Leadership

Motivation is crucial to achieve your goals, and it is also something you can achieve by yourself if you know how.

The following are 7 tips to attain unstoppable self-motivation:

1.    Keep the right focus
Focus on what you want instead of on what you don’t want.  It is easy to get unmotivated by challenges and situations that come up when you are working towards your goals, however, you don’t have to let those situations stop you.  You keep moving forward when you focus on what you want to achieve.  Do not give importance to the problems that arise on the way, just move through them and get rid of them.  Everything will pass if you can clearly visualize your dream.

2.    Read success stories
Reading about how others have made it big after facing the same or similar challenges as you, will give you strength and inspiration to advance amid any negativity and problems.  Read as much as you can about personal development, you will learn many valuable skills and new ways to approach situations.

3.    Look for support
Get a mentor or a friend who is an inspiring influence for you.  They can enhance your confidence and help you advance in an organized way.  They will act as a rational spectator, giving you advice when you lose focus due to emotions.  They will put your feet on the ground, and will provide unconditional support and valuable feedback.

4.    Measure your progress
Write about the process daily, and track your successes and setbacks.  This will give you a new perspective on things, you will be able to go back and read what happened in the past, what you learned, and what you did wrong.  You will be able to see how much you have grown and in which ways.

5.    Give yourself prizes
Go to the movies, go out to dinner, or buy yourself a treat; give yourself a prize every time you meet a small goal.  Praise your courage and strength.  This will direct your mind to success. It will become a habit, because behavior that gets a reward is repeated.

6.    Learn something from every failure
Don’t get upset at yourself for failing at something, but analyze what happened and amend your course towards your goal.  See it like this: you can now advance knowing that a certain thing doesn’t work; you are gaining experience.  You can move on with more confidence because you know what you did wrong and can correct it, and you are certainly closer to achieving your goal.

7.    Relax
Working towards your goals should be fun.  Don’t get stressed because you don’t see results fast, enjoy the ride, because that’s where experience, knowledge, and value reside.  If you are moving forward, it means you are already succeeding, so relax and cherish every moment.  You will do more if you think it is fun; acknowledge that you are growing every step of the way.  Remember that, whatever happens, it is worth it, because you are becoming a much better, more experienced, and more mature individual.  There is nothing more rewarding than making your dreams come true and living the life of your dreams, thus, get going and never look back!  

John Hersey is a successful business owner, published author and motivational leadership speaker. John writes one of the most recognized leadership blogs in the business world: http://www.JohnHersey.com/blog

John Hersey is a successful business owner, published author and motivational leadership speaker. John writes one of the most recognized leadership blogs in the business world: http://www.JohnHersey.com/blog

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/7-tips-for-selfmotivation-1766290.html

Despite company cutbacks and strained budgets, money isn’t the only reason why employees are motivated to stay in their current job. A motivational speaker shows corporate leaders that employees need a good reason to stay.

If companies don’t offer positive incentives, employees might walk out the door.  Where does that leave the company’s leadership structure? Companies won’t thrive and become successful if they don’t have motivated, happy employees on their team.

Teamwork From the Top Down
A teamwork attitude, from upper management to entry-level, is the key to a strong company foundation. These are common reasons why employees remain loyal to their employer:

•    A sense of camaraderie and friendship amongst fellow employees

•    Feeling appreciated and recognized for a job well done

•    An open door policy with supervisors and management – feel comfortable sharing and talking to bosses about work-related problems

•    Have the necessary training and tools to do their job correctly and efficiently

•    A safe and comfortable job environment

Incentives give people a reason to stay motivated. Companies may not have the budget to monetarily compensate their employees, but that doesn’t excuse them from not rewarding their workforce either. A simple thank you or compliment can go a long way.

Create a teamwork-driven environment. An” us versus we approach” is a quick way to decrease office morale. For supervisors, be approachable and get down in the trenches. Elitist attitudes and actions won’t win you favor with staff.

If companies aren’t already using these motivators, it’s time to get on board:

•    Ask for employees input and set attainable, realistic goals

•    Don’t pass harsh criticism when errors are made. Use mistakes as a learning opportunity and remember that employees are human.

•    Add fun and variety to employees who perform mundane tasks and jobs

•    Provide encouragement and lead by example

•    Appreciate and reward employees who go the extra mile to get the job done

Empowerment Leads to Success
Companies need to set up their workforce for success and not failure. Despite limited budgets, it’s crucial to train staff and give them a visible career path.  Companies can’t blame employees when their goals fall short; management needs to take responsibility and provide the necessary tools and resources to help employees.  

What do companies need to offer employees to help them succeed? A sense of empowerment. Without empowerment, the workforce ends up stuck and stagnant and company goals aren’t reached.  A sense of responsibility and ownership are musts in a teamwork structure.  Companies pile on more work and their employees feel overworked and underappreciated, Yes, people want job empowerment but they don’t want to feel taken advantage of either.  

