African Leadership, Training and Development Institute

02/09/2015

6 big differences between successful and unsuccessful people:

1. Successful people embrace change. Unsuccessful people fear it. "Embracing change is one of the hardest things a person can do," With the world moving fast and technology accelerating at a rapid speed, it’s imperative that we embrace these changes and adapt, rather than fear them, deny then, or hide from them, he says. Successful people are able to do just that.

2. Successful people talk about ideas. Unsuccessful people talk about people. Instead of gossiping about people — which gets you nowhere — successful people discuss ideas. "Sharing ideas with others will only make them better,".

3. Successful people accept responsibility for their failures. Unsuccessful people blame others. Truly successful leaders and businesspeople experience both ups and downs in their lives and careers. But they always accept responsibility for their failures. Blaming others solves nothing. "It just puts other people down and absolutely no good comes from it."

4. Successful people give others all the credit for their victories. Unsuccessful people take all the credit from others. Letting people have their moments to shine motivates them to work harder, and, consequently, makes you look better as a leader or teammate.

5. Successful people want others to succeed. Unsuccessful people secretly hope others fail. "When you’re in an organization with a group of people, in order to be successful, you all have to be successful,". That’s why the most successful people don’t wish for their demise; they want to see their co-workers succeed and grow.

6. Successful people continuously learn. Unsuccessful people fly by the seat of their pants. The only way to grow as a person, professional, and leader is to never stop learning. "You can be a step above your competition and become more flexible because you know more,". "If you just fly by the seat of your pants, you could be passing up opportunities that prevent you from learning (and growing!)."

Other major differences: Successful people exude joy, share data and information, and read every day, while unsuccessful people exude anger, hoard data and information, and watch TV every day.

www.businessinsider.com

02/09/2015

5 HABITS THAT CAN MAKE YOU MORE SUCCESSFUL

Of all of your daily activities, 40% of them are habits, according to the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. This means 40% of the time you're on auto-pilot, every day.

Habits save the brain work and conserve brain fuel. There is very little processing power involved with respect to habits.

So what does that have to do with being successful? Certain unique good habits are needed to make it possible for you to automatically process success on a daily basis.

1. Set good goals vs. bad goals.

You hardly ever hear anyone talk about goals in a negative context. Goals are almost always perceived to be good. But there are goals that add no real value to your life when achieved yet consume valuable resources. So how do you know when a goal is good or bad?

Good goals create long-term benefits and long-term happiness when achieved. They allow you to grow as an individual and alter your behavior in a positive way. Good goals get you from point A to point B. Point B being a better place, such as more wealth, a better job, higher income, better school system for your kids, etc.

An example of a good goal would be to lose 20 pounds. Setting a weight-loss goal often involves a daily regimen of exercise, healthy eating and encourages a healthy lifestyle. Good health results from exercising and eating right. It may also motivate you to moderate your consumption of alcohol or to quit smoking. When the weight eventually comes off you enjoy the compliments, feel healthier and all of this creates lasting happiness.

Bad goals create short-term happiness and no long-term benefits when achieved. An example of a bad goal might be to own a Ferrari, particularly if it is not within your means. In that case, in order to own a Ferrari, you must make more money. Making more money will likely involve either more work or taking excessive financial risk (for example, taking out a loan you may not be able to afford — or, say, gambling, if that's your tendency).

There's a cost-benefit to working more — you invest time that you will never recoup. Don't misunderstand me here. Working more to make more money can be a good thing. But where the goal goes south is when you then use that money to buy stuff, like a Ferrari, that is financially out of your reach and perhaps not a necessity.

The happiness you derive from owning more or better stuff fades over time, since happiness derived from buying stuff is typically short-term. You will eventually revert back to your genetic happiness baseline and, after a few weeks, the Ferrari will no longer create lasting happiness. The lost time with the family, however, can never be recouped.

If the goal, instead, was to judiciously invest that extra money you earned into a calculated risk, such as a side business, an investment or a vacation home that would enable you to spend more time with your family, then it may shifts the "work more/earn more" goal into a good goal.

Ideally, achieving a goal will create long-term benefits: a stronger business, more time with the family, more personal growth, financial independence, improved health, etc.
2. Avoid time-wasters.

