35 Ways to Encourage the Heart

I was researching for ways on how teachers can teach heart to heart. I have just conducted a workshops for teachers last week, and just like most of my workshops, I am now even more encouraged to look for information I can share to them and to the rest of my friends.

I am grateful I got hold of the book of James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner entitled A Leader’s Guide to Rewarding and Recognizing Others. Chapter 12 of the said book shared 150 Ways to Encourage the Heart.

The authors categorized the ideas under the seven essentials so we readers can focus our attention on those areas we most feel in need of working on. I will share with you the first two essentials. If you like the whole 150 suggestions, just send me an email. Enjoy reading these suggestions, and yes, feel free to encourage the heart of people around you.

THE FIRST ESSENTIAL: SET CLEAR STANDARDS

1. Take time to clarify the values or “operating principles” that are important for you and your team to live by. Write down your answer to this question: “What are the values that I believe should guide my daily decisions and actions, and those of the people with whom I work and interact?” We sometimes refer to this as the “credo memo” exercise. It’s like a note you send to your colleagues before you take off for an extended sabbatical, telling them that while you’re not around these are the principles you want them to use to govern their actions and decisions.

2. Ask your associates-those with whom you work regularly-to do the same exercise.

3. Keep current. If you’ve already done the exercise in item one, get out the piece of paper on which you wrote your values and ask yourself, “To what extent do these still represent the values that I believe should guide our daily decisions and actions? Is there anything I want to add? Anything I want to delete? Any priorities I want to change?”

4. Post your values statement conspicuously where you know you’ll be reminded of your principles regularly. Put a copy in your wallet. Put one in your planner. Put it on your bulletin board over your desk and on your computer as a yellow sticky. Martin Luther actually nailed his beliefs on the cathedral door centuries back, and it started quite a movement! Why not you?

5. Make the topic of one of your next team meetings “Our Values.” Ask everyone to state aloud what they believe in. Listen and observe. What are the values that everyone seems to share in common? What values seem to be unique to some individuals? Are there any major values conflicts? Talk about how you can honor individual values and yet as a team have common values that govern your collective behavior. Post collective values in visible places all around your workplace common areas.

6. If your organization has a corporate creed, or some kind of published statement of values, then set yours, your team’s, and the organization’s values credos side by side. To what extent are they compatible? To what extent are there some conflicts? How good a fit is there between organizational and personal values? What needs to be changed? What needs recommitment?

7. Every time you start a new project, make sure that SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and time-bounded) are set. It’s best if people set their own, but prescribed goals are better than no goals. Make these goals visible and accessible to everyone working on the team.

8. Make sure people get regular, specific feedback. Remember what we learned from the research: the combination of feedback plus goals is encouraging in and of itself. When people know where they’re headed and how far they’ve gotten, they feel better, are physically healthier, and achieve higher levels of performance. So make sure that people get feedback on their progress toward goals regularly. It might come from you: “Hey, we’ve reached a project milestone. Well done. Let’s celebrate!”

9. Better yet, create ways for people to monitor themselves so they know how much progress they’ve made. The software we’re using to write this book enables us at any instant to compute how many pages, words, paragraphs, lines, and characters we’ve written. We know what our contract asks for in the number of pages, and we know the deadlines. We’re completely self-monitoring. That sure feels better than getting bugged by the editor every day, asking, “What progress are you making? How are you doing?”

10. The next time-and every time-you recognize an individual or a group for doing the right thing or doing things right, make sure to announce the standard. Announce it at the beginning, and repeat it at the end. Say something like, “One of the things we stand for around here is knock-your-socks-off service to our customers. Just yesterday, Bev did something to exemplify that value. Let me tell you about it…. And remember, just as Bev did, let’s knock their socks off every time!”

11. If your company gives bonuses, start looking for ways to link some portion of the bonus to how people are meeting or exceeding the cherished values of the organization. When it’s time to hand out the checks, attach a short note mentioning the actions that exemplified the values. At one company we’ve worked with, 33 percent of the bonus-eligible managers’ incentive is directly linked to the extent to which they’ve lived out the values. Their ratings come from their direct reports. Now, that’s putting your money where your mouth is.

