negative influence, but we just have to keep going forward, learning from our mistakes, doing our best, and striving to remain uplifted and positive . If we can do this, we can spread love, kindness, and acceptance in all areas of our lives.

Conclusion

These rules have always been meant as guidelines for treating others with love, kindness, and respect, and in reality, all three rules are saying the same thing with different wording. One is centuries old, derived from philosophy and religion. One is a more recent thought pool, used to increase others’ empathy and social awareness. And one is used to recognize that people these days have mental illness and we should remain mindful . It doesn’t matter your race, age, or sexual orientation; all human beings deserve a chance to be treated with love, kindness, and respect. We all deserve to live in a world where we are free to be our most true selves. In a diverse world, we all flourish, so spread positive influence to those who are similar to you and those who are vastly different. We are all important in this time.

Showing Gratitude

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 23:51:29 GMT

Business consulting gratitude strategies

Hi team, Mary here! We have had a pretty crazy year. Between the pandemic, civil unrest, and elections, it seems emotions are always running high. But in the month of giving thanks, I would like us all to reflect on that which we are grateful for. In times of uncertainty and stress, it can be easy to look at the past or future and wish for better, but that takes us away from the present moment. I implore you to focus on that which you do have, in the now. Showing gratitude for the positive parts of your life will help you remain positive and content overall.

What is Gratitude?

Most individuals believe that showing gratitude is the same as showing thanks. While being thankful is synonymous with showing gratitude , there are some subtle differences. Being thankful is when you acknowledge what someone or something has done or given you. For example, when your co-worker brings coffee to work for everyone, you may respond with, “Thank you!” Gratitude, on the other hand, is a feeling that is much deeper. It goes beyond the simple, verbal “thank you” and involves having a deeper appreciation and love for that person, event, or thing. It’s a deep emotional response that you feel down to your core, and the feeling lingers much longer than the “Thank you!”

If you’re someone who doesn’t have or express a lot of emotions, the differences between showing gratitude and being thankful might be difficult to grasp. You can still show gratitude and be mindful about how you conduct yourself in showing thanks while not feeling the deep emotional sense of gratefulness. Showing gratitude for the things and people in your life requires that you remain mindful of yourself and your surroundings. So, if you’re someone who has difficultly feeling or expressing emotion, meditation and mindfulness might be the solution for you showing gratitude.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a school of thought that can be expressed in several ways but boiled down it’s just about remaining aware of yourself, how you’re feeling inside, and remaining cognizant of the influence you have. Some people practice mindfulness by meditating while others may practice mindfulness by reading self-help books or engaging in self-education. Mindfulness is kind of what you want it to be, as long as you can stay grounded in who you are and how you influence the world around you. Staying mindful just means that you stay aware. It doesn’t mean you have to be perfect because none of us are. It means that if you identify an opportunity for growth, you try to grow positively.

Being Humble

Being humble goes hand-in-hand with showing gratitude. If you are boastful, you are certainly not being mindful. You might have a little or you might have a lot, but no matter what you have, it’s important to remain humble in those feelings. There are always going to be those who are less fortunate than you. Remaining humble and showing gratitude for what you do have in life will help you remain more content. Instead of constantly chasing greener grass or looking back on better times, find peace in where you are at in life. By showing gratitude, and feeling the weight of that gratefulness, you will inherently become humbler. Gratitude itself is a humbling feeling.

Conclusion

Focusing on what we do have rather than what we don’t have is how we can all live more content lives and spread a positive influence. When we feel grounded with where we are, we feel better about ourselves. When we feel good, we spread that good feeling to those around us. In the month of thanks, take some time to show deep gratitude towards those who have positively influenced you. You may even show some gratitude towards those who have been a negative influence in your life; sometimes negativity can make us better as humans and that is something to be grateful for. If you’re looking for more ways to be a positive influence and help spread the love, check out our Influence page ! We have tons of examples of positive influence for children, your professional life, and your personal life.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to anyone out there who has read this blog, our book, followed us on social media, watched our vlogcast, and supported our efforts to spread a positive influence by teaching people how to be better leaders. You’re the reason I get up in the morning and why the sun will shine again tomorrow. You give my life purpose and meaning, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity to help anyone grow in their positive influence. So, how about you? What are you grateful for? Namaste , team.

Take Control of Your Influence

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 22:55:43 GMT

Business influence strategies

Hi team, Mary here! Now is the time to take control of your influence. If you have been following us for a while, you know that Brian and I have the philosophy that your influence is your single greatest responsibility as a human being. If you’re new, welcome! We want to help you find your influence, use your influence in a positive way, and develop that which makes you unique. We recognize that each individual has something to offer this world that separates them from the rest, and the world needs your unique, positive influence!

Find Yourself

In order to tap into that which makes you individual, and therefore which makes your influence individual, you must first find yourself. I wish I could tell you there is an easy path to step on for you to do this, but, alas, there is not. I can only offer my wisdom on how you can find yourself. Finding yourself always starts with two things: slowing down and being honest. If you can slow down and be honest with yourself while you are trying to find yourself, down to your very core being, your journey will be easier.

Our first book, Individual Advantages: Find the “I” in Team , takes you on this extensive journey of finding yourself. To keep it concise, for blog purposes, you need to do some self-reflection. Slow down, bring your senses into the present moment, focus on the now, and start to reflect. My hope is that the following list of questions will help you start to ponder who you are as a unique human being. Take the time that you deserve to do this because Brian and I both truly believe that you are doing this world a disservice if you do not choose to influence it with that which makes you wholly individual .

· Who do you think you are?

· Who do you want to be?

· Who do you want to be perceived as?

· Who do you think you are perceived as now? [MS1]

Be Yourself

Once you have found yourself, who you are and who you want to be, you finally have the chance to be yourself—to be a positive influence on the world around you. Being a positive influence, even to yourself, doesn’t require you to change anything. It only requires that you think pragmatically, as a leader should, about situations and people. We cover being a positive influence extensively in our second book, Individual Advantages: Be the “I” in Team, due to be released in January 2021.

Being a positive influence means understanding how you communicate and trying to understand how others communicate with you. It means taking the high road, weighing your choices to make decisions, being accountable for those decisions, finding balance and striving to keep that balance, staying humble, and staying positive. This certainly doesn’t exhaust the list, however, being yourself and being a positive influence means looking for ways to stay true to yourself that also benefits as many people as possible.

Your Greatest Responsibility

Your influence is your greatest responsibility. How you choose to treat yourself, the people around you, and your environment all play a pivotal role in your influence. Your influence is comprised of your actions, words, and thoughts. How you treat yourself in your mind influences who you are and how you treat others. As we like to say, “What’s inside influences what’s outside.” Treat yourself kindly and you will be more inclined to treat others kindly. If you can understand your worth and what you can contribute to this world just by being yourself, you will feel the full weight of your responsibility on your shoulders. How you choose to wield that responsibility is yours alone, we hope that we can influence you to choose to use it positively.

[MS1] Gregg – Can you help me think of any others that could go here?

