How sharp is your belief in yourself?

‘To be on the cutting edge you need an edge to cut with. That edge is your belief in yourself – sharp and ready to go.’**

I regularly share the above quotation in my one-on-one and group training with clients. After sharing it, I ask the audience this question:

“How sharp is your belief in yourself?”

Then I say: “No matter how sharp your belief in yourself is, at the current moment – over time, that sharpness will become blunt. My take-away point is this:

Continually sharpen your belief in yourself – the value, the worth you provide – and that belief (edge) will remain sharp, will be at the ready, and will ‘cut through’ in your interactions, meetings and presentations.

** (I have forgotten the name of the author of this quotation. If you happen to know the author please send me the name. Thanks.)

Own the Conversation

Action suggestion Over the next seven days, in your calendar make a solo, minute solo appointment with yourself. In that appointment, reflect on the value and worth you provide and write down those thoughts. If the sharpening your belief in yourself time proves valuable – schedule the process on an on-going basis. Perhaps every month or every quarter.

Give your audience a reason to listen

Consider this . . .
How many presentations have occurred in the world in the last week? I think you’ll agree . . . millions. How many of those presentations have been mediocre? Let’s agree . . . millions. No one in the world of work is eager to hear another presentation. That’s why it’s important, in the planning of your presentation or opening of a meeting, to construct an opening ‘hook to listen’. My definition of a ‘hook to listen’ is this:
  • That after an audience hears the first words you speak of your presentation, their attention is ‘hooked’ and they’re keen to hear more.
– Here is my post Use these field tested pitch techniques to hook your audience. The post contains numerous ‘hook to listen’ examples. – Here is my post Strategies by mining your life to hook an audience to listen. The post provides a practical process that will uncover anecdotes, vignettes, stories etc that can be used for your ‘hooks to listen’. Fortuitously and recently, one of my senior executive clients, who is a VP of a multinational enterprise, has come up with an excellent process, that can be used on a regular basis to hook his boss to listen. Here’s an email my client sent me with the description of the process:

“Michael, recently, as part of a fortnightly engagement, I had the opportunity to present our strategy/focus with a new global leader. I have only had a few interactions since his hire.

Using the technique of sharing something personal about myself and linking it to the key topic on the agenda

created a wonderful two-way conversation for nearly 10 mins.

By doing this sharing, we learnt more about each other and created further opportunities for future conversations. It also created a more relaxed and engaging conversation on the topic that was being discussed.”

Own the Conversation

In the next seven days I suggest you choose ONE or MORE of the following things to do: #1 For an upcoming meeting with a peer, aim to share something personal about yourself and link it to the agenda item. #2 For an upcoming meeting with your boss, aim to share something personal about yourself and link it to the agenda item. #3 Read my post Use these field tested pitch techniques to hook your audience and choose one to trial. #4 Read my post Strategies by mining your life to hook an audience to listen and work through the described process.

Can people set their clock by what you say?

‘Think for a moment about all the colleagues in your immediate circle, whether they are your peers or people you manage. Which of them can be trusted to follow through when they say they are going to do something? And which ones make you think, “Hmm, that’s probably not going to happen. I’ll have to follow up”? This quote is from a strategy + business ‘How good is your say-to-do ratio?’ article by Adam Bryant. For 20 plus years when someone comes to me with an idea for a business venture, or I consider hiring someone to do work for me, in our first meeting I tell them that the following three behaviours are vital to us working together:
  1. Show up on time.
  2. Do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’ll do it.
  3. Finish what you start. **
From experience, I expect 75% plus of people who say they’ll do those three behaviours – to not, do them. Here are other vignettes from the article . . .  “It comes down to trust,” Durand said. “If you look at the essence of trust, it’s a one-to-one ratio between say and do. If over some period of time, I observe a good ratio of someone doing what they say they will do, they will earn my trust.” He added: “There are some people who are

so reliable that I could set my clock by what they say.

And then magic happens, because I will give them full autonomy—‘I trust you, make the decision, and go.’” “That’s one reason I like to say that the three most beautiful words in the English language a manager can hear are “I’m on it.” Employees who say it—and mean it—share the important quality of owning the responsibility for following through. They get things done. And they are gold if you can get them on your team.” ** (To be clear I don’t always do the three behaviours. Over the last 10 years, I’m probably at around 90% completion).

Own the Conversation

Here’s my suggested action for you: Over the next seven days:
  1. Write down five commitments (or even three commitments) you’ve given to people.
  2. On the day seven, score yourself on your completion of those commitments.
  3. In the following seven days repeat step#1, aiming to improve your say-to-do ratio.