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Letter From The Editor

Dear Friends,

Football has officially invaded my life (In a fun way, of course), and I’m not talking about the official start of the NFL season! My son now plays on the Junior Varsity team of his high school, and at the games I find it very interesting to watch not only the game, but the people in the stands. There are people in every shape and size, young and old, English speaking and otherwise. There are grandparents cheering on their grandchildren. There brothers and sisters cheering on their siblings. There are parents cheering on their children. There are even aunts and uncles cheering on their nephews.

What is so cool about this is that no matter what language the cheering fans speak, it is clear to me what they are saying. All one has to do is look at the sparkle in their eyes, hear the sincerity in their voices, and really get the heartfelt way in which they are contributing to the team. And what I am learning more poignantly than ever is that how we communicate bridges more people than the language we speak we use to communicate.

So, I ask you, what is your team really getting when you communicate with them? What does your family see in your eyes when you walk in the door and greet them? What does the stranger in the grocery store learn about you when you are standing next to them in line? It is something for all of us to think about, including me!

Best regards,

Clay S. Nelson

Managing From a Distance

In today’s technology ridden workplace, more and more managers are managing their teams from a distance rather than everyone working from one location. As cool as the technology is that allows us to work this way, it can create a host of difficulties too. And the bulk of these difficulties can be avoided simply by the off-site manager realizing that they have to stop being the answer, do-it-all person and teach, teach, teach, teach, teach!

In teaching this over the course of many, many years, I generally encounter a great deal of resistance, at first, but the results are remarkable and it is so easy when you think about it.

In learning to manage people, the first and foremost thing that anyone needs to take on and own is to stop being the answer and start being the question. If mangers would start asking their team members, “What would you do if I weren’t here?” and they started making their teams turn their minds on, instead of being androids that do only what they are told to do, they would begin thinking through the possibilities themselves. When they do so, eventually, the team is trained what to do and how to handle various situations, without the manager having to be on-site!

Therefore, off-site managers generally need to spend quality time with the people who represent them when they aren’t there and teach them how to be the question and not the answer. They have to train the trainers, because the only way you can get people to think through what they are going to do and really be who they need to be is to teach them how, and the only way you can do it is to be the question and instead of the answer!

Getting Motivated to Work out

Breaking through the psychological barrier between wanting to workout, knowing you need to workout and actually doing it can be difficult. The strength to do so generally comes right after one realizes their thighs are getting flabbier, their stomach is getting bigger, their shoulders are getting rounded, or their double-chin is getting so big that they can’t shave their neck anymore, and they are fed up with being on the loosing side of the battle between their body and their ability to watch what they put in their mouths or not!

Once one gets present to their body (and what they want to change about it) and gets motivated to work out, the key to staying motivated is all about putting a schedule together and building a team that you allow to hold you accountable for going to the gym and getting into shape. It’s about giving up being the Lone Ranger, taking on team, having a willingness to be held accountable for breaking inertia and breaking old habits. Then tracking your results in such a way that you know the results you are getting, where you need extra help and accountability, and maybe most importantly when you’ve reached your goal. From there, it’s about having a system that keeps you where you want to be and a team that supports you in staying there.

The key to staying motivated to work out is really no different than the methods we should be employing with any goal or task we have before us. Start with a plan, ask for help and accountability, be your word, and do what you commit to doing. It really is that simple!

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