by Julia Felton | May 17, 2013
“The most precious asset of all is something that, if lost, can only be restored not by words, but by actions; that is the asset of trust and confidence.“ — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on CNN
Never before has trust been a more crucial asset or a more career-critical skill for individuals or organizations than it is right now. Trust—more than Euros, Yen, or dollars—is the new currency of business. Trust is not something to be taken for granted; it is something to be built up, valued, and carefully preserved. However, all of us will undoubtedly deal with broken trust at some time—personally and professionally.
The idea that trust cannot be restored once lost is a myth. Though it may be difficult, in most cases, lost trust can be restored—and often even enhanced! Prioritizing trust—actively seeking to establish it, grow it, restore it, and wisely extend it—will bring personal and organizational dividends that far exceed any other path.
Join Stephen M. R. Covey at the first ever Trust Conference to learn what you can do to restore trust in your most critical relationships
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
by Julia Felton | Mar 27, 2013
How often have you invested in a personal growth training to try to improve something you felt you were not good at? Perhaps it was marketing, sales, personnel management or public speaking. For most of us, trying to improve our weak areas in operating our business or managing our department comes with the territory. Whatever the area, we feel as if we are required to do battle with what we don’t do well.
As it turns out, the majority of people around the world feel this way. In their groundbreaking book Now, Discover Your Strengths, authors Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton say that across all ages and cultures, people are more concerned about their weaknesses than their strengths. We believe that our weaknesses matter more in holding us back than our strengths matter in advancing us.
That’s nonsense, say the authors—widely held nonsense, but nonsense nonetheless. In their provocative theory, they suggest that the better strategy is to play to your strengths, building upon your core talents, and work around your weaknesses. You can work to add skills and knowledge to increase your performance in any area, but unless you are building upon one of your innate talents, your efforts won’t produce exceptional results—some results, yes, but not dramatic improvement.
“Unless you have the necessary talent, your improvements will be modest,” write Buckingham and Clifton. “You will be diverting most of your energy toward damage control and very little toward real development.”
The expression “damage control” is their term for trying to minimize your weaknesses—the areas where your lack of talent actually get in the way of your performance.
“Managing Around” a Weakness
Instead of trying to overcome your weaknesses by brute force—and at the expense of putting the same energy into growing your strengths—they offer five strategies for what they call “managing around” a weakness:
- Get a little better at it. In some cases, your weakness is only moderately impeding your peak performance in other areas. If so, then maybe damage control is the right solution.
- Develop a support system. This is the proverbial string tied around the finger to remind you of something. Whether it is time management systems for those with a talent for adaptability but not discipline, or a scheduled walk in the park for disciplined folks who neglect self-care, you can often blunt the effects of your weaknesses through such structured inputs.
- Study your prospects. If your skills tend toward the analytical and away from such talents as wooing clients or dealing directly with confrontation, then you probably ought not be spending a lot of time in sales. But when you do have to sell something—such as one of your ideas—approach the problem analytically. Rather than agonize over your lack of salesmanship, study your prospects, dig into what makes them tick and what ideas they’ve accepted in the past, and let your enthusiasm for your ideas do the talking.
- Find a partner. This may be the best approach for small business people and “solo” practitioners. Go into partnership discussions with a clear-eyed understanding of the strengths you bring, and the strengths you need from your partner. Don’t be shy about your strengths—the whole point of this is to create a world in which you get to do what you are really good at. And be open-minded about what a partnership looks like. For some solo practitioners, an administrative assistant or a marketing consultant could be all the partnering you need.
- Just (Don’t) Do It. The last option, say Buckingham and Clifton, is just don’t do the things you are weak at. In a corporate setting you might get away with this, particularly if you are a high-performer in the areas of your strengths. If you’re a small business owner and your organizational chart tends to have “me” written in most every box, not doing something may not seem like much of a choice. But keep it as a goal and continue to work toward the day when you can contribute to your business exclusively from the place of your highest strengths.