Sixty-seven percent of successful people watch less than an hour of TV a day and 63% spend less than an hour a day on the Internet, unless it is job-related. They spend their free time instead engaged in self-improvement, networking, volunteering, working side jobs or side businesses, or pursuing some goal or dream that will lead to financial rewards down the road.

3. Dream-set before you goal-set.

You must Dream-Set before you Goal-Set. Dream-Setting provides you with the destination; Goal-Setting is the transportation to get you to your destination. Dreams represent a vision of some future, ideal state or reality. Dreams are the springboard for goals. You can't achieve goals that are actually dreams in disguise.

Most who set goals, mistake a dream for a goal, and that is why most fail to achieve their goals. For example, making an additional $100,000 a year is a dream, not a goal. Becoming an Olympic athlete is a dream, not a goal. Owning a house on the beach is a dream, not a goal (unless you have the money already).

Dream-Setting is the act of clearly defining a dream. It's a two-step process:
1.Ask yourself what you want your ideal life to be 10, 15 or 20 years out. Then write down every detail of your ideal future life. Be very specific in the details: the income you earn, the house you live in, the boat you own, the car you drive, the money you've accumulated, etc.
2.Using this detailed description of your ideal future life, make a bullet-point list of each one of the details that represent your ideal life. These would be the income you earn, the house you live in, the boat your own, etc. These details represent your wishes or dreams.

Goal-Setting requires you to build goals around each one of your wishes or dreams. In order to build goals around each wish or dream you need to ask yourself two questions:
1.What would I need to do, what activities would I need to engage in, in order for each wish or dream to come true?
2.Can I perform those activities?

If the answer to Question #2 is yes, then those activities represent your goals. Goals are only goals when they involve physical action and you have the capability to successfully take action.

Let's summarize this Dream-Setting / Goal-Setting process:
1.Paint a picture with words of your ideal life.
2.Define each wish or dream that must be realized in order to have your ideal future life.
3.Establish specific goals around each one of your wishes or dreams.
4.Take action. Pursue and achieve each of the specific goals that will make each wish or dream come true.

You then repeat this process for every other wish or dream. When you realize each one of your wishes or dreams, your ideal future life will then become your actual real life.

4. Never quit on a dream.

Be persistent. Never quit on your dream. Successful people would rather go down with the ship than quit. Twenty-seven percent of the self-made millionaires failed at least once in business. And then they picked themselves up and went on to try again. They persisted. Persistence requires doing certain things every day that move you forward in achieving your goals or life dream. Persistence makes you unstoppable. No obstacle, mistake or momentary failure can stop you from moving forward if you keep at it.

These millionaires learned to pivot and change course, growing in the process. Persistence allowed them to learn what didn't work and continuously experiment, until they found what did work. Persistence is the single greatest contributor to manifesting good luck. Those who persist, eventually get lucky. Some unintended consequence emerges, something unexpected and unanticipated happens to those who persist.

Sometimes, those closest to you will urge you on and encourage you. But more often, those closest to you, those directly impacted by the obstacles, mistakes and failures that are part of the success journey, will try to stop you from persisting. It takes superhuman effort to continue to pursue success when there are so many forces fighting you. That's what makes successful people so special and also, so rare. If you want to be successful in life, you must persist in the face of unrelenting adversity.

5. Create multiple streams of income.

Successful people do not rely on one singular source of income. They develop multiple streams. Three seemed to be the magic number in my study. Sixty-five percent had three or more streams of income that they created over time. Diversifying your sources of income allows you to weather the economic downturns that always occur in life.

If you put "one pole in one pond," when that single income stream is negatively impacted in some way, you can suffer financially. Conversely, having "several poles in several ponds" allows you to draw income from other sources when one source is temporarily impaired.

Some of the additional streams might include: real estate rentals (each rental unit = a stream of income), REITs (each one = a stream of income), tenants-in-common real estate investments (each one = a stream of income), triple net leases, stock market investments, annuities (each one = a stream of income), seasonal real estate rentals (beach rentals, ski rentals, lakefront rentals), private equity investments, part ownership in a side businesses (each one = a stream of income), financing investments, ancillary products or services and royalties (patents, books, oil, timber, etc.).

