The Art of Quality (a.k.a. A Cheat Sheet for Improvement Programs)

While this exciting nine-part series is in production for publication, I thought I’d give a unique tickler to a new dashboard I wrote for a consulting opportunity out of Charlotte, North Carolina.   

The real backbone of quality programs has a diverse team tackling wicked problems. It’s more intricate than plugging a leaking levee, oiling the most squeaky wheel, or jumping to attempt knee-jerk patches. Quality is an ongoing mindset and mechanism of higher-level cyclical activity targeting rocks in the corporate shoe; it requires a team to deploy a structure that will organize people or things to be used for a particular purpose as well as improve operations of an organization.

Before anyone is engaged to make changes, the team needs to consider its corporate culture because it influences available internal resources as well as gaps and any work-arounds to get the job done.  In fact, it’s smarter to have a more efficient operation and that’s what quality programs create: a better solution for internal and external customers.  

Frequently, buzzwords are used and without proper understanding, the team can run off the rails because they use their own definitions around the activity, which should all be centered on a simple application and adapting features to create relentless improvement.  In this case, the buzzword used for this would be disruptive innovation as the quality program takes a product, makes it better, increases demand by customers, and this causes growth.

Once any physical barriers or ideological hurdles are identified, a quality program uses two phases to find opportunities to improve: 

Preparation  The activities centered on “getting rid of rocks” through either natural problem identification (the old school water cooler complaints or the new school text messages) or blinded problem identification (allowing anonymous pointing of fingers to protect the identifier of a pet project or dumb idea from blame) contribute to the preparation phase, which has three stages to address the hard topics.

1. Strategy  The framework of deployment and discovering the “why are we doing this” by using assessment techniques to identify the areas with the highest potential for improvement.
2. Program  The targeted plan and steps for change by selecting the right methodology that fits your company’s needs in both upstream (such as perceptions, creative or innovation team idea generation, training opportunities) and downstream (which could be advertising, manufacturing line changes, order software).
3. Project  The actionable and manageable units to improvement, knowing that these may be small ideas or big changes, but they will reach across multiple departments as well as identifying what improvement you anticipate as you enter the next phase.

Management  It’s easiest to start by saying the second phase of management is not a trigger-pulling directive style, but the collective administration of an activity. It is the review of interrelated facets of an organization (in this case as parts of the quality program) to see an improvement in resource utilization by using three additional phases to achieve successful outcomes.

1. Leadership  More important than picking someone with the biggest title on the highest rung of the ladder, experience is the most valued commodity, and provides the key stakeholder requirement for supporting these changes. Leadership includes selecting the right participants from all areas of the company as well as opening doors or removing ideological obstacles. 
2. Process  Focusing on improvements, this phase looks at the entire supply chain that touches the facets to be modified. The nitty-gritty is where the quality team disintegrates the rock into dust by using innovation, cyclical review during ongoing championing of new solutions in a series of actions to improve the identified process.
3. Measurement The only way to know if you’ve reached the goals of the quality program is not by finishing the process phase, but by evaluating every intention of this quality program with links why an action was taken. Setting the right metrics reminds the team that improving experiences of internal staff and external customers is the keystone of an effective quality program.

People like solving problems; it’s in our nature. Knowing why we are solving a problem and how that solution “came to be” makes it all the more interesting to look at the results. We can produce answers to wicked problems vaguely touched by those knee-jerk directives and bring long-term solutions for sustainable improvements. 

Stay tuned for the links to the detailed information, including “how to” pieces as well as case studies!

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Don’t Be Another Cog in the Corporate Empire

Many employees are given assignments without context or the opportunity to comment on the intended use of the project. Sometimes bosses don’t know why projects need completed because they are told to just divvy up tasks with strict deadlines from their bosses.  Other times, we are so self-focused on our own needs that we fall from leader to manager status, too busy to monitor the level of our own gas tanks and the well-being of our teams.  Widget designs, knowledgeable articles written, sales copy created - these are all examples of daily assignments completed by cogs of corporate empires.

A researcher in New Orleans responded to a question posed by the media with his own question recently, a familiar tactic I use with my university students to get them to analyze more and do rote work less: If you don’t understand the source of the problem, how can you solve it?

Dr. Ibrahima Seck was reflecting on research of a wicked problem in America’s past, rooted in how to educate people and discuss its far reaching impact. He understands the waves of effect even if daily there is a struggle to understand the “why” of the original horror.