Taking your Talent Dynamics profile is a great way to help you figure out where your strengths lie and people that work with their innate talents are generally more productive, efficient, happy and less stressed, What will you do today to help you focus on developing your strengths?
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
by Julia Felton | Mar 20, 2013
Habits—good or bad—are difficult to break. Aristotle said it best: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act…it’s a habit.”
An excerpt from Habits Die Hard by Mac Anderson & John J. Murphy
I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest asset or heaviest burden.
I will push you up to success or down to disappointment.
I am at your command.
Half the things you do might just as well be turned over to me.
For I can do them quickly, correctly, and profitably.
I am easily managed; just be firm with me.
Those who are great, I have made great.
Those who are failures, I have made failures.
I am not a machine, though I work with the precision of a
machine and the intelligence of a person.
You can run me for profit, or you can run me for ruin.
Show me how you want it done. Educate me. Train me.
Lead me. Reward me.
And I will then…do it automatically.
I am your servant.
Who am I?
I am a habit.
Think about it. There is nothing that will shape your destiny more than your habits. Why is that true? Because you are invariably the sum of the choices you will make in your life. And those choices are greatly influenced by your habits…good and bad.
You may have heard the quote: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” And so it is…if you’re ready to change some habits that might be holding you back in your relationships, your career or your life, then please contact me
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
by Julia Felton | Mar 17, 2013
There are many ways to avoid success in life, but the most sure-fire just might be procrastination. Procrastinators sabotage themselves. They put obstacles in their own path. They actually choose paths that hurt their performance. So would why people do this? It’s a question that I have been pondering on a lot lately as I actively observe myself sabotaging parts of my business.
Two of the world’s leading experts on procrastination: Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at De Paul University in Chicago, and Timothy Pychyl, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa share their thoughts.
- Twenty percent of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators. For them procrastination is a lifestyle, albeit a maladaptive one. And it cuts across all domains of their life. They don’t pay bills on time. They miss opportunities for buying tickets to concerts. They don’t cash gift certificates or checks. They file income tax returns late. They leave their Christmas shopping until Christmas eve.
- It’s not trivial, although as a culture we don’t take it seriously as a problem. It represents a profound problem of self-regulation. And there may be more of it in the U.S. than in other countries because we are so nice; we don’t call people on their excuses (“my grandmother died last week”) even when we don’t believe them.
- Procrastination is not a problem of time management or of planning. Procrastinators are not different in their ability to estimate time, although they are more optimistic than others. “Telling someone who procrastinates to buy a weekly planner is like telling someone with chronic depression to just cheer up,” insists Dr. Ferrari.
- Procrastinators are made not born. Procrastination is learned in the family milieu, but not directly. It is one response to an authoritarian parenting style. Having a harsh, controlling father keeps children from developing the ability to regulate themselves, from internalizing their own intentions and then learning to act on them. Procrastination can even be a form of rebellion, one of the few forms available under such circumstances. What’s more, under those household conditions, procrastinators turn more to friends than to parents for support, and their friends may reinforce procrastination because they tend to be tolerant of their excuses.
- Procrastination predicts higher levels of consumption of alcohol among those people who drink. Procrastinators drink more than they intend to—a manifestation of generalized problems in self-regulation. That is over and above the effect of avoidant coping styles that underlie procrastination and lead to disengagement via substance abuse.
- Procrastinators tell lies to themselves. Such as, “I’ll feel more like doing this tomorrow.” Or “I work best under pressure.” But in fact they do not get the urge the next day or work best under pressure. In addition, they protect their sense of self by saying “this isn’t important.” Another big lie procrastinators indulge is that time pressure makes them more creative. Unfortunately they do not turn out to be more creative; they only feel that way. They squander their resources.
- Procrastinators actively look for distractions, particularly ones that don’t take a lot of commitment on their part. Checking e-mail is almost perfect for this purpose. They distract themselves as a way of regulating their emotions such as fear of failure.