The Benefits of Slowing Down

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 18:26:49 GMT

Benefits of slowing down in business consulting

Hi team, Mary here ! I think we can learn a lot by watching animals. Or, at least, we can better ourselves and find new standards to reach by comparing some of our behaviors to theirs. For example, my dog, Bilbo, is extremely loyal. He is a pack-dog through and through. His personality makes it seems like he is much bigger than he is! The love he shows even strangers amazes me. Once someone is in our “pack,” he will protect and defend them. (I mean, he’s seven pounds. But he tries, which is what counts!) I think the trait of loyalty, love, and devotion is something to admire.

There are tons of animals we can learn from if we slow down and take the time to observe them and appreciate their efforts. Ants are hard workers and work well on a large team. Deer are cautious but still curious. And then we come to the three animals in our graphic for this blog: Turtle, sloth, and snail. All known for being slow, diligent, and mindful. There is importance in slowing down our fast-paced lives. If we don’t start today, our lives can pass us by in a blink. The way our world is currently set up is to make you fast paced. Get here faster. Send this faster. Give me what I want faster. But what if we just took a moment to breathe, be in the moment, and slow down?

Physical & Mental Benefits of Slowing Down

Slowing down isn’t just for your mental state, it’s for your physical state too. Sometimes I think we have a tendency to forget that our brains are part of our bodies and we need to take care of them like we do our body. The faster we are, the more likely we are to feel stressed and anxious. When we are stressed and anxious, our bodies create cortisol (stress hormone) and it ravages your body’s immune system and mental clarity—leading to anxiety, depression, digestive issues, headaches, and more. If you want to learn more about how stress and cortisol affect your body, read this article from the Mayo Clinic .

The benefits of slowing down are as follows, but are not limited to:

Reduces stress
Lowers blood pressure and heart rate
Reduces chronic pain
Improves sleep
Increases mental clarity and thinking
Increased awareness, attention, and focus
Increased brain function

Techniques to Slow Down

Slowing down isn’t an intuitive task. It takes patience and willpower to learn how. For those that have never slowed down, it may be harder to silence your mind at first but slowing down requires dedication and practice. Although, anyone can slow down if they try! Slowing down is about getting out of your head, phone, TV, games, etc. and getting into the present moment. It’s all in your mind and you have the power to control it !

Start with taking a few deep, slow breathes. Try to focus on your breathing: Feel your rib cage and lungs expand and contract as you bring in and release air. When your mind wanders, bring it back to your breath. If it helps you, you can count your inhales and exhales. To calm your nervous system, make your exhales twice as long as your inhales. This may be as far as you want to go to slow down your mind and focus on the present moment.

If you want to go further, next you will want to do a sensory check. What can you feel, see, hear, smell, or taste? Don’t attach any thoughts to those senses, just observe them as they are happening to you. You don’t have to interact with the sensations; this is your moment to relax and let your brain take a rest. This exercise can be quick but give yourself at least five minutes to just sit and breathe. That’s only 0.34 percent of the time you have in an entire day! Easy, right?

Conclusion

Once you have dedicated yourself to slowing down, even just for five minutes a day (although, you should give yourself longer on the days that you can) you will begin to notice the changes in your mind and body. You are allowed to put social media away, turn off the TV, and breathe. This is your life and your moment. Don’t wake up in ten, twenty, fifty years and realize you have nothing to remember. Start making memories now and that starts with slowing down. I believe in you and your positive influence ! If you have any questions, feel free to message us on Twitter !

SETTING S.M.A.R.T. GOALS

Sun, 09 Aug 2020 16:00:36 GMT

SMART goals for business consulting

Hi team, Mary here! With 2021 right around the corner, now is the time people start considering their New Year’s resolutions. Personally, I prefer to call them New Year’s goals because I think goals are easier for people to deal with, they are less likely to be given up on because they are adaptable, and they can feel more rewarding when reached. Additionally, I think New Year’s resolutions have a negative connotation to them; roughly 80% of people give up on their resolutions by February, so it seems societal norm is to create resolutions but not stick to them. If we start planning goals, perhaps we won’t give up on them. With the new year right around the corner, let’s start creating our S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely) goals now.

Choosing Your Goal

Some of the most common New Year’s goals are:

Go to the gym regularly
Lose weight/diet
Work on mental health
Get a new job
Buckle down on finances
Manage stress
Improve a relationship
Quit smoking/drinking

So, does that mean you have to set a common goal? Heck no! Choosing your goal is personal and should relate to how you want to grow. It can absolutely be a common goal, because making our minds and bodies healthier is a great way to grow, but it can also be an obscure goal that means something to just you. You may want to learn a new style of cooking, read a book series , go back to school, climb a mountain, run a 10k, practice or learn a new art, or anything you want it to be. Your goals should reflect who you want to be and how you want to grow.

My 2020 goals were to figure out grad school, read for an hour every week, write and release one song, and finish my crochet blanket. I’m happy to say, I did figure out grad school! With the help of some trusted friends and loved ones, I enrolled for my master’s in organizational leadership. However, once I realized how hard learning to write music was, I adjusted my goal to continue learning about music. When my hand started cramping up from crocheting, I adjusted my goal to work on my crochet blanket (it’s massive, like king-sized, so finishing it is going to take a long time). I didn’t read fiction for one hour every week, but I didn’t give up on the goal; I still read every week for at least one hour and read my fiction book when I can fit it into my schedule. Don’t be afraid to adjust, but don’t give up .

Specific

Once you have decided on your goal, it’s time to make your goal specific! Ask yourself these questions and write down your answers:

Who is involved in this goal?
What do I want to accomplish with this goal?
Where will this goal be achieved?
When do I want to achieve this goal?
Why do I want to achieve this goal?

It’s vital that your goal is specific, otherwise you might lose sight of what you are working towards. It also needs to be specific enough to follow the rest of the S.M.A.R.T. process.

Measurable

If you can’t measure it, you can’t control it. Making sure you have metrics to measure your goal will help you reach your goal . It will also propel you forward towards the end. If you don’t have a way to measure your progress, you may become discouraged half-way through and give up. For example, if your goal is to lose weight, what would your metrics be? For one, you can weigh yourself and tangibly see your weight loss, but you can also measure your calorie intake and how many calories you burn during exercise.

Ask yourself these questions and write down your answers:

How many/much X will I need?
How will I know I have reached my goal?
What will I use to be an indicator of progress?

Attainable

Your goal should stretch your abilities without stretching you so thin it makes the goal unattainable. For example, I could set the goal of becoming an astronaut. Becoming an astronaut is certainly attainable. In the S.M.A.R.T. process, attainable and realistic go hand-in-hand so be sure to keep a close eye on these sections. Yes, becoming an astronaut is technically attainable because other people have done it, so I could do it too. But is it realistic?

Ask yourself these questions and write down your answers:

Do I have the funds/resources/capabilities to reach this goal?
If not, what am I missing or how can I get it?
Are there any roadblocks that could prevent my goal from being attainable?

Realistic

Setting a realistic goal means setting a goal that can be achieved given the resources and time you have. So, continuing our example above, I could, technically, become an astronaut. However, am I in a position to become an astronaut? Am I astronaut material? Am I willing to go back to school, start my career from scratch, and spend more than a decade trying to reach my goal? Probably not. It’s not a realistic goal because I’m not willing to dedicate the time to achieve the goal, I probably wouldn’t be that good at advanced science and math, and even then I may not even get up into space so I would have to be content simply working for NASA or another space related company.