Remember, people build their wealth over a period of time. So it takes work, determination and establishing the habits that will help get you there. These are only a few examples of the many good habits that support wealth-building, but they're a good place to start.

Thomas C. Corley, Credit.com

27/08/2015

Harvard says these 8 leadership traits are critical for success

Today's business world is as complex as ever. And it's always changing.

Ray Carvey, executive vice president of corporate learning at Harvard Business Publishing, a subsidiary of the Harvard Business School, says management structures today are very different than 20 years ago, namely because of the middle manager.

Carvey describes today's business world as "volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous," and says it's crucial to stay productive through this time of change.

According to Harvard Business Publishing's recent report, "Leading Now: Critical Capabilities for a Complex World," there are eight critical capabilities leaders must possess to be effective today.

1. Effective leaders manage complexity.

"Leaders who know how to manage complexity are skilled at solving problems and making decisions under fast-changing systems," the report says. Even before any definitive information is available, effective leaders must assess a situation's complexity and choose appropriate courses of action.

2. Effective leaders manage global businesses.

Carvey says that managing a global business wouldn't have made the list 10 years ago, but today, understanding global markets and knowing you're in a global market is key. Leaders must maintain a global focus on a day-to-day basis. "This includes assessing what's happening with consumers, competitors, the economy, and the politics of the markets in which their businesses operate," according to the report.

3. Effective leaders act strategically.

Just as thinking globally is a must, a forward-thinking approach is also necessary. "While older practices focused on long-term strategy development, today's world requires a more continuous process: Leaders must always be prepared to adjust their strategies to capture emerging opportunities or tackle unexpected challenges," the report says.

4. Effective leaders foster innovation.

With the ever-increasing levels of competition, "no strategy can sustain a company's competitive edge indefinitely," the report says. Regardless of how successful something may be, there can always be an emphasis on innovation. Effective leaders understand this and are focused on taking a business to the next level.

5. Effective leaders leverage networks.

Successful leaders take networking beyond advancing their own careers, the report says. Rather, they view it as a way to benefit the organization and create relationships with "customers, suppliers, strategic partners, and even competitors." No matter how it's used, though, effective leaders in this category must "demonstrate a talent for collaboration," according to the report.

6. Effective leaders inspire engagement.

It's absolutely crucial to keep employees at all levels of an organization interested and engaged in the work being done. It's all about giving them a feeling of value. Simply retaining employees isn't the goal. "People can occupy jobs for years, but they won't create value for their organizations if they're not invested in their work," the report says. It's up to the leader to ensure employees actually feel that they're making a difference.

7. Effective leaders develop personal adaptability.

Again, this is a matter of understanding the continuous change that's occurring. Something that may have worked brilliantly in the past won't necessarily work again. "Adaptable leaders steer clear of a 'that's how we've always done it' mentality," the report says. Instead, they look at new realities through fresh eyes so they can spot and seize valuable opportunities.

8. Effective leaders cultivate learning agility.

Learning agility is the trait most everyone struggles with, Carvey says. As business strategies and models evolve, the leader must, as well. Effective leaders take the initiative in finding opportunities to learn. "They continuously experiment with new approaches, using techniques such as rapid prototyping," the report says. "And they take time to reflect on their experiences so they can learn from successes and failures."

Keep in mind, however, that as the business world continues to change, the key traits necessary for leaders to be successful may also change. In a volatile environment, the ability to react to new scenarios is imperative.

Steven Benna – Business Insider August 2015

28/07/2015

8 Ways to Balance Your Workload for Max Productivity

The drudgery and routine of our daily lives presents the greatest danger to our dreams. Why? We run the risk of losing our focus and motivation to achieve what we want most. By re-energizing and renewing ourselves frequently, though, we can avoid burnout and become much more motivated and productive.

Balance and consistency are the keys.

Enjoy the process, not just the result. Don’t fight the passing of time. Don’t fear it, squander it, or try to hide from it under a superficial cosmetic veil of fads and indulgences. Life and time go together. Do enjoy each phase of life. Do make the most of each day and draw maximum joy from each moment.

