September, 2013
Welcome! 
Nancy Hardaway photo
This month we focus on working better together, with ideas for better team work, tips on crisp communicating, working virtually, and building effective working relationships. Plus, you're invited to my first book signings, both real and virtual for 
The Awareness Paradigm 
A Story of Leadership Success

Two minutes of great teamwork: 

Watch this breathtaking example of teamwork in nature and then apply the rules below to your team.
Three Rules for Better Group Work
Awareness of self and others
  When exploring why birds can flock so successfully without crashing into one another or fighting for their piece of sky, researchers have found they follow three rules:  separation, cohesion, and alignment. Similar rules can help a team of people work more successfully together  Next time you're either running a meeting or participating, suggest that everyone follow these three rules:
1.  Timesharing:  each person takes up approximately their share of time, not more (hogging the floor) or less (not contributing.  Result:  everyone participates, improving buy-in and results.
2.  Questioning:  each person asks real questions of one another (not just the leader), from an attitude of curiosity and engagement.  Result:  ongoing exploration of alignment and differences
3.  Refocusing:  each person periodically shifts attention from the group to internal thoughts and feelings and back, and shifts attention and awareness from details to big picture and back  Result:  expanding vision and accessing all available information.
Observing these simple three rules will start to improve the quality of discussion and decisions and help your team work more successfully together.
Read more about the Mystery of Flocking in Audubon Society's Sanctuary Magazine Summer 2012 Issue
NOW AVAILABLE:

The Awareness Paradigm
A Story of Leadership Success
 
Author Nancy Hardaway
Holding my first copy
 
I am so excited to announce the launch of my first book.  I hope it will make a difference for many people, including you, whether you have a formal leadership role, or you're someone who just wants to work better with others.

Buy it now by clicking on the button, go to Amazon for paperback or e-book versions, or get it in person on Cape Cod at Books by the Sea in Osterville.  If you want to read it with your leadership team, email me for bulk discount rates.
An interviewer asked why I wrote this book as a fictional story and I talked about the historical resonance of stories in our hearts and minds.  But then I read this quote and understood better.  "Facts bring us to knowledge, but stories bring us to wisdom.  The best stories have many meanings; their meaning changes as our capacity to understand and appreciate meaning grows."  Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather's Blessings.  

Think about your teams as you sit in on this story. Picture a small New England coastal city that's seen better days and a mayor who cares deeply struggling to bring it back to life.  He thought his "Blue Ribbon Committee" of successful leaders from the community would make for a great team; instead, each team member has a fixed opinion, and is quick to tell the others they're wrong.  You'll sit with the mayor as he discovers how to help his committee make progress, build more trust between them, and gradually transform into a high performing team. 

 

Chat with Nancy and get a personally inscribed copy, by attending a book signing.  Click for details

Buy Now  (Use Any Credit Card or PayPal Account)
I speak, you listen

Recent Blog Post:  Crisp Communication
How often do you or a staff member lesson the clarity and impact of the message by using too many words. Unfortunately, it happens without the speaker's awareness that the recipient has missed the point.  Some suggest trying to speak in bullet points.  Here's another idea from a recent Boston Globe article on interviewing:  Try thinking about the metaphor of a website to improve both your spoken and written communication. Websites are carefully constructed with a hierarchy of information based on what's most important.  Is this one click worthy or two?  Read more
In This Issue
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Next Workshops
Introduction to the Cape Cod Model:  
(A process for supporting growth and change in others)
September 17-18, 2013
GISC, Wellfleet, MA
Faculty:  Nancy Hardaway
 
Skills for Influential Leadership
October 9-11, 2013
GISC, Wellfleet, MA
Faculty:  Nancy Hardaway and David Kinsman
Invitation
YOU ARE INVITED
BOOK SIGNING 
OCTOBER 5, 2013
2:00 - 4:00 PM 
Join Nancy Hardaway at Books by the Sea in Osterville, Massachusetts
Help her celebrate the publication of her book (as well as her birthday).
 
Can't be there in person?
Buy the book on the L2L website (virtual book signing not available on Amazon purchases) between now and October 5 and  email info@listening2leaders.com for an invitation to a
virtual book signing,
BUY THE BOOK NOW
It will arrive in 2 days
The Awareness Paradigm Buy Now
(Email for international shipping rates)
 
 
Interesting Reading 
Connect then Lead
When influencing others, as a leader, a salesperson, or even a parent, power only goes so far.  People need to feel they can trust you. You need to attend to building effective relationships and to seeing the world from the other's perspective. I call this connection before action, and recommend it in conversations, in meetings, and in negotiations. One of the characters in The Awareness Paradigm gets in real trouble because he's so awkward at this. In a recent Harvard Business Magazine article, researchers focused on the benefits of building relationships at work.   Connect Then Lead
Working Together VirtuallyOnline workVirtual teams, and collaborations require even more effort.  Great advice for success includes 

1.  set expectations of the distortions of communication that will inevitably occur (normalize the bumps)

2.  establish virtual protocols of behavior

3.  create personal connection intentionally

4.  check in together frequently to see how everyone is doing

5. summarize assumptions and decisions often and check for alignment

6.  build "bridges" in advance so they are available to create reconnection when breaks in communication occur:  

 
Listening 2 Leaders  info@listening2leaders.com  508 776-7020
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