Leadership Fast-tracked: A practical guide

The focus in this video is on identifying the quality of the most important areas of your life, and the “Wheel of Life” is the perfect tool to do this. It helps you to identify the areas of our life that require more attention, check back to measure the progress and ultimately achieve more balance. “Every journey starts by defining your starting point” ~ Nicola Cook

The Meta Model is the most important element to understand if you want to master your mind and take your leadership skills to the next level. The more familiar you are with this model, the better you can communicate with greater flexibility, whilst understanding other people’s point of view and build rapport with them. This helps you to relate to people easier, respond in their terms and therefore achieve win-win situations in leadership, negotiation and conflict situations. 

The Meta Model is a very powerful concept that will scramble your brain the first time you hear about it. But remember the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” 

So, we want to make sure we know what lies within us, so we can elevate ourselves to an entirely new level of leadership success. To better explain how the Meta Communication Model works, we will use a real-life example to guide us through the process, plus a diagram of the model.

Every human being, (regardless of gender, age, race, culture etc.) has the same 6 needs and is driven to satisfy all of them. This is valid in all different areas of our life such as business, family, relationships and in the way we spend our spare time. How we satisfy these needs is crucial and will determine our experience of happiness. These needs also show us why we do what we do and why we don’t do what we know we should be doing.

Have you ever been doing something that you know is not helpful for your career and life, but you still keep doing it? It could manifest as self-sabotage even, for example you keep getting angry and yell at people, even though you know that it creates a rift and is the opposite of what you want. If you have these patterns that don’t work for you, then we need to talk about the payoff for this negative thought or action, whichever it may be for you. Because on some level your self-sabotage strategy has a benefit.   

The map is not the territory metaphorically explains the differences between belief and reality. The world is full of infinite possibilities, but we are only able to perceive a part of it based on culture, past experiences, values, beliefs, attitude, memories, assumptions etc. We attend to those aspects of the world that are of interest and relevant to us. We ignore or dismiss the rest. For ultimate success, you need to choose a more positive perception of events and situations.

We all have values, whether we are aware of them or not. Unfortunately, most people are never even aware that there is such a thing as values, and what role they play in the quality of their lives. If you know your values, you know who you are and what you stand for. Your life is owned and shaped by you on your own terms. 

What do you believe life is about? Do you believe life is a battle or war, and life is to be endured? Do you believe in the saying “Life is not meant to be easy”? Or do you believe life is a dance, a party, or a ball? Do you think life is tough, or do you think life is a box of chocolate? Take a moment and reflect on what life means to you. Because chances are that the results you are currently getting in your life reflect that belief. 

Every life is a series of defining moments. Capital M Moments are those times in your life that have shaped who you are today, that changed you and had an immense impact on your development and your choices. Some of these moments were positive, and some were negative, but that doesn’t matter so much. It’s not how those defining moments feel today, it’s the way they felt and guided you yesterday

Many people are unhappy with their current results and feel stuck, but have no idea how to get out. They are not ready to let go of security (or certainty) and are wondering why nothing ever changes. Have you heard of Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity? “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results!”

“If you don’t plan your life, somebody else will plan it for you.” Jim Rohn, a highly successful entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker, knew very well the importance of aligning your WHY, your vision, mission, goals, and values & beliefs, and making them congruent all the way. If you want to be a truly inspirational and successful leader, you need to be very clear about the direction you are heading towards. The majority of us don’t like to think too far ahead – but those who do, create an important mindset that provides them with a clear understanding of their highest intentions, their values in life and what is most important to them.

The famous fight manager Cus D’Amato once said, “The hero and the coward both feel exactly the same fear, only the hero confronts his fear and converts it into fire.” Without fear, you will not succeed – however, in order to achieve success, it is vital to embrace fear and overcome it.

Everybody has two basic feelings: pleasure and pain. Unfortunately, while it is true that human beings want to both avoid pain and gain pleasure, it is a fact they will do much more for one than the other. Unsuccessful people will do much more to avoid short term pain than they will to gain short term pleasure. Studies have demonstrated this time and time again.

So, if you want to be one of those successful leaders who are driven by long-term benefits rather than short-term pleasure, then knowledge is power. This training element will cover the 4 levels of behaviour, and teach you how to shift from “Moving Away” to “Moving Towards” motivation

90% of effective leadership is your ability to lead yourself, and therefore of utmost importance – not only in your professional, but also in your personal life. Your ability to see yourself as you are, will significantly influence your ability to lead others.

How can you guide somebody else on how to accomplish something, if you yourself have trouble to see finish things? How can you expect your team to work calmly during busy times, when you yourself get stressed easily? How can you give feedback to somebody on professionalism if you yourself fail to behave professionally under pressure

To be truly successful in your personal and professional life, it is important to keep things as simple as possible. If you overcomplicate things, you get overwhelmed and in turn lose focus and efficiency. We will share an impressively simple, yet highly effective concept with you. It is the formula for life and work by Dr. Kazuo Inamori.

How do you live your life? At cause or at effect? To be ‘at effect’ is to live your life as if things just happen to you, and that you have no choice or say in how everything turns out.

This is sometimes described as being a victim in life. We have all done this at some stage, but unfortunately many people spend way too much time of their lives at this dependent level

Words have an incredible impact and immense power. They have the power to crush us, to make us feel exhilarated, or to encourage us. It has been said that language is the most powerful tool in human communication, and its effect depends entirely on how we use it.

Sadly, only a minority of people know how to use language effectively. Because we often use words automatically and unconsciously, we have learned to treat them lightly and without much thought. Most our words are spoken from habit, convenience and social obligation rather than from clear intent. If more people would become aware and improve their language, families would see a lot less conflicts, cultural diversity would press forward, and the world would see fewer wars.

Our mindset is what makes us optimistic or pessimistic. It shapes our attitude and it is the ultimate factor which determines our success or failure. The theories we have about our own intelligence have a significant impact on our motivation, effort, and approach to challenges.

If we believe we can get smarter, we understand that determination makes us stronger. We therefore put in extra time and effort which leads to higher achievements. If on the other hand, we constantly try to prove ourselves and are sensitive to being wrong or making mistakes, our confidence gets destroyed, we feel anxious and are vulnerable to setbacks or criticism.

All of us have at least once in our life set a goal. You might be someone who has NOT yet come up with a life vision and written up goals supporting that vision. But at the very least think of past New Year’s Resolutions that you all too quickly abandoned because they were too hard to keep up. You failed because you stopped doing something that gave you satisfaction of some sort – even if it was destructive to your wellbeing, to your relationships or other areas of your life

Like discipline, responsibility is one of those words you have probably heard so many times from authority figures that you’ve developed a bit of an allergy to it. But, it’s one of the most important things to grow, and builds the foundation of your personal and professional development.