We’ve recently looked at the importance of recruitment and retention and we’ve dug into some key recruitment and retention strategies. Since much of that was focused on how much getting good at retaining great people can eliminate much of the pressure to fill a position with nearly anyone who has a pulse, we’ll change gears now to key in on how to improve our recruitment process so we’re reaching the right people; the ones who have the most potential to be a great, long term fit in the culture we’re so intentional about creating.

In a session that Cindy and I built called Building Buy-In Around a Clear Mission & Vision, we emphasize how important it is for the leaders in an organization to be extremely specific in detailing how the work that each team member is responsible for ties into to the end product or services the company provides, and just how much impact that has and everyone else it touches. (If you’ve not had a chance to catch that...

In creating a lesson for our Leading at the Next Level courses around the Law of the Rubberband, I’m reminded more every day on the benefits of stretching ourselves in order to grow.  This law says, “growth stops when you lose the tension between where you are and where you want to be.” There are the basic benefits from our own experiences in life but it’s not until we pause to consider how the stretches we have made in life changed our trajectory; that we are able to see the full scope of their impact.

If you have taught, trained, or spoken on a topic or engaged in a deep dive for another reason; you may be like me and realize how much deeper you learn when you need to research, compile, and articulate the information.  And not just the information, but the best parts of the information in a way that is interesting and relevant to your audience or learning.  And be sure to add your own experiences which allows your message to resonate at a...

In James Allen’s As a Man Thinketh he shares, “People are anxious to improve their circumstances but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.” 

When this quote comes to mind, entire periods of my life do as well because these are times I (Cindy) chose to remain bound.  In my defense, I had not yet learned about personal growth but I certainly knew I wasn’t where I wanted to be. I also knew I was choosing to maintain in life rather than get far enough out of my comfort zone to create the change needed.  

Suddenly, a life event threw me out of my comfort zone - like overnight. Not long after, I learned about personal growth and everything started changing for the better. Before I learned about personal growth and started applying growth principles to my life, I was filled with ambition without guidance and worse yet, without the willingness to get out of my comfort zone where all my dreams and goals were!  This...

We have all been through painful experiences and will go through more. They seem to be an inevitable part of life but also offer some of our best opportunities to learn. The question is not will we go through painful experiences but will we grow through them.

Since the Law of Pain tells us, Good Management of Bad Experiences Leads to Great Growth, let’s ask ourselves the question: How are you choosing to grow through a bad experience? It’s also important to know where we have fallen short during a bad experience so we can determine to grow and be a better version of ourselves moving forward.

At times the only good that comes from a painful experience is GROWTH. And depending on the pain, sometimes that growth is in just getting up off the floor. Standing again. I (Cindy) have been there and not just once! Standing again. Eventually gaining strength to start moving even if you can't see the way. And the courage to believe in and take action towards a better future.

...

I remember learning the Law of Design which says, to maximize growth, develop strategies.  What a relief… I had strategies!  At the time, I had a system that allowed me to get two young children up each morning, safely delivered to school or childcare, as a single Mom and even get some form of exercise before they woke.  Granted, this was on days when no one was sick, had a bad night, or mornings when I faced a child who was attempting to be in charge of the house… and everything else for that matter. 

Life felt more like survival than a sense of thriving but at least I had a system, right?!  I didn’t say it was always pretty but it was always attempted and helped us have structure even on the tough days.  It wasn’t until I delegated responsibility to my children that we were able to create good habits and have a smoother transition each morning, not to mention more fun together!

The truth is…we all have a system. ...

I had worked hard, doing all I could to hone the skills I needed to become truly effective in the role I held. I had really studied some of the most effective trainers, both within and outside of the behavior-based safety world, so I could excel in something that was incredibly difficult for me just a few years earlier. As I shared in the last post, it wasn’t long after I had really immersed myself in this process that I found myself traveling to facilities across North America to train other teams on the process itself and the successes we were beginning to have at my home facility. 

High school educated (kinda) and in my mid 20s, regularly meeting with plant managers and their executive teams, corporate leadership, and other high falutin folks, giving them my advice on what their next steps should be to get results with their struggling behavior-based safety initiatives… I don’t remember being tagged in my senior yearbook as being “most likely”...

I remember having lunch with my best friend from high school in 2002 or so. He had recently accepted a position with a new company and was off to an amazing start. I had been leading our facility’s behavior-based safety process for around a year at that point and was finally starting to believe I could be great in the role. I can still picture with complete clarity where we sat in the restaurant that’s no longer open, which just happened to be the same place that Cindy and I first had dinner together, and I can still hear the goals we shared with one another for what we knew we could each achieve over the next few years.

Both of us had started working nearly full time jobs early high school and both of us had only hit college with a stick to that point. While the positions we had earned by then were fairly decent for being in our mid 20s with no degrees, we were extremely excited about the potential we each believed we had to be the best in our respective fields.

Just a...

The Law of Consistency is working in our lives whether we apply it in a positive way or not. Let’s make sure we are taking intentional action toward positive outcomes!  If you are not familiar with what this law says, here it is… Motivation Gets You Going, Discipline Keeps You Growing.

This means we need motivation to get started and discipline to stay the course.  One of the best ways I’ve (Cindy) found to stay motivated and help others do the same is to align our method of motivation to our personality style.  I learned about this idea in the 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth and set out to apply it in my own life and share it with others.

It’s really simple in concept AND simple to apply!  For example, if your personality likes to have some fun involved in what you’re doing then you simply need to find ways to motivate yourself by creating fun in what you do.  If it is boring...you’re just not motivated!  And...

If you have a good idea of your strength areas and the areas you're not as strong in, you would do good to assess your interest and opportunities. If you'd like to discuss strengths and weaknesses we can do that to!

Knowing yourself isn't necessarily easy for everyone. It can be a process but the more you grow yourself, the more you'll know yourself. This is where many people miss it because they never grow enough to become more aware of themselves.

As we are growing, it's good to start paying attention to our passions.  What are we drawn to and most interested in?  Then we can focus in growth areas that will help us with our passions and areas of interest. As I (Cindy) learned through mentorship with Mark Cole, CEO, The Maxwell Enterprise, most of us will find that growth in the areas of relationships, equipping (us and others), attitude, and leadership are essential to reach our full potential.

Asking quality questions of ourselves is one way to increase awareness and...

Even when we are growing, if we are in the midst of change and uncertainty we can lose sight of our direction.  One way to stay focused on the vision of your future is to keep it in front of you on a daily basis and continue growing in the areas you most need to grow.

Knowing yourself well enough to know where you most need to grow to get to where you want to be... is the key!

In the second chapter of 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth we find the Law of Awareness which says, you must know yourself to grow yourself.  This combination gives us direction if we apply it to our life. To help us understand this at a deeper level John Maxwell shares the following 3 types of people when it comes to finding direction:

1. People who don’t know what they would like to do

• They are confused

2. People who know what they want to do but they don’t do it.

•  They are frustrated

3. People who know what they want to do and they do it.

• They are fulfilled

The first step...