Tag Archives: mentor

Life Experiences, Recruiting Tips, Uncategorized, Work & Life

Resigning The RIGHT Way…

It’s a BIG decision, resigning.

And whether you’re leaving because of a ‘bigger & better’ opportunity; because your current employer is an absolute b#@$t!@d or because you’re just not content – you need to make sure that you exit in the right manner.

Tendering your resignation is a daunting process.  The stress that it brings on is up there with getting married, buying a house and moving according to some studies from around the world.  Whilst the temptation might be there to tell your current employer precisely where to stick that resignation letter, I urge you to think better of it, no matter how rude/difficult/inconsiderate/abusive/etc they may be.  Not that I’m condoning any of the above, but as my Mum always used to say to me, “two wrongs don’t make a right”, so it’s up to you to be the bigger person and rise above the temptation to retaliate or mouth-off.  It’s paramount to you and your future career that you remain level-headed, because you never know when you may bump in to the person again and, particularly if you’re staying in the same industry, you never know when you might need “friends” (think reference/referee).  Not to mention, in our industry, there is every chance that you will see them at a conference, function or meeting!

With the above in mind, here’s some further advice to assist you through the process:

1.  Plan.  Plan.. And PLAN…!
Get your contract out (or the Award if you don’t have a contract) and make sure you know what your obligations are – what’s the notice period you have to give; are there any restrictions on where you can work next (competition); when is your bonus due; what are your leave entitlements; etc?  If there is a specific date/deadline that you need to hit (for a new role), make sure that you know what it is and make this your end goal – ie.  what you HAVE to achieve when you hand in your notice and verbalise your intentions to your manager.

Make sure you know who it is that you should be handing your resignation in to (your line manager or his/her manager or the GM/CEO).  Also think about your timing and plan for what will get YOU the best result.  Sometimes, due to deadlines, you can’t afford to be picky about the “when”, but in general try to do it when the person that you are going to see is going to be the most responsive, ie.  not in a bad mood; not rushing to another meeting; not under the pump; not leaving to go home; not on annual leave; etc.  I guess ultimately, regardless of how you feel about the person/organisation, try your best to put yourself in the position of the person that will be receiving the news (and the pressure that that may bring) and treat them as you would like to be treated – being considerate goes a long, LONG way!

And plan for point 4 below – the OUTCOME of your resignation…

2 Document Your Resignation in Writing (but deliver it in person)
Your written resignation should be short and sweet.  No ‘War & Peace’ ramblings required here as the important detail gets lost!  Keep it simple:

  • Address the letter properly & appropriately
  • Lay it out properly and DO NOT forget to date it with the correct date as this becomes the date that your resignation is effective from.
  • (Having checked your notice period obligations) Inform your employer of the date that your notice period is effective from (today’s date), the period it is for (eg.  4 weeks) and what the date is that you are terminating your employment on (ie.  the date 4 weeks from today)
  • Thank them (in one or two lines at the most).  Ideally, this shouldn’t be too difficult.  You might like to thank them for their support, guidance and nurturing of you throughout your tenure.  Or you might like to say thank you for the development or promotional opportunities.  Whatever it is though, be sincere and if you haven’t got anything good to say – say NOTHING.
  • And remember:  LESS is sometimes MORE as the last thing you want to do is provide ‘fodder’ for your employer to come back and bash you with (figuratively speaking of course)!

If time permits, don’t tender your letter straight away.  Sit on it for a day or two (change the date accordingly) and make sure you go over the pros and cons of your current role and future opportunity.  Not to say that you can’t go back once you’ve tendered your resignation, but most of the employers that I know tend to take the view of “if you’ve decided to leave, I’m not going to try to change your mind” (in a positive way as opposed to a narky kind of a way)!

3 Personal delivery
When the time comes, have the fortitude, strength of character and decency to resign in person!  It comes down to respect and in most cases, other than the extreme ones, your employer deserves a bit of respect.  And even if they don’t, be the bigger person and show them how it should be done by holding your head high and resigning with dignity and professionalism.  If you do have any feedback, the time to do it is in person (verbally, not in writing remember) and ALWAYS make sure that you do it constructively and in a positive manner.  Hand your letter to the appropriate person, explaining what it is.  NOTE:  from this point, your resignation date is locked in as this is the date that you have tendered your resignation.