- There’s more than one flavor of procrastination. People procrastinate for different reasons. Dr. Ferrari identifies three basic types of procrastinators:
- arousal types, or thrill-seekers, who wait to the last minute for the euphoric rush.
- avoiders, who may be avoiding fear of failure or even fear of success, but in either case are very concerned with what others think of them; they would rather have others think they lack effort than ability.
- decisional procrastinators, who cannot make a decision. Not making a decision absolves procrastinators of responsibility for the outcome of events.
- There are big costs to procrastination. Health is one. Just over the course of a single academic term, procrastinating college students had such evidence of compromised immune systems as more colds and flu, more gastrointestinal problems. And they had insomnia. In addition, procrastination has a high cost to others as well as oneself; it shifts the burden of responsibilities onto others, who become resentful. Procrastination destroys teamwork in the workplace and private relationships.
- Procrastinators can change their behaviour—but doing so consumes a lot of psychic energy. And it doesn’t necessarily mean one feels transformed internally.
Can you determine from this article why you procrastinate? For me self-regulation and planning are the keys, as well as having the perseverance to continue against the odds. One thing I do know is that I don’t procrastinate with tasks I just love doing. It’s just the things that I hate, so why do them? Increasingly to avoid procrastination I am seeking ways to focus on the things I excel at in business and outsource and delegate those tasks that take me out of flow and are a challenge.
So how do you find out the tasks that you are best suited to do? Take a Talent Dynamics test and find out. It’s helped me so much.
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
by Julia Felton | Mar 6, 2013
I recently read this great blog my John Maxwell and decided to share it with you as it talks about a subject really close to my heart right now – Perseverance. Perseverance is a trait that all great leaders have and it is what keeps them going when times get tough. Yet all too often I personally find myself slacking off at these times. I’ve been doing a lot of work to try and figure out why and what is going on. Sometimes the results are tough to take, but listen to them I must if I am to continue to grow my business.
“Perseverance begins with the right attitude – an attitude of tenacity. But the desire to persevere alone isn’t enough to keep most people going when they are tired or discouraged. Perseverance is a trait that can be cultivated. And the initial step to developing it is to eliminate its five greatest enemies.”
Perseverance requires determination. If you take the time and effort to cultivate tenacity, you can achieve the impossible. However, there are endless temptations, false beliefs, and distractions that can lead to abandoning what once seemed of the utmost importance.
According to Beyond Talent, we must eliminate the five greatest enemies of perseverance. Eliminating the following five things will bring greater chance of success:
1. A lifestyle of giving up
“Talent without perseverance never comes to full fruition. Opportunities without persistence will be lost. There is a direct correlation between perseverance and potential. If you have a habit of giving up, you need to overcome it to be successful.”
There is no doubt that giving up is the easy thing to do in many situations. When we’re presented with opportunities, we are programmed to want to take the easy route. However, taking the difficult path will allow us to see our talent come to full fruition.
2. A wrong belief that life should be easy
“Having the right expectations going into anything is half the battle.”
It’s common to expect that life should be handed to us on a silver platter. However, expectations don’t always match reality. When faced with tough situations, we have two choices. We can either give up, or we can dig in and get down in the trenches. Perseverance is choosing the trenches.
3. A wrong belief that success is a destination
“If you think you have arrived, then you’re in trouble. As soon as you think you no longer need to work to make progress, you’ll begin to lose ground.”
Success is not a destination. Success is a path we choose to walk down each day. When we stop seizing opportunities, we hit plateaus. As leaders, we constantly have the chance to learn, grow and move forward. With a bit of perseverance, we can move beyond our “success” and through open doors.
4. A lack of resiliency
“We must not become dry, brittle, and inflexible. And we must endeavour to bounce back, no matter how we may feel.”
We can’t let discouraging moments break us. Instead, we must be resilient. By persevering through tough times and taking struggles on, we have the ability to go beyond our talent.
5. A lack of vision
“People who display perseverance keep a larger vision in mind as they toil away at their craft or profession. They see in their mind’s eye what they want to create or to do, and they keep working toward it as they labor.”