Ask yourself these questions and write down your answers:

Is my goal realistic?
Is this goal worth my time?
Is this goal worth my money?
Is this the right time to try to reach this goal?
Does this goal match other efforts/needs?

Timely

All goals need a definitive start and end date. If there is no timeline, there will be no sense of urgency; hence, less motivation to reach the goal. When I set my 2020 goals, they all had a deadline of the end of the year. Looking back, I didn’t create all my goals around S.M.A.R.T. or I would have known that releasing a song would be nearly impossible. However, my hand cramping up during crocheting is not something I could have foreseen, so I adjusted my goal’s timeline. Your timeline should be in line with what you need from that goal.

Ask yourself these questions and write down your answers:

Does my goal have a deadline?
When do I want to achieve my goal?
What else is going on in my life that could prevent me from hitting this goal in this time frame?

Conclusion

Now’s the time to start planning for your 2021 goals and I want you all to feel like achievers in reaching your goals. Don’t follow society and set goals for yourself just to never see them fulfilled. Doing so will just make setting goals harder and more discouraging because you train yourself to not meet your goals. You literally program yourself to think it’s okay to set goals and not meet them. I promise, once you set a goal and meet that goal, you’ll be changed. Looking back at your past self and knowing you made it is a reward worth having. Trust me, I’m so happy to be in school and at the beginning of 2020, I was sure that was a goal I would give up on.

Staying Positive During Negative Times

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 17:48:04 GMT

Business consulting resilience

Hi team, Mary here ! As I write this, it’s almost the end of June 2020 and with the state our world is in right now it’s becoming increasingly harder to stay positive. I want to take a moment to remind you how important you are and how important your influence is! We have to stay strong and do our best to pursue positivity, even when faced with copious negativity. Today, I would like to share with you some of my top tips for staying positive during negative times.

Practice Self-Love

Remember this: Loving yourself first is anything but selfish. If you don’t, who will? Practicing self-love is about knowing yourself down to your foundation and understanding what you need to rebuild your positivity. I know for me personally, sleep is about the only thing that really mends my positivity. Having the time to process and rest really helps reset myself for the next day. Although, there isn’t always time for sleep, or you may need to stay positive at a time when sleep is not an option.

You may enjoy a hot beverage, taking a walk in the sunshine, meditating, doing yoga, playing a game on your phone, scrolling social media, talking on the phone, or simply unplugging from it all. To practice self-love, you must first find the activities you love the most. If you don’t know, start trying some things out. What makes you feel good? What makes you feel like you can take on the world? Make time in your day for those activities. Do not neglect yourself. To be your best for others, you must first be your best for yourself.

Employ Empathy

Empathy. It’s hard to explain and even harder to teach. If you have it, you know it. If you don’t, you need to learn. Emotional intelligence is necessary for our current times and the times of the future. Essentially, empathy boils down to this: being able to recognize another’s emotions and feel them as if you were in their same position. It’s more complicated than that, but for those of you that are still working on this I hope this definition helps.

If you feel a situation you are in becomes negative, or you find that you are surrounded by negativity, ask yourself: Why? Why are people negative? Why do people push their negativity on me? It’s because they don’t feel positive inside, and that is something we can (and should) have empathy for. Showing empathy for those who might be mean, icky, or just all around not fun to be around is one of the best ways we can keep up our positivity. Don’t sink to their level and add to the negativity. Instead, be the light that lifts them up and continue to share your positivity .

Two additional notes on empathy: 1) Don’t take things so seriously. Sometimes people just have bad days, but that’s not a reflection of you. Sometimes people have hard lives, but that’s not a reflection of you. Some people are just bad people, but that’s not a reflection of you. You need to learn to let things roll off your back and have empathy for the other’s situations. 2) If you feel the weight of empathy start to drag you down (this is for you, fellow empaths), re-read my self-love section. Being an empath means you fully take on the emotions of another, sometimes finding it difficult to separate your own emotions from theirs. When you feel this, practice self-love and remind yourself that you don’t have to take on the weight of another.

Slow Down

When you’re faced with a negative situation or are experiencing a lot of negativity, try to slow the moment down. Negativity can sometimes force us to act irrationally and without thought. When you feel your emotions begin to boil over from negativity, slow down and remind yourself to not take things so seriously. Employ some empathy for the moment and work to add positivity back into the situation.

The Law of Attraction

“Think positive and you shall live positive.” I love the law of attraction: the idea that what you put into life is what you get out of life. Even during negative times, keep putting positivity out there. Never cease to be the beacon of hope in others’ lives. You never know what the positivity you put out could do for another, even just one , human being. Remind yourself that life has peaks and valleys, and if you are in a valley right now there is only one place left to go: up.

Conclusion

Hate only breeds more hate. The best thing we can do for our world right now is to stay positive and keep fighting for what we believe in. One last note for you, do not be hard on yourself if you cannot remain positive all the time. It’s not plausible, or even fair to yourself, to expect to be positive all the time. The best you can do is, well, the best you can do! Work hard everyday to spread a positive influence. It all starts with you. Because if it’s not you, then who?

The “Different Types” of Business Consulting We Offer

Sat, 19 Aug 2017 10:00:00 GMT

Types of business consulting

Written by: Matt Wilhelmi

Over the past 2 years of working with IA Business Advisors , I’ve noticed there are several “different types” of business consulting we offer. It’s certainly not all straightforward. In fact, some clients don’t know exactly what they need. When prospects or contacts at networking events ask: “So, what exactly is it that you do?” I often need to watch how I respond. I’ve met so many “business consultants” who are really merchant processors, insurance salespeople, or “widget of the month” sales people.

No, no, no.

IA is a boutique business consultancy firm. Boutique? Yes. We don’t take every client that walks in the door. There are some qualifications. One: They have to understand exactly how we approach problems. Two: They have to be willing to submit to our process. We don’t take shortcuts . We don’t make outlandish promises. We do, however, provide some “different types” of business consulting.

Professional Problem Solvers

Probably the most common type is the “Professional Problem Solver.” We are often asked to think outside the box as other professionals have said “it can’t be done” to whatever the specific need is. We come in, ask for a retainer for the work, perform our BizVision® Process, and then fix the problem on contingency.

One client Brian worked with was on the brink of having his company literally taken from him. He got into a nasty partnership with 2 other people who were about as dishonest as they come. They were lying to banks, vendors, and employees about payments, money, and reports. Well, the bank they were working with caught on to the inconsistent financial reports (because they were fabricated by one of the dishonest partners) and the bank started to repossess the business’s vehicles. The client’s attorney called Brian. Brian and the IA Team swooped in and not only stopped the bank from destroying the company, but also fixed the partnership, restored their credit, found a new banking relationship, and have been providing strategic advice ever since. How? Brian and the IA Team are “Professional Problem Solvers.”

Encourager

Sometimes, we work with clients so closely that we can tell something is a little off. Many entrepreneurs are under an unbelievable amount of stress and have few outlets to turn to. It’s during these situations where we need to be an Encourager to our clients. It might be subtle; a text message here, or a facebook message there. Something that says, “Hey, we know you’re busting your butt for your company and you’re doing a great job!”

