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Greetings!
Whether
you are a business owner, organization leader or an individual
contributor you are probably aware of areas in your business or life
in which you'd like to be better. In this issue we offer some
thoughts to consider if you are committed to improving those
areas. A business or personal Board of Advisors is one of
the best ways to continually develop improvements.
Focusing your time and efforts in the right areas that will take you
from "good to great" is also crucial. How
committed are you to moving from "good to great"?
We
welcome your feedback or suggestions. If you would like
to provide feedback or suggest topics for future issues, please click
on the email link for Bill or Dave.
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you think a friend or colleague would benefit from this newsletter,
please send them a copy by clicking on the "Forward email"
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We welcome your comments and feedback on our
newsletter and would love to hear from you on how we can be of
service.
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Your
Board of Advisors
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 Most
well run privately held organizations have a balanced Board of
Directors that advise the executive management team on strategic
direction, governance, and other critical matters including feedback
on results. Members of the Board are carefully selected for
their wisdom, expertise, successful leadership, vision, and ability
to guide the organization to success. Other important traits
are honesty and objectivity.
So, if
organizations have a Board of Advisors (BOA) to guide them to achieve
the "next level", why shouldn't you surround yourself with
individuals that you can trust? Those people that will: ask you
the tough questions, carefully listen to what is holding you back in
business and life, put challenging life situations into proper
perspective, encourage you, empathize, laugh and celebrate success
with you, help you learn from failures, etc.. Each member of
your BOA should have your best interests at heart and not "sell
out" for your love, acceptance and/or approval. Your BOA
may include a family member, a friend, a mentor, a colleague, a
lawyer, an accountant, a minister or priest, and a coach.
In their
recently published book, "Coach - 10.5 Reasons to Hire
One", Joan Walsh and David Herdlinger
succinctly articulate why and how a coach can make a huge difference
in your life and business. Below are the 10.5 reasons why you
should seriously consider having a professional coach as part of your
BOA.
- To
Gain Accountability - A coach will help you hold
yourself accountable to your stated intentions and goals.
Coaching is based on an open and trusting relationship that's
totally focused on what matters most in your life - both
personally and professionally.
- To
Gain Clarity - By asking the right
questions, your coach will enable you to see the forest from the
trees and chart a meaningful course of action for goal
achievement.
- To
Be Challenged - With a coach in your
corner, you will move out of your comfort zone and go from
complacency and mediocrity to challenging and extraordinary!
- To
Be Encouraged - Receiving timely and
authentic acknowledgment and encouragement for a job well done
goes a long way toward fueling your next success.
- To
Achieve Balance - Striving for balance in
both your personal and professional life is a "juggling
act" and a journey better taken with a coach that will shed
the proper amount of perspective along the way.
- To
Receive Feedback - Providing both constructive
and positive feedback on an ongoing basis is a key to
identifying your blind spots, and learning from your experiences
so as to get to your "next level".
- To
Quiet the Critic in Your Head -
Supporting your efforts to change that negative
"private" voice to a positive one goes a long way
toward taking on new challenges in spite of the fear,
uncertainty, and doubt that accompany all of us through life.
- To
Resolve Problems - A coach will help you maintain
objectivity, leverage problem solving and decision making
processes and keep negative emotions from blocking "right
actions".
- To
Reduce Stress - Minimizing your exposure to
prolonged periods of high stress starts with an awareness of the
stressors or "tolerations" in our lives followed by
appropriate changes in our habits of behavior and thought.
Coaching helps turn stress into a positive energy force in your
life through proper management.
- To
Discover Your Life's Purpose -
Identifying why you are on this earth is fundamental to
achieving extraordinary results in your life.
10.5 To
Build Your Team - As a leader in your organization, your job
is to get results through the collective effort of
your most important resource - your team! Organizational
development initiatives undertaken with a skilled coach can make
the difference for you and your colleagues.
In closing, I
encourage you to clearly define your BOA and start leveraging the
gifts of your trusted advisory team today! Dave and I would be
honored to be a member of your team.