High stress leads to job burnout, and job burnout leads to unhappy employees and employees who quit. Companies need to make the necessary adjustments. Look at job descriptions – ensure that responsibilities match the actual job.  Sometimes “extra duties as assigned” can’t be helped, but overworked and stressed employees have their breaking points and will cost companies down the road.

John Hersey is a successful business owner, published author and motivational leadership speaker. John writes one of the most recognized leadership blogs in the business world: http://www.JohnHersey.com/blog

John Hersey is a successful business owner, published author and motivational leadership speaker. John writes one of the most recognized leadership blogs in the business world: http://www.JohnHersey.com/blog

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/the-path-to-leadership-success-how-incentives-motivate-company-employees-1761334.html

Participation in crime, as an example, can be viewed as the worst failure of the professional in terms of behavior antithetical to the public values of his or her profession. However, crime represents only the tip of the iceberg of activities that fail to further the public values that justify a particular profession. Professional crime can be seen as the tip of an iceberg of unproven crimes, unethical, questionable and/or anti-social behavior. Attention to professional misbehavior is not primarily about chasing down the criminals. It is about attempting to ensure that professionals live up to the high standards that justify the existence of the profession. Our aim should not be to concentrate on the worst forms of professional behavior. The fact that professional behavior is not bad enough to justify prosecution hardly equates to fulfilling the ideal of professionals upholding the social good.

Developing the analogy, backstops may be important, even vital, but they are not the main game. The skills of the backstop are necessary but only when the keeper and slips fail for one reason or another. Backstops may be important but they are not the main game. You may place a backstop if the bowler is wayward or the ‘keeper is lacking in the skills to take chances or stop byes. However, you cannot win the game through the backstop and the main focus of the game is with bowler, batsmen and ‘keeper. If the backstop is the first line of defense, the game is already lost. If the fielding team is doing well, the backstop may never be used.

In short, criminal behavior will be easier to detect for two reasons. First, individuals engaging in such behavior will be more easily visible and more readily subject to peer condemnation because they will be more obviously out of the mainstream. Secondly, the more limited number of breaches means that the resources of regulatory and disciplinary agencies can be concentrated on a small number of more isolated miscreants. With most professionals falling well above the line of potential misconduct, the profession can join the community and external regulators in what we will suggest should be the ‘pitiless pursuit of the few offenders’. In terms of our own analogy, the iceberg will be smaller, and its tip will be minuscule and easier to get at.

A critical part of effectiveness is to bring the values at different points on the continuum into sync so that the norms for each type of behavior (the highest professional standards, good work, sub-par work, misconduct and criminality) are mutually supportive and broadly consistent. This is not as simple as it sounds because the norms at different levels are set by different groups, for overlapping but not entirely consistent reasons. To have the norms at each level set by the same body would change the nature and undermine the effectiveness of norms at different levels. For example, if the norms of good practice within an organization were set by statute, they would cease to be the norms of the organization and might be narrowly construed. What each profession needs to do is to have a clear appreciation of the different normative systems involved, the way they interact and the way they can be mutually reinforcing.

http://sites.google.com/site/cliptheschoolbeginning/ http://sites.google.com/site/arturvictoriasite/Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/the-ethical-behavioral-range-of-values-1757692.html

Being a top sales manager means being above average, which translates to getting more done with less effort. That’s what distinguishes a top sales manager from a mediocre one. But how do YOU become a top sales manager? You apply the 80/20 rule.

But first things first – what exactly is the 80/20 rule? The 80/20 rule—or the Pareto Principle, named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto—states that 80% of effects is the result of 20% of the causes. For you this simply means that 80% of your sales will come from, roughly, only 20% of your sales people.

But when you apply the 80/20 rule in real life with the aim of becoming a top sales manager someday, you need to be prepared for the consequences.

For example, a good friend of mine who started a very successful business once told me a story about how the 80/20 rule could sometimes prove to be a double-edged weapon in real life. Famous as he was, this friend of mine collected thousands of followers on Twitter. But he only had time to follow a handful of people—20 or so, around that number anyway—which he deemed had actually something important to say.

Most took it that my friend was being a snob. Or was he?

Think about it. If you want to become a top sales manager someday, if you have dreams of being above average, you need to filter right here and now who and what you listen to. Not every piece of advice is worth gold. That’s what I meant when I said to apply the 80/20 rule in your life.

There will be lots of ideals, concepts and pieces of advice from different people trying to get in. But you don’t need all that noise in your life and in your career. As a general rule, you need to be constantly unsubscribing to stuff, and pick out only the ones worth listening to. Who you listen to, and what sort of advice would make a good impact on your career, is something you need to figure out on your own.

That’s what my friend is doing, and I’m pretty sure the kind of success he has achieved speaks for itself. There’s no need for him to listen to 10,000 fans chiming in every second. Call him a snob—okay, fine!—but remember that’s exactly the kind of attitude you need if you want to get anywhere in this business.

