Integrating Integrity

Integrity is the bedrock of leadership. It is the quality of being honest with strong moral uprightness. Being successful and remaining successful depends on how well we can practice integrity in our business dealings. 

All of the best leaders we know have a reputation for being honest and forthright. They do it if it is right, and they say it because it is true. We know this because they consistently practice these qualities regardless of who is or isn't watching. 

Leaders with integrity know that in order to get honesty, they have to live honestly. That's why they are the ones trusted to deliver feedback, whether negative or positive, and the ones trusted to accept the same for the benefit of the team. It is this standard of conduct that returns to the applyer immeasurable benefits and success. 

Luckily for us, we can all integrate integrity in our daily lives. Integrity is a state of mind that must be practiced daily to be truly integrated in your life. 

What does this look like? Integrity is keeping your promises, especially when it is hard. Integrity is admitting to your mistakes, and taking responsibility to fix them. It is doing the right things, and saying the true things.

By Coach Gigi

Delayed Success

Everyone wants to be successful in what they do. You want to advance, push the boundaries forward, and succeed in your endeavors. A strong desire for success makes for good developers, sales people, entrepreneurs, and leaders. But, when it comes to succeeding, sometimes things are out of your control. 

Sometimes you push and push and work and work, but it just doesn't move forward. And during seasons where success is delayed, a fixation with success can also make you miserable.  

It is easy to get frantic in discontentment. You are used to succeeding and you want to succeed, so you push even harder. You work even more. But you wear yourself out mentally, physically and emotionally.

You have a vision of success, and because you're reality doesn't match your vision, you can't rest. You can't enjoy life as it is. And those around you begin to notice. That's not healthy. 

One of the best things you can do during a season of delayed success is to find other outlets for connection with people, enjoyment of life, and learning. This can be a new hobby, working on lifestyle habits, other goals, or finding a new social outlet...something that takes you out of that fixation and gives you perspective. Focusing on other things can actually give you space and rest you need to approach things differently.  

When I was in graduate school, our exams were timed. There was pressure to get the test done quickly. Sometimes I'd get stuck on a question, unable to think of an answer. But I found that what helped was, right in the middle of the exam, was to get up and go sit in the back of the classroom and just take a break. 

I would leave my test face down on my desk. As I sat in the back, I would close my eyes or something so the professor would know I wasn't looking at other student's answers. But I would just take 5 minutes away from the test, away from the pressure to succeed and just rest. 

That five minutes away was so refreshing. I'd go back to my desk and find I could plow through the rest of the test towards finishing and succeeding. When it comes to succeeding, don't stop pushing. But when your pushing becomes frantic or you're so fixated on success that you can't enjoy life, it is time to pull back for rest and reflection. 

Life is still happening even when success is delayed. Don't miss it.

Author: Coach John

Join Us On Clubhouse!

Let's talk about Clubhouse.

Clubhouse is an invitation-only audio-chat social networking app. Think of it like this: you go to a professional conference, you're walking down the hallway with the agenda of meeting options in your hand and you pop into a room to listen to a discussion on something that interests you. 

You have the opportunity to raise your hand and ask questions of expert speakers and also connect with some new people. That's Clubhouse, but in an app.  

When I joined, I decided to take a few weeks to just lurk around, listen to what's going on in the rooms, hear different speakers....topics... questions.  I realized a few things: 

1. People behave very differently when hiding behind a screen. 

2. This is a great way to network digitally.

3. Everyone is a coach...see my next mini session for why that's terrifying.  

LSC is going to be taking part in Clubhouse, but we'll be doing something a little different.  We'll be offering free coaching once a week. 

In our rooms, we won't be telling you how to run your life or your business, we will be taking you through a coaching method to help you gain clarity and momentum.  

So, be on the lookout in our Instagram stories for when you can come join us for some free coaching on Clubhouse.

Culture and Strategy

Culture eats strategy for breakfast....or, does it?

This is a widely tossed around concept. Is healthy work culture necessary for good business and happy teams? Absolutely. 

When we only focus on culture though, our businesses get into trouble. Everyone in the office might be BFF, and might have the best funny meme text chain in the universe, but if the way we work isn't clear, if the processes are not clear, we end up with a lot of mistakes which ultimately lead to a breakdown in that delightful culture we've created. 

In order to have a healthy culture, you have to have strategy.  More specifically, you have to clear processes. When we do, our team is equipped, our customers and clients are happy because they have a high quality, consistent service and we save time and resources. 

There are dozens of areas where we need processes: Communication, sales, marketing, daily operations, program development, training and development, onboarding, the list goes on and on. 

Daunting? Yes, of course it is....so start with one area.  Pick one thing. The one thing we recommend is communication processes, because without those everything else breaks down.

Once you have a game plan for how your company functions, the clarity that everyone has will make your organization a force to be reckoned with.  

There is a process to create processes, it requires 4 very important things.  

If your leadership team is interested in working through those, get in touch with us today. 

By: Coach Laine