Accountability Partner

Other times, we need to be the Accountability Partner to our clients. Most of our clients who develop a Strategic Plan for their business with us realize they need a little bit of accountability. And, it doesn’t need to be a naughty word.

One of my favorite speakers says, “The problem isn’t with education. All the information is out there. Thank GOD for Google. You can find information on anything. The problem is with Accountability.” You see, when running a business , often times there is very little oversight to your decision making. Sure, you may have a spouse to be accountable to, or a business partner, but what about someone who (like a personal trainer) will ask you what you did last week or last month to take action steps getting you closer to your goals. That’s accountability.

Analyst

Clients who need an Analyst are some of my favorite clients. They tend to make decisions only after they have all the information. Or, they know they don’t have the time (or maybe the will power) to do the proper due diligence and some critical thinking on a very important decision.

We’ve been asked to prepare Competitor Reports, Market Trend Analyses, and Business Evaluations. To Reverse Engineer Processes. Conduct Interviews. And yes, Review Financial Statements. We do all this through the lens of, “What is the overall goal for the business? And does this align to that goal?”

Sometimes a client will ask us to generate XYZ Report, which would take 5-8 hours of time and cost a bunch of money and we pause for a minute to think if this is A) Really necessary B) The easiest way to do it C) Going to generate the ROI the client expects D) Something we should show one of their staff members how to do. This is why the critical thinking pays off. We’re not going to mindlessly take orders just to spend time on it. It has to fit into the overall goal of the business and stay within their budget.

Teacher

I almost gave this one away. Phew! Part of the time we’re working with our clients, we need to be Teachers. You know, we support business owners in a variety of ways. Sometimes a little too much. When clients ask us to perform routine tasks for them, we often provide an option (they may choose to have us do it anyway) of showing them how to do it, providing them with a Standard Operating Procedure, or teaching one of their staff members how to do it.

In fact, we’ve taught dozens of small business owners how to use QuickBooks. That’s just one example, but because we know the software so well, we can give an overview (if that’s all you want), show you how to generate the most important reports (if you want that level of functionality), or even how to pull transactions from online into the QuickBooks system and reconcile bank accounts. We actually have a very large database of QuickBooks specific Standard Operating Procedures to help support our teachings.

Dreamer

As a good business consultant should, we sometimes need to help our clients dream a little. I’m not talking about blowing smoke up you know where. I’m talking about helping our clients realize why (or reminding them of why) they started their business in the first place. It could be to establish a legacy for their kids or grandkids. It could be creating a money-making machine so they can take 4 months off a year. It could be simply having some autonomy and not working to make someone else rich.

Whatever the dream, (and sometimes we need to have the “Dreamer Conversation” where we help brainstorm exactly what the dream is, and the more specific the better) we want to help you get there. That’s our ultimate goal. Without knowing your dream, it’s hard to give advice.

Part of our BizVision ® Process is uncovering what your business looks like today. Part of the process is understanding where you want it to be. That’s how we’re able to build the plan to get there.

The post The “Different Types” of Business Consulting We Offer appeared first on IA Business Advisors .

Innovate to Differentiate from the Masses

Sat, 05 Aug 2017 10:00:00 GMT

Innovative business consulting

Written by: Brian Smith

When it comes to business we all have been there, feeling as though we are one in a million vying for the same customers. You may have tried several marketing strategies and approaches for years with little or no visible return on your efforts. If you find yourself questioning your current strategy don’t feel alone in this fact. According to HubSpot Inc. , 60 percent of companies worry about generating traffic and leads from their marketing. The other 40 percent focus on proving the ROI of their current marketing strategy.

If you find that your business is not generating enough growth you might be wondering what your next steps should be. It primarily comes down to the new business climate of today; the nature of business is continually evolving . Technology keeps shortening the lifespan of products and organizations. Leaders, who don’t keep pace with the change, run the risk of being left behind. Choosing the proper trajectory for your company can be difficult but with the right leadership you can begin to innovate and differentiate from the masses.

Here are three key elements to get your business started on the differentiation path:

Identify Your Target Market

Understanding your consumer base is the core for your business. It is the very essence of why your business exists and strives to become. Whether you are offering a service or a physical product, each will have a specific audience that your business needs to identify with.

Identify Your Competitors

Once your business has identified its target market it is vital to analyze who else is vying for those consumers. Once you have identified them it is important to perform a SWOT analysis on each that you run across. This will help to identify your businesses’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is a structured planning method that evaluates those four elements and can be carried out for a company as a whole or a singular product that your business is offering.

Identify Your Competitive Advantage

The SWOT analysis should identify attributes that allows your business to outperform its competitors. This is your Competitive Advantage, a superiority that can provide the same value as its competitors but at a lower price, or can charge higher prices by providing greater value through differentiation.

These three building blocks begin to lay the foundation of the innovation process. They are the elements which begin the strategic planning that is required to reimagine your content and perhaps visualize your products and services in a new light. It paints a detailed picture of where your business is in the present. But in today’s climate you need to look beyond the present, you need to innovate for the future.

There are a number of different strategies that can guide you along the innovation path. An innovative leadership style in particular will take your business beyond the three elements and catapult your business into a new refreshing realm of creativity. Leaders who embrace innovative change let go of habits and practices that served them well in the past. They are willing to analyze past challenges and welcome new opportunities. More importantly they challenge the next level of thinking. Leaders must bolster the flames of innovation and welcome in fresh thinking to take your company to the next level.

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What’s My Business Worth?

Sat, 08 Jul 2017 10:00:00 GMT

Business valuation consulting

Written by: Matt Wilhelmi

He took another short sip of his piping hot grande something or other.

I shot back, knowing this conversation was going to take some time.

The well-dressed doctor adjusted in his seat and fidgeted with the coozi on his cup.

I could tell he wouldn’t be satisfied with anything other than a number. You see, this doctor happened to be nearing “retirement age,” whatever that means. He was 60 and had built his practice over the past 25 years. He had found someone interested in purchasing his practice, but he didn’t know how to even begin the conversation.

You’ve been there, seen the books. So, I’ll ask again: What’s my business worth? I gotta know, Matt. You know I can’t keep working forever. What’s my business worth?

He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. He looked at me over the brim of his glasses.

The problem with answering this question is this: At the end of the day, no matter what the books say, no matter how many patients he has, no matter how long he’s been there, the business is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

So, this doctor has an interested party. Great! But how do the negotiations start?

The first rule of negotiations is key here: Don’t be the first person to give a number. The first rule of business purchase negotiations also applies: Don’t be the first one to explain how it should be valued.

The chances of this “interested party” valuing the business at exactly what the doctor feels his life’s work is worth is pretty slim. It’s possible to get close, but the reality is a number is just a number. Until someone says, “Oh. I see how you valued your business and that makes a lot of sense” you don’t have a real negotiation.