Copyright protected, all rights reserved worldwide.
©2010
Bill Spreitzer - Excellerate Solutions, Inc.
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Three
Circles to Success
 As
Bill and I work with various clients on strategic planning and
coaching, I've found that Jim Collins' book "Good to
Great" is a great reminder of what it takes to achieve
breakthroughs in both business and personal life. I
think one of the most compelling concepts is what Collins calls the
Hedgehog Concept. The concept stems from an essay written
by Isaiah Berlin entitled "The Hedgehog and the Fox" which
describes the tactics used by the hedgehog to defend itself and win against the fox. It's
quite analogous to the old story about how the tortoise wins the race
against the hare.
As Collins has
adapted this concept, there are three overlapping circles which
describe three dimensions upon which good-to-great companies founded
their strategies:
- What
you are deeply Passionate
about
- What
you can be the Best
in the world at
- What
drives your Economic
engine
The intersection
of these circles is where the good-to-great companies focused their
attention which was crucial to their successful transition to become
great.
In working with my
business coaching clients I have adapted these three circles to the
following three elements, which I find people can relate to better.
- What
is your Passion
(your purpose in life)
- What
can you be Better
at than anyone else you know (your innate unique
talents)
- What
Measurements
are vital to your success
Invariably, I've
found that when people are working in an area that they are
passionate about which is consistent with their innate unique talents
(what they're better at than anyone else they know), and they have
built a measurement mechanism to give them feedback in how well
they're doing, they are more successful.
For example, one
of my clients is a small business owner who had been laboring for 3
years to get his business going. He had lots of ideas
about how to make his business take off. He would try
them out for a few months and then abandon them to try the next
one. Through these fits and starts he was becoming
increasingly frustrated and confused. When we started
working on a strategic plan for his business we spent a fair amount
of time figuring out the answers to the questions in the first two
circles. He got so excited about the connections he could
form around his business passion, purpose and innate unique talents
that suddenly many of his ideas started to fit together into a
cohesive picture about where he needed to focus his time and
energy. We created an action plan and some simple
measures that he could use to assure he was on the right
track. He's well on his way to a more disciplined
approach to success that keeps him focused on the intersection of the
three circles.
I encourage you
to consider the questions in the three circles and ask yourself how
you can spend more of your time and efforts focused at the
intersection. Contact us if you are ready to go from
"good to great".
Copyright protected, all rights reserved worldwide.
©2010
Dave Vogelpohl - Excellerate Solutions, Inc.
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Check out our New Video
We've entered the world of video and invite you to see us up close
and live as we talk about how we can add value to you and your
business.
Business Coaching Video
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Quick Links
More About Us
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- Happiness
Is ...
- Coaching
for Professionals In Career Transition
June/July 2010 Newsletter
- How
To Improve Your Team
- A
Productive Ego
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Is Your Behavior Helping?
Is your behavior helping or getting in the way of your organization
achieving the results you want? If you would like to
learn more about your behavior style, we invite you to take our
complimentary assessment.
Take Assessment
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Motivational Quotes
"The
only way to remain great is to keep applying the fundamental
principles that made you great."
By:
Jim Collins - Good to Great
"Every company would
like to be the best at something, but few actually understand - with
piercing insight and egoless clarity - what they actually have the
potential to be the best at and, just as important, what they cannot be the best at."
By:
Jim Collins - Good to Great
"There
is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between
mediocrity and accomplishment."
By: Norman Vincent Peale
"I
believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very
core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience
I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the
greater is our own sense of well-being."
By: Dalai Lama
"I
remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me
anything. So if I'm going to learn, I must do it by listening."
By: Larry King
"Teamwork
is the ability to work together toward a common vision. It's the
ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational
objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain
uncommon results."
By: Andrew Carnegie
"Entrepreneurs
see opportunity where others do not. Listen to the concerns of
others. (They may have thought of something you haven't.) But, trust
your own judgment and believe in your own idea. If you don't, who
will?"
By: Mac Anderson
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