If you believe that it is going to be an unpleasant meeting – prepare yourself mentally for this and if appropriate to do so, you may choose to tender your resignation with another person present (or at least nearby), such as your employer’s Personal Assistant or maybe even your line manager.  And whatever you do, make sure that you stay calm, collected, polite and professional, no matter what is said to you (I’m not suggesting for a moment that this will be easy, but stay strong and committed to being the better person)!

4 Be Prepared for the Outcome
This forms part of your planning phase also – so make sure you give this plenty of thought.  Plan how you think your employer is going to react and what actions they might take and make sure that you’re prepared.  Think back to when other people have resigned or have been asked to leave, how did that go down and how did your employer behave?  Give very real consideration to the fact that you might well be asked to clean out your office and leave on the spot, having been locked out of your computer (and any other digital links to the organisation – eg.  phone/tablet/intranet) before you even leave your manager’s office!

Whatever the situation, remain calm and professional and try to take it in your stride, without letting your guard down as you need to remain alert to your rights and the employer’s legal obligations – like pay in lieu of notice or bonus cheques that are owed to you as a couple of examples.

5 Tidy Up Loose Ends
As suggested above, this isn’t always possible – but when it is, leave on a high!  Make sure you’ve cleaned up your desk, office and computer so that it’s ready for the next person and try to finish off any projects or at least leave them at a stage where someone else can pick them up and run with them.  You might even like to leave some basic instructions and/or information for anyone that might need them, like logins to things that need to be kept going, even in your absence.  And don’t forget to inform the right departments (when it’s your job to do so), so that the business can prepare for your departure.

Oh!  And if you have a uniform (and other company property – such as keys; phones; car; etc), either bring it back dry-cleaned and pressed, ideally on your last day (if you can get away with coming in to work in your own business attire) or within a few days of your departure.  Remember:  the organisation might be permitted to withhold your final payment until such time as ‘everything’ is returned, so get it back promptly.

6 Your Reputation is Your Greatest Asset!  Don’t BURN BRIDGES!
Often, your reputation is all that you can trade on – so make sure it remains a GOOD one!  Don’t denigrate the management or organisation and do your utmost to maintain your output/efficiency throughout your notice period.  Leave on a HIGH and make sure the departing impression of you is not one of a whinging, lazy, good-for-nothing bum, who slackened off in their last few weeks and did nothing but bag the organisation and belittle their manager!

As suggested above, you never, ever know when you might bump in to this person again and if you’ve read my previous blog “Negotiating Your Salary“, you may remember the employee that I had, that went on a rant as they stormed out of my office only to one day, much later on, be applying for a job in a business that I was managing.  Our industry is particularly small and it’s not uncommon for “someone” to know “someone” that knows YOU!  With this in mind, it is so important to keep your reputation in tact and not to burn any bridges.

Hopefully the points above will help you navigate through the stressful process of resigning.  It’s also worth mentioning that, where possible (ie.  when you’re leaving a ‘good’ employer), it’s a good idea to leave the door ajar.  What I mean by this is:  don’t cut all ties on the spot just because you are going.  Make a genuine offer to be contactable should the employer need to ask a question or let them know that you have left instructions for the next person, but they are welcome to call/email you if they require any further clarification.  Leaving on a good note leads to a greater chance of being remembered in a good light and therefore being referenced positively should anyone call about you or in conversations around a table (think at conferences, meetings, seminars, networking events where your “new” or “future” employers are also mixing)!

Good luck!

Uncategorized, Values

It takes HEAPS of Courage to be a Visionary Leader !

With the world in turmoil with the global financial crisis, climate change and environmental disasters, humans wreaking devastating harm on one another in various parts of the world, as a species we are facing some of the biggest challenges in history. Do you have the courage to lead confidently in these uncertain times? If you can see these challenges as opportunity, you will be one of the survivors. As leaders, we must be pioneers in forging new relationships, new ways of doing business, new ways of being in the world. It requires comfort with ambiguity, confidence in uncertainty, and a willingness to celebrate diversity. It takes Visionary leadership.

