Heart-Centered Leadership Traits

Effective Leadership Starts With Your Heart

August 10, 2016ColleenIndustry NewsLeave a comment

Endless books and articles have strategies on how to build your business and increase profits through effective leadership. However, current research is proving that more effective, long-term success happens when you lead with your heart.

A People-First Approach

The site Leadership Freak describes heart-centered leadership as difficult but also potentially life-changing for both the leaders and those they manage because it puts people ahead of business outcomes. While a competent leader will expect results, an extraordinary leader asks for those results using a heart-centered approach.

It’s about finding the right balance. “All heart without results is weak. All results without heart is ugly,” says the site.

In a recent Inc.com article, Susan Steinbrecher, CEO of Steinbrecher and Associates, cites a 2012 Towers-Watson study of 50 global companies and their leadership strategies. The companies that focused on a people-first leadership approach and other people-centric business strategies had a one-year operating margin that was three times higher than companies who ignored this strategy.

According to Steinbrecher, “There is strong evidence that these results may be due to the positive impact that a more heart-centered leadership approach has on employee performance.”

Heart-Centered Leadership Traits

Below is a partial list of the qualities found in a heart-centered leader, taken from the Leadership Freak and Inc.com sites. If you see yourself in this list, congratulations! If you don’t, consider trying to work them into your management style. You might be amazed at what happens for you and your team.

Heart-centered leadership means:

  • You care more about values than results.
  • You speak the truth to others, and expect them to so the same with you.
  • Your goal is to serve the people you lead rather than them serving you.
  • You are compassionate, grateful, and a good listener.
  • You’re not afraid to admit your mistakes and ask forgiveness from others.
  • You’re committed to personal and professional growth for both you and your team members.
  • You work hard to build self-esteem in others and help them shine.
  • You assume the good in others, even if their actions indicate otherwise.
  • You consistently touch base with your team for both business and personal conversations.
  • You are dedicated to making a difference in your life, the lives of your team, and society as a whole.

To be an effective leader with a thriving business, plan with your head but lead with your heart.

Looking for a fresh dose of motivation to inspire and challenge you every week? Sign up here to access my Weekly Bold Move. Best of all, it’s completely free!

 

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The Impact Of Body Language On Success

The Impact Of Body Language On Success

July 20, 2016ColleenIndustry NewsLeave a comment

Most people believe that success is a function of brainpower—that intelligent people either are now or will be successful at something in life.

The truth is that success is a result of many different variables, and recent studies have shown that a good brain is not the only key to achievement. Your body language also plays a significant role in helping you grab the brass ring, and there’s science to back this up.

The Science Of Body Language

In a recent Huffington Post article, Dr. Travis Bradberry, author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0, discussed a study done by Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy on the impact of body language on success. Cuddy showed that “people who use positive body language are more likable, competent, persuasive, and emotionally intelligent.”

Positive body language includes any targeted gestures that help get your message across, such as eye contact and body stance.

Cuddy found that the right body language actually affects your hormones, making you feel more confident. It also helps you appear more likable and competent to the person or group you’re dealing with and has a powerful role around influencing the attitudes of others. Finally, improving your body language helps you to more effectively share your emotions and ideas with others.

Examples Of Positive Body Positions

The site 99u.com describes some kinds of body language that can help take you from negative and scared to positive and confident.

Open Up – Known as the “Power Posture,” this is standing with your feet wide apart and your hands on your hips or spread apart on a table in front of you. Spending time in this pose “increases testosterone, risk taking, pain tolerance, and belief in one’s own leadership abilities.” It also helps you to breathe better, which can calm shaky nerves.

Smile – Spending time deliberately smiling can help you to feel more positive and trigger positive memories, says the article. Turning your frown upside down is more than just a cute way to get kids to smile. It will give you more confidence.

Use Gestures – Just make sure they’re well-related to what you’re saying. Some studies proved that presenters were viewed as more effective and competent when they used hand gestures versus immobile hands and arms.

