Empowerment

What’s the difference between confidence and empowerment? (text)

Kate — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:54:43 +0000

We can look at confident people and assume that they are empowered, but sometimes out confidence stems from different places. If you’re a confident person in the kitchen and you can cook a great meal, normally your belief around your cooking comes from other people so it can be an external reference. The difference that I’ve found is empowerment comes from an internal reference point. It’s that I know that I’m delivering this magnificent meal because it’s cooked with love and it’s cooked with a sense of certainty that this is the right thing to provide for the people that are going to be nourished by this. So it bubbles up from the inside whereas confidence tends to be built from the outside. So that would be the defining difference. I’ve felt confident before and then stepped into a place and felt disempowered. So you can still have confidence running, from the outside nobody would tell that there’s a chink in your armor, but inside you absolutely feel that that has slipped away, that you’re starting to change who you’d be in order to gain acceptance or have more friends. So the difference in developing empowerment, I feel, leads to confidence. An empowered person then can have the character trait of confidence. To me the investment was more important to grow my empowerment internally to know that I was on the right track based on my dreams and goals and my purpose and that’s what I’d encourage to help you to develop with our twelve month empowerment program, or come along and hear us speak, or have us speak for you people because to me it’s about having teams of empowered people.

I’m feeling lost in the world, what should I do? (text)

Kate — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:53:48 +0000

One of the first signs of change that happens within me is that I start to feel lost in the world and wondering what it is that I’m doing. Am I in the right place and connecting back with that fuzzy vision that isn’t crystal clear anymore? If you’re starting to get to a place where you’re feeling lost in the world, then the first thing that I would recommend is to connect to somebody who can help and guide you from that place whose in a stronger position. It’s very important if you’re feeling like you’re going to fall off the cliff that you don’t grab somebody whose not in a solid position because the two of you will go over. It’s very important that you reach for someone who was got their solid footing and are very clear on where they’re headed and they’re in a safety zone. So that’s why for me it was very important to not only start to become that person around my circle of influence to show people that I had steady footing. I was clear on where I was headed, but I was also competent to be able to help other people. In the beginning there was resistance from myself to become that foul weathered friend. It felt as if I was only ever a foul weathered friend. People would come to me for their problems, but wouldn’t necessarily invite me to the celebration. When they open to you and start to recognize that you can be trusted, then you get that balance back. So it’s important if you’re the person that is helping others that you keep that steady footing, but if you’re the person feeling lost in the world that you commit to those other people. Find yourself a buddy, a lifeline, somebody that you can lean on a little more and certainly that’s what we’re here for. If that’s in any way that we can be of service of you that’s our intention because we’ve all felt los tin the world and that’s what it’s important to be able to come with empathy and to listen with a level of understanding and a level of grace. I would encourage anybody that has been shaken up from their foundations to be able to start to rebuild those foundations on loyalty and trust, and to friendship and that’s going to make for a much, much easier steady recovery.

How do I get out of my comfort zone? (text)

Kate — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:52:28 +0000

There’s a couple of ways to get out of your comfort zone. One is that somebody can push you out of your comfort zone and one is that you choose to step out of your comfort zone. I found, you know, observing people over long periods of time from being a coach for so many years is that if you don’t choose to step out of your comfort zone normally wisdom will come and find you and force you out of your comfort zone. A great mentor of mine, Nancy, would say “what’s outside of our comfort zone? Everything that we want.” So for me it was recognizing that naturally that comfort zone is shrinking all of the time, so how could I get behind that wall of comfort, or I don’t know why they call it a comfort zone, it’s not that comfortable, but pushing those walls out and constantly challenging myself to be able to achieve greater success. That doesn’t necessarily mean huge buckets of money, but it might be out of my comfort zone in that I’m not following the pack anymore and that is out of your comfort zone because if everyone’s watching The Block and you’re not watching The Block and they’re talking about it, you’ll be out of your comfort zone when they challenge you. Why don’t you watch TV? What are you doing instead? Feeling that residence internally is where you need to start working. Until you can look them in the eye and say proudly “look I choose to read a book at that time. I’m playing with my kids,” or whatever it is in a nonjudgmental, but simply because that’s the reason, then you’ll start to find that that comfort zone will stretch. Now in the short term you will have physical effects. You might get headaches. You might put on a little bit of weight. You know comfort zone and you’re stretching your body will try to protect you in different ways. So it’s recognizing that for you to grow and expand, becoming more aware, aware of where your comfort zone is around certain people and then knowing who those people that push those buttons more regularly and perhaps giving yourself respite from them for three months or so while you grow yourself and then go back just to give yourself a mini test. So certainly what I would encourage is to pinpoint a few people that really take you out of your comfort zone and embark on that journey of letting them know, letting them know that “wow you challenged me when you asked me that. I want to answer that as best I can in a way that makes me feel good and you can accept it. Would that be ok?” Starting to get your words out and ask better questions, that’s the way that you get out of your comfort zone.

