Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Leadership Development

Beyond Leadership is Horizon Point’s line of resources for managers of people. Managing ourselves is a distinct set of behaviors from managers the work of others, and we are here to help. Read stories in this category if you are ready to take the next step in your own leadership development (or if you’re looking for resources for someone else).

  • 6 Ways to Build Energy

    6 Ways to Build Energy

    “…every movement of your body, every emotion you have, and every thought that passes through your mind is an expenditure of energy. Just as everything that happens outside in the physical world requires energy, everything that happens inside requires an expenditure of energy.” From The Untethered Soul

    “Coach, I’m tired,” said one little boy to my husband on his 7-8 year-old baseball team. Practice had only been going on for ten minutes and they hadn’t even been running.

    To which my husband asked, “Why are you tired?”

    “Well, I played at the trampoline park all day.  I’m wore out,” he said.

    This humorous encounter led my husband to set guidelines for the team on what activities were okay for them to engage in prior to their first All-Star tournament game on Saturday.

    Swimming? No. Riding your bike or running around the neighborhood all day?  No.  And definitely no trampoline park.

    My husband’s goal is conserve his players’ energy so they have enough gas in their tanks for a 5:30 pm game in the summer heat.

    He may take baseball too seriously, but I think this encounter holds an important lesson for us all.

    We all have a finite amount of energy to give. Whether it is physical energy as in this example or emotional or mental energy, we often expend it on things and people that do not lead to positive outcomes or results. We come to things that we need to be fully engaged in totally drained.  And it’s not because of the activity in the present, it’s the activity in the past.

    I know I struggle with this, do you?  In thinking about ways to combat it:

    1. Examine your commitments and tasks by things that leave you drained, energized, or neutral.   I’ve seen planners and time management systems organized around this mindset.   It makes a lot of sense.   Also, I would encourage you to analyze your relationships or people by this mindset as well.
    2. Get rid of most of the things that drain you. We’ve all got to do laundry in our life,  whether is actual laundry or metaphorical laundry, that no one find particular energy in. We also have relationships that leave us at a net loss in energy for a period, but dedication to this person(s) is important.  Hello, anyone that has ever been sleep deprived because of a newborn at home. However, much of what drains us is optional.  I would encourage you to eliminate at least two things this week that drain you.  Say no to something.
    3. For the draining tasks you just can’t abandon, chunk them together and schedule time to get them done. Often being able to check off multiple things on your to-do list at once, even if they are tasks you dislike, can lead to increased energy.
    4. Add one thing to your week that builds energy for you.  It could be a workout, a good night’s sleep, or a particular activity (like what I’m doing now, writing energizes me) that leads to more energy.  Schedule a time to do this each week like it is any other appointment you can’t take off your calendar.
    5. If you are a part of a team at work and/or a team at home, make your draining, energizing and neutral list as a group.   You’ll probably be surprised to find that you aren’t assigning responsibilities based on what builds energy for individuals and thus the team.  Swap tasks around as needed and appropriate.
    6. Realize everything you do is an opportunity to shine your light. Light requires energy. Ask yourself regularly, Am I shining or am I not?

    “The more you stay open, the more energy flow you can build…it starts flowing out of you…..What’s more, the energy [flowing out of you] affects other people.  People can pick up on your energy, and you’re feeding them with this flow.  You become a source of light for those around you.” From The Untethered Soul

     

  • Top 10 Quotes on Authentic Leadership

    Top 10 Quotes on Authentic Leadership

    As we continue to explore authenticity, I think it’s important to focus on how to actually be an authentic leader. One of the best ways to learn is to pay close attention to the authentic leaders you know in real life and those who are doing the work publicly and sharing their experiences. We always look for research and subject matter experts to inform our work, so here are ten authentic leadership quotes we often reference:

    10) “Authentic Leaders are not afraid to show emotion and vulnerability as they share in the challenges with their team. Developing a solid foundation of trust with open and honest communication is critical to authentic leadership.” – Farshad Asl, The “No Excuses” Mindset: A Life of Purpose, Passion, and Clarity

    9) “Authentic leadership is the full expression of “me” for the benefit of “we”.” – Henna Inam, Wired for Authenticity: Seven Practices to Inspire, Adapt, & Lead

    8) “Authentic leadership is revealed in the alignment of what you think, what you say, and what you do.” –Michael Holland, Founder & President, Bishop House

    7) “Authenticity is the alignment of head, mouth, heart, and feet — thinking, saying, feeling, and doing the same thing — consistently. This builds trust, and followers love leaders they can trust.” – Lance Secretan, The Secretan Center, Inc.

    6) “Authenticity and knowing who you are is fundamental to being an effective and long-standing leader.” -Ann Fudge

    5) “Without trust we don’t truly collaborate; we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate. It is trust that transforms a group of people into a team.” – Stephen Covey

    4) “It is true that integrity alone won’t make you a leader, but without integrity you will never be one.” –Zig Ziglar

    3) “Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.” – Andy Stanley

    2) “A genuine leader is not a searcher of consensus but a molder of consensus.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

    1) “A true leader is one who is humble enough to admit their mistakes.” – John C. Maxwell

    To read more about Authentic Leadership, visit my blog post Authenticity and Authentic Leadership.