12. Take a class or read a book on how to set goals.

13. Take a class or read a book on how to give performance feedback.

14. Participate in a retreat, the purpose of which is to explore meaning and purpose in life and work.

15. Think of someone you admire who exemplifies living a principle-centered life. Interview that person. Find out how they discovered their own values.

16. Invent or select some symbolic ways of visibly marking people’s progress, as the scouts and the military do. Pins, ribbons, badges, patches, medals, certificates, etc., that signify “You made it to the next level” send meaningful messages to the receivers and their friends, families, and colleagues.

17. Watch Eyes on the Prize, the film on the civil rights movement, the next time it’s on TV, or rent it at the video store. It’s a compelling story of the power of purpose and the dedication people make to realizing a dream.

18. Keep your eyes on the prize!

THE SECOND ESSENTIAL: EXPECT THE BEST

19. Remember the principle of the self-fulfilling prophecy: people tend to act consistently with your expectations of them. The Pygmalion effect also applies to you, so be positive and optimistic about your own ability to lead, as well as about the achievements of the people around you. How? Surround yourself with positive people who can remind you of your strengths and abilities.

20. Practice smiling. This is not a joke. Smiling and laughing release naturally occurring chemicals in our bodies that fight off depression and uplift our moods. Try it.

21. Ask yourself this question: “Do I honestly believe everyone on my team can achieve the goals we’ve set and live by the values we’ve agreed upon?” If your answer is yes, make sure that you communicate this to them verbally and nonverbally. If your answer is no, figure out what you can do to change your answer to yes. What changes have to be made, in you and in them, for that to happen? Make them. You can do it.

22. The next time you talk to one of your constituents about a difficulty she’s having with a project, make sure that sometime during the conversation you say, “I know you can do it,” or words to that effect. And you better mean it.

23. Assign people to important tasks that aren’t part of their defined job. Let them know you have assigned them these unusual jobs because you have strong belief in them-that you believe they have the capacity to excel at it. Make a binding commitment to supply them the training, resources, authority, and coaching they need to be successful.

24. Like Don Bennett’s daughter (Chapter Five), the next time someone is struggling to succeed, find a way to walk beside him for the most difficult part of the climb, telling him, “Come on, you can do it. I know you can do it. You’re the best in the world.”

25. Practice envisioning. Right now, picture a sunset at the beach, the waves washing against the shore. Picture a gently flowing stream in the middle of a cool forest on a warm day. Picture a meadow of yellow wildflowers in full bloom in springtime. Picture a hundred-foot waterfall rushing to a valley floor in early spring as the snow melts. Can you imagine these scenes? Do you get a picture in your mind’s eye? Of course you do. Sit down with another person and describe these scenes to each other in all their rich color and texture. The ability to create mental images and clearly communicate them to others is a critical leadership skill.

26. Apply this same visualizing ability to imagine scenes in your mind’s eye of what you want to accomplish as a leader. Picture yourself and your team reaching the summit of your aspirations, whatever that might be currently. Describe the scene to others in great detail just as you described the sunset at the beach in the previous item. Get others to join you. Create a richly textured image of your future, and see it, smell it, taste it, hear it, touch it. Make it as real as possible. The better you are at doing this, the more likely your group will reach higher levels of performance. It’s no fantasy.

27. Buy a few inspirational posters and put them on the walls of your facility. If you don’t like the ones in the catalogues, then find posters of images that symbolize the spirit you’d like to promote in your workplace. Through these or other means, find some way to make your positive expectations visible.

28. Walk around your facility and examine the images that are on the walls. Are they images that communicate positive messages or negative ones? Analyze your company’s annual report, your own and your executive’s speeches, the company newsletter, and other forms of corporate communication. Are the messages positive or negative? Do whatever you can to change the images to positive ones. Remember what historian Fred Polak said (in Chapter Five) about the rise and fall of cultures. When images are positive, cultures and organizations are in ascendance.

29. The next time you are involved in coaching or training people in acquiring new knowledge or a new skill, make sure you say out loud that you know this skill is something that can be acquired. Tell them they can learn it. Even if you think this is obvious, say it out loud anyway. It’s important to send the message to your learners. Of course, you’ve got to believe it yourself, so if in reality you don’t think a particular skill can be learned and that it’s innate instead, then please do everyone a favor and don’t accept an assignment to teach it.