Good time management means that you maximize the daily return on the energy and mental effort you expend. Here are eight ways to maximize your time productivity:

1. Write down in one place all your important goals and priorities. Write down every commitment you make at the time you make it.

2. Stop wasting the first hour of your workday. Having that first cup of coffee and socializing at the water cooler are two of the costliest opening exercises that lower your productivity.

3. Do one thing at a time—well. It takes time to start and stop work on each activity. Stay with a task until it is completed.

4. Don’t open unimportant mail. More than one-fourth of the mail you receive can be tossed or deleted before you even open or read it.

5. Handle each task only once and never more than twice. Don’t set aside anything without taking action. Carry work, reading material and your laptop with you everywhere you go—convert downtime into uplink time.

6. Spend time planning your to-do list—20 minutes at the beginning of each week and 10 minutes at the beginning of each day.

7. Set aside personal relaxation time during the day. Don’t work during lunch. It’s neither noble nor nutritional to skip important energy input and stress-relieving time. Throughout the day, ask yourself, What’s the best use of my time right now? As the day grows short, focus on projects you can least afford to leave undone.

8. Take vacations often, mini-vacations of two or three days, and leave your work at home. The harder you work, the more you need to balance your leisure time.

How to make the most of your time on the clock
Denis Waitley

05/06/2015

The African Leadership, Training and Development Institute (ALTADi), has been established in order to address the lack of training in the Government sector and to assist small and medium enterprises to succeed in a developing country and economy.

ALTADI focusses on the productivity and performance of employees in their organisations, and the effectiveness of the leadership and management of that organisation. Our core differentiator is achieving long-term behaviour change, measureable results and a return on investment.

ALTADI offers goal driven programmes which are implemented on-site and do not detract from current employee tasks and activities. Our programmes range from productivity, sales, teamwork, time management, leadership, right through to strategy – there is a programme for anyone at any level of business or personal development.

The ALTADi progammes are implemented in over 85 countries and translated into 26 languages, making them the only programmes which have been effective in any country, any culture and almost any language in the world!

KEY FOCUS
• Leadership Management
• Productivity and Performance
• Long-term Behaviour Change
• The impact employees and managers have on their
organisations effectiveness
• Contextualising and customising Programmes and
Courses
• Employee Engagement
• Detailed and indepth discovery processes with both
participants and management
• On-site training
• Time management and optimisation
• Strategy, Mission and Values
• Goal and objectives implementation
• Measurement/KPI’s and reporting
• Return on Investment

Our Key Objectives;

ALTADi aims to provide training programmes to build the capacity of the public service in order to improve service delivery and complete clean audits.

ALTADI will also focus on assisting small and medium enterprises in improving their results, driving innovation, productivity and bottom line performance to counter adverse market conditions, and excel in a developing and complex economy.

ALTADI will achieve this by;

• Providing management development programmes and leadership programmes generating increased profit, reduced costs, strategic vision, organisational growth, high performing teams, higher levels of employee engagement, personal leadership development and growth.

• With leaders and their teams focussing on key areas of performance improvement including training and support, embedding and reinforcing productive work habits, develop an empowered workforce and provide a positive influencing on organisational culture and values.

• Development interventions with senior teams to align goals, vision and mission of the organisation with management and employees.

• Addressing Employee Engagement issues.

• Becoming a trusted results oriented provider partnering with clients to introduce training programmes and interventions that improve organisational performance and the achievement of goals.

Our Core Business Skillset includes;

Strategy
Leadership programmes
Management development Change programmes
Sales training
Team development
Personal leadership
Motivational leadership Personal productivity
Strategic leadership
Time management
Enhancing leadership capability
Personal management
Business development
Goal setting
Attitude change
Performance improvement
Motivation management
Empowerment
Delegation
Values
Culture change
Management programmes
Facilitation skills
Coaching skills
Coaching
Mentoring Management development
Self-awareness
Senior leaders
Organisational development
Skills training
Action learning
Leadership development Employee engagement
Facilitating
Networking
Training
People development
Business improvement

The overriding objectives are to train employees to be more productive and efficient and to increase the performance and effectiveness of organisations, and to train leaders and management to lead, communicate, motivate and manage those employees more effectively.

05/06/2015