As a gardener, I enjoy this time in the summer because you get to step back from your garden and appreciate what all that hard work you did in the spring and early summer has given rise to. This time of the year is also an ideal time to review how the plants are faring in your garden so you can anticipate what changes might need to be made in the upcoming fall or spring.

Walking by the various gardens around my house, I noticed how certain flowers planted a few years ago were now doing a great job filling out what used to be bare spots in the garden. At the same, I also noted which perennials would need to be transplanted in the fall given how they were beginning to outgrow their current place in the garden.

Now, it wasn’t always the case that we had a thriving garden full of multi-coloured blooms and various kinds of foliage. In the first few years when we started working on our garden, it felt more like a losing battle with nature given how many plants we lost to pests, problematic growing conditions and who knows what else. Although it was frustrating, those early years provided us with some valuable lessons about our garden, lessons we’ve since used to create a garden we could enjoy and admire.

After reviewing the steps I took over the last few seasons to get my garden to this point of abundance and sustainability, I noticed that there were some interesting parallels that could be drawn to the process of how to go about creating a strong and successful team. And so, I’d like to present these four valuable lessons I learned from my garden which can help you through the process of building and developing a successful team for your organization: Click here to continue reading »”4 Lessons On Team-Building I Learned From My Garden”

The following is a guest post by author and speaker Steven Smith. Voted as one of the top 100 business thought-leaders in the United States, Steve’s work has been adopted by several universities to help students gain a better understanding of how the business world really operates. His ideas and writings have lead him to work with a number of organizations including American Express, Microsoft, Disney, State Farm, and Hard Rock Cafe.

He’s the co-author of the book “egonomics: What Makes Ego Our Greatest Asset (or Most Expensive Liability)” and he’s currently at work on his third book called “Us: Why we matters more than me and how to bridge the gaps between us”. Next Monday, he will be presenting a workshop at G5 Leadership called “Listen Up, Speak Up – How to tackle tough topics”, where he’ll discuss, among other things, the challenges in giving and receiving feedback, which is the subject of his guest piece here on my blog. Steve will also be giving an interpersonal communication workshop on the G5 Leadership website in August called “Pure Confidence”.

Thanks to the team at G5 Leadership, I will be giving away a number of FREE one-year memberships to G5 Leadership so you can attend these upcoming workshops by Steve as well as those given by other leadership speakers. To learn more about this contest I’m holding, check out my special message at the end of Steve’s post.

We’ve all been in the meeting where almost everything is said, except what needs to be spoken most, and everyone is painfully aware of the impact the unspoken words will have.

When the chance to speak up is there, it slips by, untaken, because of emotions like fear, anxiety, frustration, anger and distrust. We stare in the distance, wait for someone else, look away or hope what needs to be said disappears, and our anxiety with it.

Intellectually we’re committed to saying what’s on our mind, but emotionally we get intimidated or distracted long enough that the moment passes, and with it the truth that could help the most.

After the meeting we walk to the water cooler, where we take on the elephant that was in the room, directly. Why is it that the water cooler (real or hypothetical) seems to be the place where people are most honest? Click here to continue reading »”Bringing Water-Cooler Honesty to the Act of Giving and Receiving Feedback”

Last week, I wrote a piece on my blog that discussed the benefits for you and your business in taking some time off work to enjoy summer. Naturally, part of the inspiration behind that piece was my own realization of the benefit I’ll gain from taking time off, not just from work, but also from writing new posts for this blog.

It’s for this reason I wanted to write a brief note to let my readers know that I’ll be taking a two-week break from writing new content for my site. At the same time though, I didn’t want to have my blog going quiet during this time even if I was taking a short break to recharge and relax.

As such, I’ve compiled a four-part series that focuses on personal development and productivity. Starting tomorrow and continuing over the next two weeks, I’ll be sharing ideas and tips that will help you address the following:

• Why negative self-talk sabotages our ability to succeed and what you can do about it

• Five steps you can take today to help you become more confident and self-aware

• Improving your overall productivity through some simple-and-straightforward strategies

• How you can use procrastination to make you more productive

As always, I welcome your comments and I hope you’ll enjoy the insights I’ll be sharing in these upcoming pieces.

A few days ago, my wife and I decided to take the kids to the beach, to take advantage of the beautiful summer weather that’s been absent in previous years. Admittedly, I did question whether I should bring along my laptop to use some of that lounging-around time to do some writing and such. It only took a moment’s consideration, though, for me to dispel the idea, preferring instead to use this time to watch my kids build sandcastles, or simply floating in the water while my mind drifted off. After all, spending time in such carefree pursuits is what we often associate with taking time off work to enjoy our lives.

Unfortunately, many people are either feeling guilty about taking time off work to go on vacation or worse still, forgoing it altogether in favour of staying ‘on the job’ in order to try and diminish the number of issues currently found on their plates. Many leaders have been very public about their decision to skip taking a vacation this year, rationalizing that it would be unwise to be away from the office given the problems arising from today’s economic climate.

And yet, the reality is that the only unwise thing about these situations is thinking that you’re helping your team by not taking time off from work, a decision that can prove to be more harmful than beneficial for you or your organization. To help prove my point, here are four reasons why you should be going on vacation this summer. Click here to continue reading »”Thinking Of Skipping Your Vacation This Summer? Think Again”