LIROS Group

“What are you thankful for?”
It’s a popular question around Thanksgiving every year, as we take time to reflect on the many blessings of our year. Whether you saw health, financial growth, and self-development; a loving family, shelter, and improvements in your marriage; or simple things like sunshine and coffee - I challenge you to ponder your actionable response to gratitude.
If you’re thankful, what changes? Consider how you can show your gratitude to others.
It might look like an extended conversation, helping to cook, giving generous hugs, writing a thank-you card, slowing down to gift your presence, expressing kindness and patience… We have been given much! We can give much as result.
I guarantee you that you will be enriched when you genuinely express your gratitude.

Are you aware of how you handle stress?

The last time you were required to act in a pressured situation, what was your response?

Snapping at people, shutting down, or freezing up are all common responses to stress, and very few people are often above one or the other. Stressful situations are some of the most important deciding moments in a process, because how we respond sets the tone and framework for whatever comes next. Slowing down, taking a deep breath, and using a few seconds to evaluate and even ourselves out emotionally can change the situation for the better.

How would you like to see yourself handle stress? What can you do to develop those habits?

Where have you been driven by what others say about you, rather than by who you are?

Being a leader does require attentiveness to the outside world: your industry, the economy, your competition. But you as a leader do not exist for the applause and criticism of those around you, nor should you be driven by outside comparison and opinion. Your role is primarily inward-facing: on the success, engagement, and health of your company and your team.

In what ways do you need to change your focus?

Think about the best team meetings you have been a part of. What set them apart?

No matter the type, the ideal team meeting is one with clear goals, and therefore well-utilized time. For a status meeting, that might look like using an agenda, addressing your team’s items first, and asking for feedback as you update everyone on next steps and decisions. A problem-solving meeting sticks to overcoming a specific challenge that impacts the whole team, and finding a solution that works well for everyone. A brainstorming meeting involves the whole team efficiently searching for and presenting new ideas, and that’s it. Most employees notice when their time is used up by unnecessarily spent, ill-planned time; by contrast, a well-planned, well-managed meeting gets things done and flies by.

How can you improve your team’s meetings for everyone involved? What criteria can you put in place to make sure that the meetings you do have are actually needed and using your time well?