Leaving Your Fingerprint in 2013 and Beyond

Strategic planning is fun.  There I said it.  Some people liken strategic planning to getting wisdom teeth pulled.  I see no wisdom in that.

Each year our Consumers marketing team  takes time out of our daily schedules to focus on the bigger picture.  We plan marketing initiatives to support our corporate goals and we center the discussion around our Mission:   Member Satisfaction.

This year we took part in a session where we had our five team fingerprints placed in front of us on white sheets of paper. They were anonymous and our task was to look at each fingerprint, pick who we thought it belonged to, and then write awesome "individual" characteristics about that individual.

At the end we shared our thoughts outloud, who we thought each fingerprint belonged to and what talents they brought to the team.  We laughed when we realized which fingerprint belonged to which individual. (no one had 100% accuracy on this part of the fun.)

The key learnings came from finding out what other colleagues thought about each team member and how they fit within the organization.  We then began to speak about the roles we play to help us succeed in the organization.  This was when the "AhHa" moments began to take shape.

There are five of us with very unique talents on our team.  Each of us bring our passions to work every day.  We juggle many projects at once.  Without our own fingerprint on each of those projects the projects could not be as successful. Without our own fingerprint on each of those projects WE could not be as successful.

Our team fingerprints are pictured above.  Each one is unique - yet together we create growth for our organization. 

What fingerprint do you bring to your work?  Do you imprint your passion and your talents to your projects?  Share your visions and bring your ideas to the table.  Leave your fingerprint on everything you do.  You'll be amazed how it will blend in with others and leave an imprint  to be proud of.

 

 

 

Posted via email from MoJoCMO

Bring....

If a child can do this, why can't we?

Bring peace to your own tiny corner of the world.  

Bring hope to your table as you sit down to eat. 

Bring joy to those you love most.

Bring heart to those who you may have ignored.

Bring thanks to your frustrations.

Bring miracles to your everyday routines.

Bring open doors to your neighbors.

Bring love.  Everywhere.

On this Christmas Eve, in the quiet of the morning, I bring you my hope that your day is filled with childlike wonder.  See this Christmas through the eyes of a child, a very special child.  He brings Hope, Peace, Joy, Gratitude and Miracles to you every day.  His heart is open to you always with the greatest of these gifts.  Love. Bring it.

 

 

Posted via email from MoJoCMO

Weaving calm into any situation.

I am in the middle of a great opportunity in my workplace.  I am part of a group learning the art of Integrity Coaching.  We have homework weekly and this week's homework is to focus on emotional responses.

I've jumped off my balance beam of life - and am weaving work and life together.  I've always compared and contrasted my learnings at home and work.

My husband is really good at keeping emotions in check.  When a teenager does what teenagers often do he will bring humor into the situation while I often bring emotional drama to the table.  Emotional drama doesn't help any situation.

 

He also brings a calm into the picture.  This is an art I am trying to learn. It's not easy.

How often have you been in a meeting where somone says or does something that is irritating. How do you respond?  Do you emotionally knee-jerk a response versus calmly thinking through prior to answering?  Do you let others bring their thoughts and ideas to the conversation?

There is a difference between passion and emotional outbursts.  Passion is a part of your fabric that you bring to projects and strategies you care deeply about.  Emotions are often misguided reactions that can destroy a project and strategy quickly.

Our family is very emotional.  We are very loud and fun and also quick to bring an emotional response to our friends and colleagues.  While that can be engaging and fun, it can also be stressful and detrimental.

Yet you can learn to bring calm into your life and work.  You can learn to pause in situations and look at the big picture before responding.  Here are three key calming rules I am focusing on:

 

1) Never respond to an email, voice mail, text, post or other communication when angry.

          No Regrets.

 

2) If you find your voice rising. Take 5 Deep Breaths. 

         This Really Works!

 

3)  Ask others their perspective on your emotional triggers.

