Chris McClure

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying that we should have “the attitude of gratitude.” While that sounds great and inspiring, it is not always an easy virtue to live out. I believe we are all thankful for various people and things in our lives. But do you express it?

Think about the people you have influence with. Are you thankful for them? If so, do they know it?

It is Thanksgiving week. During the month of November each year you can find people posting on social media about who and what they are thankful for. This is nice, but I believe it falls short. We should be expressing regularly throughout the year our thankfulness. And it doesn’t have to be on public display. It can be a private conversation.

Gone are the days of “leading” people with the attitude that they should be glad to have the job they have and their paychecks are thanks enough. Yes, their paychecks are in response for the work they do. However, to lead people well today the best leaders are thankful leaders. They share with their employees and coworkers that they value them. They write notes and emails expressing their thankfulness. They look them in the eye and let them know regularly that they are thankful that they are on the team.

This needs to be authentic. If you are not thankful for someone on your team you need to explore why and address that issue. Assuming you are thankful for them, you need to share it with them.

As Thanksgiving arrives yet again, reflect on who you are thankful for and why. Write them a note. Stop them in the hall and tell them. Invite them to lunch or to have coffee and share how you value them. Be creative!

It is easy to let days, weeks, months, and years slide by without expressing thankfulness. If you have to make a note in your calendar to remind yourself to share your gratitude, do it! Your team members will appreciate it and you will build greater rapport and credibility as a result.

If you are not a thankful leader, I encourage you to reflect on why that is. What is keeping you from being grateful? Explore that deeply. This could be a breakthrough moment for you and your team members.

Be Intentionally Great (and Thankful) Today!

If I can be of service to you or your team in building a more thankful culture please contact me. I would love to partner with with you!

In “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” John Maxwell’s “Law of Magnetism” states that “who you are is who you attract.”

Are you pleased with the team around you? Are you pleased with the friends and acquaintances you have? If not, then it’s time to look in the mirror. Are you becoming the person that you want to have around you?

Determine your ideal team members and/or friends. What characteristics and qualities do you want to have surrounding you?

Once you’ve made this list, evaluate yourself. Are you displaying those qualities? Are you a living example of them?

Do you want to be more successful? Work on your personal and professional development. Become the person that attracts top talent and high-quality friends.

Do you want to have a higher caliber team? Become the person you are wanting so you can attract people of that quality.

In order to have or achieve more in life, you need to become more. Where do you need to start today?

Be Intentionally Great Today!

Do you desire to stand out among your coworkers and get a promotion? Are you seeking a salary increase? Take the following four steps to stand out and be noticed in your organization:

1.) Be the first to help.

Take the initiative and offer your services to your supervisor and team. Team members that show initiative will stand out and be recognized. Remember, someone is always watching how you work. Make a good impression each day!

2.) Demonstrate the ability for the role you desire.

If you are seeking a promotion or lateral job change, start working today as if you’re in that role. Learn the skills needed. Develop your work ethic for that role. Observe others who are working in similar roles so you can get a good feel for the job. Become the employee that the supervisor would want to have on their team.

3.) Be consistent.

Employers want to know they can count on you. Give a strong effort each and every day. Let your supervisor know what to expect from you and deliver. Managers have many details to handle and when you work with consistency you give them one less thing to worry about.

4.) Make your boss look good.

Whether you like it or not, how your boss appears to his or her superiors will either help or harm your cause. When you work to help your boss succeed in his or her role, you will stand out. Ask if there is anything that you can take off their plate. Ask how you can be of greater service to the team. Go the extra mile. Add value daily where you can.

While nothing is guaranteed in the workplace, if you follow these four steps you will be on your way to standing out in your organization. Don’t settle for mediocrity in the middle of the pack. Work to stand out each and every day.

Be Intentionally Great Today!

Chris McClure is a certified professional coach and leadership trainer with The John Maxwell Team. Contact him today to discuss how he can assist you and your team to achieve greater success and significance.

John Maxwell’s “Law of the Lid” states that “leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness.”

While I often write about personal growth and development, I want to challenge you today to help others grow. Think about the people you work with. Think about your family. Think about your friends. Whose lid can you lift?

Lifting someone’s lid is about helping them grow from where they are to where they want to be. It’s about giving people tools and insights to become a better leader. We don’t often see the areas we need to grow in. We need someone else’s perspective to show us our blind spots. This requires you to gently share with people what you are observing and offering to help them take steps forward.