What is your vision? Let that be your guiding light as you persevere through the less than desirable moments in life. Know that through perseverance, your talent will be lifted, ultimately reaping great benefits in the end.
Overall, take the time to think through which of these enemies is hindering your ability to persevere as a leader. Once you identify these strongholds, you will be able to rise above any situation and accomplish even the loftiest goals.
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
by Julia Felton | Feb 27, 2013
Trust is the unwritten social contract that underpins everything in our society. We all know how it feels when trust is broken or lost. More importantly we all understand what the effects of a loss of trust can be.
Yet trust allows us to great things. Through trust we can work together effectively. We can rely on our friends and family. We can speed up communication and action.
All because of trust.
Trust in Business
Trust relationships also cement every business activity. Trust in business exists through our external interactions with other organisations while internally it draws our business together. At the most basic level trust is needed for every employee contract or commercial transaction.
But trust in business is a much more vital concept in the 21st Century. As the certainties of the past are being undermined, economics and performance are being affected.
Is the concept of trust in your business a central part of your strategy?
The Meaning of Trust
Trust, in brief, is the confident expectation of something. Whether we are working at the highest level of a business or as an employee we all need to be confident in something in the future. We expect that our business will continue or our job will be safe.
Yet trust is sidelined as too ‘fuzzy’ to be measured or understood. It certainly can’t be applied. This simply is not true. We measure the effects of trust everyday.
What areas are affected by trust in business?
1. Turnover and Profit
2. Sales Performance
3. Referred Business
4. Employee Satisfaction and Engagement
5. Productivity
6. Project and Product Delivery
7. Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
8. Brand Awareness and Marketing
The Measure of Trust
We can see the effect of trust but what would be the impact if we could go straight to the source and measure it directly?
It is safe to say that what and who we trust, we value. In business, what we value can be broken down into five different aspects.
What areas are affected by trust in business?
Innovation
Sometimes you need creative solutions and plans, ‘out of the box thinking’. Who do you value for this aspect? Chances are you trust them as well.
Communication
Every business needs good communication, internally and externally. The ability to listen and share information is a valuable skill and ability. Who do you trust most in this aspect?
Service
All businesses need to take care of the people that matter to them, whether that is team members or customers. Who do you rely on most to give excellent service?
Measurement
If we don’t know how we’ve done, how do we get better? Who do you lean on most for your measurement and reporting?
Spirit
This is the ability to stay resilient and positive. This is often the quality of leadership. Who do you trust to lead?
If a business or a team member loses their value in one of these aspects, it is easy to undermine what else they provide us. By assessing all five areas we can quickly become aware of where we have hidden, unused talent that can be unlocked.
If you want to learn more about TRUST and it’s importance in both the workplace and life you will not want to miss The Trust Conference. Book now to benefit from the early bird discounts
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
by Julia Felton | Feb 4, 2013
There are many types of leaders in any organisation and often the best leader is the one best suited for the job at hand. Now you know all about the eight different Talent Dynamics profiles you can then chose the leader suited for that job.
Creators
Don’t expect a Creator to be the best people-person or a data-driven analyst. Creators lead best by setting the vision, a high standard to reach for and being task focused to reach their goals. To be in flow and avoid inevitable friction, a Creator needs a strong communicator to lead the team and a strong analyst to manage the numbers, or both the
people and the profit will suffer.
Stars
Don’t expect a Star to wait for their team, or delight in the details (unless it is details on presentation and people). Stars strive for high standards and will often switch things at last moment to suit the occasion. Their leadership is by inspiration and leading from the front, so they need a strong Deal Maker to secure the connections and a strong number cruncher to count the dollars.
Supporters
Despite being one step away from the Star profile, the two are as different as thunder and lightning. Supporter profiles engender plenty of loyalty wherever they go, one of the Star profile’s greatest challenges. This is because while Stars generate hands-off admiration, Supporters attract hands-on motivation. Supporters are both intuitive and sensory which means that they can often act as the antenna for a more removed profile, leading by being the implementer from vision to action, through people.