Just because a couple of your colleagues in the office think you’re a snob doesn’t mean you are. You are simple trying to live and breathe like a top sales manager. What are they doing?

To learn even more tips and techniques about sales management, visit my blog about sales motivation at http://www.topsalesmanagerblog.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/the-importance-of-the-8020-rule-in-becoming-a-topperforming-sales-manager-1755292.html

As we all know, a new initiative is not only financially costly but also sucks tremendous energy out of our team — especially if success is a must.   So, if we can minimize any failure points… or better still completely avoid them, we would be in great shape. 

There is a reason why “best practices” are so commonly used in organizations… they work because they have been tested by organizations and teams over and over again.   So… here are some best practices that upper management may want to consider:

1. Own the Project.  Don’t just direct the initiative…  your 100% buy-in and leadership is completely critical.  One CEO made it very clear to her employees, If it is not in the CRM system, it does not exist and your performance review will be based on it.
      
2. Governance not Command-Control.  Get input from all major areas of your organization to help recognize the dynamics and interdepartmental nature of your organization that makes it tick.
    
3. Customer Focused Culture.   Leadership is action, not position… I read somewhere…  So, if you do not embrace a customer focused culture… your team and your employees will most certainly not.  Put your customers in the center of your organization — where it is clear to your employees that they exist because of your customers.
    
4. Ensure Seamless Integration.  How many times have we heard the word “seamless” and there is absolutely nothing seamless about it? Let’s just say more than our share.   However, if your CRM implementation does not have a seamless integration to other front and back office applications, that quick 360-degree view will not be available to your employees when providing any service — and you may miss the ultimate goal of providing any system to your employees… efficiency!
    
5. The Expert Advice.  Nothing like going to a Guru when you need to be enlighten.  Get the expert advice from SMEs who have mastered the art fo successful CRM implementation.  You may just learn a thing or two that could propel your implementation by a notch or two.

I will let you ponder on the above 5 points before we take a look at the next five best practices that make up our list later this week.  In the meantime, have a great week — because without us, the economic engine of the world would come to a grinding halt!

Sundip R. Doshi, CEO of Surado Solutions, Inc.

Surado CRM

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/ceo-to-ceo-ensure-crm-success-i-1750535.html

In today’s uncertain economy many businesses and organizations are facing change as they have never known.  Change is always intimidating, but to some, it can cause discouragement, disinterest, depression and even complete apathy.  For an organization facing these problems among their employees, a simple remedy can often be found through a motivational speaker who can breathe that essential spark of life back into employees, managers and in fact, the total business.  

And now comes the question.  Do you search out a speaker who can motivate your employees or a speaker who can inspire them, and is there a difference?  Many would agree that the two are one and the same, but still others remain steadfast in their beliefs that there is a marked difference in the two.  

Let’s start first with definitions.  The dictionary defines to motivate as, “to provide with a motive or motives; incite; impel” and to inspire as, “to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence.”

So do we want a leadership speaker to motivate or inspire? A simple analogy may help us understand the difference.  If you have an old clunker that you’ve ignored, chances are it will often fail to start when you want to go somewhere.  Sure, you can get it to go by pushing it down the driveway, but the next time you go to start it, you will likely need to give it that same push.  On the other hand, if you had kept it well maintained, it would more than likely start up right away for you every time.

The same is very similar when motivating or inspiring people.  If they have been motivated, they will be eager to move forward….for a while.  But eventually the momentum will slow and you will need to “push” them to get them going again, and if you stop pushing chances are they will stop altogether.

A person who has been inspired, on the other hand, is like the old clunker that has been well maintained.  An inspired person sees the vision and understands the expectations and as a result has a desire to keep going and working until the desired goals have been reached.  Rather than needing that little push every so often, they are self-propelled to complete the task.

Another example might be the person who attends a sales promotion meeting, gets all fired up at the time, buys the kit and materials, and then a few days later loses interest in the whole idea.  This person was obviously motivated but definitely not inspired!

It would appear then, that the fundamental difference between motivating someone and inspiring them is found in the long term effect.  Motivation seems to be a fleeting thing where inspiration is more long lasting.  True inspiration can actually last a lifetime.   Most of us can remember way back in our lives a time when a teacher, relative or parent so inspired us that it changed our way of doing things forever.  True inspiration then, provides a lasting motivation that comes from within, bringing with it the determination to wake up every day and take action towards our goals.  

John Hersey is a successful business owner, published author and motivational leadership speaker. John writes one of the most recognized leadership blogs in the business world: http://www.JohnHersey.com/blog

John Hersey is a successful business owner, published author and motivational leadership speaker. John writes one of the most recognized leadership blogs in the business world: http://www.JohnHersey.com/blog

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/to-motivate-or-to-inspire-that-is-the-question-1744294.html