Vicki Anderson

I am retiring this year. My plans were to retire at the end of 2011 but I have a couple small projects that are still in the works for a few more months.

I have had the great pleasure to work with many wonderful people and organizations over my career. As I look back I am rewarded with thoughts of the growth I have seen in those I coached or who participated in training programs. I have often asked leaders to consider what legacy they will leave by being a leader. I hope my legacy is one of helping people develop leadership skills that matter for getting peak performance in their teams.

I am ready to move forward to new challenges working on projects that have not been identified yet. I am ready for a new chapter in my life and am already involved in several areas of interest. This will be my last blog and it will be taken down in a few months. Best wishes to everyone for success.

One of my favorite quotes from a former friend was, “The grass is always greener where you water it.” When you feel sorry for your lot and think things would be better somewhere or with someone else, stop first and think about what you have done to make the best of your current situation. What have you done to water and fertilize the place you are right now? Have you invested only the best of you into the relationship or job? Or, have you laid back expecting someone else to do for you what you could do for yourself? Have you tried removing the obstacles to happiness so the good can shine through? Have you found champions to help and support you in your quest for excellence?

As we are starting into the next year of political mania, the presidential “wannabes” are trying to say that we will be better off with one of them. How do we know we will be better off? The power of the government does not rest in the hands of any one person. I am not in favor of any particular party or person at this point, but I do find it interesting to listen to all the hype about how it will be better “if only” another person were in office.

I think the “if only” that needs to be considered is how we individually become accountable and hold our elected officials accountable. What are we investing of ourselves to make sure we are good citizens of the U.S.? What are we contributing to the process so that it can be successful no matter who is in the presidential seat?

Anyone who owns a business knows that you can be the best manager or leader in the world, but with the wrong employees you will not succeed. Whatever president we have needs to know that we citizens want to work for the greater good of the U.S. We can complain about how bad things are, or we can do whatever small things we can to make our lives better. Let’s spend our energy in watering and fertilizing the grass we have. Make a difference in the world around you by being helpful, creative, and loving. Then help others around you do the same. You will gain resilience and strength, which are the basics for weathering change positively. And, you can count on change happening.

Last night I attended a retirement celebration for a colleague of mine. He was the head of an organization to help manufacturers by connecting them with financial, management, process, and business resources. He said he was overwhelmed at the number of people who attended, but everyone else knew that they were there because of their relationship over the years.

He was someone who knew virtually everyone everywhere he went and knew something about them. When he talked with you he would ask about your business, about your children, about what you had learned lately that was interesting, etc. Then he would share news he had learned from his travels around the country. His natural curiosity led him to discover the new and relate it to the old. When he saw you again, he would ask how things were going and likely would mention something you told him before. You see, you had a relationship.

This man was respected and admired, as well as loved, for the personal way he approached his business. He was all about helping you with your business. He loved putting people and resources together as he came upon potential matches. Then he would get out of the way and let you figure out how to make it work. He was helping you build new relationships.

I served on his board for a number of years and the days I would ride with him to another city to meet would be filled with information sharing as well as the collegiality of laughter. He was easy to laugh and hard to say a bad word about anyone.

He says he wants to spend more time on the golf course, but I suspect he will continue pollinating the countryside wherever he goes with relationship building for success and friendship.

Who’s got your back? Who’s holding your hand as you walk a new path? Who is challenging you to go where you are afraid to go by yourself? Who is your Bob or Jillian? As a consultant and coach, I am a support to my clients who want to discuss ideas, I provide feedback, and I support them as they try new things. I sometimes teach when they want or need new information.

While I don’t scream at my clients like Bob and Jillian do on “Biggest Loser” I do help my clients pull back the screen and be honest with themselves. So often we want to be different. We want to try something new, but we have deluded ourselves with our own story so long that we believe it is the only truth for us. Sometimes having an outside person can help you get perspective.

This morning as I was doing exercises on my Wii Fit I tried a couple new exercises that I couldn’t do very well. What I like about the Wii is that it gives you some feedback. It’s not always that accurate if you aren’t really trying because it can only measure certain movement. However, it does give you a sense of your fitness level if you are doing it right. And, you can do it in the privacy of your home without being embarrassed.

The feedback is the biggest part of support, I think, because having someone or something outside yourself give you a reality check helps you move toward your goal. It provides accountability. If you are really trying to make changes, you need some kind of support. Ask a friend, a colleague, a family member, or an outside expert to meet with you regularly to discuss your progress and your practice. Keep track by writing it down. Document what you did to get you where you are and what you plan to do next. Before you know it, you’ll arrive at your goal and you’ll have someone to celebrate with.

In leadership development we talk a lot about managing, motivating, and leading your staff, but what about managing your boss? I have always believed that if you want a good working situation it is important to tune in to the needs of your boss.

I have worked with several very difficult and demanding bosses and people would ask me how I could stand working for them. However, I rarely had any issues with them because I figured out what they wanted and needed so I could provide it to them. Just like customers who don’t get the service they expect, bosses can get demanding and difficult when they are often disappointed with the performance they get from their employees.

Make sure you are clear about what your boss expects from your performance. If they do not volunteer the information or are vague in their instructions, ask enough questions to make sure you understand and can deliver what they want.

Make your work as error free as possible and turn it in on time. I had a boss who saw any error in a written document as a license to edit it. He also liked giving others an assignment to write something, but ended up using it as a draft to help organize his thoughts. What I learned was that if I asked enough questions and made the document error free, he rarely changed my work. However, I saw others who would give him a very rough draft thinking it didn’t matter because he would change it anyway. He saw that as an open invitation to rewrite it and often took it in another direction, which really frustrated them.

Something else that is important in managing your boss is keeping him or her informed of your activities and accomplishments. You don’t have to be bragging all the time, but frankly, your boss is too busy doing their own thing to notice everything you do. If you want to get credit for the good work you do, then blow your horn once in a while.

I don’t consider this sucking up to the boss. Instead, you are building credibility with the boss. You find out what they want and deliver it to them. That makes you a highly desirable employee. When you let them know what good work you are doing that they might not see, it gives them a chance to recognize your efforts, further giving you credibility. In today’s competitive workplace, if you want to stand out, you have to manage up.