Self Improvement Tips | Self Improvement Advice

Here’s another look at sharing vulnerability to build on the previous post. A winning culture starts inside of you. Then, in your business and relationships you spread your beliefs about yourself, your world and most importantly how you care for others. Culture, in a business or in personal relationships , is defined by how you care for others. One of the key components in building a winning culture with others is to create an atmosphere where you can share vulnerability. Sharing vulnerability is not easy for most people. If you share vulnerability you may say to someone, “I don’t know.” Or, “I need your help.” Another way to share vulnerability is to ask for someone’s opinion or expertise. You are not asking for direct help in this case. You want their opinion to help you gain clarity on something where you are stuck or confused. But when you share your vulnerability is this truly sharing vulnerability . There is a subtle yet important difference. The answer when it comes to s...

In the previous blog post we talked about the personal steps you can take as a leader to build a better culture.  In this post we are going to look at the business steps.  When I do personal business coaching in Houston and personal business coaching in The Woodlands Why?  The business steps determine the quality of the company and the employees.  If they are not willing or good at connecting, they will be able to have a good job. The first business step is absolutely focused on your hiring process.  This is the gateway to bringing in the right people who are not a fit.  And this alone, can bring you long-term success or failure.  I had one company as a customer that became less important in their hiring process.  Where they have been, and they have been likeable and qualified, they have settled on a different race during rapid growth.  They have been qualified but not necessarily likeable or connectors. These managers have to wor...

As a  personal business coach in Houston  I have the opportunity to work with teams in corporations. In my personal business coaching in The Woodlands, I get to work with small businesses and the teams within the businesses. Whether the organization is large or small there is a desire to have good culture. It has been shown in studies that a strong culture can increase income by several hundred percent! We know that a good culture works. We are generally not sure why it works. But the bigger question is: How do we go about creating it? Like the kindergartners referenced in the last two posts, culture is created by a specific set of interactions. These interactions are based on social skills. In his book, The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle references three keys to building a good culture. 1. Build safety—which through our social signals build bonds of belonging and identity. 2. Share vulnerability—explains how habits of mutual risk drive trusting cooperation. 3. Establish...

In the previous post I related an experiment that was done to highlight aspects that create a good culture in which teams can be productive. As a  self-improvement business coach in the Woodlands  one of the areas of focus in corporations and small businesses that I collaborate with has been regarding culture and how culture impacts not only a team’s efficiency but effectiveness. The kindergarteners in the experiment won against teams of business students. They also carried the experiment to other groups. The kindergarteners defeated lawyers and CEOs. So, what was going on that created this unexpected result? Let’s start with what we focus on, which is individual skills. If you think about it, individual skills are easy to focus on because they are the most visible. But, when it comes to team performance, it is not individual skills that matter. What matters is the interaction. Let’s take a look at the business students. As a  personal business coach in Houston , ...

Storming And Conflict-A Challenge In the previous post we looked at the storming stage where there is a breaking away from the false harmony and individual power displays causing rifts can be present. This stage also highlights the tension between individual identity and being a team member. Ultimately, everything mentioned to this point will have an effect on team morale and productivity. Storming and conflict are a challenge. Yet, many observers of the team process agree that some form of conflict is beneficial as long as it is refocused onto task and purpose rather than focused on personality. Too little conflict may lead members to suppress their differences without resolving them-only to find that the differences resurface at a later time, throwing the team full force back into the storming stage. Conversely, too much conflict may destroy social relationships, the result being that team members are unable to work together. The storming stage, therefore, is ...