Stress Management and Leadership

Hi folks;

I have said in the past that leadership is a complex subject and one of the most intriguing components is its relationship to stress and stress management.

Stress management and stress relief is essential to leadership at every level. Leaders often use stress as a tool to get maximum productivity from themselves and from others but care must be taken to insure that the pressure to perform is applied in such a way as to allow relief in extreme cases. The power of steam properly harnessed and directed can move mountains. It can also burst any container without a proper control valve.

An effective "pressure tool" often utilized by leaders is time. Deadlines create stress. They also create results. The time clock in a football or hockey game creates a very real deadline often resulting in extreme short term stress and superstar performance in the dying minutes or seconds of a game. The ability to perform under pressure is one of the characteristics of the superstar but to others it can be debilitating - its not a tool that can be applied to all people in all circumstances.

There are situations where a deadline is a matter of life or death but there is a difference in leadership that presents the saving of life as a reward and that which presents the responsibility for death as a consequence of failure.

Extreme stress results from unrealistic consequences to missed deadlines. I have never worked to a deadline that if missed would result in the destruction of all humanity but I have worked for people that made me feel that way - or tried to.

We all do things for only one of two reasons - to achieve a gain or to prevent a loss - thus the ages old tradition of carrot and stick. One mark of leadership is the ability to balance the application of both so as to get results without destruction of the means of production.

Stress anxiety can be reduced by extending a deadline or by lowering expectations when they prove to be impossibly high. A psychiatrist once told me that stress is the result of a gap between our expectations and reality and the trick is to lower the expectations to a level that is still difficult to achieve but not totally impossible. There is no motivation in striving for a goal you know is beyond your grasp.

Len McNally

Leadership In Baseball

Hi folks;

On a baseball broadcast the other day the announcers were discussing those elusive qualities that make a ball player a "leader" on his team - both on the field and in the club house. They really couldn't come up with anything definite so I thought,"Gee, there must be a lot of people out there who are in the same boat - they really don't understand leadership."

I'm not going to pretend that understanding leadership is simple but I will suggest that leadership on a sports team is not much different than leadership in business or in any other aspect of life. But for the moment lets look at it from that narrow perspective of a baseball team.

First and most fundamentally a leader on a baseball team must be very good at what he does in his role, not necessarily a "super star" but certainly very competent. The players, coaches and managers must respect him for his ability.

That alone does not not make him a leader, in fact many very competent players, coaches and managers, and a lot of super stars as well are definitely not leaders because of a lack of some of the other things required.

Another requirement of a leader is that he be willing to help others to improve their skills or the mental attitudes necessary for them to become better at whatever it is they do. A hitter for example will offer insights into hitting, not just the mechanics involved but the need to study pitchers, catchers and other hitters. He will offer encouragement, demonstrate belief in and appreciation for another's talents and abilities.

An essential quality of a leader is that he will always take responsibility for his errors and shortcomings rather than blaming umpires, coaches, managers or other players when things go wrong. He will also take credit where that is his due while giving credit to those who have helped him to become as good as he is. False modesty is as detrimental to leadership as a swelled head or boastfulness.

He also doesn't get down on himself or his teammates when they are struggling or in a slump. He knows, and helps others to understand, that slumps are a part of the game.

A leader stands up for his team, his teammates, his managers - and even his fans. When you hear a player say something like, "If we expect them to cheer when we do things well, we should also expect them to jeer when we do things poorly" - you know you are listening to a leader. A leader uses "we" a lot more than "I".


Len McNally

Expectation

Hi folks;

A reader of my e-zine commented the other day that the "law of expectation" was working well for her.

If you don't understand that, there are 2 versions of the law of expectations.

One states simply that whatever you expect to happen, will happen.

So if you expect your life to be a mess, that nothing will work out for you, that everything yo do will go wrong the odds are very good that somehow, through the supreme efforts of your non-conscious mind, you will succeed in getting everything screwed up.

If, on the other hand, you expect everything to work out, your ventures to succeed, your relationships to be productive, everything to come out right in the end, the chances are very good that your non-conscious mind will find a way to live up to your expectations.

What do you expect from life?

I don't mean "pretend to expect". You need to really and truly and honestly expect good things to happen - and they will!

The other part of the law of expectations deals with what you expect from others but we'll talk about that another time.

Expect the best!


Len McNally

Financial advisors and goals

Hi folks;

I had a conversation this morning with a financial advisor.

He talked about helping his clients to set and achieve financial goals.

I realized that a good financial advisor needs to be much more involved
in his clients lives than simply dealing with financial matters.

In order to help his clients set and achieve financial goals, the advisor
needs to help his clients understand the why of these goals.

You see, the money is not the real goal. The real goal is not even the
things the money will buy or even the lifestyle it will create.

The real goal is the emotional feeling that will be created by achieving
the goal. Achieving financial independence will make his clients feel
confident, worthwhile, important, looked up to, relaxed, happy and a
lot of other good things!

So the goal is not to accumulate X dollars or an income of X dollars per
month. The real goal is to feel comfortable, relaxed, respected and all of
those other good things. The money or the income is merely the tool
that will make all of those good emotional things possible!

