Tag Archives: michael lee stallard

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The Secret to Keeping Your New Year’s Health Resolution

Keeping New Year Resolutions_Woman Tired After Excercising

By Michael Lee Stallard and Katie Russell. As seen on Fox Business. 

Are you working on a New Year’s resolution to be healthier? ‘Tis the season for diets, gym memberships, and locating the running shoes that somehow got buried under a pile of other items in the deepest recesses of your closet (we won’t judge).

We all know the odds. Approximately 8 percent of New Year’s resolutions are actually kept, according to research from the University of Scranton. Yet somehow, year after year, we hope that our resolution will defy the odds and be one of those 8 percent.

Obviously, preparation is essential. You will find it hard to stick to your new diet if you haven’t prepared by filling your pantry with the right type of food. But even those who prepare often find themselves on the verge of giving up.

So what’s the secret to success? How do those who achieve their goals keep going, even when they feel like giving up?

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How to Reconnect Your Team

Business Team Discussion to Reconnect Team

#66 Reconnect Your Team

On a monthly basis at the beginning of a meeting, ask your direct reports to share something on their mind. It can be anything they care to share with the team such as something they did outside of work that other team members might be interested in or something that’s going on at work that they want the team to know about. Give each person five minutes to share.

This is the sixty-sixth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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Help People Get Into the Right Role

New Job Sign

#65 Help People Get Into the Right Role

Help your direct reports get into the right role that fits their interests and strengths, and provides the right degree of challenge. If you are not able to get them a role that is a perfect fit, consider responsibilities or projects you can assign them that fit well with their wiring.

This is the sixty-fifth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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Persevere to Reconnect

Man holding bouquet of flowers and knocking on door

#64 Persevere to Reconnect

Sometimes saying you’re sorry isn’t enough. Don’t give up. Keep reaching out to reconnect.  Doing so is a sign of your good character (it can be said that you have the character strength of magnanimity).

This is the sixty-fourth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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To Connect, Celebrate High Five Moments

Happy Business People Giving High Fives

#63 Celebrate High Five Moments

In Fired Up or Burned Out, we wrote about Cranium, the games company, and how it is intentional about designing games so that people will experience “high five moments.” One form of physical touch that can be appropriate in the workplace (depending upon the context) is to give someone a “hive five” or “fist bump” when they perform well. These are acceptable ways to give recognition in more informal cultures. Research has found sports teams that express recognition in more physical forms perform better.

This is the sixty-third post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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Provide Autonomy in Goal-Setting

Write Goals Down

#62 Provide Autonomy in Goal-Setting

As much as possible, let your direct reports establish their Top Five annual goals after communicating that their goals need to align with your Top Five. Talk through the goals with each employee to find SHARED goals that will advance your organization’s and the individual employee’s interests.

It may not be possible to find a perfect set of goals that meet the interests of all so make the effort to find the best possible set of goals and you will be rewarded by people who execute their tasks with greater energy and enthusiasm.

This is the sixty-second post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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December Leadership Development Carnival

Leadership Development Carnival Logo

I am honored to host the December installment of the Leadership Development Carnival, a collection of helpful leadership advice from top bloggers. This month’s carnival doesn’t adhere to any particular theme, but rather features content on a variety of leadership topics and issues.

Take a moment to click through each of the great submissions, and be sure to share this collection of posts with someone you believe would benefit from the advice. 

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The Optimum Number of Annual Goals

Woman Writing Goals on Board

#61 Set “Top Five” Annual Goals

Both individually and as a team, set no more than five challenging but achievable annual goals.  If you go beyond five annual goals, it will diminish focus and effective execution by tending to overwhelm those responsible for implementation. One day each week, review your weekly plans to see that they are aligned with your Top Five.

This is the sixty-first post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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Closing Your Company’s “Leadership Gap”

The Office Cast, Photo Courtesy of NBC

The Office Cast, Photo Courtesy of NBC

Historically, leaders have relied on their internal networks and intuition to assess employee engagement and strategic alignment.  Tom Peters and Robert Waterman called it “management by wandering around” or “MBWA” in their classic book In Search of Excellence.

Just as intuition once tricked us into believing that the world was flat and the sun rotated around the earth, it is a flaw of human nature that most leaders are mistaken in their assessment of the engagement and alignment of people they lead. They don’t recognize employee engagement and alignment problems until they feel the pain from underperformance or face reality in the form of poor results from an employee engagement survey.

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To Connect, Learn and Apply the Five Languages of Appreciation

Wrapped gift#60 Learn and Apply the Five Languages of Appreciation

Ask your direct reports about memorable times when they received recognition at work. As they describe these times, ask questions to identify their primary and secondary languages of appreciation (also known as “love languages”).

The five languages of appreciation in the workplace are as follows: words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, gifts, and physical touch. (Please note that physical touch is not a primary language of appreciation in the workplace.) To learn more, read Gary Chapman and Paul White’s The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.

This is the sixtieth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.