1) Accountants value businesses based on financials

2) Attorneys value businesses based on contract values

3) Advisors ( IA is included in this) value businesses based on a variety of factors and using a variety of methods. We don’t have a “one size fits all” approach. We answer the question of “What’s my business worth?” very carefully. It’s more about the strategy than the numbers. It’s more about the intentions of the purchaser than the contract values. Those are important, but first we need to answer some questions. Here are just some of the variables we take into consideration:

How long has the business been established

What type of business is it (Retail, Wholesale, Service, Manufacturing, Other)

How is the current ownership structured

How do the books look – have they been audited recently

What are the tangible assets and how are they valued

Where does all the revenue come from

Where does all the cash go

Are there any patents or copyrights

How does the business attract new revenue

What systems are in place to ensure quality

What were the goals the business had 5 years ago – how did they do

What intangible value would the purchaser find in the business

What’s the industry doing

What do former employees, vendors, and customers say about the company

Who are the key employees – what are their employment and performance situations

How will the deal be structured (Cash, SBA Loan, Private Financing, Seller Financed, Future Profit Sharing)

As you can see, there are many items to consider in the purchase of the business. (This list is just a small part of our full due diligence on M&A that we perform for our clients.)

We think “What’s my business worth?” is more about the strategy behind the purchase than what the numbers may say.

The post What’s My Business Worth? appeared first on IA Business Advisors .

The Art of Operations Management

Sat, 24 Jun 2017 10:00:00 GMT

Operations management consulting

Written by: Matt Wilhelmi

IA Business Advisors has been providing advice to top-level executives for over 20 years, and from time to time we are asked to act as senior-level executives by and for our clients. Often, this manifests in the role of an “Outsourced Chief Operations Officer” as we are asked to manage and lead their organization through a transition or into sustainability. Some of the most significant challenges in the world of operations management are implementing effective communication and adding capacity to your greatest limiting resource.

Clear communication is crucial to any leader’s success.

Effective communication means active listening and asking the right questions. If operations management is fundamentally maximizing operations, finding ways to communicate that will motivate your team members is crucial. Communicating in a way that motivates team members can be a great way to increase your team’s productivity. I guess the fundamental question is: Is the way you communicate helping you reach your goals?

Another aspect of operations management that I find interesting is the bottleneck, or constraint in the supply chain, and how it is handled. The bottleneck is the limiting resource in your process. When workload is increased, your constraining factor will slow down the process. One of the challenges operations managers face is finding ways of identifying and adding capacity to the limiting resource effectively. Handling this well could potentially improve the supply flow and increase profit.

One of the best tips we can give you on operations management is to standardize your processes to reduce any complexity and deviation.

Consider making your processes simple and step-by-step to increase efficiency. Having a calculated, standardized process assures consistent quality and saves time in teaching the process to future team members. When creating a standardized process, make sure it is one you are confident will help reach your organization’s goals. It is so important as an operations manager to keep a focus on the company’s mission and vision while making decisions on how to alter company policies. Maintaining your vision makes said vision more achievable.

Our prediction is that operations management will become more closely aligned with Human Resources. As companies are increasingly aware of how important their culture and human capital are, they relate to operations and engagement. The future of operations management is sliding towards creating data (so it can be measured and studied from an objective position) around the health (culture) of a company’s human operations. Dozens of reports have come out in the past few years that are confirming that lack of engagement by employees leads to substantial lost productivity or worse, high turnover.

The post The Art of Operations Management appeared first on IA Business Advisors .

How to Improve Your Web Design

Sat, 27 May 2017 10:00:00 GMT

Business consulting web design

Written by: Braden Zoet

In today’s digital economy, consumers have come to expect the companies they do business with to maintain an active and accessible online presence. This expectation is the same whether you deal in products or services, as your customers expect the information they are seeking to be instantly recognizable when they visit your website.

What I’m getting at here is that now more than ever it is important that you invest in a website that attracts and holds the attention of your target market. Obviously your design will be heavily influenced by the audience you want to attract and the image you want to convey, but there are still a few key factors you should take into consideration for any contemporary website. Companies like IA Business Advisors can help design and build a custom website for you from concept to creation. Please reach out to us for more information and examples of some of the work we have done for our clients.

To begin, you need to ensure your website employs a responsive design. Essentially, your site should appropriately respond to the end user’s behavior based on screen size, platform, and orientation. What do I mean by that? Take your cursor and move over to the edge of your browser window. Grab the edge and scale it back and forth. Notice how the design of the IA website changes to match the size of your window? This is important to incorporate so that your website looks just as good on tablets and mobile devices as it does on your desktop. Smart phones are becoming increasingly popular for web browsing and now account for more than half of the total internet traffic . As a result being mobile friendly can be the difference between a potential customer staying on your site, or moving on to a competitor whose site is easier to navigate.

This brings me to my next point, incorporating a simple navigation bar does wonders for cleaning up the aesthetics of your site and decreasing your bounce rate (the percentage of users who leave your site after viewing only one page). The information on your site should be organized in a way that is methodical and understandable to someone visiting your site for the first time. Having an excessive amount of information on your homepage can be overwhelming to visitors. Determine what information is truly relevant to your audience and remove the extra “fluff.” People will contact you for more specific information if they find your company compelling enough. For this reason, a contact form and any other relevant contact information should be prominently displayed.

By removing unnecessary and repetitive information you allow for the opportunity to incorporate blank space and compelling visuals. Today’s consumers expect your website to feature a user-friendly interface that relies on visual images as much as it does text. We recently rebranded our website and chose to juxtapose our simplistic design with whimsical, hand-drawn illustrations in order to inject a playful human element. Images can convey a much stronger emotional message to your visitor. While using stock images is always an option, custom graphics and genuine company photos can go a long way in establishing authenticity. Selecting the proper colors to fill your website also falls into this category. We paired softer, muted colors to create an elegant and minimalist look. Selecting complementary color choices takes careful planning, but when done correctly (or incorrectly) can influence how

Finally, I’d like to get to typography. Spending time on selecting a font to match your branding is often an overlooked step, but can go a long way in establishing your brand’s identity. For example, take a look at how the word “hello” is presented in this graphic. All three obviously convey the same word and its associated meaning, but based on how the word is presented you read it differently and elicit alternative reactions. While these font examples might be a little extreme for your typical website, it should go to show you just how much of an impact selecting a font can have on the reader. In most cases you’ll want to go with something that is easy to read with thin, crisp lines, but play around with it to add subtle but compelling flair to your design.

While this is only the beginning of a long list of considerations, hopefully it has you thinking about simple ways to improve your design and accordingly your user experience. Please feel free to comment below with any questions you might have, and consider reaching out to find out how our team of creative professionals can help with refining the look and message of your website.

The post How to Improve Your Web Design appeared first on IA Business Advisors .

The Psychology of Color

Sat, 13 May 2017 10:00:00 GMT

Color psychology in business consulting

Written by: Mary Smith

It has long been known that colors can assist in provoking various feelings and emotions. This is why when we paint the inside of our homes, we choose colors that invite the emotions we want ourselves and our guests to feel in our house. Even without knowing that colors can produce certain feelings, we do this because it is how our brains are wired. Our emotions are sparked by color in nature, and we might be able to distinguish these feelings if we pay close enough attention. Taking a walk in the summer when the trees are green will produce different feelings as to in autumn when they are orange, yellow, and red. Same goes for spring when they are all in bloom with pink and white flowers, and in the winter when they are bare, black, and covered in snow. You may walk the same path each time, but each season will provoke different feelings due to the color changes. This is why certain companies use certain colors in their logos , stores, websites , products, and marketing campaigns . It is to provoke certain emotions from their target audiences to hopefully receive the outcome that they desire.