Many people don’t believe they need to grow as leaders because they aren’t in a “leadership position.” However, Maxwell makes it clear in his “Law of Influence” that “leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.” Everyone has influence with someone. Why not excel at it?!

Today, be a lid lifter. Offer to help someone grow. Offer to read a book and discuss it together. Offer to share your observations of their strengths and weaknesses so they can formulate a growth plan. Help them become a better version of themselves.

Be Intentionally Great Today!

“The first year that I engaged in intentional personal growth, I discovered that it was going to be a lifetime process. During that year, the question in my mind changed from “How long will this take?” to “How far can I go?” – John C. Maxwell

Have you ever seriously thought about how far you can go in life? What is your growth ceiling? What is the highest level you can achieve in your career? How far can you grow until you’ve “arrived”?

It’s much easier to tell ourselves what we can’t do than it is to convince ourselves that the sky is the limit. Instead of thinking “I can’t do that” start asking yourself “How far can I go?” Start dreaming. Start writing out ideas that you could achieve. While you may decide not to go after everything you write down, take action on a few things and watch yourself grow.

Your willingness to stretch yourself is the only thing holding you back. Don’t blame external circumstances – there are many people who have achieved great success against the odds. Determine right now that you will take steps of growth. Make a daily commitment to ask yourself “How far can I go today?”

You were designed with a purpose. You have incredible gifts and abilities within you. Stop telling yourself what you can’t do and start dreaming about how far you can go. Then take action and go after those dreams.

Be Intentionally Great Today!

“Don’t wait until you feel positive to move forward. Act your way into feeling good.” – John C. Maxwell

Many times we don’t feel like taking action. It is easy to make an excuse for inaction because we don’t have the right feelings yet. Maybe you don’t feel ready (a confidence issue). Maybe you don’t feel you have enough information (a knowledge issue). Maybe you don’t physically feel well (a health issue). Whatever the case, waiting for your feelings to drive you to action will cause you to miss out on opportunities for growth and advancement. You need to take action and let your feelings follow. Once you get moving, your emotions can catch up.

I decided to run a half marathon with a friend several years ago. I NEVER felt like going out to run for my training. I only achieved the “runner’s high” that I’ve heard so much about one time. I had to make myself take action to train. I had to take action before the feelings followed. Regardless of how I felt I made myself go running. I completed the race even though it was a struggle. I did it despite how I felt. I took action day in and day out for months to prepare. This allowed me to achieve my goal of finishing the race.

What is it that you don’t feel like doing?

What emotions are holding you back from taking action?

Spend some time today identifying your emotions that are holding you back, then make the decision to take action in spite of your feelings. Once you get going your emotions will catch up. Sometimes you simply have to fight through your feelings to achieve your goals. Go out and take action!

Be Intentionally Great Today!

If you’re like many people, you may not understand the value of hiring a professional coach. You may have some ideas in your head of what a “life coach” or “executive coach” does, but it’s possible that you’ve never considered the role much nor entertained the idea of hiring a coach.

So, what is the value of a coach?

While I am a certified coach with The John Maxwell Team, I’ve been working with my own coach recently. Here are my key thoughts on the value that I’ve found from being a client in the coaching process:

• A coach is a sounding board to help the client process challenges and opportunities that they are experiencing in their personal and/or professional life.
• The client is in control of the agenda – they discuss what they desire to discuss. The coach does not dictate the topic.
• The coach asks thought-provoking and curiosity-based questions to draw out insightful answers from within the client. (You’ll be amazed at the answers a coach can help you discover from within!)
• The coach is not a friend who will let the client off the hook easily. Rather, they help him/her develop an action plan and then hold them accountable to take growth steps. (If you’re like me, you do not want to meet with your coach at the next session and tell him/her that you did not do what you said you would!)
• A coach is a safe relationship. What is discussed in the coaching session is confidential. It is safe to express doubts, fears, and other emotions that the client is feeling in the process.

These are just a few of the benefits of a coaching relationship. In my biased opinion, we all need a coach in our lives! Think about it…how many people in your life are asking you thought-provoking questions and helping you formulate an action plan so you will grow, then are willing to do the difficult work of holding you accountable? How many people truly have YOUR success and growth as their main goal? A coach does!

What a coach is NOT:

• A coach is not a mentor (although they can mentor you outside the coaching session if you so desire)
• A coach is not a biased friend
• A coach is not a trainer or teacher (although they can function as such outside the coaching session if you so desire)
• A coach is not tied to their success, but they are committed to YOURS!

Are you struggling with challenges at home or work?