How do I achieve goals? (text)

Kate — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:51:41 +0000

Part of achieving goals isn’t just about empowerment, it’s actually very much about discipline. When we recognize that when you have the right mindset and you match that with the right work ethic, magic appears and it’s actually not too magical. So I guess, you know, for me goal setting has always been a case of knowing the facts that three percent of people will set effective goals, but indeed they will end up amassing ninety-seven percent of the world’s wealth and so what a great talent to be able to acquire. If that takes two, ten, twenty years to be able to achieve that, you know, is that a worth while expedition of time and energy? To me it certainly has been. Looking at the most successful people and learning how they set their goals and maintained the discipline to continue to grow has always encouraged me and I’ve recognized that life is not a sprint. Life is a marathon and so as you grow and expand, new goals will come forth. If you can link those goals to your vision and to your purpose, then inspiration will overtake the motivation and you find yourself jumping out of bed and naturally doing the things that you do. Have you spent enough time on your reasons for what you’re doing, digging deep to find the purpose, because the empowerment secret lies in those two activities.

How do I stop getting in the way of my own success? (text)

Kate — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:50:34 +0000

So what happens if you’re feeling that you’re getting in the way of your own success? Some people call this sabotage and other people just call it stagnation or a block. For me a lot of the challenge come from unconscious program or the subconscious, however you want to think about it. When I did my psychology degree, we learned a lot of different models, whether it’s Erickson, or Freud, or Gestalt, theory on how behavior actually arrived and some people believe that it’s a holistic approach, more a Gestalt feeling, that’s environmental, it’s behavioral. Whatever your belief structure is, is really going to help you determine how to remove these blocks. I’ve coached leaders that have a very strong faith and through prayer and meditation they’re able to clear the block themselves very quickly. I’ve also had hypnotherapists and kinesiologyists and chiropractors come in and work with some of the top leaders to illustrate to them that these blocks can sometimes be bigger issues than they realize from the subconscious realm. So for me what I would encourage is firstly to decide what you’re boundaries are around what you’re willing to explore to remove these blocks and then start down that path. For me the coaches that I use are always trying to access the fastest possible ways to release patents. I call that the “freaky trail”. I’ve been on that trail for many, many years where people have simply walked up to me and said “I can help you. I know what it is that’s your problem and I can be the solution to that problem.” I’ve never had a block around that and therefore those people approach me all of the time. So that’s what I would recognize as soon know that you open up to hearing the answers then the answers will find you and what do they say that the teacher will appear as soon as the student is ready. If you want to move faster then I’d say get more into student mode and ask the right questions to the right teacher.

Why would I want to empower my employees? (text)

Kate — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:49:35 +0000

I’ve had a few short sighted leaders ask why would I want to empower my team because they now will leave. That’s a very common question. Why would you want to empower your team? When we think about it, it’s very important if you are a business owner or a leader in a corporate field or an owner of a franchise to start to recognize that your team do become your asset and if you’re not growing the asset, then the asset is dying. So the challenge can be is that how do we not just maintain status quo, but get enough growth through the year to be able to feel the value of that asset growing. To me that came to John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success and the base of that pyramid talked about leadership and loyalty, loyalty being the number on thing. So if you’re to empower team, then are you loyal to their dreams and goals? Are you clear of what their vision is and have you forged friendships with these people, because that’s the fastest way to empower your team. If you want people to be more industrious whilst they’re working, then you need to be more enthusiastic about what it is that they’re doing the work for. So I’d encourage all of you to look up John Wooden Success Principals and his pyramid because there’s so many fantastic clues to success there and if we can get the base of that pyramid happening in more businesses then not only are we going to have more empowered teams, we’re going to have more empowered families, more empowered children, and more empowered generations to come.