Daily, everyone faces contradictory problems and many people wonder at their own difficulties (wondering why we work where we do, ways to get out of toxic employment environments, reviewing alternative careers to better match our “right space”). Regardless of your background or appearance, you can ask the right questions to solve the right problems. It’s not the first question, or even second and third, that produces the correct direction.

Keep asking questions to get to what’s really important.  At work, perhaps that widget was thought by someone to make a better mousetrap, but really it’s the spring that needs modification.  Focus on the right path rather than the easy assigned one. In your personal life, look at the ways you actually spend your time rather than how you want to be spending your time.

For instance, do you think Patrick wanted to lead the snakes out of Ireland and have the day of his death celebrated 1,556 years later? The real story is that he was captured and made a slave by the Irish when he was sixteen. From his life’s work, it’s obvious that he didn’t ask the question, “Why was I captured and enslaved,” but wondered, “What can I do to make a difference for them?”  

After he escaped to his family, he became a cleric and returned to the people who enslaved him. He used his time during oppression to develop himself.  He was a foreigner in a sometimes unwelcoming land. Though celebrated as a Saint, he’s never been canonized by a Pope, has no official declaration (or thanks) for his good words and works by his “employer,” the church.

Perhaps you have felt this way at work. Maybe there are times when you feel that your Herculean efforts receive no recognition regardless of the money and time saved for your organization. Consider if you are asking “What’s wrong with my boss,” instead of a more important question like, “Where can I contribute more value on a daily basis?”

If you ask the right questions as you face the future because the past will influence it but not bring you truth; the answers will make more of a difference to you. 

Fear not and keep searching, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

When Your Boss’ Malfunction Costs Your Business $ and Sense

There have been many stories lately about disappointing or plain ol’ bad managers (they aren’t good enough to be called leaders) who are narcissistic, show czarist traits or those who make you think of an infamous line from Forest Gump.

Take a break from your work day and see which of the outlines applies to your boss—then, use the crosswalk below to see how you can positively affect business and what you should do about them.  (Feel free to cast your vote as to which type you’ve encountered in the comments!)

The Scapegoat: This is the one to whom all problems lead, but somehow manages to point a finger elsewhere (even though it should be pointed right back in a mirror at the top dog). Never this one’s fault, but will grab the closest underline to throw under the bus. Example

The Squirrel: You know how nuts are hidden by this rodent all during the fall for self-preservation through a winter storm and it seems to be a never ending hole to supply food (aka excuses)? Yep, same concept. According to the squirrel, everyone else hid the fruits and the head nut has no clue. Illustration 

The Badger: “Luke, I am your father,” and you better not question me or you’ll get sent to your room over and over again.  Loyalty is demanded of you or prepare to be tossed off the island—poof! Highlight 

The Goldfinch: When a whole lot just seems like a way to get a lot more; Alfred Hitchcock had a great representation of how this type can multiple and become a real nuisance by volume alone, regardless of their real-world impact.  Bankroll

The Rabbit: While seemingly cute on the outside, the crazy-maker bouncing around everyone’s projects and wanting it ALL with unreasonable timelines and no substance to support the tasks, well…“Thumper” only refers to the foot-hitting the workers on the head or in the butt to move faster (and frequently not in the right direction as well as not accomplishing anything). Bunny-foo-foo

The Blue-Footed Booby: Wanting something so bad it brings a drool to one’s lips, bad choices are made over and over again in the drive get higher on the ladder. Pride goeth before the fall, even when it causes embarrassment in public life. Drumroll

The Sloth: Often rising above level of competency, you have no idea how getting that far was possible given productivity and disinclination to do more. You are reminded… constantly… why it is one of the seven deadly sins, particularly when a problem balloons to epic proportions. Cartoon but real world

So you’ll notice in this last depiction I reminded you of the seven deadly sins.  Frequently, it’s easy to see sins in others, particularly when they make our lives miserable and threaten our paycheck.  Take a look again at the typecasting for the animal-ification (as opposed to personification) of those sins:  Scapegoat = Envy; Squirrel = Gluttony; Badger = Wrath; Goldfinch = Greed; Rabbit = Lust; Blue-Footed Booby = Pride; Sloth = well, Sloth. 

