From Transactional to Transformational Leadership: Key Strategies for Team Success

Adjusting Your Leadership Compass

Think about the last time you were part of a team rather than its leader. Did you feel like a cog in a machine, or did you feel empowered, valued, and driven to innovate? The way you felt about the situation probably came down to the style of leadership. To shift from a transactional to a transformational leadership approach, pay attention to these elements:

Focus on the big picture, not just the day-to-day tasks.
Encourage team members to contribute ideas and take initiative.
Provide opportunities for professional growth and development.

These changes set the stage for a more dynamic and engaged team.

Turning Teams into Powerhouses

Now, let’s dive deeper. Transformational leaders know that a team’s potential is maximised when each member feels invested in the ultimate outcome. This means fostering an environment where risks are encouraged, and failures are seen as learning opportunities.

How can this be achieved?

Establish clear goals that challenge the team but are also achievable.
Create a safe space for open dialogue about successes and failures.
Reward innovation and the pursuit of new ideas, even if they don’t always work out.

When team members aren’t afraid to fail, they’re more likely to succeed spectacularly.

Strategise to Mobilise: Empowering Your Team

Empowerment isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a critical component of team success. But empowerment without direction can lead to chaos. As a leader, your role is to provide a framework in which every member of your team can perform at their best and contribute freely.

Empowerment Tools and Techniques

Empowering a team requires more than just good intentions. You’ll need strategies including:

Regular team-building opportunities that promote trust and camaraderie.
Training programs that equip team members with the skills they need to excel.
Regular check-ins that allow for feedback and adjustments to strategies.

With the right kind of interaction and tools, your team will become a production powerhouse.

Unlocking Potential Through Skilled Communication

Establishing Channels of Trust

Communication is the lifeline of any team. Without it, trust erodes, tensions multiply, and productivity plummets. To establish and maintain channels of trust:

Keep lines of communication open with all team members.
Listen actively and empathetically to concerns and feedback.
Respond appropriately and authentically to suggestions.
Be transparent about decisions and the reasons behind them.
Remember that you don’t have all the answers – and your team members might provide what you need.

When your team trusts that their voices are heard, they will communicate more openly and effectively, and they will be more accepting when their ideas are rejected, or they receive negative feedback.

Crafting Messages that Resonate and Motivate

It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it. If you want to craft messages that resonate with your team, then you must:

Understand your team’s values and what drives individual members.
Use stories and examples to illustrate your points and make them relatable.
Consistently communicate with clarity and passion so that you inspire and motivate others.

A well-crafted message can turn a group of individuals into a unified team with a common goal.

For example, when presenting a new project, instead of just outlining tasks, describe how this project could impact the company and the team members’ growth. This approach can turn a routine assignment into a mission.

The Collaboration Imperative: Fostering Synergy in Teams

Collaboration isn’t just about working together; it’s about working smarter. In the world of team leadership, fostering synergy isn’t optional; it’s essential. When a team is in sync, the combined effect of their efforts is infinitely greater than the sum of individual contributions.

This is the power of synergy.

Cultivating a Cooperative Mindset

To build a cooperative mindset within your team, start by modelling the behaviour you want to see. Demonstrate respect for each person’s ideas and contributions and encourage your team members to do the same. This creates a culture where everyone feels valued and is therefore willing to contribute wholeheartedly.

Next, look for opportunities to bring team members together to solve problems collaboratively. This not only leverages the diverse skills and perspectives within the team but also helps to break down silos and build a sense of community.

Encourage cross-functional projects to promote understanding of different roles.
Host brainstorming sessions that welcome all ideas without judgement.
Implement focused team huddles to keep everyone aligned and informed without taking all their time.
Provide central areas for informal discussion and interaction (the watercooler effect)

As these practices become routine, the cooperative mindset will become ingrained in your team’s culture and the outcomes will speak for themselves.

Techniques for Team Cohesion and Problem-Solving

Team cohesion doesn’t happen by accident; it is the result of intentional effort. Use these techniques to strengthen your team’s bond and enhance their problem-solving skills:

Set clear, collective goals that require collaboration to achieve.
Use team-building exercises to deepen trust and understanding.
Establish a shared vision that connects individual work to the team’s success.

When everyone is pulling in the same direction, the team can tackle even the most daunting challenges with confidence.

Redefining Team Success: The Tangible Benefits of Leadership Evolution

As your leadership strategies evolve, it’s important to redefine what success looks like for your team. It is no longer just about hitting targets and deadlines; it’s about how your team gets to those targets. Are they growing? Are they innovating? Are they working together in new and more effective ways? Are they learning new skills?

Success in this new paradigm is about the health of the team as much as it is about the health of the project. It’s about the process as well as the product. This broader definition of success opens up new opportunities for recognition and celebration, which in turn can lead to even greater achievements.

Measuring Performance Beyond Numbers

While traditional metrics are important, to truly gauge the success of your leadership shifts, consider these additional dimensions:

Team Engagement: Are team members actively contributing and taking initiative?
Innovation: Is the team finding new and better ways to do things?
Adaptability: How well is the team responding to changes and challenges?

