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5 Exercises to Increase Team Performance

6/17/2016

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Author Almu Corazon 
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I believe we are all leaders. We lead ourselves to achieve goals and fulfill expectations. Regardless of our public power, every one of us is an influencer. Thus why the way we communicate with our coworkers, clients and industry colleagues shape our results and overall public image.
 
As leaders, it is essential that we understand the impact of blame. Every once in a while, our teams will run into a mistake or two. For the most part, these mistakes are easy to manage and take care of, but when it comes to stating who is to blame, it’s easy to get into trouble.
It's important for leaders and organization managers who are trying to shape their cultures in a way to improve performance and creativity, to keep blaming others to a minimum. If you're an organizational leader, don't blame other people, at least not publicly. Blaming others sabotages relationships. Reprimanding your team is a poor way of dealing with the problem and does nothing to actually remedy the situation. As a result, it can end up making your team feel like they can’t go to you when a problem arises, potentially leading to bigger problems. You might want to offer praise in public, but if you have to blame someone, do it in private.
 
GOOD LEADER DOESN’T:
  • Blame
  • Make people feel guilty
  • Humiliate colleagues, especially in front of others         
 
GOOD LEADERS:
  • Take responsibility
  • Nurture the people they work with
  • Help rectify mistakes
  • Admit when they’ve got it wrong
  • Accept that the buck stops with them
 
Besides, removing fear and establishing a take-responsibility culture begins with the leaders:
  • It Creates Trust, fostering stronger bonds among team members that will result on higher performance.
  • Your Team Is Your Responsibility, whatever your team does should ultimately fall on you. You advise your team on most of the decisions they make, so it should probably go without saying that when they make a mistake, you may be just as guilty as they are.
  • You Are The Brand Representative, the way you handle your employees has a direct impact on your business ROI. When employees understand their leaders are on their side and want them to win, they become confident and better at their job.

I always said, “If there is a blame to be had, great leaders take it on. If there is a credit to be given, they give it away to others.”
 
Recently, a client running a retail store was having difficulties increasing his team’s performance rate. So, we decided to create an internal calendar of events to generate team-building activities, keep his personnel motivated and drive inspiration for action. Here are examples of the different exercises done to increase results:
  1. Laser-Tag Games, where employees have the opportunity to become team leathers to preserve their group from being laser-tagged, and win.
  2. Pot-Luck Picnics, to introduce employees’ cultural backgrounds, learn from their origins and discuss healthy food habits everyone can add to their routines to create a healthier work environment. As a result, we learnt that most employees want to eat healthy and loose weight. So every employee keeps the pantry clean from junk food; and, every week one of them is in charge of buying healthy snacks such as fruits, nuts, dark chocolate, in an effort to support each other.
  3. Failure Parties, in which employees talk about their mistakes with the purpose to create the opportunity to take responsibility for their own mistakes in public in order to be a model of this behavior. Failure is a second chance to success -- it’s a matter of learning and growing from it.
  4. Panels & Round Tables, industry experts are invited to share their skills in an informal discussion for employees to expand their knowledge on important matters.
  5. Team-Up Meet-Ups, each month two employees team up to assist each other on their duties and learn from each other’s responsibilities. So if someone is off for any reason, others can pick up responsibilities covering for their teammates. This also keeps them motivated as every month they break their working routines.
 
His team is small, so it is crucial for my client to maintain healthy organizational dynamics to foment a positive work environment. These activities which foster leadership, partnership, integrity and personal growth are bringing his staff together, making them feel important and recognized, while cultivating leaders on different working forces. Also, workers have shared with us that they love this approach because these activities have allowed them to learn how important this business is for my client and his family.
 
How do you increase performance rates in your business/department? Do you or did you ever conduct/ed any team-building efforts? Have you ever created an excuse-free culture among your team/company members? How did you achieve it? Share with us in the comment section. 

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The Myth Behind Finding Your Purpose

1/16/2016

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Author Almu Corazon
Myth behind Purpose
Lately I am coming acro­­­ss clients, professionals and students who are struggling with the idea of finding their life and business purpose. I see their struggles and doubts, questioning what to do next to answer the big myth of life. Their anxiety, immobility and incapability to perform due to the magnitude of their concern are clear and real, causing a serious negative impact on their professional development. Due to this, I decided to dedicate my first blog of the year to this topic. Don’t you think there is a HUGE myth behind finding our purpose?

I personally think that it is important to attune ourselves with our purpose, but if that causes an identity crisis, please don’t sweat it my dear reader. Remember that life goes on and if you stop everything just to think about your purpose, your world of possibilities will go on without you. That said, I propose to find your purpose as you go along with life, enjoying every single moment of it. Learn from all the experiences you dive into and collect every piece of information you unlock. What you like, what you don't like. What makes your soul tickle, what doesn't. What makes you feel secure, strong, grounded vs what makes you weak, insecure, lost...and so on. Keep a journal to track your progress. You’ll see that without even realizing it, you will discover your life purpose. Just remember that when our purpose is external, we may never find it.
 