I did not use the typical references for these examples because rarely do we find the perfect beast in the real world. However, to counter these office monstrosities, we do need to use virtues and some common sense that seems so rare when problem-solving. 

Since you could follow superhero comics, you know that good is used to battle evil. Your company’s outward-facing communications and appearance need to ensure it doesn’t reflect your animal-ification above. Here are the “goods” you need to use in order to “fight the stupids” (as they used to say at the Maple Street Book Shop). These are derived from Greek philosophy as well as theological virtues that all have applications in the marketplace. Here’s how you can overcome the top-down impairments to help your business to succeed.

• Best used in defense of Envy is Prudence (Timing) - Timing is everything, including doing the right thing at the right time (which is prudence).  If it hurts others, don’t do it; know that envy stems from people realizing that you personally can do more and almost always do it right (which feeds their envy). To whom much is given, much is required—this means you. Realize, too, that it may be you that listens to a customer complain about the beast.
• Best used in defense of Gluttony is Temperance (Restraint) - You need to display mindfulness of your surroundings with self-control and moderation, balancing the good of the business with the cray-cray tasks requested.  If you focus too much on the insanity, it causes you to forget to contribute to “the bottom line” in a positive way, giving those higher up a sign to show you to the exit. They say moderation is best, and this applies to your attitude as well as price hikes or sales cuts, too.
• Best used in defense of Wrath is Faith (Truth) - When you don’t add logs to a fire, the diminishing fuel can no longer sustain the burn once the original logs are gone. When you look at what’s right and don’t feed into the hostility or conflict by antagonizing the situation, you show respectful trust that the end will be right, regardless of the anger shown by someone giving orders. Angry customers or angry coworkers will always appear; let them vent and then get back to solving problems.
• Best used against Greed is Love (Goodness) - Two wrongs don’t make a right, so consider that behaving in the right not only helps you sleep at night, but others will notice that you chose the high road over and over again. Customers are moving more toward socially responsible companies, products and their customer service avenues that it literally pays to do the right thing.
• Best used in defense of Lust is Justice (Process) - They say justice is blind, but those who help bring justice to situations are careful to note the rules and apply them. You cannot despair or be fearful, but rely on the truth to get you through a myriad of intimidation tactics.  If you are handling a recall or accident, the truth is always the best policy. It’s the only thing that will stand of its own accord at the end of the day and it will keep you standing tall, too.
• Best used in defense of Pride is Hope (Encouragement) - When you focus on the outcome of a project or assignment rather than how you look doing the task, respect is earned from those who truly matter. Hope is one tool that you should consistently use to empower as well as encourage others around you to help fight the battle instead of fighting the wacko all alone. Customers will rave about your helpfulness and likely seek your advice when making purchasing decisions.
• Best used in defense of Sloth is Courage (Strength) - Being careful and honest in your worth ethic carries your reputation a long way. Everyone knows it takes longer to build than destroy, so make sure to show your strength because you aren’t giving up on doing what’s right or what takes some work to accomplish.  Courage is a cousin of patience, because you know you are going to be stomping mad at the slow progress, so apply them both for improving the situation at work.

These are the ways we work together to fight egos and temptations. It’s a community effort, with a variety of tools (voting, purchasing power and more) to show what we believe and not let the bad folks win. Nowhere do I note that you fight a battle alone, though admittedly sometimes that happens. You control your own behavior and rise above - the cream goes to the top.

Be a warrior from the top even if you aren’t at the top… your actions will soon get you there. 

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Five Ways to Handle a Toxic Work Environment That is Hostile to Talent

The most successful leaders have not had an obstacle-free path to leadership, yet so many workers have a delusion that reaching the top of the ladder is pain-free and the “right” way to great achievement. News abounds of “not so perfect” work situations, with many people looking for a way out. However, only looking for a door can mean you are shown the exit before you’re prepared with another opportunity - or prior to absorbing all the good parts the current employment can give.

When you are goal-oriented (vision minded) rather than task-oriented (rungs of the ladder), you grasp not for the ever-moving next rung, but the fact it’s unrealistic to think that success arrives without having to experience growth opportunities along the way. (It would also be boring, and if you are boring with no “tests” of your mettle to show what you know while ascending the corporate ladder, the rungs will stop appearing.)  But what makes those rungs appear?