As you measure these aspects, you get a much more well-rounded picture of your team’s performance and the impact of your leadership.

Consider the story of a sales team that was struggling to meet its targets. After shifting to a transformational leadership approach that emphasised team engagement and innovation, not only did they meet their sales targets, but they also reported higher job satisfaction and the turnover rate was dramatically lower than that of other sales teams within the organisation.

Celebrating Growth: Recognising and Rewarding Team Achievements

Recognition and rewards are powerful motivators. When you celebrate the growth and achievements of your team, you’re not just giving them a pat on the back; you’re reinforcing the behaviours that led to success. This can take many forms, from public acknowledgment in a meeting to a team outing or a simple thank-you note.

Remember that whatever form of recognition you choose, it should be meaningful to members and aligned with the values you’re promoting within the team. It’s not just about the outcome; it’s about the journey.

The Continuous Journey: Encouraging Adaptation and Learning

Success is not a destination; it’s a journey. And on this journey, adaptation and learning are your lifelong companions. As a leader, you must create an environment where continuous improvement is not just encouraged but expected.

Encourage your team to seek out learning opportunities and to be open to change. This mindset will ensure that your team remains dynamic and competitive in an ever-changing business landscape.

Nurturing a Culture of Continuous Improvement

A culture of continuous improvement is built on the premise that there’s always room to get better. To nurture this culture:

Implement regular retrospectives to reflect on what’s working and what’s not.
Encourage experimentation, even if it means taking calculated risks.
Provide resources and support for professional development.

When your team knows that you’re invested in their growth, they will be more likely to invest in their own growth and success.

Learning from Setbacks: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones

Sometimes a project won’t go as planned. How can you handle this?

Instead of assigning blame, the team leader could facilitate a constructive post-mortem analysis. During this process the team will identify key learnings that they can apply to future projects, thus turning a setback into a stepping stone for future success.

Setbacks are inevitable, but they don’t have to be dead ends. With the right approach, they can be transformed into valuable learning experiences that strengthen the team and improve performance.

By embracing these key leadership shift strategies, you’ll not only improve team performance but also create a more engaging, fulfilling work environment.

As leaders, we are the architects of our teams’ experiences and their pathways to success (or failure). The power to transform team performance lies in our hands, and it starts with a shift in our leadership strategies. The journey from traditional, transactional leadership to a more dynamic, transformational approach can seem daunting, but the rewards are incalculable. It’s about creating an environment where team members are empowered to take initiative, communicate effectively, and work together towards a shared vision.

By adopting these key leadership strategies, we can inspire company leadership success and foster a culture of continuous improvement. We’ll see our teams transform from groups of individuals working in silos into cohesive units that are more than the sum of their parts. And most importantly, we’ll unlock the potential within each team member, creating a ripple effect of positivity and productivity that extends far beyond the confines of our immediate work environment.

Leadership strategies can transform team performance from average to exceptional.
Adopting a transformational leadership style encourages growth and innovation within teams.
Effective communication is essential for inspiring and guiding team members.
Collaboration and a sense of shared purpose drive team success and cohesion.
Continuous learning and adaptation are key to sustaining team improvement over time.

Now that we’ve explored the transformative power of leadership and the strategies that can guide us there, let’s look ahead. The future of leadership is not just about maintaining the status quo but about creating a sustainable legacy that endures and evolves.

It’s our responsibility to not only lead our current teams to success but also to pave the way for the next generation of leaders. This means instilling values and practices that will continue to drive team performance long after we’ve moved on. It means designing leadership pathways that allow for the natural growth and progression of team members into leadership roles.

Designing Leadership Pathways for Future Team Leaders

To ensure that our teams remain strong and successful into the future, we must focus on nurturing the leaders of tomorrow. This involves:

Identifying potential leaders early and providing them with mentorship and opportunities to develop their skills.
Creating a leadership development program that includes training in the key competencies we’ve discussed throughout this article.
Encouraging a culture of leadership at all levels, so that every team member feels empowered to take the lead when the situation calls for it.

Frequently Asked Questions

In this final section, let’s address some common questions about leadership transformation and how it can impact team performance.

How Can Leadership Shifts Impact Team Morale?

Leadership shifts can have a profound impact on team morale. When leaders transition from a command-and-control style to a more empowering, supportive approach, team members feel more valued and engaged. This can lead to increased job satisfaction, higher levels of commitment, and a greater willingness to go above and beyond for the team.

For instance, a team that was once micromanaged might experience a significant boost in morale when given more autonomy and trust. The resulting sense of ownership can transform their attitude and performance.

However, it’s important to manage these shifts carefully, as sudden, or poorly communicated changes can cause confusion and uncertainty. Therefore, clear communication and gradual implementation are key.

What Are Some Common Mistakes Leaders Make When Trying to Transform Team Performance?

When attempting to transform team performance, leaders might fall into several traps. Some of the most common mistakes include:

Implementing changes too quickly without adequate preparation or support.
Failing to lead by example and not embodying the values they wish to instil in their team.
Overlooking the importance of individual recognition and not celebrating small wins along the journey.