30. It’s often said that the real way to tell if someone is a leader is by how many constituents become leaders themselves. Who in your organization has this kind of reputation? Who has a reputation for inspiring, uplifting, and developing esteem in others? Ask around if you don’t know. Observe what these individuals do by asking to shadow them for a couple days. Ask them for pointers on how they do what they do well.

31. Read the children’s story The Little Engine That Could to your child or someone else’s child. Ask the child about something she thought she couldn’t do but did. What was that like? What helped the turnaround? Apply your insights to your organization.

32. Read George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. This is the classic novel on the power of positive expectations. Or rent and watch the video of My Fair Lady. The film version of Shaw’s novel, it portrays the power of belief in self. Watch how Eliza Doolittle evolves through a growing sense that she can learn.(I recommend this one! I have seen how Pygmalion effect works in my seminars.–Jef)

33. Learn how to meditate. Practice it daily. Get in touch.

34. Listen to a tape on mental imagery and mental rehearsal. Practice it daily. (Caution: this is one kind of tape you don’t want to listen to in your car.)

35. Visit your local library and rent a video or CD of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in 1963. Listen to it for the word pictures he paints. You’ll be able to see what he says. Now try to add word pictures to your own speeches.

Focus On Outcomes, Not Tasks

I was writing about the 8 Laws of Teaching this morning. When I realized that I am already writing a book and not just an article, I decided to stop for a while and rest.
And when I am resting, I look for old files I can delete from my seven year old computer. I found an article which I got somewhere. For sure, this is not from Mr Anonymous. And though I could have written this article for I am teaching the same principle in my time management, stress management workshops, and even personal effectiveness workshops, I think the author is a better writer. I am grateful that to see this article again. I may use it in my workshop on June 5 for Panasonic.

Here’s the article:

Focus On Outcomes, Not Tasks

The ability to focus on outcomes, not tasks, may very well be the primary thing that separates people who can improvise and flow with the unexpected from those who can’t. A task is a means to an end; an outcome is the end itself. Understand that, and you will be able to flow with anything.

A traditional improv comedy show consists of multiple “games” featuring various rules that challenge the performers’ creativity. Most performers make the mistake of thinking that playing the rules 100% correct is the goal of the game. It’s not. The goal of any performance game is to entertain the crowd and have fun. The rules are the means to that end. I have seen many performers, both new and veteran, bomb on stage because they are so wrapped up in what they think the goal is (playing the game “right”) that they miss the real point (“entertaining the audience”).

Outside of the improv comedy arena, I am constantly surprised by how unfamiliar this topic is to others. The idea of thinking about overall goals seems to be foreign to many people.

Focusing on outcomes may sound like something you do only with the dreams you are pursuing or huge business goals. However, by focusing on outcomes even in little day to day things, you will be more able to improvise and achieve the things you really want.

Here are some examples of task focus vs. outcome focus:

Task focus:
Speaking – What are the words I need to say and how will I say them?

Training – What are the activities I have planned and what is my schedule

Business – What do I need to do today? What meetings do I have to attend?

Relationships – Where are we going for dinner? What time do we have to be there?

Improv Comedy Game – What are the rules of this specific game?

Outcome focus:
Speaking – what is the outcome you want for the audience? What do I want them to walk away with?

Training – what is the outcome for the group? What do I want this group to do differently when I am done?

Business – what is the outcome for this meeting? For this marketing campaign? For this activity?

Relationships – what is the outcome I want for this evening? Why are we going to dinner?

Improv Comedy Game – why am I playing this game? How do I want the audience and my fellow performers to respond?

This is not to say that tasks aren’t important. Tasks are the steps you take to achieve your outcome, but you must remember that the tasks are just that: steps to achieve the outcome. Once tasks become the outcome, you get into trouble. However, if you can maintain an “outcome focus,” you will reap many benefits:

Maximize Your Results
On occasion I have two extremes of work days: 1) I end the day feeling like I worked a lot but didn’t accomplish much or 2) I end the day feeling like I didn’t do all that much but I accomplished a whole lot. Which day would you prefer? Which do you more often have?

The days where you work a lot and don’t accomplish much are most likely days where you are focused on tasks rather than outcomes. Tasks are always only a way to achieve outcomes; completing a task is never the end goal in and of itself. By focusing on outcomes
first, you can ensure that your tasks align properly. When you get caught up in tasks, there is a chance that you will end up doing busy work that takes you nowhere.

