Procrastination ~ Good or Bad???

Definition: The act of replacing high-priority or important actions with tasks of lower priority, or doing something from which one brings enjoyment, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time. – Wikipedia

If you are someone who procrastinates, you will be pleased to know there are two types of procrastinators, active and passive.

Active procrastinators purposely delay tasks because they are more focused and productive when they work under pressure.  They know how to use their energy, and the adrenaline rush to fuel them to meet their deadlines, just in time.

Passive procrastinators are often paralyzed by indecision, worry and can often interfere with your relationships.  Passive procrastinators live with anxiety, guilt and stress over the frequent missed opportunities and deadlines.

We often paint procrastinators with the same brush and consider it a negative trait.  The most important point here is to identify the type of procrastinator you are and then decide if there is value in you changing.  There may not be and you can continue the way you are.

We are all leaders in our own lives and whether you hold a leadership position or not it is important to fully understand yourself.  It is worth the time to explore the impact that procrastination has on your life and the lives of your team.  By making a list of the Costs and the Benefits of procrastination can provide you with the information to make the decision if it is worth taking the necessary steps to change.  Effective leaders “walk their talk” and need to understand the example they are setting for their team.

A few examples of these benefits include:

• Avoidance of possible failure ( or success)
• People stop expecting you to do things – reduced anxiety
• Sometimes problems simply solve themselves
• You get to only do the tasks you enjoy

If you decide that you want to change, our Alliance partner Mark Ellwood has created an accountability website that can support you.  It is a website where you can post the activities you want to achieve and through the website you can connect with an accountability buddy.  Visit the website:  http://www.buddyhive.com/

Mark has the following tips to help you overcome procrastination (there are more on his website):

Unpleasant tasks

Situation: Tasks that are rarely turn out to be as bad as you think.

Tip: Do tasks first. Early in the day is usually the best time to schedule them.   reward yourself once they are completed

Complex Projects

Situation: Something looms ahead of you: starting a small business, getting a job, preparing the annual budget. The job is too big or will take too long to do now, so you put it off.

Tip: Larger jobs are easier to manage if broken into smaller tasks. Start with even the smallest task.

Fear of failure (lack of self confidence)

Situation: Sometimes people want to avoid the consequences of failure, so they delay. (People also suffer from fear of success!)

Tip: Have a clear mental picture of the completed task and how you and others will feel at that time.  Focusing on the end result, not just the process.

Perfectionism

Situation: Projects delayed due to people wanting everything to be perfect.

Tip: Clearly defined deadlines with accountability to others will support you.

Tip: Recognize that sometimes 80% for you may well be 100% for someone else. Know when less detail is required and only provide what is needed

So Much to Do in So Little Time!

As I have shared in many of my previous blogs, I am so grateful for the opportunities we have to work with the training and development professionals in organizations.  This story I am sharing is no different.

I had the pleasure of meeting with the learning consultant and his colleague of a large retail chain.  I met with these two gentlemen much the same as I meet with most of my clients, by prospecting.  During our initial meeting they shared that they had no immediate needs and were quite happy they chose to meet with me.  I explained everything about how the alliance worked and how we have consistently been able to provide the right fit training partners.  At the end of the meeting we agreed I would follow up in three months.

Two weeks after our appointment I received a call from one of the consultants explaining they had a rush need for an instructional designer.  They had just got approval to roll out a new program and did not have the internal resources to make it happen on time.  During my conversation with him I learned that they needed this in less than a two week turnaround. They had to design the program and conduct a train the trainer so it could be rolled out in several locations across the country by their internal staff.  I said I had several instructional designers in my alliance and I said I would get to work on it right away.

I called one instructional designer and she was just heading out the door to an appointment.  We continued the call while she was enroute to her appointment.  In order for this to happen, it would mean she would have to work the weekend.  She said of all the weekends, this would be the perfect weekend for her to work on such a project as her husband and son were out of town at a hockey tournament.

She needed a little more information than what I had at the time so we agreed I would virtually connect the two of them so they could determine the fit.  I got a call back the next day advising me that they were going ahead and she was excited for this opportunity.

When I did my follow up call after the completion of the project, the consultant shared with me that our alliance partner was such a delight to work with and she came through above and beyond what he could expect.  He said he was so impressed with her level of commitment to their project, so much so that she actually came and sat in the pilot program on her own time.  Pretty awesome!