We recently changed our branding by introducing a contemporary color palette to our company’s logo, web design, and marketing materials, and so I thought it fitting to discuss the psychology behind primary colors, the feelings they invoke, and the companies that use them in their logos. If you’re looking for ways to best position your company to appeal to your target market, then consider how the colors you are using subconsciously influence your customers.

Here are some primary colors, their functions, and companies that use them:

RED

The color red has always been used to assert dominance and to grab attention. It is a powerful color that demands to be seen above what is around it. It is also the color that provokes love and passion. CNN is a great example because it is the only news station that uses only the color red in its logo. This asserts dominance and creates a feeling of power to the viewer. It is associated with movement, excitement, and passion (which would explain the 6:00 pm news broadcast). The Nike “swoosh” is typically red as the color can create physical stimulants in the human body including, but not limited to, faster heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, and an activated nervous system. Red, as well as orange and yellow, is also associated with stimulating a person’s appetite. Look at almost every single fast-food chain’s logo. It will almost always have one of these three colors in it or a combination of the three.

Purple

Often associated with royalty and wealth, the color purple is perfect for those who want to instill a feeling of luxury. Darker and deeper shades of purple will have this affect, while some of the lighter shades of purple have a softer, more feminine affect. All shades of purple will promote a feeling of wisdom, due to the historically use of the color for royals, as well as creativity and spirituality. Purple is thought to be used by those who are positive, mindful, kind, meditative, enchanting, inviting, and intuitive. A food and drink that use the color purple, Crown Royal and Cadbury , seem to be doing so to show that they are luxury brands as compared to their competitors, but they are also enchanting and inviting.

Green

When the color green is typically brought up, it is most often associated with the earth and life. It is used to promote environmental issues and to show that companies are promoting sustainability. The color promotes a feeling of health, maturity, and growth. While the color can be confused for only offering these qualities, it is also very much associated with wealth and money. With wealth and money comes power. Brands that are trying to promote their sustainability are brands such as Eco , Animal Planet , Whole Foods , and the recycle symbol. Many companies that are showing their wealth and therefore power are companies such as Holiday Inn , Land Rover , Monster , Heineken , and Xbox .

Gold

We most often associate gold with jewelry, thus the color provokes feelings of wealth, divineness, luxury, valuableness, and prestige. This color glows and radiates feelings of quality and elegance.

Grey

Grey is an often-forgotten color as well due to its plainness, but the color invites feelings of timelessness and logic. It is cool and unobtrusive while still showing its mature, classic quality. It is modest, dutiful, mindful, responsible, professional, and conservative. This color, when used correctly, could show a company’s ready to take on the business world while showing its consumers that they are professional and logical. Using this color can be tricky in larger situations. Some have reported that too much of this color will provoke feelings of death, old age, and depression. Use this color in smaller logos and minimally while designing products.

Yellow

This is a color that I often associate with babies and young things. It is a color of cheer, sun, warmth, and energy. It is sweet and pleasing to the eye, however bolder yellows, when used more abrasively, can provoke feelings of anxiety. As mentioned earlier, it is also a color that promotes hunger.

Pink

Pink is almost always associated with women and young girls. It is a color that promotes feelings of sensitivity, calmness, and nurturing. While these are all emotions that are typically associated with women, the color pink used to be a “man’s color.” Baby boys were more often dressed in pink than blue because it was seen as the more dominate color. Being closer to red, the color pink grabs attention much quicker than some cooler opponents. While now it is mainly used for brands that are geared towards women, it is still a color to consider as powerful and assertive, while maintaining its sensitive and calm vibe.

Blue

Blue is commonly used by offices and conservative corporate companies because it provokes feelings of dependability and loyalty. It provides the consumer with a feeling of trust and security. It is a color most children describe as being associated with maturity. Companies like Walmart , Visa , AOL , and GE all use blue to invite these feelings in their consumers. Different shades of blue will promote feelings like tranquility, peace, and calmness. This coupled with the feelings of security and dependability is why a lot of brands choose the color blue.

Brown

Along with green, the color brown is often associated with the earth. The color promotes feelings of being grounded, rooted, whole, durable, secure, reliable, traditional, and supportive. Not many companies use the color brown for their logos, but with as many feelings as this color provokes, it should be looked into a little more. It is very familial and friendly.

White

White is often used in tandem with another color due to its lack of color. However, this lack of color produces many feelings that may be sought out in consumers. Feelings include purity, cleanliness, innocence, silence, light, clarity, efficiency, and simplicity.

Black

This color is very powerful and classy. It is elegant and sophisticated, while remaining mysterious, bold, and magical. It is another color that asserts dominance in the realm of expensive and prestigious. Using this color is highly recommended for companies wishing to make a statement while remaining bold and elegant.

Orange

This is a positive color that promotes many different feelings according to the shade. It has a fun, warm, energetic, active, spontaneous, and social vibe. It is warm and open, and promotes feelings of courage and confidence. Harley-Davidson Motor Company uses orange to promote their brand in order to make the buyer feel confident in their product and give them the courage to go ride.

Choosing the colors to use for your company can seem like a very daunting and difficult task. There are many shades and mixtures to consider, and different color combinations will make your customers feel certain emotions toward your company. Do your research in order to know what colors and color combinations will be right for you. If you would like any advice on what colors you should incorporate into your branding, or if you need a custom logo designed for your company, then contact us today!

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Could You be Using Knock Off Products at Your Customer Location?

Sat, 07 Feb 2015 10:00:00 GMT

Business consulting strategies

Most of us do not think about who owns the intellectual property of the products and materials we use in our daily lives. But the truth is, patent infringement and the manufacture and distribution of knock off products is a crime against the inventor, the manufacturer, licensed distributors and installation companies, as well as the end users. In addition, you could potentially be endangering the public and property by not using proper materials and/or procedures designed for the patented product. This unethical and illegal practice could result in a failure that creates safety issues for the public.

Knock off products are not limited to high-end watches; many products used by both personal and business consumers can be copied and sold to unsuspecting consumers. These items can include chemicals, mechanical devices, or even products needed for compliance or certification.

Who is ultimately responsible for patent infringement violations? The answer might not be as simple or clear as it seems. With complicated supply chains and the use of expanded distribution networks, many times we are buying products through companies that are far removed from the manufacturer. We may also come across a particular system at a customers’ site and think we can do better than what the manufacturer recommends, or that we can reduce cost by making our own improvised service plan for a particular product. One question you should ask yourself is this, “Will my business liability insurance cover me if a product I design, sell, or install fails at my customers’ business?” Also, by altering the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) system you take on the liability of failure if the product does not perform as it was intended, one of the many potential negative consequences of altering OEM equipment or making your own. Manufacturers carry specialized product liability insurance that not only protects them, but also protects you and your customer in the event of a failure. Product liability insurance is voided or non-existent for knock off or altered products.

Another area where product infringement can become an issue is with safety. Products not manufactured with the proper materials can fail, which may cause slip and fall and/or fire hazards in a business environment. Products built as copies or with substandard practices can also cause other systems to fail, creating residual liabilities that may be covered by an OEM product but not a knock-off or altered product. Also, products that are not serviced correctly or have improper replacement parts can cause residual long term liabilities that include property loss, safety, or other legal compliance issues.