By being aware of these pitfalls, leaders can avoid them and ensure a smoother transition to improved team performance.

How Can Leaders Measure the Success of Their Shift Strategies?

Measuring the success of leadership shift strategies involves looking at both quantitative and qualitative indicators. Some metrics to consider include:

Team productivity and performance against goals.
Employee engagement and retention rates.
Feedback from team members, including surveys and one-on-one conversations.

It’s also important to reflect on personal growth and development within the team. Are team members taking on more responsibilities? Are they demonstrating increased confidence and competence in their roles?

Can These Shift Strategies Be Applied to Remote Teams?

Absolutely. While remote teams may face unique challenges, such as building trust and rapport without face-to-face interaction, the core principles of transformational leadership still apply. Clear communication, empowerment, and recognition are just as important if not more so in a remote setting.

Leaders of remote teams should make extra efforts to ensure that team members feel connected and valued, and leverage technology to facilitate collaboration and maintain a strong team culture.

How Often Should Leadership Strategies Be Re-evaluated?

Leadership strategies should be re-evaluated regularly to ensure they remain effective and aligned with the team’s goals. This doesn’t mean constant change for change’s sake, but rather a thoughtful, ongoing assessment of what’s working and what could be improved.

Leaders should be in search of continual improvement strategies and seeking feedback as often as they are providing it to their team members.

Consider conducting an annual review of your leadership approach, as well as more frequent check-ins during times of significant change or challenge. This will help you stay responsive to your team’s needs and the evolving landscape of your industry.

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“Did you know that the #1 reason people don’t ask for a sale is not because they don’t think the product or service, they are selling is valuable?
… It’s because they are afraid their prospect doesn’t like them enough to buy.”
~ Chandell Labbozzetta

Liking Really DOES Matter in Business

One of my early sales mentors and models used to remind the team at every single meeting that emotion and personality were just as important in Business-to-Business sales as they are in Business-to-Consumer sales – in some ways they are even more important. Closing a sale is almost never simply about features, benefits, and logic.

I often tell the story of Bob, the Photocopier man in my sales trainings – for context here’s the short version…

Some years ago, I was preparing for a conference and the department decided they needed to print some additional materials. We had a problem with our existing copier, and I had authorisation to purchase a new one. I was trying to distinguish between two copiers that looked identical from a brand that we knew and liked, and they sent their sales representative to talk to me.
Time was short and a couple of my colleagues were out sick, so I just wanted to clarify the features and order the new photocopier as quickly as possible. I explained this to Bob when he arrived, but he wasn’t listening and jumped straight to the start of his presentation. 90-minutes later I ushered him out the door without the sale and called the competing company.

When we’re talking about this situation during training people sometimes think this is an example of “Just get to the point, answer the question, and take the sale when you’re talking to a business.” It’s not – in fact, it’s the opposite.

You see, when Bob walked into our office the only thing that stood between him and a $45,000 closed sale was his ability to read the customer and answer my burning questions. He failed to do that… And he lost the sale to his competitor. In fact, he cost his company hundreds of thousands of dollars because before long all our photocopiers came from the competitor.

So, here are the 5 secrets that will get people to like you and give you the sale…

Secret of Liking #1: Listen Carefully

If you’re selling anything you need to know the product or service you are selling inside out. By all means, have your scripts and presentations ready and study the FAQs, but the real secret to creating trust and likely is your ability to discover what they really need to know before they buy – and to determine the questions they are not asking.

Secret of Liking #2: Discover Your Prospect’s Primary Communication Style

We all have one or two senses that are more highly developed than others. Identifying (and using) the language that resonates most effectively with the person you are talking to is an incredibly effective way of building trust and liking with others. It has the added benefit of demonstrating that you are really listening (See Secret #1).

Discover your own primary communication style by taking this short quiz.

Secret of Liking #3: Enter Their World

In the world of advertising, you’ll often hear people say that you need to ‘enter the conversation people are already having in their own heads.’ That’s a powerful truth for increasing engagement, but it’s also a wise strategy for creating and growing the emotional connection between two people. It’s hard not to like someone who demonstrates both by their questions and their responses to your answers that they have made the effort to understand your world and to feel your pain and that opens people up to listen when you offer a solution.

Secret of Liking #4: Pay Attention to Details Specifics sell.

Generalisations may capture the imagination and intrigue, but without details to back up the lofty promises and glorious vision they can lead to suspicion. In one-to-one conversations (in person, on the phone, or via Zoom), use the information you have gathered from applying secrets #1-3 to zero in on the details that you know will interest the other person. Save the ‘laundry list’ for large group communications and sales letters where you are speaking to a wider group.

Secret of Liking #5: Give Them Space

Humans are designed to pursue that which runs away and flee from that which pursues. The needy salesperson rarely makes a sale because prospects sense their desperation and instinctively step back. Your likability index measurably increases when you give others space to explore other options while knowing that you are still there. There’s a fine, fine line between persistence and space and so it’s essential to expand your communication and people-reading skills.