Understanding that makes the motivation possible!


Len McNally

Objectives

Hi folks;

I've been thinking a lot lately about the whole process of self motivation involved in achieving objectives.

I've read dozens of books on the subject and written more than a few articles over the years and talked about it to clients individually and collectively but I have never seen the whole thing boiled down into a simple formula that anyone can understand and follow.

So I am going to start listing everything I know (or think I know) about the subject, condense the list and see if I can put something together that makes it uncomplicated and straightforward enough that anyone can follow.

The result may be a book but I'm hoping to make it shorter than that - something under fifty pages seems ideal to me.

I would like to collect stories about people who found ways to overcome adversity to achieve what at some point seemed to be an impossible objective and insights into what made the impossible possible.

As always, your feedback will be much appreciated.


Len McNally

Downloading

Hi folks:

It seems that I've spent all week fighting downloads.

There seem to be a lot of systems out there that my anti spy ware
and anti virus programs recognize as Trojans, viruses or worse.

I guess this is the price we pay for security but it sure would be
nice if someone came up with a simple yet foolproof system.

Talk about an online moneymaker!

I am also amazed at the number of sites that give instructions to turn off
firewalls, anti virus and anti spyware programs in order to access their stuff!

I will be offering a lot of downloadable e-courses as part of the
AODR e-Curriculum which should be on line within a few days and I
sure hope my web gurus are setting up a better system than a lot of
the stuff I've seen lately.

By the way, if you have not yet signed up for the AODR e-zine why not
do it right now - it's free and I've had nothing but favorable comments!

Have a good one.

Len McNally

Body Language

Hi folks;

I was reading up on body language the other day and was amazed to
realize how little I really know about it.

Oh I've read a fair bit and even talked about it to clients in my seminars
but my understanding is still pretty basic. It's a very complex subject and
understanding it thoroughly could be an extremely valuable asset.

People who really know about body language read your lips, your eyes,
facial expressions, how you tilt or otherwise move your head, what you
do with your hands, and your feet. They can read a message into your
stance, the way you touch your hair, the way - and where - you touch
someone else and a lot of other things.

When in the 1960's scientists first began to seriously study body language,
or "non verbal communication" as they call it, they established the 55/38/7
rule (1967) which suggested we derive only 7 % of meaning from actual
spoken words, 38 % from tone of voice and fully 55 % from body language!

More recently scientists are concluding that these three factors are much
more equal in importance but if even one third of communication is the result
of bogy language it is definitely worth studying.

With this in mind I will read up a lot more on the subject and publish a couple
of articles about non verbal communication on my website as well as else
where.

By the way my articles are carried on more than a hundred other websites
some of which will come up if you do a Google search for "Len McNally".

As always, your feedback is welcome.


Len McNally

Body Language

Hi folks;

I was reading up on body language the other day and was amazed to
realize how little I really know about it.

Oh I've read a fair bit and even talked about it to clients in my seminars
but my understanding is still pretty basic. It's a very complex subject and
understanding it thoroughly could be an extremely valuable asset.

People who really know about body language read your lips, your eyes,
facial expressions, how you tilt or otherwise move your head, what you
do with your hands, and your feet. They can read a message into your
stance, the way you touch your hair, the way - and where - you touch
someone else and a lot of other things.

When in the 1960's scientists first began to seriously study body language,
or "non verbal communication" as they call it, they established the 55/38/7
rule (1967) which suggested we derive only 7 % of meaning from actual
spoken words, 38 % from tone of voice and fully 55 % from body language!

More recently scientists are concluding that these three factors are much
more equal in importance but if even one third of communication is the result
of bogy language it is definitely worth studying.

With this in mind I will read up a lot more on the subject and publish a couple
of articles about non verbal communication on my website as well as else
where.

By the way my articles are carried on more than a hundred other websites
some of which will come up if you do a Google search for "Len McNally".

As always, your feedback is welcome.


Len McNally

Do you set goals?

Hi folks,

I was reading a bit the other day about goal setting and began to think about all of the books and articles I have read on the subject over the years.

Come to think about it, I've written a fair bit on the subject myself. There are a couple of articles on the website (www.acresofdiamondsrevisited.com) on the subject.

What I got to thinking about is how there can be so much information available on a subject and there are still probably less than five percent of the population who understand and practice effective goal setting methods.

I was reminded of another article I wrote about why a coach is effective - its a simple matter of being in your face to needle you into doing the things you already know you should do. Honest, people have paid me big bucks to do that!

The same principle applies to goal setting. You may have a pretty good idea of what you want to achieve and even of what you need to do to achieve it. In my time management seminars I ask people, "If you know that eating an apple a day keeps the doctor away, why don't you eat an apple a day?

The answer is, if its easy to do, its easy to not do!

How do you rate on goal setting?

By the way, I will soon be offering an e-course on the subject when my new e-Curriculum page goes on line at www.acresofdiamondsrevisited.com.

Watch for it.

Len McNally

PS.
If there is there a specific area of self improvement, motivation, coaching, team building or leadership development that you would like to see an e-course offered on please feel free to let me know. Feedback = the breakfast champions.