  • Continuous Learning.. Are You Cheating Yourself?

    Continuous Learning.. Are You Cheating Yourself?

    I was recently presented with the opportunity to start hosting a monthly event that brings HR professionals together to discuss issues we are facing and to learn from each other’s experiences. I volunteered for the opportunity without hesitation, knowing that my co-workers would both be excited for me in my new endeavor and support me in any way needed.

    Continuous Learning. We believe continual learning is a key driver in creating passion and productivity in life and in work. To that end, we invest in the personal development of our people because we know that people are a company and community’s greatest asset (People First). We work with clients who believe in continuous learning and take steps towards continual self-improvement in order to maximize their passion and productivity.

    At Horizon Point, continuous learning is in the forefront of everything we do. We learn through meeting with new clients and assessing their HR needs, researching HR issues to help better assist our clients, and sharing articles and books that help us become more authentic leaders. We are encouraged to attend conferences, workshops, and networking events that feed our passion for HR and we are given the flexibility in our schedules to do so. We also pull from each other’s strengths, taking the opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences and expertise.

    While we strive for continuous learning within our organization, we also strive to provide continuous learning opportunities for our clients by helping them strengthen their HR foundations, providing leadership development training, assisting with talent management, and assessing and addressing employee engagement issues. Through these learning opportunities, organizations are able to strengthen their leadership teams, improve employee morale and retention rates, and ensure that they are meeting the needs of their employees and their organization through sound HR policies and procedures. We share our expertise at workshops and conferences, through The Point Blog, and through our monthly Workplace Innovation and CDF newsletters.

    “If you are not learning while you’re earning, you are cheating yourself out of the better portion of your compensation.” – Napoleon Hill

    Are you cheating yourself?

    Join The Point Blog: Sound Advice for Career and Leadership Development mailing list here.

  • People First

    People First

    People first is one company value that I feel we do right at Horizon Point. As I prepared to step on the treadmill last night around 5:30pm, my phone rang. Knowing it was a work-related call that might take a few minutes, I answered it anyway. The person on the line was in California and seeking guidance on a credentialing application. Working with individuals across time zones means, we often get calls that aren’t in our “scheduled working hours”, but it allows us to make a difference in a much larger circle, even if we are conducting virtual training at 7:30am for a group in another country.

    People First. We believe people are a company and community’s greatest asset. This is why we work to foster passion and productivity in people. We realize that in all our decisions, relationships come first, and we help our clients act as leaders by cultivating and building relationships that help drive passion and productivity.

    Working in the realm of development, we are tasked with helping companies and individuals grow. To that end, “People First” truly is a priority. Here are just a few ways we strive to put people first:

    1. As HPC employees, our families always come first. Whether it’s a sick child, or a co-worker’s, we ensure our priorities are in order and lend a helping hand (for work or family) whenever we need to.
    2. Sometimes we realize Horizon Point might not be the right choice for a client, and we refer them to another organization that can better serve them. In the long run, clients appreciate placing their needs above making a sale.
    3. To touch on another company value, “Give Back”, another way we put people first is to volunteer in our community. Sometimes that means serving on a board or conducting a pro bono career coaching session to help someone who has been through a rough patch and needs guidance. This is personally my favorite way to put people first – by offering to help.

    As I came on board with Horizon Point, I developed a personal mission statement that I feel fits nicely with our people first value. It reads: I will strive daily to present the best version of myself to clients, family, friends and others. I will work to empower others and help them in their journey to lead better lives.

    To read more about our company values, check out Moving BEYOND WORK – Our Company Values.

  • Leaders, Focus on Moving your Middle- Play Offense, Not Defense

    Leaders, Focus on Moving your Middle- Play Offense, Not Defense

    Let’s pretend you have a performance appraisal system that rates people on a scale of 1-7.  One being the worst, seven being rock-star status.   You have ten direct reports and you have honestly and accurately rated them all (we’re assuming a perfect world here, bear with me).

    Here’s the breakdown of where people fall:

    You have three people in the 1-3 range.

    You have six people in the 4-6 range.

    And you have one lone rock star at 7.

    Which group should you focus most of your energy on in the coming year?

    If customer satisfaction research leads us to any insight on this, you would ignore the bottom three and focus almost all your effort onto moving the six in the middle towards your rock star.

    According to the 2016 Forrester Research U.S. Customer Experience Index  that is described in The Power of Moments, “If you elevate the positives (those in the 4-6 range) you’ll earn about nine times more revenue than if you focus on eliminating the negatives (those in the 1-3 range).”

    But the middle majority typically gets less attention than anyone else.

    The research showed that most business executives focused on eliminating the negatives to their financial peril.   I think most leaders do this too.  They spend so much of their time and energy on those that aren’t cutting the mustard to the detriment of those worth the effort in moving to the rock star category. (more on how to move them in our next post).

     

    Don’t let the urgency of your bottom- the vocal minority that always seems to be screaming the loudest- keep you from focusing on the important middle majority that is worth your time and effort in investing.