Deal Makers
Deal Makers are ‘people people’ but they are more private than a Star and prefer to work one-to-one. Don’t expect Deal Makers to stick to a plan and expect them to come back from a meeting with a very different outcome than expected but a much better one. Deal Makers lead best when they are able to be in constant conversation with their ear to the ground, not isolated from the crowd or stuck in the back office.
Traders
Traders struggle when given a blank sheet to fill but will quickly find the patterns in a puzzle. They find their flow when they grow a connection with their market and with their team. When they are taken out of this connection, it takes them time to tune back in and find their rhythm again. Traders lead far better through daily activity than long-term milestones and where they have ongoing input to inform their decision-making. All great Trader leaders lead from the middle of the action, which is the opposite of Creators, who do their best work when above the noise of the markets.
Accumulators
Their analytical skills and sense of timing make Accumulators excellent project managers who will find the way to deliver what is needed on time. This ability to be extremely reliable has led many Accumulators up the ranks in areas that are not their passion. Many end up being faced with office politics, which they have little interest in and are ill equipped to handle. Accumulators lead best when they have the power to choose their team, as they will ensure that they only choose those reliable enough to get the job done.
Lords
Lords are great at finding inefficiencies because they analyse the detail and stay in fanatical control. While this works for hard assets, it doesn’t work so well with people. For this reason, Lords are best at leading through the numbers instead of through conversation and collaboration. Lords almost always value process and policy over people, so take care in their position within a team and set them up for success using their strengths.
Mechanics
Mechanics like to take things apart and put them together again. They are up to the challenge of changing the wheels on a moving car and as a result they are continually challenging the status quo on the way things are done. This can be very stimulating for some and very frustrating for others. Mechanics lead best by staying out of the fray and seeking ways to perfect a process or system and then have a team implement with thorough training.
Discover your leadership style by taking your Talent Dynamics Profile Test
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
by Julia Felton | Jan 29, 2013
Unbridle Your Success and Lead Your Business
Much like my horses a business needs good leadership and yet time and time again I see business owners struggling and frustrated as their business starts leading them.
You know your business is leading you when you are feeling:
- Overwhelmed with making a decision on how or what to do to move forward
- Frustrated at how stressful your business has really become
- Reactive to the opportunities that surround you rather than pro-active
- Stuck in an income bracket that you seem unable to break through
- Believe that the next level of success is maybe just too far out of reach
- Feel unbalanced, unorganized and incapable of taking it to the next step
- And most of all, you know you are working for the worst boss ever – YOU
It’s time to Grab the Reins and take control of your business and your life and pro-actively decide what is happening.
The first step to enable you to lead your business from surviving to thriving is to get your own personal success game plan, one that aligns with your natural strengths with the universal energies and gets you playing the game you love whilst working with others that love and excel at the bits you hate.
Great leaders know that “Success is a team game” and you need to surround yourself with herd members that complement your strengths. So what game do you need to play to be successful and who do you need in your herd?
”If you are doing anything that feels like hard work, you are already doing the wrong thing”
Do you think successful people know their personal success game plan…? You bet they do!
I am committed to helping more people. like you, discover their personal success game plan that resonates with your natural strengths and leadership style. So for a limited time – until the 8th February, you can get your personal success game for just £97 and as an extra special bonus I will offer you a 30 mins 1:1 personal consultation to get you started.
That’s a massive 50% discount on the normal price. You can learn more here.
You will receive your 16 page personal success report that details your personal success game plan based on your natural gifts and talents. And during our 30 min consultation we will look at the strategies and activities that will most naturally and easily help you stay in flow so that you can achieve more success in 2013.
So don’t delay click the button below and complete the online success questionnaire and your personalised success game plan will be immediately emailed to you. Then once you have read the report email me and we will schedule in your personal 1:1 success consultation.
Don’t delay, this could be the best decision you ever make to help you discover your personal success game plan for 2013.
I look forward to working with you to make 2013 your best year ever.