 By
Cindy Stradling CSP, CPC

WOW!!!  What an Alliance!

When I first started the Athena Alliance seven years ago I had no idea what great relationships and wonderful people I would have the privilege of working with.  I often hear from my partners what wonderful customers we have.  I couldn’t agree with them more.  We have been able to support small , mid-size and large organizations with a plethora of various training programs, coaching agreements and Human Resources consulting support.

I can remember the first time I met one of my long standing customers.  She was new in her position and had a mandate to create a learning culture for this mid-size construction company.  Her energy and passion for creating a powerful college was infectious.  Every alliance partner has consistently commented on how fantastic it is to work with her and their employees.  She loved the alliance concept right from the beginning and could see how aligning with me could save her a lot of time and also have trust that the trainers and coaches I introduced her to would be able to deliver the customized solutions she required.

To date she has contracted our alliance partners to provide training in the following areas:

• Leadership (many areas)
• Listening skills
• Power hours
• Empowerment programs for the Admin team
• Priority/time management
• Business writing
• Disc
• Presentation Skills
• Mentoring program
• Outlook

Every year we sit together and discuss what they have accomplished in the past year and what they want to focus on in the coming year.  I then get to work with my partners to make sure she has the partnerships she needs to make it happen.   She is such a delight to work with and we are all grateful for the opportunity to provide the ongoing support for this organization. 

Just one more reason I love what  I do!!!

By
Cindy Stradling CSP, CPC

Assessments:  So Many Choices

by Cindy Stradling

When I meet with clients and they are interested in conducting an assessment for their organizations I am very careful to find out why they want to conduct and assessment and what information they intend to  obtain.  There are so many choices, I could write blogs for the next six months and still not have explored all of them.  For the month of April I am going to share with you my experience of four of the assessments that I have personally taken. 

Week One – Lumina Spark Portrait

This particular assessment is a new offering for the alliance and I was excited to participate in the online questions.  I found it very easy to answer all of the questions and found myself  a little excited to see the results. 

I really liked how it explained in that no one quality was more important than another.  I thought this was important because we can sometimes think that there is something wrong with us if we don’t fall into a particular category.  At the heart of this assessment is a questionnaire which measures different aspects of your behaviour.  This portrait, based on years of psychological research, will give you some indicators about how you behave, acknowledge your strengths (and how you overplay them sometimes) and identify behaviours that your rarely display.  It will also make distinctions between your behaviour and your motivations.  The portrait is really an aid to guide you towards a better sense of self-awareness to allow you to recognize your strengths and possible areas for development.

When I sat down with Eva Gutsche (the alliance partner who is certified to deliver the Lumina programs) the first thing she said to me was that she could see how much self development I had done over the years.  As we went through the pages of the assessment and she explained the details about who I am, I was surprised at the accuracy.  The assessment uses a full color Mandala to show the results of the questionnaire.

The assessment is based on four archetypes.  These four archetypes are Inspiring, Commanding, Empowering, Conscientious and the results show how I use these four archetypes.  The assessment then shows how this translates into eight aspects in the form of a Mandala.  The top five aspects of my Mandala said I was Accommodating, Reliable, Imaginative, Demonstrative and Purposeful.

The assessment then goes into detail about me personally in each of the archetypes, followed by graphs that showed how I scored in relation to the general population.  I loved this part of the assessment.  I am a visual person and really liked how easily I was able to understand the information.

The assessment then looked at three perspectives on who I was based on my three personas

1)      My underlying persona (this is my most natural me, motivating)

2)      My everyday persona (how I tend to behave and how others might see me)

3)      My overextended persona (who I am while under stress, how I react to unexpected events)

The assessment also highlighted some of my possible blind spots and areas to consider for improvement.  I agreed with the results that I sometimes take on too many projects and can cause me stress, sometimes have a tendency to get distracted, I can expect others to produce/work at the same level of intensity and energy as I do, sometime can make snap decisions and need to give myself more time to examine all the facts.

I felt this assessment was very accurate and provided me with some concrete recommendations for improvement.

There is also a Lumina Leader and Lumina Team assessment available.

Next week:  My results from taking the Insights Assessment.