Yes, I said it. The BIG myth of our life purpose is focusing our purpose on external actions, facts and reasons. When in reality your purpose, my purpose, everyone’s purpose has nothing to do with anything external. Your self-worth has nothing to do with your craft or calling, but on how you treat yourself and others. I don’t blame you. Countless folks have been publishing misleading information online. In addition, there are too many “experts” out there encouraging others to focus their attention on external matters. Think about it, if we don’t learn how to deal with ourselves first, how can we be ready to assist someone else? In fact, if we tie our purpose or meaning to our vocation, goal or an activity, we’re likely setting ourselves up for discomfort, personal crisis and even failure down the line. Your purpose is to awaken. To discover and nurture who you truly are, to know and love yourself at the deepest level. To learn how to become self-aware, to grow your leadership skills, to strengthen your self-conviction and inner strength; and most important, to master the art of guiding yourself back home when you lose your way. It is like a muscle, the more you exercise it, the more aware and present you become; and, the more peace of mind and harmony will fill your life. 
 
Everything else is your burning passion, your inspired mission, your daily motivation, your love-fueled hobby, your so-called vocation. Those things are powerful and highly worthy, but they’re not your purpose. Your purpose is much bigger than that. I know it is very easy to get lost looking for it, and difficult to figure it out. In most cultures we are not told or encouraged to learn about ourselves when we are young, so we grow up following family, friends and social patterns. Thus why, when we are confronted with the reality of having to make life choices such as what to study, where to live, what to do for living, where and in what should we invest our money and time, we tend to feel lost. Most people get lost when making choices in alignment with society, or with what friends and family members tell them to do. Yet when we follow our purpose, everything falls into place, we feel attuned and our work resonates with our personal vision. 
 
To give you an idea, my deeper understanding of purpose feels right in the darkest moments of my life. It eases my pains and doubts. It diffuses the ache of separateness I experience when I doubt myself or when my work isn’t appreciated or overlooked. It keeps me grounded and focused. Sometimes people will treasure your work treating you as a superstar, sometimes they won’t. Sometimes you will get that precious well paid client or project/account, sometimes you won’t. Sometimes you will feel wonderful and beautiful inside out, sometimes you won’t. You’ll be on the marquee and you’ll be passé. Sometimes you will increase your likes and community of followers; other times you’ll be unfriended, unfollowed and unliked. You’ll be thanked and you’ll be taken for granted. That’s the ecology of life. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But, so then what? You have no purpose or meaning?
 
Can you see how depending on outside forces can confuse you making you feel depleted, depressed and even resentful? Anchor your purpose within, my dear friend. You spend the majority of your lifetime with yourself alone. So when you learn how to become your own best friend, your own rock, your own lucky charm, you become unstoppable, self-sufficient, free, and independent from outside forces. That’s powerful self-leadership and self-development. Then, you will expand inside out. You will be ready to be seen and appreciated. Your community of supporters will grow and stay. Your sense of belonging will exponentially enlarge itself. You will free up your mind and generate bigger, more positive results. Believe me, your reach and impact will reflect your positioning, attitude and efforts.

Just take it step by step. Don’t rush it, or you will be slapped on the face by the same hidden dynamics keeping your life path and business practice as a crazy yo-yo. Dust off some happiness in your life, check a post I wrote about how to achieve happiness to support your journey. Cherish every accomplishment. Enjoy your victories and losses. Learn the lessons life is putting in front of you. Engage with life and tell us more about it! I definitely want to hear from you! 

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Sustainable Entrepreneurship - Change Is Here!  

10/17/2015

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Author @AlmuCorazon
ManavSubodh_1M1B_AlmuCorazon_SimpleandSocial_Picture
Sustainable entrepreneurship is a concept getting lots of attention lately. Wikipedia describes it as the use of business organizing to solve problems related to social and environmental sustainability. It is a “business with a cause” - where World problems are turned into business opportunities by deployment of sustainability innovations. It is similar to social entrepreneurship. Yet, the truth of the matter is that not everyone out there leads sustainable projects and programs with integrity. It's easier to say it in order to publicly look good, than to actually follow through. That's a reality check I got working in crisis communication. Powerful people, brands and nations looking their best, while their empires at times are internally crumbling down. Knowing you could make a difference, would you let the opportunity pass you by? I don't think so.
 
