Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category

Good Business Communications

by Jim Noh-Kuhn, Dream Business Coach

In my experience good business communications is about good listening. It’s not about speaking well or writing well – our society, especially in business, handles those reasonably well. But business doesn’t emphasize listening; we don’t send our brightest employees to listening classes or seminars. While we do send them to all kinds of other seminars, we just assume that they know how to listen. That’s because we confuse hearing with listening.

Ultimately, listening is about feeling heard and getting to an understanding. Simply put, good communication involves 5 steps that will lead to understanding and empowerment.

1.    Get clear on what it is you want to say – don’t be afraid of a silent pause while you gather your thoughts.

2.    Actively listen – don’t agree or disagree; understand the others person’s perspective thoroughly; leave your thoughts and idea’s alone for the moment and concentrate on the other person (you can get back to your thoughts later).

3.    Reflect back what you heard – use the stand-by: “here’s what I heard you say… is that correct?”

4.    Ask clarifying questions – ask for additional information; don’t be afraid to admit what you don’t understand; ask the other person if they feel heard (which is an amazing experience on its’ own without any of these other steps).

5.    Agree on a course of action – who’s going to do what and why; allow your intuition, your gut, to guide you to a creative solution that can only come about once you both feel heard.

These steps can be used for spoken or written business communications. My experience is that if you are able to really listen, without any other agenda like speaking your opinions on the subject, then the other person feels heard. When everyone feels heard, conflict disappears. In fact, this type of practice will avoid conflicts in a good way.

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Goals Written = Goals Achieved

by Jim Noh-Kuhn, Dream Business Coach

With a practiced eye, I feel that the answers to my question of “what are your business goals, what is it that you want to achieve” become articulated right there on-the-spot. Usually the answer had already been a thought, perhaps even for a very long time. But it all-to-often had never been spelled out, literally.

Is this you? Do you have an idea as to what your goals are, thoughts, but have not committed to writing them down?  Or, perhaps those ideas, those goals are new: “how could I have written them down when I’ve only just now thought of them” you say. That could be true, but what about the last set of thoughts/goals – how successful were you at achieving those?

The inferred commonality is that these business goals were not written down. The other inferred commonality, equally important, is that these goals were not achieved.  There is a direct correlation between those two inferences: if you write down your goals, you are much, much more likely to achieve them than if you only think your goals through. If you don’t write them down, you are much, much more likely to not achieve them.

This sounds so silly, so easy, that it can’t possibly be true. But it is. So what to do about it? Take advantage:

Start with a comfortable medium: pan & paper, MS Word, a post-it note, the back of a napkin, it doesn’t matter. Then write down what it is that you want to accomplish. Don’t worry if it’s the most important thing, or if it’s realistic. Don’t worry about knowing how you’re going to achieve it. Don’t worry about punctuation, or getting it just right. Just write.

Then put the pen down, or back away from the keyboard, and look at it; take it in and notice how you feel. Then, do not, under any circumstances, delete it, nor crinkle it up and throw it away.

The third step is to write a second version. No matter how well written, the first version needs a rewrite. That’s why you stopped in the previous version to notice how you feel, because there will be something about that first version that is gnawing at you, and you need to fix that. Spend some time in this next draft to make the goal specific; Also, apply a time element to it – don’t just say “own my own house”, make a commitment, like “own my own house within five years”.  You may not yet know what all has to happen in those five years, but don’t worry about that yet. Establish a time frame, and if it later needs to change, then it can change.

Beyond this step, there are many possibilities. There will be another blog on this in the near future. At this point, you are already more likely to achieve your desired outcome than in the past. So take your newly re-written goals and do something with them: put the post-it note on the fridge, make it your screen saver, or even just chuck it in a drawer and ignore it – you’re still more likely to achieve it.

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Define Business Success

by Jim Noh-Kuhn, Dream Business Coach

How do you know if your business is a success?

Without thinking about it, most people think they know what business success is. Coming up with a definitive answer is one of the most important things that you can do for your business.

Well-meaning managers often define it in financial terms. While those are certainly important, the financial numbers are just that – numbers. They do not tell the story of how it feels inside, whether there is fulfillment, or an emptiness that even strong financial numbers can not fill.

In my experience, business success will always be tied to core values. If they are being expressed, then there will be a feeling of success.  The more conscious one is of the values, the stronger the feeling of fulfillment. It’s important to identify a definition of what each value means. Two people can have the same value of “family” but it may mean something completely different to each of them. These kinds of details are integral to defining what success is for your business (as well as for your life!).

