Leadership Session Follow-up – May

LEADERSHIP- THE BOTTOM LINE

Monthly Leadership Session Follow-up!

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“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the
self-esteem of their personnel.  If people believe in
themselves, it’s really amazing what they can
accomplish.” —Sam Walton
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Monday,
May 25, 2009

Hope you are enjoying your Memorial Day weekend!

We would like to thank you once again for your participation
in our monthly leadership development session during the
month of May, 2008.

As you will remember, in our first segment we discussed the
subject of stress; what it is, the kinds of things that typically
lead to stress and also the many options, (choices), we have
available to us when it comes to our ‘responses’ to it.

We focused on the issue not only from the perspective of its
personal application in our own lives, but also how to approach
minimizing the opportunity for stress in our workplace and how
to help a team member deal more productively with stress on
an individual basis.

Let me encourage you to remember that stress begins to
build when we start to feel overwhelmed and that we are no
longer in control of our circumstances or environment, which
leads then to the need to self-preserve or to protect ourselves,
which is then manifested in the form of ’stress’.

One of the smartest things you can do to minimize the
opportunity for stress in your team’s workplace is to follow
the steps outlined on page 5-11.  By creating opportunities
for greater involvement on the part of your people, you will,
to varying degrees, be putting them more in control of their
work environment thereby reducing the opportunities for
them to experience stress in their everyday work life.

We covered quite a bit in our segment on stress. Let me know
if you might need any additional input on how to adapt any of
the ideas or processes we covered to your specific environment.

In our second segment together, we discussed the importance
of attitude, again, not only our own attitude, but how to influence
the attitudes of those members of our team who may need to learn
how to better manage their own attitudes.  We also focused on how
to move someone through the process of changing their attitude
from a negative attitude to a much more positive and productive
one.

The 10 common sense steps we covered on page 5-27, are not
only effective, but when understood and mastered, will serve you
well when it comes to you teaching your team members how to
assume responsibility for their own attitude and how to better
manage their attitudes on a regular basis.

Again, do keep in mind that we’re here to assist you when
it comes to you determining the best approach to take when
applying the steps we covered to a specific individual in your
department who may need some special attention in this area
of their development. Our goal is to help you get good at what
you are learning in each of our monthly sessions.

Remember, when it comes to you influencing the development
of your people in these two areas – stress and attitude – it’s as
simple as 1 – 2 – 3:

1.         Demonstrate what ‘good’ looks like,

2.         Train and coach for improved performance,

3.         Positively recognize and reinforce effort and successes.

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Additional Resource Material!

I have included via email an expanded version of page 5-27 for you
to print, review and add to your student manual for future reference.
It will outline for you the steps to follow when it becomes necessary
to help a team member, co-worker or maybe even a friend or family
member to overcome a negative attitude. I also included a copy
of the ‘Pig’ exercise for you to conduct with your team members.

Hope you enjoy it!

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Additional Opportunity!

There were a number of people who, at the end of the
session, expressed an interest in being able to invest
additional time discussing the issues of both stress
and attitude, and how to effectively apply the
principles and processes that we discussed
to specific scenerios they are faced with.

We would be pleased to schedule a convenient time
to meet again with you on an individual basis, or as
a group, to answer any additional questions you
might have and to discuss how to apply what
we covered to any specific situations you
may be faced with.

Please email or contact us at the number listed
below to schedule a convenient time for us
to get together.

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Always Think Positive Thoughts!

Things typically turn out best for those people
who can make the best out of the way things turn out.
It’s really not the situation; it’s your reaction to the situation.
The reality in your life may result from many outside factors,
none of which you can control. Your attitude, however,
reflects the way in which you deal with what is
happening to you.

Life at any time can become difficult.
Life at any time can become easy.
It all depends upon perspective.

You can’t always control your circumstances.
But, you can control your own thoughts.
There is nothing neither good nor bad,
only your thinking makes it so.

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Application Projects!

Attitude:

Turn in your manual to page 5-32.  You will see the application
project page for the second segment. (There was not one for
the first segment this month!)

This one is going to be easy for you to complete and a lot of fun,
too, for both you and your team, (and family and friends!)

The application project is designed to reinforce a fundamental
leadership/management truth, and that is the fact that you will
tend to get a whole lot more of what you positively recognize
and reinforce.

Your goal will be to see how many people you can catch doing
something ‘right’ that you can positively reinforce, and then
reward them with an ‘I Like’ note.

Not only will it make a positive impact on those who receive them
but it will also move you in the direction of you getting into the habit
of looking for and rewarding positive attitudes and good performance
on the part of your people.

So, go ahead and prepare your blank ‘I Like’ slips, read the directions
on page 5-32, and get started.  We are going to begin our next session
together by giving you an opportunity to share with us some of your
experiences.

By the way, if you have any questions about the exercise, please
do feel free to email or give us a call as we want you and your
team members to be able to receive the maximum benefit
possible from the exercise.

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Great Idea!!
Why don’t you go ahead and follow through and get started
with the ‘attitude’ application project now while the content
and concepts are still fresh in your mind?

As a matter of fact, once you get started, you’ll really enjoy
thinking through the process and succeeding!  Your people
will enjoy it too!

Remember:

Please feel free to email or you can give us a call if you
would like any personal assistance and/or coaching
when it comes to completing your application
project this month.

You can call or email!  (See Below!)

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Coaching!

Let me remind you once again to plan to take full advantage
of your opportunity for individual ‘on-site’ coaching in any of the
areas that pertain to the application of the concepts, principles
and processes we cover in our monthly sessions.  In addition,
we are always happy to assist you in any areas pertaining to
everyday ‘people’ issues.    We can assist you by phone or
at your location. Just email or give us a call and we will
go to work on scheduling a convenient time for us to get
together.

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Next Month . . .

Make sure you join us again next month as we take an
interesting look at how to listen and communicate in the
workplace more effectively.  We’re also going to focus on
how to help team members set and reach important goals.

Two very valuable sessions you will not want to miss.
I’ll tell you more about what to expect in the June
email newsletter & monthly reminder.

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One Last Thing . . .
If you get a minute, click on ’comment’ above or below
this follow-up article and give us some feedback regarding
this month’s session. We always appreciate and enjoy hearing
back from you.

Have a great month and remember . . . .

“The will to win is worth nothing
unless you have the will to prepare.”

Sincerely,

Jim

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Contact Information . . .

Jim Abbondante
Lead Facilitator
Personal Cellular: (817) 304-2225

THE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

Main Number: (817) 405-0012
Student Services:  (800) 955-0109
Email: Leadership.Team@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

The Leadership Institute
P.O. Box 642
Lindale, Texas 75771

www.LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

www.JimAbbondante.WordPress.com

“If through your example and your actions you inspire
others to dream more, learn more, do more and also
become more, then you are a true leader.”