       Your close colleagues and family know you better than you often do.

 

Weaving calm into your daily life needs to become a learned habit.  It takes practice and patience.  Have you ever communicated emotionally and regretted it later?  What did you do to improve your communcation style?

 

Today's Weave of the Day;   Practice calm.  Practice. Practice. Practice.  (It just may make Perfect)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted via email from MoJoCMO

Weaving Your Work Into The Balance Beam of Life

I love to work.  I love to relax.  I love my family. I love my work family.  I'm tired of people telling me to balance my work and family.  I don't want to balance my work and family because frankly I'm not good at balancing.   I'm clumsy.  I often spill on myself.  If I'm walking on a balancing beam I will fall off.  I don't like falling down or falling off anything.  So I'm done balancing work and life.  I'm going to weave it. Period. 

Everything I do in my family life invariably relates to my work life and vice versa.  When my kids learn a painful lesson in life I find myself relating that to something happening at work and I try to learn from it myself.  When an "Ah Ha" moment happens at work, I find myself wanting to mimic the positive reactions into my home life.  I'm going to start blogging more about this weaving of my two worlds - in a more structured fashion.  When I do I'll tag / keyword "Weave" so it's simple to find.  I also would love you to share the way you weave through your life.  

My first weave is a simple one - positive reinforcement.  My son came home from a Hockey Tournament and was thrilled with words he heard from coaches. He let us know at the dinner table that complete strangers said really nice things to him about his skating style. How often do we do that in our work - tell people that we don't work with side by side that they are good at what they do?  When someone tells you how does it make you feel? It makes you feel like you want to improve, be better and continue to impress.  Today's Weave of the Day is:  Surprise someone in your work and home life by letting them know you notice something they do very well. 

Posted via email from MoJoCMO

#GratefulFor - Celebrating Anniversaries and the Teams that Make Me Smile!

Today is my One Year Anniversary with Consumers Credit Union! Yesterday was Bosses Day. I spent the day yesterday in Strategy Sessions with my CEO and Exec Tam.

My Marketing team surprised me with flowers and a nice card --

Posted via email from MoJoCMO

You Can Limit Ad Tracking On IOS 6 - Thank's @BusinessInsider!

Here is a great article about advertisers tracking you - and how you can limit this in IOS-6.  I've also created an easy screen shot.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ifa-apples-iphone-tracking-in-ios-6-2012-10

Posted via email from MoJoCMO

The Three Most Important Words For..... Well Everything.

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I stopped by the Pathway to Caregiving Conference.  It's an all day conference put on by a stellar group of dedicated organizations,  including Clark Retirement Community where I'm proud to serve on the Board of Directors.

The conference focused on support for anyone on the journey of memory loss.  One of the sessions I attended ws called The Meaning Behind Behaviors:  Actions and Reactions.   Karen Stobbe of In-TheMoment spoke about how caring for people with dementia is all about communication. 

When she asked the question, "what are the three most important words you can say to someone as they age?" my mind immediately went to "I Love You."  That's an easy one right?  I was wrong.

Karen explained that the most important words for anyone is "I Need You."  I paused and thought about that for a moment and brought it out of the conference and into everyday life.

You know the feeling you get if you feel your talents, skills, or face it just plain you in general are not needed.  You feel discarded and unworthy and your confidence slips.

In the workplace the three little words "I Need You" are just as important.If you are a manager do you keep your team focused? Do they understand their work is needed?

In the workplace feeling unneeded leads to productivity and trust issues.  How can we make sure that we help those we work with (or live with)  feel needed? 

Tell people how they are needed

Tell people why they are needed

Tell people out loud they are needed.

Learn what your non-verbal clues are saying to your colleagues and team members.

Listen without interruptions

Karen Scholton's three most important words are critical for those who work in dementia care.  The same holds true for anyone working ... well anywhere.

 

 

 

 

Posted via email from MoJoCMO