Do you have an opportunity in front of you that you need help to figure out whether to pursue it or not?

Do you feel alone in your role and need a sounding board that is focused on YOUR success?

If you answered “yes” to one or more of these questions, then hiring a qualified coach would be of tremendous benefit to you. If I can be of service, please contact me and we can discuss what this arrangement would look like. If nothing else, keep these ideas in your mind because someday you might find yourself ready to hire a coach to walk with you to help you go farther faster in your personal and professional life.

Be Intentionally Great Today!

I just returned from a networking event that opened my eyes to the gap between young professionals and those who have been in the workplace for many years. Our Chamber of Commerce had a monthly gathering that was very well attended. It was a great environment provided by the host company and everyone seemed to have a great time. However, the young professionals demographic was noticeably absent.

This scene made me start thinking. In the marketplace today there is a gap between older and younger professionals. Both ends of the age spectrum need to work to bridge the gap. The younger professionals need to realize the value of being mentored by those older than them. The older professionals need to reach out to the younger ones and offer to share wisdom from years of experience.

I’m confident that different generations have struggled to connect with one another for a long time. This isn’t new. However, with effort on both ends of the age spectrum many great things can be accomplished.

Young professionals need mentoring. Don’t think you know it all!

Older professionals need to consider how to leave a strong legacy that can be built upon. Don’t walk away from a successful career without caring how those following you will carry on the work you’ve been doing.

Whichever generation you are in, think about how you can do your part. We’re better together than working separately. When generations join forces incredible results can happen. When there is a gap success will be limited. Be part of the solution and watch what can happen.

I’m committed to do my part. What about you?

Be Intentionally Great Today!

“If you can learn to pinpoint how those around you experience the world, and really try to experience the same world they do, you’ll be amazed at how effective your communication will become.” – Terry Felber, Am I Making Myself Clear?

How well do you find common ground with people? Do you ask insightful questions that allow you to learn about others? Do you “seek first to understand, then to be understood” as Stephen R. Covey wrote about in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People?

If you want to increase your leadership effectiveness, seek common ground with those you wish to lead. Find out what makes them tick. John Maxwell recommends the following questions to consider:

• What do they dream about?
• What makes them sing?
• What makes them cry?

If you pay attention to your people, you will find common ground to connect on.You will know how to communicate with them better. You will know how to lead each person as an individual better. You will build trust and rapport.

Think about the people you are leading or wish to lead. What do you know about them? What do you have in common with them? Do you even know?

If you can answer these questions confidently you are well on your way to leading people more effectively. If you don’t know the answers, then it’s time to shift the focus from yourself and your task lists to start understanding your people better. Finding common ground takes work. But in the end, you will be glad you invested the effort. Your people will respect you and trust you more. You will be able to lead from a more solid foundation of trust.

If you realize you have a significant gap in this part of your leadership, contact me and we can discuss ways that I can help you grow as a leader that truly connects with your people.

Be Intentionally Great Today!

In John C. Maxwell’s best-selling book “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”, he writes about The Law of the Picture. In this law, he states that “PEOPLE DO WHAT PEOPLE SEE.”

As a leader you MUST model for your followers what you expect from them. If you expect from them what you are not willing to be and do, you are a hypocrite. Hypocrites do not gain increasing credibility. Instead, they lose credibility more and more each day.

Does this mean you have to be perfect in every area of leadership? NO! It does mean that you must model a growth mindset. Show your people how you are improving on your strengths and addressing your weaknesses. Talk openly with them about how you’re striving to improve. Acknowledge your weaknesses – they already know!

John Maxwell also writes about The Law of Magnetism, which states “WHO YOU ARE IS WHO YOU ATTRACT.” In this chapter, he challenges readers to make a list of the characteristics and qualities of the people they want on their team. Then he says to evaluate yourself against that list.

Are you displaying the qualities that you desire for your team?

If the answer is “yes”, congratulations! Keep working on your strengths to become the best version of yourself.

If the answer is “no”, start working today to become what you expect from others. How?

• Read books, blogs, and articles that address your key issues.
• Find a mentor who has the qualities that you desire to possess.
• Hire a coach to walk alongside you for a season to help you become a better version of you.
• Find conferences and workshops that will give you greater insights and awareness.
• Ask others what they see in you. Take their feedback and reflect on how you can improve.

Become what you expect from others. Display the qualities that you desire in your team. Make a commitment to improve daily. Model a growth mindset for your followers. Be the picture that motivates others to become more and perform better.

Be Intentionally Great Today!