SigmaU Blog

What is pessimism? It is a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen. It is a lack of hope or confidence in the future.

I’ve been reading a lot about mindset, the power of the subconscious brain and the science behind just how powerful our thoughts are and the impact that they have on our life and happiness. During a recent Zoom call between family members, it was abundantly clear how pessimism and optimism are powerful opposing forces.  While I listened to two people describe the same job, one hating every minute of it, feeling like he was being “used” by corporate evil bigwigs, the other saw the job as quite satisfying. He described loving the freedom of the work in comparison to the chained version that the other family member described. It got me thinking a lot about optimism and pessimism and so I wanted to share the following thoughts with you.

Price #1 – Lower Levels of Happiness

It seems quite apparent that...

There’s a lot of talk about employee loyalty but not a lot of leader loyalty to team members. A recent incident involving an irate and borderline abusive client got me thinking. How loyal am I to my team members?

Willingness to Walk Away from Money

The customer is not always right! Contrary to popular belief, there are situations where the customer is downright rude, unable to regulate their emotions and hurl abuse at your team even when your employees are not at fault. Are you willing to confront the behaviour and risk losing the client? This is the test of loyalty to your team. I’ll admit that in the early years I bought in to the notion that the client was always right. I’m embarrassed to admit it but I always appeased the client and apologized even if it risked implying that my team member was in the wrong when they weren’t. Having been in business for twenty years, I’ve seen the majority of client interactions be smooth and positive. I’ve...

I’ve had the pleasure of spending the last week training with some of the top coaches in the world! They are also some of the most highly productive and successful people in their field. I paid attention to their behaviours and wanted to share some takeaways that are common with most high achievers!

1. They are open and always learning

It was amazing to witness some of the coaching role-play and practicum assignments between veteran and novice coaches. They all had one thing in common: they have a humble spirit and were open to feedback from their peers. They approached each task with an open mind and were always taking notes and learning more.

2. They’re cheerleaders!!

What an exceptional community of human beings! Not only were they willing to learn from first-year students, but they were genuinely happy for their success and accomplishments. Most successful people do share this trait! They LOVE seeing others succeed. They don’t “wish” they were more...

Oh heck ya! Bring it on! Typically words you do not hear most people say about criticism and, I must admit, I never initially react that way to it.  Like most people, I struggle with criticism which is quite different from constructive feedback. One builds, one destroys. One easy check: is what I’m saying being done to serve the other person or my ego?

Criticism stings and it can tear us down and hold us back from our full potential if we let it. There are, however, some incredible ways to use criticism to your advantage!

Breakthroughs

Upon reflection, I’ve realized that two of my biggest breakthroughs in life have come from criticism. When I wrote my first book “Relationship ROI” I promoted my BAAM series which had a fun and quirky vibe. Many of my photos I was pretending to knock out the competition with a punch move. I had a ton of fun at the photoshoot, launched my program and then WHAM! I was the one sucker punched! I saw a group chat that I...

Yesterday I had a great one-on-one with one of my team members and she said:

“I love that we measure our week based on metrics and not a gut feel! It makes me feel empowered because in the past I may have scored myself based on my emotions that day, but this way I either hit the mark or I don’t and the process is objective”.

This got me thinking about the power of clarity and expectations with teams and how they really are transformative!  Here’s why:

Psychological safety

There’s chaos when people don’t have clear instructions. They often work on what they believe is important, only to find out it’s not at all what their manager had in mind. When you provide metrics-based goals and objectives for team members you create clarity which puts people at ease. This provides a psychological safety net because it’s black and white. They either are achieving or they’re not! The emotion is removed and they know what needs to be...

Last month I had a bit of a meltdown! Do you guys remember the scene in Jerry Maguire where Tom Cruise goes from seemingly stable and put together to losing his snizzle? Well, that was me!

To preface this, I should share that we’re almost into a full year of the COVID pandemic. We’re all feeling a little bit of pandemic fatigue. While I consider myself to be both pragmatic and optimistic, I had a moment where I lost my marbles! I was in the middle of having a super productive day and then I received a phone call. I heard about the new curfews in Quebec and possible “industry lockdowns” that were under consideration. I also heard that Ontario may follow suit.

My mind starting swirling! “What about our supply chain?” “What happens to my husband’s company if construction comes to a screeching halt?” “What if essential factories which have been keeping us in business close down?” “What if I have to lay people...

As a leader, you’re most likely confident speaking your mind and sharing your vision. You are able to make snap decisions and you feel like your voice is valued and heard. Chances are that many people on your team don’t feel the same way that you do. A part of effective and transformational leadership, I believe, is building up other empowered and confident leaders on your team.

Here are a few ways you can do just that!

1. Have Team Members Lead Meetings

When you create a safe space for team members to take charge and lead a meeting you slowly build their self-confidence muscle. I used to think that as leaders we should set the tone, lead the meeting and wrap up in an efficient way.

During our many Zoom calls during COVID I decided it would be a perfect time to enable each team member to have their turn to lead. We’re a tight knit team and I figured that this was a psychologically safe space for each person to “try it out”. I was astounded by the...

Being a student of high performance and watching those who are the top of their game has been a passion of mine for several years! I’m always amazed that some people are able to create and contribute so much, consistently achieve at high levels and maintain a healthy balance and higher levels of happiness. It dawned on me that these are people of ACTION!

A – Act vs. Overanalyze

Achievers take action even when they’re not ready! They aren’t afraid to show up with imperfect video content, imperfectly written blogs and they execute plans before having every precise detail figured out. This is a key differentiator between achievers and their lower producing peers. Their peers tend to overanalyze the situation, dissect the videos and blogs before sharing them and worry about perfectionism. The cost is twofold. One, the person who really needs to hear your message continues to suffer and two, you miss opportunities that go to the person who is out there making...

“Many of my successes have come on the back of pain”! I heard this on a podcast this morning and I thought about the season that we’re in right now. Many people were hopeful that with the turning of the clock and an official new year that our pandemic-adjusted lives would be drastically different. By now, the reality has most likely hit, and we realize that life is pretty similar to what it was a few months or a few weeks ago. There is, however, the same gift available to each of us during this season and that is the gift of GROWTH!

G – Gratitude

Despite what is happening all around us, there is so much for each of us to be grateful for. We can either use this time to see the bad around us, fill our minds with so much negative news that our heads are spinning, get caught up in the discourse and drama of politics or we can focus on what we can control: our mindset. Having an attitude that is focused on all of life’s blessings, despite our current...

We’ve all done it! Someone’s behaviour is driving us nuts. Day in and day out it grinds on our nerves. We’re triggered when we see them or hear their voice and yet we do nothing about it! Guess what leaders, you’re not alone! Most of the leaders that I’ve spoken with hate confrontation and, you know what, I did too. It wasn’t until I learned how to have them in a different way that I learned to embrace them and have them on a regular basis. Like any muscle, the courage muscle - once stretched - becomes stronger and it’s a muscle required in a leadership role.

Defining courageous conversions, feedback and confrontation in a different way

Courageous conversations: are conversations which take you outside of your comfort zone. They may make you feel exposed or vulnerable and typically something important is on the line.

Feedback: is simply bringing awareness to a pattern in someone’s behaviour so that they can improve future performance.