At LifePuzzle Sales is the #1 Life Skill

We believe that this is true because sales is also a fundamental HUMAN skill – one of the few skills that doesn’t just apply to one aspect of your life, but which translates across cultures, languages, environments, and specialties.

As we run trainings in corporate environments, as well as public trainings we constantly hear back that the communication and persuasion skills our clients learn are transforming their teams, homes, marriages, parenting, and friendships (even though we don’t actually conduct marriage or parenting training). I think that it is a sad reflection on our society that it puts ‘sales’ in the icky pile (you wouldn’t believe how many people recoil from the idea of sales training) because I think that has two critical consequences (quite apart from the actual $$ value of a sale):

Without well-developed sales (persuasion, influence, and communication) skills no-one is able to share their excellent ideas persuasively and the world misses out on opportunities for growth, change, and productive discussion;
Anyone who is not well-equipped to sell their own ideas and products and to influence others is vulnerable to leaders, managers, and others who possess those skills… Which can lead to dangerously authoritarian situations.

If you would like to learn more about LifePuzzle’s sales and communication programs and their role in business development, take a look HERE.

“Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.”

~ John Ruskin

The Quality of Your Sales Training Affects Your Bottom Line

I was talking to a regional sales manager a few weeks ago about our sales training program and he told me the following story…

Like most growing companies, we invest in our sales teams consistently because we know that when our sales representatives are encouraged and successful our whole company flourishes. Last year we hired a well-known sales training company to deliver a 12-month program for us. It was an expensive contract, but we anticipated at least a 3X gain. Three months into the contract we noticed that our sales numbers had slumped and morale was slipping. Things got worse from there! It turned out that this well-known sales training company was doing 5 things that nearly destroyed the sales team in a very short space of time.

Sales Training Killer #1: An Ineffective System (or No System At All)

A sales system doesn’t have to complex, but you do need a system and it must be effective. Your sales system has three main purposes:

Guide activity and ensure that sales representatives focus on the key products and prospects;
Easy to use so that your people don’t resist the system and follow their own ways instead;
Show real time results so that sales representatives can see what is working (or not working) and get feedback and guidance to change outcomes.

You might think that this is a no-brainer and that every sales training program would teach an appropriate, workable system, but that’s (unfortunately) not true.

Sales Training Killer #2: No Feedback Loop or Negative Feedback Loop

Again, this should be a no-brainer: every coach gives a steady stream of targeted feedback designed to improve performance and acknowledge positive efforts and results and effective sales trainers use the same methods. Sadly, this is uncommon and so people leave training sessions without any clear indication of whether they are implementing their new skills properly or not.

Sometimes, you’ll hear people say, “that doesn’t work” when what they really mean is, “I never learned that right and discovered years later that I’d completely misunderstood the concept or tool.”

Sales Training Killer #3: Boring Basics

The fundamentals of sales are exactly that… Fundamental skills that enhance your results. A great sales training program helps every participant to go deeper into those fundamentals and should give individuals a sense of momentum. After all, every day, every sales encounter (whether it’s successful or not) is a chance to learn and grow.

Michael Jordan practiced free throws every single day, long after he could score a shot while looking in a completely different direction. He used to say that he was still learning more about himself ands body every day. Successful sales training demands the same level of focused awareness as you tune into what is happening in your mental, physical, and emotional state rather than mechanically going through the motions.

Sales Training Killer #4: Focusing on Irrelevant Details

Details matter in sales… Until they don’t. Some sales training programs will zoom in on situational details that may or may not be relevant rather than focusing on the principles that drive your thinking in different situations.

Contrary to popular belief there is no single presentation style or script that will work for every person. As a sales trainer, especially when delivering an in-house program, poor programs focus on irrelevant specifics which leave sales personnel insecure and poorly equipped to handle a change in the product, a new objection, or merely a client with a different personality.

Sales Training Killer #5: Assume the Sale

You must go into every sales encounter with curiosity about your prospect and a genuine desire to determine whether your product is a good fit in terms of outcomes and budget. Yes, you need a positive attitude, but you also need to be ready to acknowledge that you might not have the best solution for them.

When you always assume the sale, discovering that your product/service does not fit their needs feels like a failure and that is discouraging. Effective sales training inculcates a positive curiosity and openness that generally leaves both sides feeling positive even if no sale occurs.

Marks of Successful Sales Training Programs

Identify sales trainers who focus on creative sales training techniques and train the principles of self-awareness, authentic communication, and open curiosity as well as proven systems that are easy to use and appropriately designed.

Expect an effective custom-designed training program to be designed around a 12-month series of modules so there is time to build skills and understanding. I’ve seen three-month accelerator programs deliver great results and then the company says we’ve got what we wanted so we won’t sign up for the next phase – this is a false economy. Every time that has happened results have stalled.

So all I can say is…

REMEMBER: sales are the lifeblood of your company. Don’t skimp on your training but keep your sales force sharp.