Minimize Your Effort and Eliminate Waste
One way to reduce the number of “work a lot but accomplish little” days is to consistently ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” You may be amazed at how many tasks you can start to eliminate from your day.

If you work in a corporate setting, the most common place you will find this is with meetings. Many meetings seem to occur with no real outcome in mind, and they end up wasting everyone’s time.

I have heard many tales of people who go into business for themselves and work longer hours and more days than when employed. Personally, since I have been self-employed, I have worked fewer hours and fewer days a week then when in the corporate world. I honestly believe that is because as the sole decision maker, I can truly focus on outcomes and critical tasks and eliminate the rest – especially endless meetings!

Outside of work, you can apply this technique to the various activities and associations you are part of. There are things we all do for such a long time that we forget why we started doing them in the first place. Often, the original reason is no longer valid but we still keep going. I had this happen recently with two associations I was involved with. I joined them years ago for specific reasons, but without realizing it those reasons were no longer valid. When I refocused on, “why am I doing this?” I realized that for one group, I really had no real reason to stay involved, and for the other, my reason for attending meetings had changed. I dropped the former group, and completely changed my approach to the latter. Overall, I am now using my time better and getting more out of the second group.

Reduce Your Stress and Stay Motivated
If looking at a mountain of “tasks” gets you overwhelmed, then looking at the outcomes you are after is the way to let go of your stress and stay motivated.

Richard S. Lazarus from the University of California, Berkley, defines stress as the following: “stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that “demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.”"

What is interesting about this definition is that it is about what the person perceives. By this definition, there are two ways to reduce stress: reduce perception of demand or increase perception of resources. If you spend your time focusing on all the little tasks, then the perception of demand will be very high (“Oh my God, look at all the things I have to do!”). While it certainly won’t eliminate your stress altogether, focusing on the outcome will reduce your perception of demand.

Not only will this focus reduce your stress but it will also increase your motivation. The ultimate outcome is why you are doing all these tasks in the first place. By focusing on the “whys” you will constantly re-motivate yourself to move forward.

Be Able to Deal With the Unexpected
From an improviser’s perspective, focusing on outcomes is the key to rolling with the unexpected. When something unexpected pops up, if you focus immediately on the outcome you will be able to quickly make adjustments and continue on towards your goal. In fact, you must focus on the outcomes because all the tasks you had lined up may be irrelevant now. And yet, even when they are irrelevant, people still find it hard to let go of tasks.

If you have a large “to-do” list and something suddenly comes up that takes a few hours out of your day, you may start to scramble to try to get through your entire list. However, if you take a few minutes to think through the outcomes you may be able to figure out what’s important, what needs to get done, and what you can change to achieve your outcomes faster.

Remember, tasks are simply the means to an end.

Gain Perspective
Focusing on outcomes helps you keep things in perspective and keep your mood up. When things happened that throw your plans awry, shifting to an outcome focus will allow you to not be thrown by them and still allow you to get what you want.

For example, imagine that you are going out to dinner with your family and when you arrive at the restaurant they have lost your reservation. Many people in this situation would get angry, argue, and get in a sour mood. Worse, they would spend the rest of the night complaining about the restaurant, whether they stayed there or not.

A quick shift to outcome focus would serve much better here. As soon as you realize that the reservation is lost, remember your outcome: to connect and spend quality time with the people you love. Ruining your mood because a restaurant messed up completely prevents you from achieving that outcome. Am I saying you should not push back and try to get the restaurant to honor your reservation? No. However, once your push-backs gets in the way of achieving your outcome, it’s time to let it go and remember the big picture.

If you haven’t done this before, take a moment now and think about your outcomes for the day. Are your tasks aligned to allow you to achieve those outcomes in a minimum amount of time with a minimum amount of effort? Or are you setting yourself up to spend a long day accomplishing very little? Invest a few minutes up front, focus on your outcomes, and you will find yourself flowing with the unexpected and making the most of your time everyday!

Jef Menguin

Jef Menguin facilitates people skills seminars and teambuilding and leadership workshops in Metro Manila, Philippines. Visit his website at http://jefmenguin.com to learn more about his seminars.