 

Any of these can give you an edge in negotiations or presentations by making you feel more confident and relaxed. You can even do them before and during a phone call or web conference.

The Importance For Women

Santa Monica College published an article describing body poses that women in particular should avoid because they send the wrong messages and can interfere with success. These include crossing your ankles while standing, tilting your head, “shy” or flirty glances, and mannerisms that broadcast nervousness such as playing with hair or fidgeting. Read the full article for more.

Changing your body position will change how you feel, which can be more effective than your brain in attaining the life you desire.

 

Looking for a fresh dose of motivation to inspire and challenge you every week? Sign up here to access my Weekly Bold Move. Best of all, it’s completely free!

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Stand Out In Your Job Interview With These Questions

July 6, 2016ColleenUncategorizedLeave a comment

In a recent post titled, How A “Reverse Interview” Can Get You A Job, I shared how asking targeted questions in a job interview can impress you potential employer, giving you an edge over other candidates and increasing your chances of a job offer.

The right questions to ask will vary depending on the particular job and industry you’re going for and will require some specific research on your part. There are, however, some general questions that should always be on your list.

Here are some good examples to get you started, broken down by categories.

Job Specifics – Here’s where you can learn more about both the “hard” and “soft” skills required to be successful and provide more information on your qualifications.

  • What are the challenges of this position?
  • What have past employees done to succeed in this role?
  • Can you describe a typical day for the person in this position?
  • Who held this position previously? OR Why is this position open?

Performance/Advancement/Success – You want to understand how (and if) the company encourages, supports, and rewards their employees.

  • Can you describe the performance review process?
  • What are your expectations for the person in this role in the first 3/6/12 months?
  • Are there opportunities for continuing education and/or professional training?
  • What are the most important qualities needed for an employee to succeed and advance in the company?
  • Will I receive any training for this specific role?

Company Stability – If you can, it’s important to know that the company isn’t going to be laying you off or shutting down shortly after hiring you.

  • What are the company’s short-term and long-term goals for success? How would my team support them?
  • Which goals are you most excited about achieving?
  • Where do you think the company will be in the next five years?

Company Culture – These questions help you get a feel for how you’ll “fit in” with other employees if you’re hired.

  • What have you enjoyed most about working here?
  • How do you handle interpersonal issues on the team?
  • How would you describe the working environment—collaborative, independent?
  • Can you tell me how the company has changed since you came on board?

Closing Questions – Wrap things up or get details on anything you still want to know.

  • Which of my skills and experiences would make me a qualified candidate?
  • Does anything in my qualifications or background concern you around my fit for the job?
  • What are the next steps?

A final note: Don’t ask about benefits or salary during your interview. Once you get an offer you can negotiate your salary if needed and will learn about the benefits package. If either of those is a deal-breaker, you don’t have to accept the job offer.

Feel free to share any questions you’ve asked during an interview that helped get you hired.

Looking for a fresh dose of motivation to inspire and challenge you every week? Sign up here to access my Weekly Bold Move. Best of all, it’s completely free!

How A “Reverse Interview” Can Get You A Job

June 22, 2016ColleenIndustry NewsLeave a comment

The job search process can be grueling and often disappointing. You suit up, prepare and practice your answers, and feel you’ve done well—until you’re informed that another candidate was chosen.

What happened? It’s possible that the selected candidate went one step further by preparing and asking a list of questions which impressed the employer enough to generate a job offer. And you can, too.

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

Prior to the interview, start learning as much as you can about the company and anything relates to the position you’re being considered for. For example, if you’re going for a sales position, try to find out anything you can about the company’s growth history and future targets.

Develop your interview questions from the information you find and also from what you couldn’t find and want to know. Unless you have an incredible memory, write the questions down before the interview and leave space if you want to jot down the answers. You can also add any questions that come up during the interview.

Become The Interviewer

Most interviewers will welcome your questions, expect them, and will be impressed that you want to know as much as you can about the job, the company’s status, the corporate culture—and whether the job is a good match from your side of the table.

