Browsing Tags influence

Improvisational Leadership – positive influence for everything

June 24, 2010 · by Bob Faw

powerful & positive

I just led a two-day course on Improvisational Leadership. Not only was it a blast, I learned a lot from the students as well.

Some of the key lessons that the students talked about were:

the improvisational tools can be layered on almost any management approach to add even more value
any culture can increase its capability to improvise in ever-changing situations… and the more leadership models and rewards positive and risk-taking and adaptation, the faster the organization can improvise
the “yes and” approach can help make any relationship better – even with oneself
one of the side benefits of using improvisational leaders
hip techniques is being more approachable and popular

Please join in on the posts talking about improvisational culture and what you think that looks like.

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Priming: Focusing on a clear goal guides positive behaviors

June 9, 2010 · by Bob Faw

The Power of Focus: The human brain can only take in so much data at once.

Focus on your end goal

What we unconsciously or purposely focus on ends up limiting our ability to see other things. So what happens when we choose to look mostly at negatives or limitations? What happens when we focus mostly on success? Choosing to focus on solutions primes our brain to see opportunities that we may have otherwise missed. Words prime us by creating mental images and feeling states. Negative words such as “stop”, “avoid” and “don’t” try to negate them. The brain immediately sends out emotion biochemicals in response to imagery – creating feeling states within milliseconds. Plus, the brain does not know how to negate a mental image.
E.g., when we say to a child, “No, do not go into the swimming pool,” the child’s mental image is going into the swimming pool.

When we focus on a clear goal, our mind automatically starts looking for ways to get there. Make that goal a positive one that energizes you.

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Got improv culture?

June 3, 2010 · by Bob Faw

Can your team jam?

Here are a few of the top characteristics of an improvisational culture. How many does your organization have?

Clear goals, great training & flexible plans – allow people to use talent and goal focus to grab opportunities of the moment
Moments of “group flow” – that particular state of heightened consciousness in the team that fosters great creativity and very high engagement(1)
Innovation emerges from the bottom up – often from random encounters with potential customers asking radical questions
Collaborative creativity feels like “jamming” (2)– it’s energizing, unpredictable and produces great results
New ideas valued – even those that aren’t used are seen as positive contributions to the group
“Yes and” practiced – rather than criticizing ideas and practices and build on them. No wasting time and energy with blaming. Jump straight to what you do like about a plan and guiding it in a positive direction with positive questions about how to make it fit certain criteria, etc. (3)

Here’s the good news. Cultures can become more improvisational.
Whether it’s a slow change over time, or a rapid transformation (with the right guidance).

(1) Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, University of Chicago Psychologist

(2) John Kao, Harvard Professor

(3) Bob Faw, author of this blog bobfaw.wordpress.com

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Improvisational Organizations – fun and profitable

May 21, 2010 · by Bob Faw

Who's company is it anyway?

Create an improvisational culture in your company

— fast, flexible, empowered and positive.

Imagine your people guided more by principles and less by rules.

Picture them quickly adapting with resilience to customer needs, market changes and sales surprises.

Get everyone engaged in sustainable profitability with clear metrics, a motivating environment and room to experiment!

In an improvisational culture a leader’s primary focus is keeping up with the needs of the groups she supports (rather than manages). Useful information flows throughout the company to where it’s needed. People keep each other on track because they’re passionate about the goals and don’t want any slackers holding them back. Fun is as a staple of an energized environment.

What companies do you see as being improvisational? (no wrong answers here)

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Knowing your purpose and principles protects against manipulation

May 19, 2010 · by Bob Faw

Be clear about your purpose.

in life.
in your job.
in your family.

Why do you do it? How do you know you’re successful? How do you feel when you’re successful?

What are your core principles?

What 3-5 qualities are so important to you that you will adhere to them even if it loses you money (in the short term)? E.g., integrity, achievement, caring, teamwork, protecting others (or the environment), seeking joy, etc.

When you are CLEAR about your purpose and your core principles you can stay on track when others try to manipulate you.

Seth Godin has a great blog posting “Who is easily manipulated?” that helps you know what not to do.

What is your purpose — in one word or one sentence? Share with us, or at least remind yourself regularly.

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The power of culture to drive business success

May 18, 2010 · by Bob Faw

This article share’s DaVita’s very inspiring case study. It’s a great story of how focusing on culture makes everyone more successful. It’s also a great example of positive influence in action.

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Influence your mood – enjoy life more

May 14, 2010 · by Bob Faw

Choose to feel more joy - influence it

Feel better more of the time. Influence yourself with imagery.

The images we have in our minds directly influence what neurochemicals (hormones) are released into our body. This is scientifically proven. When we have images of fearful things in our minds it triggers the release neurochemicals that literally make us feel bad. When we have images of good things it triggers the release of neurochemicals that make us feel good. If we’re in danger, the fear responses are helpful. If we’re not, they’re unnecessary stress and to be honest, a real downer.

I use images of past successes, of soothing nature, of great relationships to influence my mood. What do you use?

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Improvisational Leadership – the “yes and” approach

May 8, 2010 · by Bob Faw

Yes and…

The art of accepting reality and building upon and adapting to it… rather than fighting, denying or complaining about it.

What changes are happening in your life that are out of your control? What would be better for you to accept and adapt to quickly? What areas would you be more successful in if you were even better at accepting and improvising a positive response.

When we disagree with someone’s idea, approach, beliefs we often respond negatively. Sometimes that’s helpful, usually it’s not. If we can affirm (yes) to what we DO like and then build (and) in a mutually beneficial direction we build motivation and openness.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting “Improvisational Leadership” one of my favorite trainings. “yes and” is the capstone of the training. Every time I talk about it I feel my own skills improve as well. It’s one of the joys of teaching what you love.

Soon I plan to start posting video clips of these concepts in action or being taught. I hope that helps make much more sense of it all.

I’d be delighted to receive examples from readers about where you use “yes and” to influence your world more positively.

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Daniel Pink asks, “Is purpose really an effective motivator?”

May 1, 2010 · by Bob Faw

This blog post of Dan’s shows great research to answer this question.

This is why we say, “Influence your world”.

Make your world better and it will also make you more productive.

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Go on improvement road trips!

April 26, 2010 · by Bob Faw

Improving yourself, relationships, or your organization is like a journey. We’ve all heard this many times I’m sure.

What if we look at improvement as a ROAD TRIP?

Fun…

Adventurous…

Exploratory…

Half planned and half improvised…

Where the journey is as exciting as the destination…

I’ve gone on many road trips

developing myself
growing my career
helping organizations improve their cultures
coaching individuals and teams to success

The best road trips are the ones where I knew it was an adventure while I was on it.

This recession is a detour, an unsought for part of all of our road trips. How can we adventure as much of it as possible?

Make your life an adventure. Go on improvement road trips.

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