Leiderschap

Do you get really nervous when the internet is slow? Frenetically push the ‘close door’ button when you are in an elevator? Always in a hurry? Quickly losing your temper? Less decisive than before? Chances are you are putting more demands on yourself than is ideal, pushing yourself so hard that you arrived in the unsustainable zone of ‘diminishing returns’. It’s time to take action and get your life in balance again. Defining your list of ‘personal operating principles’ will prove very effective.

Too much stress in your life? Wrong question! It’s not the intensity of stress that matters, it’s the sustainability. Stress is not a mono-dimensional indicator; like a cash-flow statement, stress has two entries: burden or exposure on the negative side; and tolerance or resistance on the positive side. Your stress sustainability is simply your net stress score (tolerance – burden). Knowing your burden and tolerance levels, generates precise stress tactics; knowing your net stress score, generates your stress strategy. It’s very actionable.

Your to-do-list counts too many items? You are constantly busy, yet you can’t progress on what matters most? New urgent requests keep coming your way? And when you can finally start working on what matters, you get interrupted all the time? The answer is simple: use ABC and CDE to get the best out of your time.

You want to motivate your managers to focus more on business critical items? Such as the development of their team members? Or prospection at new accounts? Chances are you’ve included these critical items in their objectives, with a performance-linked bonus. Nothing against that if you only want to encourage and co-responsibilise your managers in the short term. But there’s a catch: if you want to create intrinsic long-time motivation, forget about rewards. They just don’t work. In business they don’t work and at home they don’t work. So what does?

You are looking for a new job? You have this opportunity to move to another division or country inside your company but hesitate? You consider launching your own business? Or you simply want to make sure your current job is the right one for you? The answer is simple: passion and talent – or pass.