“Not only are you getting more information about the job, you’re showing the interviewer that you genuinely care about the position, the company, and your role should you get hired,” say The Interview Guys in a recent article.

So if an interviewer asks if you have any questions, pull out your list and start asking. If they don’t offer that opportunity, step up and tell them, “I do have a few questions I’d like to ask you. Do you have a few minutes to answer them?” That way you’re being respectful of the interviewer’s time, which is also a plus.

Ask The Right Questions Of The Right People

In all cases, make sure your questions are relevant and specific to the particular interviewer. As The Interview Guys note, “When you ask tailored questions, you’re showing the hiring manager that you’re willing to do what it takes to get the job.”

The information you get from this “reverse interview” should help you make the decision to accept, reject, or negotiate an offer and ensure your new job won’t end up being significantly different than you expected.

In my next blog post, I’ll provide examples of good questions to ask and why they’re relevant.

 

Looking for a fresh dose of motivation to inspire and challenge you every week? Sign up here to access my Weekly Bold Move. Best of all, it’s completely free!

 

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THESE STATS ON WOMEN’S CONFIDENCE WILL SHOCK YOU

June 8, 2016ColleenIndustry NewsLeave a comment

This June, I’m excited to be participating in Alexa Bigwarfe’s Write, Publish, Sell online summit where I’ll give my insight on how you can develop confidence and be BOLD in your business (see below for details!).

Confidence is a popular topic in today’s media, and for good reason. It’s also a subject I write a lot about, so today, I thought I’d share some stats that demonstrate why confidence is a key topic we should all be talking about.

Confidence issues affect all areas and phases of a woman’s life, including:

Self-Image:

  • Dove®’s latest research found that just 4% of women worldwide consider themselves “beautiful”.
  • Over half of women agree that they’re their own worst beauty critic.
  • By the time girls reach the tender age of 17, 78% will be “unhappy with their bodies.”
  • The Dove Self-Esteem Project found 47% of girls aged 11-14 refuse to take part in activities that might show their bodies in any way.

In the Workplace:

  • Women’s confidence actually declines (yes, declines) with experience: 27% of new female employees are confident they can reach top management; this drops to a mere 13% in experienced female employees.
  • In a KPMG Women’s Leadership study, 67% of women said they needed more support building confidence to feel like they can be leaders.
  • Further, women lacked the confidence to: pursue a job opportunity beyond their experience (73%); ask for a promotion (65%); request a raise (61%), or request a new role or position (56%).
  • HP once found that male employees were likely to apply for promotions when they felt they met 60% of the qualifications listed, while its female employees stayed away unless they believed they met 100% of the job qualifications.

Women make up 50.8% of the US population, they’ve outnumbered men on college campuses since 1988, and they control 80% of consumer spending in the US.

Yet, consider these stats:

  • % of female Fortune 500 CEOs: 4.6
  • % of females holding F500 board seats: 16.9
  • # of female CEOs in financial services industry: 0
  • # of female CEOs in health care and social assistance: 0
  • % of female creative directors in advertising: 3

The statistics are shocking – after all, this is 2016. While there is no single approach to improving confidence, at least one thing is true: self-confidence starts with you. If confidence has been a struggle for you, I have a great free e-series to help jumpstart your journey.

While it’s important to build up your own confidence so you can make BOLD moves in your life and your career, don’t forget to reach out and encourage young women around you to develop their confidence, too!

I’d love to have you join me for

WRITEPUBLISHSELL: Grow A Business Beyond Your Blog

45 EXPERTS share ADVICE & TOOLS for FEMALE business owners in the DIGITAL realm

When: June 13th – 19th, 2016 – 100% ONLINE! View at your own pace.

CLAIM YOUR SPOT

 

Alexa is focusing on the business side of blogging and writing, providing useful information so you can take your unique area of expertise beyond blogging to launch a profitable career, build your brand, grow a targeted audience, AND effectively market to that audience.

 

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