Visionary leadership is an art. Unlike the managerial tools of policy, procedures, techniques and measures, it comes directly from knowing and understanding Self. A visionary leader is one who serves through being Trustworthy, Inspirational and Passionate. The emphasis on serving through being is the essence of our work with values and energy. There is no recipe; there are no seven steps or ten tips. It requires the courage to abandon what we “know to be so” and embrace the mystery and complexity of what it is to be human.

A visionary leader is clear about who he or she is, and exudes genuine SELF-confidence. Visionary Leaders have a confidence in who they are and what they stand for which is accompanied by trust that they can face whatever situations come their way. A visionary leader knows and trusts in their ability to be infinitely creative, and also trusts that capacity in those he or she leads.

Why Visionary Leadership?
The prevailing model of the authoritarian leader is under-performing and failing, and in too many cases failing in spectacular yet sad circumstances. We only have to look at the Business section of daily press for numerous examples of this. If I was to ask you “who is the source of your greatest frustration in your current business climate” and you find yourself pointing the accusatory finger of blame, then there are also the three fingers pointing back to YOU, giving you the answer to the question! Your profitability and success is a direct result of the quality of your leadership. No exceptions! The good news is that you are also the solution. The question is: Do you have the courage to liberate the visionary leader within?

What are the characteristics and skills of the visionary leader?
Authoritarian leaders focus on protecting what they’ve been in the past while Visionary leaders focus on what they are becoming in the present and future.

Key differences are illustrated in the table below:

Authoritarian            Visionary
Is very competitive. Is very cooperative.
Is focused on the shareholder.            Is focused on the stakeholders.
Is risk averse.  Encourages innovation.
Is uncomfortable with uncertainty. Revels in uncertainty.
Is a creator of teams that ‘follow’. Creates leaders at all levels.
Operates within a tangible framework. Operates intuitively.
Seeks to control the enterprise. Realises the enterprise is ‘self-organising’.
Tells people what to do.          Listens by asking questions.
Talks of what the problem is. Talks about possible solutions.
Is reactive Is Creative
Is focused on “What’s in it for me?” Is focused on “What will benefit US?”
Debates Dialogues and values storytelling
Strong masculine energy Strong feminine energy

 

How are these visionary behaviours developed?
It is important to note that these behaviours are not mutually exclusive. Today’s leaders will benefit from being able to consciously operate along a continuum encompassing both styles as varying circumstances require.

The guidelines for learning the visionary behaviours above are rarely found in any current management texts, courses or training programs, let alone when you were at school.

Your choices to develop these behaviours are to:
• Engage a mentor or coach to assist you to unfold and develop these behaviours
• Read quality books and publications in this field
• Take regular time out for reflection – to listen to your inner voice and practice recognizing your intuition.
• Understand your values, and write your purpose, visions and strategies to reflect the most important priorities in your life.

The Language of Values
There is also a new language to be learnt, to understand the nature and role of values. Values, defined as our unconscious motivators, underpin every action we take. Everyone has values. Visionary leaders are people who have revisited and clarified their core values to consciously choose which values will be expressed in their lives. Visionary leaders pay attention to honouring and dissolving those values that are no longer useful to their future as a visionary leader and releasing the energy from values that keep them“stuck in the past” to values that energise them to create a compelling future.

Examples of this skill include:
• dissolving a lack of ‘self worth*’ and relocate the energy into ‘being self*’
• dissolving the value of ‘independence*’ and relocating the energy into ‘interdependence*’
• dissolving the need to be ‘competitive*’ and relocate the energy to being ‘cooperative*’
* from an Australian model of 128 universally researched values ( New Wisdom 11 by Colins and Chippendale)

Now ask yourself, when did you last reflect on and review your:
• Personal work practices, e.g. reading, time management, paper management?
• Management skills, e.g. communications, project management, technical competencies?
• Leadership abilities, e.g. visioning, creating, listening, mentoring, thinking/concentrating?