The liability trail begins with the consumer end user when dealing with a knock off product that fails. When a malfunction occurs, they are likely left with a failed product, a damaged facility, and the possibility of injuries. When the consumer learns that a system has failed, they in turn blame the installer or the manufacturer. When this occurs with an OEM product, the product liability insurance covers any failure of their product. All credible service companies will carry liability insurance that covers any failure caused by work they perform. The issue becomes increasingly complex if the insurance carriers determine that it was not their product or it was a lack of proper maintenance of the product that caused the failure. At this point all bets could be off for the service company and the end user.

Companies may also use OEM replacement parts not manufactured by the original manufacturer. The question a consumer or service company must ask is; does the use of a non-OEM part negate my original warranty or cause me potential liabilities if the system fails? Most OEM replacement manufacturers carry additional warranties and or make additional assertions that sometimes supersede and exceed the OEM systems protection. Make sure if you’re using OEM replacements that you’re using them from a reputable company that stands behind its product in the event of a failure. Another liability that comes with using unauthorized replacements is potential patent law violations. The use of products that infringe on a patent can cause losses that exceed the original cost of the product. End users and the companies that install infringing products can be held liable to replace the product and for any damages caused. These types of actions can also lead to costly legal fees and loss of time as you try to unravel how a product was used that violates patent law. You also run the risk of ruining your personal reputation and that of your company when a customer learns that they have liabilities because a knock-off was used on their property.

Wonder if your company has potential exposure? Is there another business issue on your mind?

The post Could You be Using Knock Off Products at Your Customer Location? appeared first on IA Business Advisors .

Three Ways to Recognize and Make the Best of Opportunities

Fri, 30 Jan 2015 17:36:20 GMT

Business consulting opportunities

We are constantly presented with opportunities to grow our business, create more awareness for our products or services, and meet our business goals. We might miss these opportunities and their positive effects if we overlook or pay less attention to them. Here are three ways to ensure we are recognizing and making the best of opportunities presented to us.

Technology

We are typically great observers and consumers, but we can be great partakers to our benefit. If you hear of a new application or software, don’t simply admire it, but think of how it can be applied to your business. Not all technologies or apps will fit your business offerings, but thinking in this fashion keeps you ahead of the competition and gives you the opportunity to reap business benefits where your competition isn’t.

Networking

Networking meetings are a great way to take advantage of meeting potential clients and gaining referrals. Another benefit of networking meetings is learning what other businesses use to be successful and how it can be beneficial to your business. You can find out what other resources businesses are using to grow their operations. You can also create partnerships based on related industries within networking groups. A mortgage broker, a Realtor, and an insurance agent can be partners for lead generation, but also to gain knowledge of how each person successfully runs their operation; beneficial ideas can be exchanged. This not only just creates opportunity for income growth, but also opportunities to learn crucial operational lessons.

Learning

Workshops and conferences are popular for a reason! People gain knowledge that can transform their business or operation. Attending workshops that effectively teach you ways to run your operations successfully can be exciting! You typically hear at the end of seminars and workshops “I can’t wait to get back to work to try these new skills I’ve just learned!” Knowledge can be emboldening and can open doors you didn’t know existed. Take advantage of various opportunities to learn, whether it’s through workshops, webinars, seminars, consultants, or others forms of learning.

IA Business Advisors holds seminars that assist in improving business operations through marketing , finance , and operational processes. You can take advantage and register for our workshops on our website, and come learn effective ways to reach business goals . Have a great year! Remember to take advantage of as many business opportunities that can positively impact your business.

To grow your business, don’t cloud your message

Sat, 24 Jan 2015 10:00:00 GMT

Business consulting clarity

Having passion for what you do as a career is one of the cornerstones of maintaining a happy balance of work and personal life. Passion can lead to one being extremely competent and in some cases even a recognized expert in the field in which they work. Passion can also help to bring others into a particular field which helps expose certain products, services , methods, or processes that are highly beneficial to people and companies.

We see this kind of passion often in professions that have a lot of influence over individuals and businesses, such as lawyers, doctors, accountants, I.T. engineers, business consultants, mechanics, and plumbers. Let’s look at consulting as an example of how a person or company, passionate about something, can negatively affect an opportunity for growth and success.

The economic downturn in 2008 has created a new generation of consultants. These educated, hard working men and women spend years learning their trade and then more years perfecting their craft as they gain experience in the real world. Experience creates passion such as a love for a certain type of technology, software, methodology, process, procedure, or policy. Passion is a great thing, until it clouds the message to a prospective client.

A recent example of this came during a visit to a technology company that was hosting an open house. The company is an IT service company led by a very intelligent person with a staff that is motivated and competent. The company has a solid foundation of skills and is located in an area where there is a tremendous amount of opportunity and competition.

The leader of this company is extremely passionate about business process and efficiency. The message you hear from him when he speaks is one you would expect to hear from a management consultant. His ideas and methodology related to his passion are founded in experience and he is a great communicator; except that he owns an IT firm that is not growing and his daily tasks for his clients are generally IT related.

Upon arrival at the open house, the president of the company addressed a crowd of guests and introduced vendors who were all involved with the information technology field. On the walls were banners and items that announced, “This is an IT firm”. The opening message was a short dissertation about how they were an IT company and then it took a 180-degree turn into the world of process and efficiency, and not one more mention of IT.

My next stop at this event was one of the Tech Talks put on by the staff of this IT company. The talk I attended was about transition from one operating system to the latest version; I was excited to hear them flex their knowledge and teach me something about IT. I entered the room where a few other guests were seated and facing a screen with the operating system loaded. Then the tech stated that we would not use the screen but that he would be using the white board instead. Our lesson then digressed into a thirty minute discussion on the methods of learning, and how understanding what we learn would then prepare us for changing operating systems and grasping the concepts adapted in the version. Many of us pushed the speaker to teach us something simple about the operating system, which after prodding he did quite well; however, he continually digressed into his passion about learning and

My point in outlining both experiences is to identify how passion can cloud the direction for a company and hamper its ability to grow, or worse, to hire effective employees. The leader of this IT firm has set an example for his employees that if you can find a way to employ your particular passion into what we do, it’s okay to further that passion in all we do. By changing the discussion at the introduction, the leader had the group wondering if this was indeed an IT Firm or a management firm. He explained how efficiency and process can be affected by IT, and then his engineer further clouded the message by giving a dissertation on the human ability to learn and teach, using the new operating system environment as a tool.

To further add injury to his company, I had the unfortunate opportunity to sit in with the owner and a prospective customer. As I sat there listening to the customer explain their concerns about information technology and their inability to work with other parts of their company, I had to endure it while the IT consultant wove a complex scenario of business process, policy, and procedure for the weary potential client.

When presented with an opportunity so clear that you have two prospects sitting in your office during an after hours event, the last thing you want to do is digress into anything other than what the potential customer is asking for. You cannot create efficiency within an organization that has technology issues by implementing only policy, procedure, or process solutions, not without first understanding the technology in place. This IT professional jumped right over the glaring issues and dived into his passion at first chance.