That's exactly what happened to me at the end of last year when a fellow coach introduced me via email to Manav Subodh, cofounder of 1M1B, now former Intel Global Manager Corporate Affairs. Manav Subodh who works with entrepreneurs globally and used to oversee the mentoring and incubation at Intel’s ‘Make It Wearable’ initiative, was planning on launching the initiative “A Million for a Billion“ 1M1B when he first hired me. 1M1B is a global initiative to empower a million urban youth and women to create jobs, innovations, solve community challenges, and enterprises that will impact a billion people (www.activate1m1b.org). 1M1B has estimated that activating one million people will impact one billion individuals through entrepreneurship, youth employment and women’s empowerment and addressing social issues, economic, health, water and environmental concerns through prosperous enterprises. Impressive, right? The concept is dear to me. As many of you already know, I am working towards fulfilling my dream of assisting woman in underdeveloped areas in Peru to improve their financial and environmental situation. So, they can achieve economic independence by creating international online sustainable business opportunities. When Manav shared with me his plan of leaving Intel to follow his dream of being a full time entrepreneur, I was eager to work with him transitioning to making a difference. How could I miss the opportunity! By the way, did you hear about Manav Subodh? Aha, you should follow him. Yes, click here, and here! Manav Subohd is a visionary, a leader, an entrepreneur with a powerful soul, a rainmaker.   
 
I remember when Manav Subodh shared with me back then the vision of helping create 1 million micro-businesses in underserved and rural areas with proper entrepreneurship education and mentoring, with the goal of generating jobs for 1 billion people. Few months later, having completed 1M1B's first 9-month program, their social enterprise plan is a complete success. It has taken a significant step towards its mission of creating jobs in underserved areas. The program saw participation from over 3,000 urban youth and women (with 75% of them being women). Teams that showed proof of concept with clear impact in underserved areas in terms of job creation were even invited to go to the United Nations.
 
Needless to say, I support Manav and the 1M1B international team to continue expanding their positive and fruitful initiative here from NYC. Even without having met Manav in person yet—a commonality among my international clients—after the intensive work done with him via Skype, Google Hangouts, whatsapp and email, I feel I already know him. But I have to admit that I am excited to meet him in person at the United Nations Headquarters in few hours. On October 16th, at 1:15pm ET 1M1B’s the top 5 teams of entrepreneurs present their respective missions at the United Nations Headquarters. The UN event is been conducted in partnership with World We Want and is sponsored by Global Leadership Coalition (GLC), UN Millennium Campaign (UNMC) and UN Habitat. 
 
1M1B is aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the UN and is constantly making progress internationally. Two days ago, for example, 1M1B entrepreneurs presented to the Washington DC based investor group DC Arch Angels as shown in the picture. The teams received valuable feedback on how to scale, replicate and sustain their initiatives, and the investors gained valuable insights into challenges of people in underserved areas in the Caribbean and India.
 
Here is a description of the top teams presenting at the United Nations:
 
Caribbean Islands
  • Josanne Arnold: Creating a healthy food marketplace. Josanne aims to make Tobago a healthy food marketplace for the world and, to connect local and tourist consumers to nutritious fresh produce at all food service outlets throughout Trinidad and Tobago. Her start up business venture, G.O.T Greens (Greenhouse Organic Technology Greens) is aimed and growing and distributing local and organic gourmet fresh produce items and value added Caribbean agro products.
  • Janice McLeod: Enabling agro-businesses. Presenting AgroCentral, a cloud based platform which allows Agri-businesses to effectively manage their suppliers using Web, Email and Mobile(SMS) services.​
India​​
  • Shreya Gupta and Harsh Agarwal: SANJEEVANI. This project is a market linkage model to make the products made by low-income group manufacturers marketable as per market requirements and market the product in un-reached potential markets, thus linking the supply side and the demand side.
  • Malvika Verma, Akshita Singla and Apoorva Sharma: Team BASTA. The project focuses on upcycling and refashioning of waste flex banners and cloth into eco-friendly, highly durable, waterproof and chic bags for sale in urban areas, with a special focus on creating a market in colleges and universities. The team has piloted this model on 5 women entrepreneurs and has made them employable.
United States
  • Caseena Karim: Giving voice to the youth. This 18 year old entrepreneur from New York City is developing an interactive T-shirts line that allows people to express their opinions and take stands on issues such as police brutality, bullying, and gender identity. Caseena is determined to give her generation a voice and opportunity to create a peaceful, healthy, and prosperous future.

Join us celebrating and leading global change. Stop by the UN and get to know 1M1B!! We love your support and your online feedback, share and like this blog for a good cause. For more details on the Summit please visit www.activate1m1b.org.

1M1B_ManavSubodh_SimpleandSocial_AlmuCorazon
Follow 1M1B on:
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amillionforabillion
  • Blog: http://www.activate1m1b.blogspot.in/
  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/Activate1M1B

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