Consider these leaders’ strong personal values systems while facing a wide range of toxicity.  There are those well known—Bill Gates (whose first business failed yet now runs the largest human rights foundation in the world), Sir Richard Branson (controlling over 400 companies while leading through dyslexia) and Fredrick Douglass (born into slavery, yet became one of the leading abolitionist leaders as well as a preacher). 

And other notable leaders in the world, too. Sharon Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer and was the first female judge in Iran, winning the Nobel Peace prize for democracy and human rights.  Ursula Burns (CEO for eight years and now chairwoman of Xerox) was raised in a housing project. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Myanmarian civil rights leader who had been imprisoned for fifteen years, earned the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful leadership on human rights while imprisoned. Telling the real story of the disappeared (while fleeing from those who wanted to kill her, just as they had her family), Rigoberta Menchú Tum is a Nobel Laureate Guatemalan author. Dr. Mae Jamison, a physician, is the first African-American female astronaut and has to deal with two worlds of complexity!

Each one of these visionaries experienced a variety of toxicity in their professional lives. There are many people who have described the bad vibes underlying toxicity, including research by Amy Scholten, MPH, who says, “Toxic workplaces are fueled by immature, dysfunctional leaders.” While I would call those types of people in management anything but leaders, the tone rings true as she describes their lack of morality, hypocritical nature, high aggression, scapegoating, unreasonableness… I’m sure you are already adding to this list from what you’ve seen. 

While preparing my upcoming presentation for a national conference, I realized resilience fuels the fire of those who excel.  Adversity comes in many forms for all businesses, and frequently it presents in the form of a nasty co-worker.  Learning to handle those situations gracefully (not ignoring them) will propel your standing with those around you, enabling you to handle more as you progress in your career and rapidly extricate your from toxic areas.

To bring more meaning to your workplace and facts to your portfolio, regardless of the concentration of toxicity, it really is all about you and how you use obstacles to lift yourself. One area of professionals call this self-deployment: “to arrange in a position of readiness, or to move strategically or appropriately (Dictionary dot com) ” or “move something in an effective way (Cambridge English Dictionary)”  

This is how you need to tackle your current situation; modifying your perspective is how you begin right now.

1. Identify the real meaning in the madness. One of my former colleagues loved to use the term “crazy-making” for other people’s reaction to a situation instead of action toward resolution of the problem. When the implementation of a solution is out of reach, you still retain control of the lesson you can learn as well as retaining your own focus on problem-solving instead of problem-enhancing.
2. Establish concrete goals. There is a reason for the toxicity - your own attitude and approach are your responsibility, and no one else’s. This is a job and does not define your being, your soul, your future. You know where you want to be, so start using your energy for a plan to get there.  Gossip about the “evil” in the office does not help though having activities and goals away from the office keeps you centered, and developing goals for your exit keeps you healthy as you focus on the ways you will leave on your own terms in a positive way.
3. Refine your filter.  This is a two-way process, for inbound messages as well as your outbound communication. The information coming to you will have spin and be framed with the toxic agenda. When you find the real meaning and know your goals are to achieve efficiency, creativity or productivity, you can strain the distraction and see the true bottom line.  Likewise, when you are sending out information, you can craft your meaning with intentional word choices that will neither inflame an ego nor draw negative attention to your talents.
4. Remove project overreach. Undoubtedly, this is the environment that pushes staff to work all hours of the day and night for unrealistic ends.  When you begin to not only define, but hold fast to boundaries that encroach upon achieving what you’ve outlined in step number two, it allows you to use energy on your own time to get to a better space.  Your time away forth office is all positive, so leave the negative things there (even if you telecommute - there are boundaries that now you have your exit plan in process, you can more safely enforce). 
5. Get moving. You are more important than “them.”  Don’t question your abilities; step one shows you how to identify the source of the incapability so you don’t repeat the problems as a leader and don’t find another place that has the same issues. The fifth step is using your hand to wave goodbye without burning a bridge, while embracing thankfulness that you’re moving forward.

Handling toxicity and adversity is a process, not an event, when you need to continue performing while seeking improvements. This involves identification, planning, timeframe scope of action and launch - the same steps in good project management. You can treat your exit just as you would a new product launch, where you are the product taking your skills to somewhere more valuable and in line with your mission.

Positive attitude in negative situations… gives abilities including natural success.  PAINS to GAINS. You can get there.

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

15 Ways to Increase Your Productivity Right Now

Improve each day through New Year’s Eve to identify your resolution (if you haven’t finished planning your revolution). 