At the end of the night, I had the opportunity to meet the company’s sole salesperson. This person is a bright and motivated individual that clearly loves sales. During my discussion, I felt that if given the opportunity to meet decision makers, they would hire her company to service their IT needs.

One month later, during a follow up lunch with the IT company owner, I naturally asked how business was going and his response was “It’s not bad”. He told me how his statement is his optimistic approach on a situation if it’s not good. Further discussion led me to ask how the sales person was doing and he was clearly not happy with her performance. He explained how the person was struggling and inquired about his company message. The message remains clouded and unfocused. Companies are not hiring this company because they don’t really understand what they are; in fact I’m not sure the company understands what it is. When I offered a small contract for IT services, they provided the right expertise and service. I have owned an IT firm though, and knew exactly what my client needed and in fact how to do it, so the sales process never got bogged down in a digression of staff’s passions.

If you are trying to grow your company or have people working for you that are responsible for your company’s growth, have a message that clearly identifies your core business strength. You may very well be able to affect change in some ancillary way, such as process, policy, or procedure, but if you’re an IT company sell your IT services. The same goes for lawyers, doctors, accountants and other professions. If you hired a plumber to fix your pipes, you would not likely take him seriously if he showed up and began pitching you lawn care ideas or organizational skills.

Keeping your message clear about your core business is essential to growth and longevity of any business. Digressing into your passion before you acquire the customer only confuses the potential client and hurts your chances of closing a deal. If you have sales people, give them a simple set of products or services, then narrow the discussion for them so that the door can be opened. Once opened and you’ve acquired the customer, introduce your add-on products and services after some credibility has been gained by your competence to deliver the basic services your company is known for.

What are some areas in your business where clarity of message helped increase the effectiveness of your advertising ?

The post To grow your business, don’t cloud your message appeared first on IA Business Advisors .

Are You Making the 80/20 Operations Mistake?

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 10:00:00 GMT

80/20 operations strategy

Business operations are like a river; fluid. When you add a customer, vendor, or employee, it is like adding a rock to the river; changing the direction slightly. When you put a lot of rocks in the river, you will end up creating a dam and an entirely new direction.

Maintaining control of the direction of your company requires constant attention to detail. Many owners will make a decision regarding some problem or issue and quickly move on, but making a decision is only the beginning. Once a decision is made there must be further action, review, implementation of the decision (change), and a follow through on how the decision is affecting the overall direction of the company. Operationally, 80% of the decision process is completed, but the last 20% is what should be analyzed, and it determines whether or not the decision is effective and has accomplished what it was intended to.

To help business owners and managers make a decision, dividing the process up into five parts can help maintain control over how decisions are made and will reduce the 80/20 operations mistake.

20% – Issue Analysis – Who, What, Where, When & Why

Not all issues are bad. Growing markets, new markets, new employees, policy or procedure change, are all issues that can be positive. When addressing an issue for your company, regardless of whether it is perceived as negative or positive, a clear understanding is required. First you must understand “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, and “why” the issue is affecting your company. Who are the employees, vendors, and customers? What are the products or services that may be affected? Where are these issues occurring; during what process or action? When are the issues occurring? Why are the issues occurring?

“Who” is sometimes obvious. You might have complaints from customers, high employee turnover, and vendors that are difficult to maintain relationships with. If it is not obvious, objective, and honest, analysis of anyone involved in the process, procedure, or product will need to be reviewed.

What can be a product defect, procedural inefficiency, or policy flaw? Sometimes the “what” can be hidden or covered up by efficient employees, vendors, or tolerant customers. Do not always assume that a fix to the “what” is always the resolution to the entire problem.

Where an issue occurs can help to isolate the “what”, “who”, or “when” an issue is beginning or ending. It is important to document “where” and keep that in perspective. Changing issues with a customer or vendor can become even more complex for a business owner, as they are generally outside our direct area of influence to affect change.

“When” an issue occurs can easily be tracked if you have a well-defined policy & procedures. Other times, “when” is easy because it’s just plain obvious. However, if it is an issue buried or covered up by other actions by third parties or multiple sources, well defined P & P can help to uncover the “when”.

“Why” is the entry into the next phase; 40% Definition.

40% Why – Defining the Issue

Understanding “why” an issue is happening is the culmination of the analysis. If you have properly documented “who”, “what”, “where”, and “when”, then “why” should be understood.

Once you understand all the aspects of “why”, you can begin to formulate the proper decision needed to address the issue. Regardless of the scope of the issue, if you know the definition of the issue, you know why the issue is occurring.

This is where some people lose interest in issue resolution. They may determine through the analysis process that the issue is not important, not affecting them personally, or that others can deal with the issue. This decision is just another “ rock” in the path of the company and has its own direction, changing affects that may or may not take the company where the manager or owner wants it to go.

60% Change Development – Defining the Change

Developing the resolution can be as simple as a quick snap decision or as complex as a complete policy overhaul. By the time you get to this point, you’ve only determined that something has to change.

This is the point where you are going to “ set rocks”. No matter what the decision is it will have an affect on the “who”, “what”, “where”, and “when” and it will create a new “why”. We call this “setting rocks” because you will be changing the direction of the company when this decision is implemented. Make sure you understand the change and the affect it will have.

What is also important is that whatever you decide to do about the issue, you do it with conviction and implement the resolution as quickly and efficiently as possible.

80% Change Implementation – Making the Change

Change is difficult, period. Almost everyone dislikes change. Habits can form in three to six weeks and, once established, habits are very comfortable, even ones that are causing issues within an organization.

Change implementation is where we begin to lose most of the people in an organization. Upon initial implementation of change, people will pay attention to the reason why and will attempt to learn whatever is needed to implement the change. However, as soon as the initial time has been spent, we often see organizations fall back on the past habits that served them comfortably.

Many times, the resurgence in the original issue will be enough to affect continual attempts at implementation of change, and over time the new process, procedure, or product will become a new habit. However, many times the leaders have moved on to new issues and rely on the rest of the company to finish the last 20% of the change process; habit formation.

The post Are You Making the 80/20 Operations Mistake? appeared first on IA Business Advisors .

strat·e·gy

Sat, 13 Dec 2014 10:00:00 GMT

Business consulting strategies

strat·e·gy – The art of planning and reaching goals. Webster says it’s a Noun, I prefer to think of it as a Verb. Strategy is fluid and uses your knowledge, employees, customers, vendors, competitors and market conditions to empower you.

When running your company, do not just make a plan, create a strategy to execute that plan and bring everyone into the mix from day one. A plan is like a map, its pretty static an one dimensional whereby when you use that plan to create your strategy to reach your goals, you empower that plan to succeed.

To get started, look at your first goal and write down each person who you will need to communicate with to reach it. Next, list each task that each person will need to do to reach the goal. If there are any measurements that can help guide you; sales, costs, contacts, meetings, conversations, etcetera then include them on the task list as a milestone to provide guidance as you implement your strategy.

When you reach your first goal, look back at the strategy you implemented and make changes if needed, move on the to the next goal and recreate your strategy.

We love to use BizVision as the catalyst to help our clients create sound strategy, it’s the foundation to success that clients have used since 1996, and do you have BizVision?

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