May I suggest that the reality is that these skills and abilities continue to be essential and need to be under continuing formal review if you seek to be a leader of change and innovation?

The quantum leap forward for you as a Visionary leader, way beyond the above, is to become aware of your inner levels of consciousness, offering access to abilities that are infinite.

This inner level of consciousness within each of us is often experienced as a ‘flash of insight’, an instant solution to a complex situation, an entirely new idea, and in each instant you will express amazement and wonder ‘how did I do that?” and ‘where do they come from?’

The process of accessing the visionary leader within engages a wide range of innate abilities and will include:
• Being present with oneself.
• Being present with another
• Dissolving negative judgment of oneself and others
• Listening empathetically
• Detaching and transcending the senses
• Detaching and transcending the human constructs of time.
• Listening to your feelings
• Looking for patterns in the complexity of the issue at hand.

Now as you can see, to engage these deeper levels of consciousness calls for changes to your traditional work practices and the emphasis on rushing around getting things done to being at-one-within, thinking and concentrating.

Key questions for courageous leaders
1. Who is your mentor and your protégé?
2. What is your next formal learning project?
3. When will you formally refresh your purpose – for your Self, for your business and for the people you lead?
4. What must you, as a leader, be willing to give up or let go of in order for your business to be more flexible and responsive to change?
5. Reflect on three core principles which determine how your business currently operates. How are these helping or harming the business’s ability to achieve its Vision?
6. What barriers will have to be removed in order for your business to be stronger, more profitable and exist 5 years from now?
7. What are your top 9 values that you orient your life around?

Our planet needs visionary leaders, your country, your organisations and communities need visionary leaders. Our children need new role models for leadership in the 21st century. I urge you to rise to the challenges and be courageous enough to discover the visionary leader that resides within every one of you.

This AMAZING piece was written by our AMAZING guest blogger Karynne Courts from Values Connection.  Ph +61 2 9983 0755

Life Experiences, Uncategorized, Values

Lessons for Leaders – How we live our lives !

 

Journey to the Blue Road

The sheep station where I spent my childhood was a three hour drive from the nearest town over dusty unsealed roads. The town had nine hotels and two grocery stores, and we only went there every six weeks or so to stock up on our supplies. Living in such a remote area meant we needed to be self-sufficient and resilient. We had a vegetable garden, sheep and cattle for our meat, and we kept hens for eggs.

Every year, we would order our hens from the city poultry farmers. They were only young, not much more than a year old, and were already considered “burnt out” by the egg farmers. We would order four dozen at a time – for about 20 cents (1 or 2 rand) a chicken!

We would drive the three hours into town and pick them up from the rail depot. They were transported in large cardboard cartons with little air holes cut out. We’d bring them back home, tie the dogs up, and open the boxes.

 Out would fall the most bedraggled creatures we had ever seen. They were often featherless, their crests pale and shabby and their claws overgrown. They had spent their entire lives inside a cage in tin sheds under intense 24 hour artificial lighting, and were expected to lay to maximum capacity – sometimes two eggs per day.

They had never seen the sunshine or felt the earth beneath their feet. Some of them even had their beaks removed to prevent them from pecking their eggs. We let them out into the yard to learn how to be chooks – to pick at the green weeds, scratch for worms and bugs, and cluck at each other. After only a couple of weeks, their crests became a deeper, healthier red, their feathers grew back, and they even “walked taller”.

The most amazing thing was that they started to lay eggs again.

When we create environments that focus on who we are, that allow us to express our values and nourish us, then our natural talents and energy are released. The impossible becomes possible, and results exceed expectations.

By focusing on the who – allowing them to be the best they could be, the “what” came naturally. Of course they would lay eggs – that’s what hens do. So instead of saying “now go off and lay lots of eggs”, we let them rediscover how to be real chickens – and laying eggs was a natural consequence.

How often in workplaces do we ask our people to lay more eggs – turn the lights up, increase performance, keep producing – with the threat of replacement if they slow down?  If we focus more on the nurturing of our people, providing the environment that allows them to be the best they can be, then the natural consequence is for them to do whatever it is they do. Trust that if they are healthy, stimulated, encouraged, and believed in, you will have all the eggs you need!