“The greatest success is to be able to reach your goals through the right mindset and preparedness. With determination and dedication, everything can be achieved.”

~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

What Is Success and How Can You Achieve It?

We all want success in life and most people are on the hunt for a way to achieve it because they realise that it won’t just fall into their lap.

But how do you define success?

How will you know when you have achieved it?

First of all you need to define what success means for you. My definition of success probably isn’t the same as yours, which is…

a very good thing because we are both unique people with our own desires and goals; and
enabling – because I can help you achieve your goal without jeopardising my ability to reach my own goal.

First, you need to set clear goals that are meaningful for you. Then you need to make a plan to reach those goals which sometimes requires an outside eye – and always demands hard work over time. Along the way, you will probably make mistakes and it’s important for you to recognise them, learn from them, and keep moving forward.

A positive and empowering mindset and a good coach are key factors when you are learning new skills and trying to achieve more than you’ve ever done before. Both of these keep you focused on the goal and provide momentum when you hit setbacks.

Think of your success in the same way that elite athletes approach their own goals – they don’t try to get their alone – they have carefully selected team to support them.

The Power of Mindset in Achieving Success

Your mindset is one of the most important elements in achieving success.

Mindset plays a very important part in your success – or lack thereof. The difference between a true champion and a ‘wannabe’ is rarely a question of talent. It has very little to do with the training, time, or effort expended either. Instead, it has everything to do with the message that your unconscious mind is sending out.

Having a sense of purpose, repeating affirmations, and believing in yourself help you to remain focused and motivated, but retraining your unconscious mind and removing every trace of doubt is even more powerful. When all the messages you send to yourself are 100% congruent then you will make better decisions, react to challenges more quickly, and have more confidence to go for what you want and succeed in reaching your goals.

How to Be Prepared for Anything Life Throws Your Way

Life rarely turns out exactly how we planned it to look.

Stuff happens – sometimes that’s fantastic – like being invited to work with a dream client or given a huge promotion; sometimes it stinks – like a cancer diagnosis or a cancelled contract.

I remember the year my Mum died – unexpectedly soon after a cancer diagnosis. It wasn’t just that I was overwhelmed with grief, everything was complicated by the fact that we were also in business together and we had a busy year of trainings scheduled for both of us – tied to income as well as promises we had made to clients.

I had a plan for the year that I had thought was pretty robust – but suddenly I had to come up with an alternative almost overnight. Thankfully, I have trained my mind to offer solutions, rather than roadblocks and I had a team of coaches and colleagues to draw on because I needed all the flexibility of thinking and action I could muster, but I know that many people have trained their minds to focus on problems rather than solutions…

Are you one of them?

Here’s a quick test…

You’ve just been told that a valuable client is quitting at the end of the month. You need to make up their income immediately or you won’t be able to pay your bills. How well do you sleep that night and where do your thoughts run?

Identifying and Developing a Winning Mindset

Hopefully, your answer to the scenario I’ve just outlined went something like this…

Check the balance sheet and determine the minimum client value required to break even;
Check pipeline to see if there are any upgrades or new prospects who can fill the gap;
Sketch out some alternative revenue streams for quick cash or client influx;
Consider some long-term strategic actions that will mean you are never again this dependent on a single client;
Get on with whatever you had planned for the evening;
Go to sleep expecting a solution to present itself and get a good night’s sleep.

A winning mindset:

Acknowledges the reality and the gravity of a situation – it doesn’t try to blur the unpleasant consequences or details whether it’s in the sphere of business, relationships, health, or finances;
Evaluates existing options (if any);
Looks for unexplored opportunities, information, ideas – and is willing to list and entertain even the seemingly impossible or improbable;
Assumes that this problem will demand them to grow and stretch to meet its demands;
Sets the problem aside;
Goes to sleep asking for solutions rather than wallowing in the problem and creating desperation.

… And the result is that the next day, you are well-rested and equipped to….

Take Decisive Action Towards Your Goals

You see, a winning mindset isn’t just affirmations and self-talk.

It’s the kind of self-talk that ignites massive and decisive action and creates desirable outcomes that really matter to you.

And that brings us right back to where we started… to YOUR definition of Success.

If you need some clarity on what success means to you – maybe because you’ve been pursuing someone else’s definition of success – or if you have been derailed by catastrophe and don’t have anyone to help you get your mindset back together – then we’d love to help you.

Click HERE to schedule a FREE 15-minute clarity call with one of our team and see if one of our programs will help you get back on track.

Is the Universe Really Abundant?

What Does Success Mean to You?

Hold that image in your mind for a moment and ask yourself a couple of questions:

Is this a picture of something I want now, or does it represent something negative that I don’t want any longer? (eg. I want to be health vs. I don’t want to be sick)
Does it represent something I truly want myself, or something I believe I should want? (eg. A particular career, family situation, lifestyle…)

You need to be clear about your vision of what success means and to form that picture in vividly positive terms before you can expect the Law of Attraction to work for you. I suspect that the reason why so many people think it doesn’t work is primarily because they don’t actually know what they want. The second reason is that they don’t act in accordance with their desire.