1.  Keep your goals in front of you. If you keep your larger “weight” in front of you, you focus on what’s ahead (instead of the weight that you carry on your back).

2.  Feedback is best when it looks at the future. Solutions to solve problems are far better than complaining in order to reinvent the wheel.

3.  Make time for the right things. Get rid of bad habits or time-wasting activities so your energies are used for productive purposes.

4.  Build better foundations. Lift yourself and others higher to see farther on the horizon at what’s possible (rather than using blocks to protect your turf).

5.  Tools make things easier. By selecting the right choices to streamline various aspects of your life, you simplify and reduce stress.

6.  Be mindful in discussions. When you listen for clues about others’ moods and show attentiveness, you discover what people aren’t saying.

7.  Reduce distractions. You gain power by retaking control over little things (like too many coupon emails), so you own your focus.

8.  Accept that reassessments are healthy. By adjusting as you progress, you make sure that you are capturing the strong winds that move you forward faster.

9.  Get involved with something bigger than yourself. Show your gratitude for what you have by giving back to others.

10. Realize what you don’t know and go learn something. Refreshing our learning skills makes it easier to adapt and overcome when obstacles rise in our paths.

11. Take time to just drink your coffee. Your mind needs quiet time, so sit down, unplug and pause in order to help strengthen focus for the next task.

12. Green is good. Greenery is the color for 2017; make sure you bring not only plants but also green habits into your home to be on trend as well as improving the world.

13. Say what you mean. With finesse and kindness, you’ll find being articulate and authentic will be a better strategy than any SEO plan.

14. Train your brain. Make information mean something when you digest or express— it helps you and everyone around you, too.

15. Practice what brings you peace. By making time weekly for what brings your soul contentment just for its own sake, you’ll be healthier and happier. 

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Five Ways Time Can Be On Your Side

The days are about to get longer - records of lunar and solar eclipses for 2,700 years were tallied and we've gotten an additional seven hours in our lives in the past two dozen centuries.

You can imagine all of the things that are possible with that much time, but you know that all of that time isn't just for us right now. So what is this phenomenon really telling us?

A scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography notes that there is time and then there's how fast the Earth spins. This latter component, called Universal Time, proceeds and nothing you can do will change it... just like you can't change other people, the way someone works, or how other folks set priorities.

However, Terrestrial Time has only been measured by atomic clocks for a little over 50 years. There are many examples about what can be accomplished in "time comparisons." But this, too, has been modified by natural events, such as NASA showing how an earthquake recently moved the Earth's axis and shifted time. 

This year, these two kinds of time will actually be realigned and extra second will forever be added on New Year's Eve because time on the planet is out of sync.

If you feel you don't control your own time - be it through a manager's assignment or the kids' multiple activities - you don't need an international society to tell you to adjust your pace. Things occur in your life where you naturally realize you need to move your axis.

You can make shifts in your life to simplify in order to use your "real time" more wisely.

1. Realize multi-tasking doesn't work; it just wastes time. Set yourself discrete blocks of time to accomplish parts of tasks or entire projects that you know matter most. 
2. Prepare for your meetings in order to use time wisely. On calls or during face-to-face meetings, take five minutes before the discussion to pinpoint what progress means for that event. 
3. Respect the time limits you've established. Working on a specific schedule allows your brain to have a fresh mindset instead of "pushing through" and making mistakes. 
4. Effectively use waiting time. Short "vision" work is possible when you've organized your projects to reduce interruptions, so write that text while waiting on the next event. 
5. Eliminate waste. Just like you empty the fridge from expired products, your life is full of them, too, and thus anything (from stagnant relationships to lagging ideas) either need recharged or removed. 

You can take back your time. It's a great idea for starting in the next few weeks when you gain "real time" as well as Universal Time.  

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Your Revolution is Coming

There’s no stopping it.  And 80% fail every year.

If you knew that something was coming and you had the time to prepare, it’s likely that you’d try to be ready.  That’s what most people do - human nature doesn’t like surprises.

We “blow it” usually within five weeks (though 25% fail in the first week) because professionals that react in other areas of their professional life don’t take this preparation step seriously.

When you think something on the outside is going to change you on the inside, it’s only going to be your mirror image that’s modified.  It’s not improved; it’s not durable.  It just looks different for a little while.  The horror is when we realize that we not only failed, but we regressed!