How does an introvert become more extraverted? (text)

Kate — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:48:36 +0000

If you’re somebody that has, let’s say for example, you’re more introverted and you’re in a role that is, I guess, demanding from you more communication skills, more alignment with people and teams then I would encourage you to start to learn the skill set. I mean it’s no different than, let’s say for example, if you’re a new dad and you’re needing to understand why the baby’s crying, it’s probably not innate to you to understand the order or the feeling that comes if you’re a mum. And it’s the same as if you’re an introvert wanting to be an extrovert. There’s different feelings extroverts get and different emotions they get to fit into certain situations, but are there no dads on the plant that look after babies effectively? Hardly. Ok so it’s a learned skill. So as an introvert there’s plenty of books that you can read, seminars that you can attend, that start to develop your natural skills and what I’d recommend is to attach yourself to an extrovert who is in the correct manner of what your plight is or what are you wanting to learn and how you’re wanting to grow and be able to feel comfortable enough to share with them what’s going on in your mind. Because as more of an introverted person the thoughts will be coming through your mind that the words wont be coming out of your mouth, the opposite for an extrovert. The words just fly out of your mouth before the thoughts are being processed. So it’s, you know, a great team combination when you put those two together because the extrovert gets the foot-in-mouth disease and the introvert can’t find their foot. So it’s very important to be able to understand both sides of that game and have a team of people around you that can encourage you to just open up and share more and see what’s the worst that can happen.

How do I succeed and climb the corporate ladder? (text)

Kate — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 05:47:28 +0000

I think the critical thing when you’re looking at the corporate ladder and deciding that “ok I’ve been on this rung for enough,” either that being a job or that being management and wanting to step up into higher leadership roles, is simply a decision. Each rung has a system and plan to be able to master that and it’s no different than as you were growing and you went from grade one to grade to, to grade three. There’s a natural progression and some people went to grade ten and then finished, and others went on to grade twelve and finished and some went on to university. Some did masters degrees and doctorates, and so it just depends for you individually as where you see yourself progressing up that corporate ladder. But if you want to succeed, then I would say give yourself solid timeframes. For me in knew that that management rung was going to be one of the most challenging rungs that I would have to be able to conquer and I gave myself five years at that space to be able to really manage and lead more than seventy teams. So I guess the culmination of having more than seventy teams allowed me to be able to see every different personality style, every different leadership style, understand that some people had different strengths, and utilizing their strengths to grow their self-image was more important than drowning them in success principals. So then as I stepped into more leadership roles and investor roles, and into entrepreneurialism then for it became really an understanding that the skill set on that rung needed to be sourced elsewhere. Imagine that living on the ground floor and then wanting eventually to live in the penthouse. You’re not going to take all of your neighbors with you to the penthouse. Not everyone can afford it. Not everyone is willing to make the move and so what’s really important is understanding that it might cost something for you to move up that corporate ladder. For me it was humility. I needed to gain more in the sense of becoming more humble to be able to grow faster. So the more that I was able to shed ego and to ask better questions of more qualified people and be open to the change process then that was where my empowerment journey was, I guess, the key. So just recognize where your blocks are and have you got the mentor that’s the right person on board for you to be able to draw out from you why it is that you want to move so quickly and give you the tools and the expertise to do that effectively.

What’s the difference between confidence and empowerment?

Kate — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 02:26:21 +0000

how do I succeed as a woman in a male dominated corporated world? (text)

Kate — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 05:46:32 +0000

If you’re one of the lucky ones that’s a female in a male dominated world then you need to start to be thinking about how you can utilize that to your advantage. I mean, you know, realistically when we look at personality profiles, or profiling, the first thing we look at is are you a male or are you female and do you recognize the difference. So it’s very important that we don’t try to conform, and I went through that challenge when I first became a business coach among six hundred other male business coaches and only four women that were all spread across the world. There wasn’t a lot of role models that I could identify with that thought within a feminine style and so it always felt quite challenging. So the initial test, I guess, was: is it easier just to use masculine traits to lead? And yes it is. If they’re your role models then that is going to be easier, but is it congruent? For me I found over a period of time that it became less and less congruent and I needed to forge my own role models, female role models on the planet that I was able to identify with, connect with, and ask questions to uniquely be able to lead in my style which is that of a feminine leader. So I recognized that it was about getting the stylist in, it was about understanding colors and not just wearing all black every single day. And certainly that’s what I would encourage is, you now, use your uniqueness to be able to develop yourself as a brand and niche within what it is that you’re doing and be grateful that you get the opportunity to lead at that high level because I believe that, you know, we’re heading into a time where there will be more female leaders and men are very grateful to have that female perspective. So it’s provided you give them the respect. You don’t talk over the top of them and you listen intently with the desire to be able to then clearly communicate your point and your perspective. Then you shouldn’t be having any troubles as you head up that corporate ladder.