The Law of Attraction

The universe is an abundant place. If you open up to the universe, it will give you what you need and want. First, you have to visualise what you need and want in your mind so that the picture is very clear. Your mind is like a magnet that will give you what you focus on which is why so many people seem to attract the things they don’t want… they think about negative things so much that there is no room for success.

Everything is made up of energy, including your thoughts. Your unconscious mind is negatively charged. It will attract people, events and situations in the direction of your dominant thoughts, so you need a positive picture of what you want.

When you harness these two principles you will attract the things you really want into your life. Many of my clients come to me and say, “The Law of Attraction doesn’t work for me.” However, when we dig a bit deeper it turns out that they have been visualising the things they don’t want: “I don’t want to be poor.” “I don’t want to be fat.” “I don’t want to be sick.” etc. Once we turn those ‘away from’ goals into positive goals… and create an action plan, their outcomes are transformed.

Your Action Plan

You knew that was coming, didn’t you? Visualisation without action is just imagination. You can’t create until you do something.

What do you need to do, to move towards your vision of success? If you start with small steps, you’ll find it easier to create the momentum that will propel you forward to your goal.

Somehow, when I talk to people this is where they always get stuck, so here’s a quick exercise to help you:

What would need to happen for you to feel truly successful?

Do you have a picture?

Focus on this picture and ask yourself: “If I had this would feel abundantly successful and happy?” If not, what more would it take?

Tweak and refine this picture until you feel that you couldn’t make it any clearer, better, or more evocative, then set a reminder in your phone to prompt you to visualise it at least twice each day.

NOW…

What are three mini-steps that will create momentum.

#1 should be completed by end of this weekend

#2 should be completed during the following week

#3 should be completed by the end of the following weekend

#4… by now you should have created some momentum and set up the next few steps. Keep them in proportion so they don’t take weeks or months to complete.

“Momentum is the driving force behind achievement.”

Do You Need Some Help

Sometimes you’ve been so focused on what you don’t want for so long, that you need help to refocus and create a positive vision of success. A H.O.W.T.O. Session help you do this, and much more. If you can invest 90 minutes and a small fee, I can work with you to transform your outcomes and set you on the path to the success that you deserve.

Book Your H.O.W.T.O. Session

#TuesdayTips

What if this were the last year of your life – if you knew that on December 31st 2019 your life would end…

What would you want to look back on?
What would you do differently?
What would you want to accomplish in the next 12 months?
Who would you want to spend time with?
How do you want to feel?

I believe that S.M.A.R.T. Goals are really important, but sometimes they feel a bit clinical. So I think the ‘Live As Though This Was The Last Year of Your Life’ idea adds a whole new sense of urgency to the goal-setting process, although some people find it very confronting.

There are a lot of posts about ‘legacy work’ and the idea of thinking ahead to what you want people to say at your funeral which I think help put this life into perspective, but they can also be hard to get your head around, so I came up with this idea of setting 12 month goals, using the:

S.M.A.R.T. Framework;
Where You Are Today as a Starting Point; and
31st of December as an End Point.

This has nothing to do with fighting illness, or anticipating death, and everything to do with creating an ambitiously realistic plan for next year.

If you start today, you have more than a month to get your goals down on paper before the end of this year, so you can have them staring you in the face on January 1st and every day that follows.

Start by thinking about the various aspects of your life:

Mental;
Physical;
Spiritual;
Career;
Social;
Financial;
Family;

For each area of your life think of the single outcome you most desire – something that can be achieved in just 12 months if you focus on it.

Now write it as a S.M.A.R.T. Goal –

Specific – clearly stated in precise terms
Measurable – you can tell if you have achieved it or not
Achievable – it is possible
Realistic – not only is it possible, it is possible for you given your circumstances
Timely – there is a date attached to it – 31st December 2019.

New Year is the time when I like to look at the totality of my life for the year to come and set a single goal in each area. Once I have the big picture I’ll look at milestones and actions for each.

Just because you are setting a 12 month goal doesn’t mean that your goal will be small – it just means that it won’t involve going from 0 to a Nobel Prize in one year. On the other hand, 365 days to overnight success is quite achievable … if you work hard and focus on taking appropriate actions.

What’s the Point?

The point is that if you aim at nothing you’ll hit it … every single time!

If you want your life to count … if you don’t want to come to the end of your days and say, ‘Is this all there was and all I did?’ then you need to set some goals. It doesn’t matter whether your 12 month goal is to get married, make a million dollars, build a log cabin, or stop the whaling industry: if you only had these 12 months to live, what would you do to bring your goal closer to realisation?

Once you’ve set your goals in each of these areas you need to actively visualise them and plant them in your timeline. I talked about this in “Taking S.M.A.R.T. Goals One Step Further” and in my Confident Closing Workshops we demonstrate how to plant these goals in your timeline so that your unconscious mind guides you very powerfully in the direction you have chosen. If you haven’t heard of this before you can sign up for our next Confident Closing Workshop which will be held in January.