Finally, the way I advocate to find out what your values are is not to brainstorm with a white board and a few of your top managers. Instead, it’s to look at what is most important, for example, why you started the business in the first place; or look at your conflicts, because your values are showing up there.  Often times, it’s far easier to identify your values using support. That may come in the form of a coach, or someone else who you have hired; it can also come from a colleague, friend, or family member.

Once your values are revealed, you can articulate exactly what success is. Specifically, when what you are doing is a manifestation of a value, you will feel successful. Therefore, define business success in the terms of your values. Then, look to see how they feel, and if you feel more successful.

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Thriving in a Down Economy

by Coach Elena Pezzini

The economy is an extension of yourself. For example, if you have a negative view of what’s happening, work, money, politics, then your economy is negative. If you enjoy what you are doing, who you are and believe your economy is good, then your economy is enjoyable and good. If you are happy, your economy is happy also because it reflects and extends you.

Can you relate? How’s that true for you? Think about it now.

Everyone talks about the economy nowadays.

What’s the economy? The dictionary definition of economy is….(drum rolls please):

management!

Therefore, you are managing your economy or is your economy managing you? Are you in charge of your economy or are you letting someone or something else be in charge? I am encouraging you to take charge of your life.

How do you start? It’s simple. It all starts …from inside of you! It all starts from your mind or thoughts that lead to your feelings and actions.

What’s the 1st Synonym of economy, according to the dictionary?

reccession

What’s a recession?

What’s scarcity? Scarcity is a state of mind. Repeat it now. Why? Because physics has demonstrated that the Universe is infinite, abundant…so how can it be scarce? We made it scarce with our thoughts, feelings and actions! But it doesn’t have to be that way; we can change it! It has been done many times before, so why can’t you?

This is why I think a economical recession once in a while is excellent. It is excellent because it makes us and you practice abstinence, so we don’t over do it, such as continue to over spend, over eat, over this, over that, etc.

Recession means downsizing, getting rid of what useless, so that we can create new space to fill it with something more meaningful, more important. It means reducing, such as reducing debt owed.

Antonyms of recession are:

Spending, liberality, increase, so the recession is the perfect time to spend more quality time doing what you love, free/liberate yourself from what/who doesn’t serve, and increase your offering of what you have to offer, what you know and do best. Do you see how the recession is great???

Can you already think of some ways of how the recession is good for you?

Your income is directly proportional to the value you bring to the market place!

Your income is the average income of the 5-10 people you hang with the most!

SO this recession time is your time to increase your value to others and/or other things, so that you can increase your income!

Recession means something got receded, contracted. So how to defeat a recession? Expand! Don’t stay closed but open up!

Look at your own Financial GDP history, from when you were born until now. Change every pattern you don’t like. This is your time, this is your opportunity!

Recession is a normal part of life. A recession always passes.
It may take a long time. Research different point of views, think critically and creatively, adopt for a moment a new perspective and see how your life changes immediately.

Take a trip abroad and notice how Europeans, like me, for example, have a culture of saving, of not utilizing credit cards. I didn’t even know what a credit card was until I moved here to the States, at age 20. European institutions still rarely issue credit cards.

Where can recession escalate to?

Depression!

What’s a depression?

Again, the def. of depression is: a mental state. This applies to economical depression as well. People perceive, anticipate fear, which exists only in their mind, and start acting economically depressed and everyone and everything gets affected because we all are part of another one or another thing. It’s a fact: it’s quantum physics!

A depression, according to the dictionary, is a period during which business, employment, and stock-market values decline severely or remain at a very low level of activity. SO what shall we do instead? HEIGHTEN ACTIVITY

It–meaning our recession– doesn’t have to infect you, unless you let it. Everything has no meaning except the meaning you give it to; nothing has value except the value you give it to. Nothing is recessed, depressed unless you make it that way.

So, pretend for a moment, now it’s an upturn, it is a bull market and start attracting whomever and whatever you like.

You are not responsible for everyone else, and everything else and the whole entire world, but just yourself.

If you haven’t yet, start saving and learn the power of compounding, the only way to become and stay wealthy, by investing with compound interest.

Stop reading now and decide which 1 action you are going to take in a moment!   What is it?

When will you start doing it?

Money/wealth is psychology based, like anything else that is created by humans and their minds, in this world. You are in control of your mind and you can change it at any time you say so!


by Coach Elena Pezzini

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