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
by Julia Felton | Jan 4, 2013
In the same way that trust has five aspects, flow also has five aspects. While we may trust a team member to be great at analysing the details, we may still feel their contribution will slow down the process and so we will avoid getting them involved.
Our talent grows when we deliver more value in the area we are most trusted, and we accelerate flow by mastering our ability to leverage that value.
In Talent Dynamics, there are five aspects of flow and each of them comes more naturally to each of the five frequencies. Here are the five aspects of flow:
Initiative
This is the degree to which your team experience that you consistently contribute your ideas and plans for improvement effectively such that they add to the success of the company. Dynamo frequency profiles naturally contribute the greatest flow in this area.
Respect
This is the degree to which your team experience that you consistently collect and share suggestions and feedback from customers and partners with the team for effective action, resolution and improvement. Blaze frequency profiles naturally contribute the greatest flow in this area.
Presence
This is the degree to which your team experience that you consistently invest the time to be present for the team, and to be proactive in seeking and finding solutions to improve the well being and harmony of the team. Tempo frequency profiles naturally contribute the greatest flow in this area.
Discipline
This is the degree to which your team experience that you consistently maintain a high level of caring and sharing in how you manage time, performance, measures and financial responsibility. Steel frequency profiles naturally contribute the greatest flow in this area.
Perseverance
This is the degree to which your team experience that you consistently work with the end in mind and find paths to success for the team and company without giving up. As each profile builds their awareness and mastery of their spirit frequency, they will contribute at increasingly higher levels in this area. This keeps the team in flow through every
season and the transitions between them.
The Talent Dynamics Barometer is a 360 degree review in which each team member receives feedback in each of these five factors of both trust and flow. From this, they gain visibility of the areas in which they can most rapidly grow sustainable value for the benefit of the team. The team as a whole also sees where they have the biggest gaps in trust and this will often inform them on the additions they need to make in the team to enable everyone to perform at a higher level.
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
by Julia Felton | Dec 20, 2012
When we hear a team member say of another team in the company “We can’t trust them with that” or a manager say to a team member “I don’t trust you with this task” we are hearing the word ‘trust’ used in a very explicit way. Yet trust (and distrust) shows up more often in invisible ways:
- A team member is given extra responsibility.
- A reorganisation moves some teams into more critical positions.
- Customers stop buying a particular product…
When we have a suspicion that trust has fallen, we may open up some conversations or make some enquiries but the dynamics of trust remain grey and cloudy. Within Talent Dynamics, the invisible becomes visible by recognising trust as having five distinct aspects. These aspects are all measurable and allow us to see where any individual, team and company are most trusted and least trusted. When we know this within a team, we can transform results rapidly by aligning activities to those we trust most in them and build the team to support each member where trust is lowest.
Here are the five aspects of trust:
Innovation
This is the degree to which your team trusts that you can be consistently relied on to come up with creative solutions and plans. Dynamo frequency profiles naturally create the most trust in this area.
Communication
This is the degree to which your team trusts that you can be consistently relied on to share information and listen effectively. Blaze
frequency profiles naturally create the most trust in this area.
Service
This is the degree to which your team trusts that you can be consistently relied on to look after customers and team members.
Tempo frequency profiles naturally create the most trust in this area.
Measurement
This is the degree to which your team trusts that you can be consistently relied on to measure and refine your own performance.
Steel frequency profiles naturally create the most trust in this area.
Spirit
This is the degree to which your team trusts that you can be consistently relied on to remain resilient and positive. Those who build
this on their path through their leadership naturally create the most trust in this area.
When we stop trusting a team member or an entire team to deliver in a particular area, we often let the factor in which we are not trusting them to overshadow any areas in which we do trust them and so throw out their strength with their weakness.
By assessing all five areas, we can quickly become aware of where we have hidden, unutilized talent just waiting to be unlocked.
We are excited that Stephen R. Covey will be the keynote speaker at the Talent Dynamics Trust Conference next year.
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Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