This is a truly powerful process because it takes the burden off your will. You are still responsible for your daily actions, but your unconscious mind helps you get there once you have told it where it is going.

Why not make 2019 the year you make deliberate progress in your chosen direction by living as though it were the last year of your life?

Meta Description: Make your life count. Make your S.M.A.R.T. Goals even smarter by adding urgency and sensory power to them and make a difference in the world this year.

Book your complimentary 30-minute Discovery Session with Chandell.

By popular demand we have turned many of our multi-day workshops into multi-week online courses with a live day to kick them off. Learn more at https://businessgrowth.mykajabi.com/masteryoursales

#TuesdayTips

Do you know what the Number 1 reason people don’t set goals is? It’s because they are afraid of failure. Sometimes clients say, ‘I don’t know what I want?’ – what they often mean is, ‘I’m not clear that I can achieve what I really want so I’ll pretend I don’t know.’ At other times, they genuinely don’t know because they’ve suppressed their dreaming for so long that they’re not aware of their real thoughts and desires.

Perhaps you fail to achieve your goals as often as you succeed and you wonder why that is. Today I’d like to explore the link between achieving your goals and giving your unconscious mind clear direction.

In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) one of the key areas we help people deal with, is letting go negative emotions – the core emotions of anger, fear, guilt, shame, and sadness. It only takes a few minutes, and usually clients will feel an immediate sense of relief which is fantastic. The negative emotions are gone, but your unconscious mind needs clear direction on how to think. If you don’t provide that direction, then your unconscious mind will quickly fall back into the old habits of thinking using those negative patterns. So, you’ve dealt with the problem – but now you have some re-training to do as well.

It’s the same with S.M.A.R.T. goals and your unconscious mind. You’ve created your S.M.A.R.T. goal – it is specific, measurable, as-if-now, realistic, and has a time frame – you’ve visualised it and made it as visceral as possible but you need to communicate that goal clearly to your unconscious mind so that it will help you achieve it. Your unconscious mind really wants to please you – but you need to tell it how it can do that and you need to make sure the instruction is clearly embedded.

When you create your S.M.A.R.T. goals and visualise them, that’s step #1. The rest of the process involves reminding your unconscious mind of those goals – that’s where vision boards, pictures, and regular review of those goals comes in. It may sound like hard work, but the truth is that once your unconscious mind knows what it is aiming for, it will support and help you at every turn. You’ll find yourself taking the needed decisions and completing your actions much more easily and effortlessly than ever before. It almost removes the need for self-discipline because your unconscious mind is working for you day-in, day-out, helping you to accomplish everything you ever dreamed of doing.

Think about that! Think about having your feet on a path towards the goals you really want, and moving forwards almost by instinct – easily and relentlessly. That’s what happens when you form your goals well, and then harness the power of your unconscious mind to draw you towards them.

Failure to achieve these goals isn’t really an option – because you only fail when you are conflicted about your goals. This time, you’ve set your goals carefully using the S.M.A.R.T. method, and you’ve given clear directions to your unconscious mind via your visualisation, and frequent reminders. All of a sudden you’ll find yourself smashing goal after goal as you work on them using a combination of deliberate action and effortless motivation.

Meta Description: How to achieve your goals every time without conflict and stress by harnessing the power of your unconscious mind.

The secret of effective sales lies, like so much else, in your unconscious mind. We have a deeply engrained response to selling and salesmen that we take along with us whenever we go out to sell to others. If you haven’t won the battle in your mind, then you’ll have serious difficulty actually making a ‘confident close’ no matter how much your product or service is going to help another person.

Your unconscious mind is always judging your thoughts, words, and actions. So as long as it is telling you that selling is bad, you’ll communicate that to the people you talk to. What this means, is that you need to retrain your unconscious mind at a very deep level, and the best way to do this is to ensure that what you are selling is really going to help your prospect.

One of the things that I learned from Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is that you don’t really win unless everyone who is involved wins. Shortly after I completed my training I was hired to lead a corporate sales team and in the first 6 months our business grew by 400%. Apart from me there were no changes in the team, but because the team’s focus shifted from simply selling our product, to discovering if it was the best solution for our prospects we had enormous success.

Don’t Try To Cheat Your Unconscious Mind!

You see, you can’t cheat your unconscious mind. No matter how deeply buried your reservations are about the product or service you are selling your unconscious mind knows about them. If you want to be successful in your selling, then you need to teach you unconscious mind about the value of the thing you sell.

Try this exercise to help you clarify things:

List all the reasons why someone would find your product/service valuable – make it as comprehensive and detailed as possible.
List all the reasons why someone would be better choosing a different option -make this list as comprehensive and detailed as possible too.

Think of 2 or 3 questions you can ask a prospect to find our whether they fall into Category 1 or Category 2.

Now you have some clear guidelines to help you discover whether you are talking to someone who will benefit from your product or service or not. If they are in Category 1 you know that it’s in their best interests to buy your product and you have the freedom to sell as persuasively as possible. If they’re in Category 2, then you can thank them for their time, and move on – or you can suggest where they might find a more suitable solution for their needs. Either way, you’ve got your unconscious mind working for you, and you’ve found a win-win solution.