Organisations, governments, and individual consumers pour millions of dollars into working out ways to lay more eggs – bigger, cheaper, faster, quicker, more! We are constantly offered tools and gadgets that are supposed to make our lives better, yet we become involved in a cycle of replacing the unnecessary to do the necessary, and we lose the ability and sometimes even the knowledge of doing things for ourselves. Tools that are supposed designed to “make it easier” have made us less productive, and many people are burnt out, exhausted, tired, sad, depressed. In order to shift the focus from maximizing egg production to cultivating healthy and happy chickens, we have to challenge the assumptions and beliefs that have created our current situations.

 It is not about being a better leader, which suggests that you have something “missing”, it is about recognising the qualities that already reside within you, and allowing yourself the courage to peel away the masks and layers to reveal the infinite creative energy of your real Self.  The most courageous journey is the “inner journey” of self awareness.

 By embracing and expressing the qualities that reside within, we develop comfort with ambiguity, confidence in uncertainty, and a willingness to celebrate diversity.

A leader is a person who serves through being trustworthy, inspirational and passionate. Leadership is not about role, position, salary, or authority. It is an innate quality in everyone, and leaders are at all levels of the community, family, and work place.

We lead how we live, and how we live our life is the way we leave the world.

Welcome to our guest Blogger – Karynne Courts from Values Connection who has donated her time to Blog for you some great lessons. 

(Source: Karynne Courts, Values Connection (see www.valuesconnection.com.au for more inspirational stuff  or to purchase the book – Journey to the Blue Road … an amazing book by an amazing person!!)

Life Experiences, Uncategorized, Values

What Goes Around Comes Around – It’s a Generational Thing !

 

Emilys Card
Emily's Card to Jordan

Way back I blogged about meeting Emily, the volunteer who came to the Children’s Sleep Disorder Clinic at Hospital 5 nights a week after work, to help settle the children – one of which was my 3 year old son hooked up to dozens of wires.  Emily’s main job was as a preschool teacher.  She wanted to give some of her skills back to those in need and chose the hospital to do so.  (If you want to recap the story, then click here to read about AMAZING Emily). 

You may recall that my son and I made a special card and sent it to Emily and we slipped in a small store voucher to thank her.  In my view, there is not much that is more rewarding than thanking others for something that they have done.  We knew that we would never see or hear from Emily ever again.  

WELL……. TODAY something wonderful happened to my son Jordan.  We brought the mail in and there was a card for him.  It was a card with a puppy dog holding a flower in his mouth.  It just so happens that Jordan L O V E S puppy dogs and has an innate connection with the beauty of flowers and the meaning of giving to others.  Jordan never fails to pick a flower for me EVERY day after day care. He always brings it home and greets me as I walk in with the hand picked flower and an “I love you Mummy”.  Every single day this happens and every single day I smile.  If I ever doubt the wonder of a child, I can simply reflect on these moments and be humbled at his grace and love. 

Jordan opened the envelope  (well he actually ripped it open with hands  shaking with excitement) and I then read it to him.  It was from Emily.  Jordan remembered Emily as clear as daylight ……. and he only met her for no more than 15 minutes, months before and in an anxious situation (yes, she touches lives !).  The card read “Dear Jordan …… I’m not sure if you remember me but it’s Emily from ……..  Sorry it’s taken so long to write to you, but I was getting ready for my overseas trip.  I am in Holland now.  I absolutely LOVED your card. It was so thoughtful and …. I even have it with me in Europe to keep me safe….. “.

Jordan turned to me and said “I miss Emily”. 

Emily touched our lives and we thanked her.  Little did we know that we touched her life as well. All we did was thank someone for being great.  Do you think that every time that Emily looks at that card she will remember that she is a great person ? ABSOLUTELY.  Do you think that she will keep that card somewhere forever ? FOR SURE.  The lesson to learn is to thank people for doing great things.  Thank people that aren’t used to being thanked.  Notice people that aren’t used to being noticed. The more people that believe they are great, the greater they become.  The best thing that YOU can do is pass this lesson onto the next generation !

Safe travels Emily !