| To all our highly valued clients and acquaintances:
“How well do we know ourselves, really?”
If we saw ourselves the way others experience us, what would we see?
In this month's issue of "Taking Yourself to the Next Level", I want to briefly write about an important and timeless truth from which I think we can all benefit – self-awareness.
We all remember the Ancient Greek aphorism "Know thyself", that is inscribed in golden letters at the lintel of the entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Or the quote from Lao Tse, who said: “He who knows others is learned. He who knows himself is wise.”
Especially in today’s modern world, whether we are leading ourselves, our families and loved ones or our business teams, the better we know ourselves, the better leader we’ll be. Also, if we are part of any team or organizational effort, the better off we will all be.
So why this and why now? As we begin to close the year of 2006 and move on very fast forward into the Holiday Season, it is often a time of self-reflection and self-evaluation.
Self-evaluation is not a new concept. It is said that even God set aside a time for evaluating His own work. As the story goes, at the end of six long days of creating, He saw all that He had made and behold, “it was very good” – so I guess we can say, if it was important enough for God to take time, it just might be so for us? (C’mon Don. Really??)
Many times, as a person and as a leader, we can get locked in to “auto-pilot” without being as aware as we could be, in terms of how we may be influencing family, friends, colleagues and clients. We could be flying “blind” in some areas of our lives (not knowing that we don’t know) whereas, through increased self-awareness, it might be better to at least be “ignorant” (in the sense that we now know what we don’t know) and be in a better position to make a conscious choice to stop and work to improve (or not).
In today’s business world, there are many well-tested self-assessment tools that can help us in our quest for greater fulfillment, especially when leading ourselves and others.
A couple of professional resources for you to consider in this light
From FranklinCovey, a world leader in perusal effectiveness & leadership development:
The first link is a one page self-scoring profile, to get a quick snapshot of/for yourself
http://www.franklincovey.com/downloads/7_Habits_Profile.pdf
The second link gives a basic description of how a 360 Profile can help your performance as a leader. This comprehensive tool provides valuable feedback regarding a range of issues related to effective leadership. With your action plan, you can work to be the kind of leader you choose and be in a much better position to lead yourself and others well.
http://facilitators.franklincovey.com/facilitators/marketing/profile/Profiles_Facilitator.pdf
I also invite you to visit and print out this 1 page recent interview with Stephen R. Covey.
Covey says it best – The Keys to Successfully Leading – September 2006
For one of the best resources for personal and team assessments in the United States (the world?), and I think clearly the leader for the Financial Services Industry, is Paragon Resources. Given that they have done over 30,000 of these in our industry for over 10+ years, I have worked with them to help hundreds of clients during the last several years. During their follow-up consultations, I often introduce the experience as “being about as close as you can come to a crystal ball without eating crunched glass”. Exceptional.
If you click on this link, you can find out more. Below the link is a brief description.
http://www.paragonresources.com/products/team.php3
Managing For Success® Assessments
Building a High Performance Team Process
“We will help you build and lead a team that is capable of propelling your business to a whole new level. This process will answer these important questions for you:
- What behavior is needed to do the core functions that make up my practice?
- What are the natural strengths of each of my team members? (What type of work should they be doing?)
- Do I have the right people in the right positions?
- How do I manage and motivate my people more effectively?
- How can we communicate more effectively & enhance performance of our team?
- Do I have any gaps of coverage on my team, and if so, what can I do about it?
Included in the Building a High Performance Team Assessment Team Process is:
- Telephone Consultation by a Certified Team Consultant – Professional consultation to help you interpret your team’s assessments and get the most out of them in addition to developing a strategy for your team structure.
As an awareness tool, these assessments can help your team members understand themselves and each other better to improve communication within the team. You can also discover stressors within the work environment and any possible barriers to success in one’s current role or position. As a predictive instrument, they can be used to anticipate how one will behave in various situations, and therefore they can be a good determinant of job performance. This process is essential in determining the viability of a partnership by identifying specific, objective pros and cons of the potential partnership.”
While on their website, you may also want to peruse Paragon’s many other resources.
A final question for your consideration?
What kind of business would my business be if everybody in it were just like me?
In the coming weeks? Some further words about appreciation and celebration.
May you finish 2006 well, as we begin to prepare for the successful launch of 2007.
Always looking to serve you with productive and revenue generating ideas.
Til the next time, I am
Enthusiastically yours,
Coach Don
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