Why Do We Really Hate Sales People?

The real reason we hate sales people is that they always seem to be trying to sell us things we neither need nor want. That’s why walking into an Apple Store is so refreshing. Their sales people always have plenty of time to help you and give you the advice you need, and they’re just as likely to tell you that you don’t need something as they are to upsell you. That builds trust, and it means that when they do suggest that I need an expensive add-on I’ll usually listen to them – and in any case, they don’t just say, “Oh, you’ll also want X. Here it is.” They say, “You’ll probably want X because …” and give me the reasons why I should buy it.

This is the secret of power-selling – you’re not just trying to make a sale, you’re trying to solve your prospect’s problems – and your unconscious mind knows that so every part of your physiognomy, not just your words, move them towards the sale.

By popular demand we have turned many of our multi-day workshops into multi-week online courses with a live day to kick them off. Learn more at https://businessgrowth.mykajabi.com/masteryoursales

I talk to a lot people who have been setting goals for years, and who think it’s a nice exercise, but not really important. That’s because their goals never really affect their lives. They’re either so mundane that it doesn’t take any effort to reach them, so abstract that you’d never know whether you had reached them or not, or so impossible that you can’t possibly reach them anyway.

You can read about the techniques of S.M.A.R.T. Goal-setting here, but this post is about using your unconscious mind to keep you on track.

One of the things that often stops people from reaching their goals is the amount of deliberate effort it takes to stay focused. If you harness your unconscious mind and give it clear instructions about what you are trying to achieve then you relieve your conscious mind of that task. This gives you more energy to apply to actually working towards the goal, so it’s a really powerful tool.

I’m really passionate about the power of goal-setting, but I think it comes with a caution. If you really can’t visualise your goal, you probably should ask some questions about whether you can get yourself there. On the other hand, once you have a clear picture of your goal, you can give your unconscious mind all the help it needs to carry you forward until you achieve them.

What Kind of Goals Do You Have?

People are different. They are genuinely motivated by different things. For some people it’s the car they drive, or the house they live in, or the clothes/jewellery they wear. For others it’s about charitable causes or relationships.

I don’t know what you really want, but if you can figure that out and write down your goals to incorporate sensory information – visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory, gustatory and emotional information they will intensify your image of the goal, and send a clear picture to your unconscious mind.

So, now you’ve given your unconscious mind a vivid picture of where you want to be, you work through the milestones you need to achieve them and send that to your unconscious mind as well.

Say you’re publishing a book (something I’ve recently been working on). My final goal, was to hold that book in my hand and be able to say, “I’ve done it!” Early in the process I created a mock-up of the cover so that I could focus my unconscious mind on what the finished product would look like (in the end I even changed the title and cover, but all the way through I had a picture in my mind of me holding the book).

Along the way there were many things I had to do:- writing the book, getting it edited, working with my graphic designer and printer etc. At every stage, I had a clear picture in my mind, and I could feed that to my unconscious mind so that I stayed focused and kept moving forward. I still had to make decisions, and put in the effort, but my unconscious mind kept prodding me into action.

Using Physical Prompts to Help Out

Your unconscious mind is very busy moving you forward, whether you’re aware of it or not. How much more effective it is to use your unconscious mind to take you where you want to go, rather than simply letting it keep you up at night – but you need to give it some help.

This is where physical prompts like lists, posters and white boards come in. My computer desktop usually contains visual prompts to keep my primary goals top of mind. That way, every time I open my computer I am reminding myself both consciously and unconsciously about the goals I’m working towards.

I also have a vision board on my bedroom wall just to keep me focused. Many days I don’t consciously notice it, but it’s always there as an unconscious prompt.

Try it for yourself – you’ll be surprised how far it takes you.

By popular demand we have turned many of our multi-day workshops into multi-week online courses with a live day to kick them off. Learn more at https://businessgrowth.mykajabi.com/masteryoursales

From Transactional to Transformational Leadership: Key Strategies for Team Success

Adjusting Your Leadership Compass

Turning Teams into Powerhouses

Strategise to Mobilise: Empowering Your Team

Empowerment Tools and Techniques

Unlocking Potential Through Skilled Communication

Establishing Channels of Trust

Crafting Messages that Resonate and Motivate

The Collaboration Imperative: Fostering Synergy in Teams

Cultivating a Cooperative Mindset

Techniques for Team Cohesion and Problem-Solving

Redefining Team Success: The Tangible Benefits of Leadership Evolution

Measuring Performance Beyond Numbers

Celebrating Growth: Recognising and Rewarding Team Achievements

The Continuous Journey: Encouraging Adaptation and Learning

Nurturing a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Learning from Setbacks: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones

Designing Leadership Pathways for Future Team Leaders

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#TuesdayTips

#TuesdayTips

Don’t Try To Cheat Your Unconscious Mind!

Why Do We Really Hate Sales People?

What Kind of Goals Do You Have?

Using Physical Prompts to Help Out

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