You have a full 40 days to plan your 2017 Resolution.  It’s your personal internal revolution that should get this year’s commitment. It’s about making yourself better and constructing a plan so you can be better for those around you (notice I didn’t say better than those surrounding you).  

Don’t think of this as a great flood trying to overwhelm you — this 40 days is for you to prepare a plan to achieve the best things coming into your life.  You can complete these five steps can be thoughtfully completed before December 31st.

Get closer to your dream.  

• Focus. That means not looking at your email or texting your friends or taking a phone call from a coworker that wants to gossip.  It means time for yourself with yourself to think.

• Understand this is one thing you do just for yourself.  While we are busy running errands, completing work deliverables and bouncing all over the place, you need to do something drastically important for yourself.  You are worth it.

• Pick one goal and break it into stages.  Pick one improvement for your 2017 goal and break it into parts that fit into your regular routine.  You aren’t trying to create a habit (such as making your bed); you are trying to adjust lifestyle actions for a better you.

• Communicate your decision by using the words you mean.  SMART objectives are best: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely.  

• Don’t forget to check your pulse.  As you progress, you know you can’t just set your sails and hope for the best.  Make sure that you check on your own status so that you can modify any stages of the plan to get you where you want to go.

A great quote from a successful coach sums it up best.  “The opponent within your own head is more daunting than the one on the other side.” - W. Timothy Gallwey

Get a grip on your toughest opponent — yourself.  Ope  what has you locked in place.  Today is about you; the next article I am going to post will show you how to prepare your business for what could be your best quarter yet…

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

The Value of Ten Dollars

Three weeks ago, I shared an article where I asked you to tell yourself the truth.  

Think about when you are happiest - how could you do things better to create more happiness in your life?  Could it take just a short time to get your mind right?

Check out the list of online courses available for ten bucks today only.  Be thankful for your blessings and look to increase them for a very reasonable price.  

Your dreams will bring you more delight than a ten dollar bill ever could.  Select a class or two today to invest in yourself.

(And no, there’s nothing “in if for me” other than helping you be a happier person.)

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Why Am I Doing This?

There comes a point when you ask yourself if (a) your current role advances your career goals with opportunities for enhancing professional credibility or (b) you were just lured by the paycheck. 

Your sudden game of “Twenty Questions” at your personal crossroads may have been triggered by your compass spinning. It may occur when you daydream and envision what you really could be accomplishing.

The dissatisfaction could have be raised when you see less mindful people moving faster in the direction you thought you were headed. (I would talk about the not-so-smart people in the room, but that discussion was last week…) 

Whatever caused your professional shift in focus should mean something to you. It’s a sign. There is a disconnect between who you were when you took the role and the experiences that are now shaping you into a stronger leader.

At times, we need to know the root cause of a problem, such as smaller software bugs or in larger critical infrastructure power supply failures. Other moments simply need a realignment of our compass in order to get back on the best path for our greatest success.  

Take some quiet time to consider what works best for you. Be comfortable with yourself and in your skin. Honesty is the only way to build the foundation of your success.

Some people may find that chasing the new project is something they do exceedingly well rather than ensure the minuscule details of a program being implemented. I know one strategic marketing professional who is excellent at helping people say the right thing in less than half the time it takes the person to babble about what they think they mean.

Today is Day 11, embracing change. You don’t need any other reason to raise the bar other than you want to be better. You want something more. You deserve something more.

And taking the time to define "more" is important. Perhaps it’s more time on the tennis courts. It could be more time at the playground with your young children. Even having the time to write a novel can be a more meaningful adjustment in your life.

As I frequently ask the college students in my classes, you have to ask yourself, “So what?” It may be all well and good that you have a high paying job, but what if you eat take-out at home alone every night of the week at ten pm because you have no time to meet people? It may be grand that you have a monthly expense report of $14,000 covered by the corporation, but how many days in a row do you get to sleep in your own home instead of in a hotel?

So this weekend, you have homework - it's why there is a rare publication on a Friday when everyone is already thinking about the weekend.  Think about what you miss most in your current life and ask yourself, "Why Am I Doing This?”

Embrace change, even if it’s just a small amount, and pick one thing this weekend to consider why you are doing this. You may be surprised by the results and enjoy finding a new project that focuses on something or someone you love. 

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen