Category Archives: Mentorship

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Building Community Legacies With Meaningful Conversation

Connection Collaboration Community

Have you heard “this is business, there is no room for feelings in business“, or some other derivative of it? Well, there is room; people remember how you made them feel over all else. Yes, they remember how they feel over you making them millions, cured their cancer,  or helped them solve a large issue.

All relationships in life, “people remember how you made them feel.” As I traverse from coaching executives to corporate teams the common denominators are “feelings” and “communication”.

Join me and others to build your legacy model with the 5 L’s. Legacy is building your sustainable growth model of how you show up in community, connections, and collaboration.

Legacy: Love, Listen, Lift, Link, Lead

Few Things To Consider:

  • Can you listen without bias or judgment?
  • When did you lift some one else to promotion?
  • Can you identify the last time you invited someone to an event; introduced them to people they need to know to grow?
  • Are you leading from behind the curtain or in front of the curtain?

REGISTER FOR WEBINAR HERE

 

What people are saying:

  • Thank you for the reminder of showing up with intent. It changed my conference and connections. JB Entrepreneur, Helena
  • I want to let you know your break-out this morning was excellent and on point to connecting and influencing my end in mind. IP Entrepreneur, Great Falls
  • I’m super excited to know that you are available as a resource just downstream from us! JW, Butte
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Soccer Moms Are For Real

Soccer Moms Are For Real! Alright, to be fair all parents are for real when it comes to their progeny in the course of competition. From spelling bees, debate, basketball, soccer, football, and all the rest parents are for real. 

From the time of my youth I have been competitive in nature, loving the endorphin rush to the finish line to having the last line in a debate. The last few years I have had the privilege to referee High School Soccer.

What I have observed, learned, and gleaned from the soccer pitch is our youth deserve to play in a safe, competitive, inspiring, and empowering environment. How parents show up is how they will show up to lead your organization. Board room bullies are for real!Tracy Worley Soccer

Parents hold the key to safe play for your youth’s environment. Yes, administrative staff, coaches, and referees hold these key elements too, but parents have the ultimate ability to turn a competitive event from fun to devastating the hearts of our youth.

Being in the center of the field to the sidelines refereeing I have heard the best and the worst from parents. This leads me to your boardroom. How people show up to events in “support” of their children is telltale of how they will show up in your boardroom.

Parents are not the only influence: fellow competitors, coaches, and other participants show up to instill inspired competition…or use downright degrading language which is not worth repeating.  However, these moments give me the guilty pleasure of presenting them a yellow card for a warning.  If things get worse, referees can stop play and have the offending parties removed.

Crucial conversations will always come into play on and off the field. However, competition is not the time to be yelling, huffing, and stroking out over a bad play. I appreciate how one of my colleagues, Judy Preston, calls these Courageous Conversations, which should happen one-on-one or off the field of play and out of the board room.

Here are a few ways to create a REAL space for empowered play and inspired competition from the soccer field to your boardroom:

Reward:  Give everyone a sportsmanlike handshake before or after the game. It is the reward for showing upto play.  If the coaches, referees, and players did not show up there would be no play. If you are unhappy or dislike someone it is NOT your prerogative to be disrespectful. Reward others with respect you also deserve.

Environment:  Create a safe environment for all to participate, compete, learn, and hone individual and team skills. This could include cheering for the competitor. The higher level of play, the more you learn.

Action: Take action when others are not lifting others. Everyone from players, coaches, referees, parents, and observers should show up with an attitude to serve each other, and push each other to the next level. Boardroom culture should be no different.

Lead:  Everyone is a leader of one (you). Show up to make a difference to those around you.  One word of encouragement could make someone’s game on and off the field.

Challenge:   Respect yourself by respecting others, take action toward the good of all concerned, create an environment to take risk to fail and win; lead by example because everyone is a leader.

Look UP & OUT!

Tracy Worley

Tracy Worley (2015) Authentic Leadership, Authentic Self

Tracy Worley (2015) Hero2One™

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Are You Leading Under Fitbit Rules; Finding The Pulse Of The People?

I love people watching and am keen observer of their actions. Two of my higher level strengths is connecting and relating. These two strengths are so strong and developed that at a networking event I can tell you who belongs to who, who is avoiding who, and who doesn’t belong to who but spending a lot of time together.

FitbitLeadership Tracy Worley

Don’t worry I do not share your secrets. I have discovered and noticed as an increasing technology society we are leading our lives under Fitbit rules. These are just a few ways society is being led by technology.

  • When to take action (beeps when you have been sitting for an hour)
  • Calculating goals for you (calculates what your goals should be)
  • Celebration (lets you know when you have reached your daily goal)
  • Pulse, Sleep (keeps track of your pulse, sleep habits, calories, etc.)
  • Distance (lets you know if you have made the distance goal, redundancy implied)

My question to you as a leader, are you finding the pulse of your people?

People do not know where they are going unless goals and the path are laid out. When goals and the path is not clear; people set their own goals, or end up somewhere else.  “People need responsibility, they resist assuming it, but they cannot get along without it.” ~ John Steinbeck

As a leader of “self” what actions are you not fol
lowing through on? Your actions are being shown in large lights and even in Fitbit rules your actions are shown with a back-light in the dark. There is not hiding your leading actions, so again I ask as a leader of “self” what actions are you not following through on? 

“The world has a habit of making room for the person whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going.” ~ Napleon Hill

Below are five areas of connection and caring actions to bring into the bright lights of your leadership. The pulse of the people is hungry for strong leaders without oppression and modeling success with transparent integrity.

  1. Consistent in Challenging your team: create goals for them and push toward the next level of success
  2. Cheerful Confidence believing in their talents: bring people into their strengths and they will start believing in their success too.
  3. Creative Conversation leads to innovation: bring shifts to conversation to bring back sanity from the insanity of having the same conversation bringing the same results.
  4. Commit to leading yourself and others: invest in adding value by education, growth-opportunities, coaching, mentorship programs, etc. . . .
  5. Communicate Clearly and speak truth: crucial conversation with brings about a quicker shift in success for you, your people and the organization.

Change the pulse of your people to healthy conversation around the water cooler, if you do not give them knowledge, goals, and sustainable actions they will make it up, gossip, or go somewhere else. “All human beings by nature desire to know.” ~ Aristotle

In “celebration hands” I applaud you and celebrate your success!

Look UP & OUT!

Tracy Worley

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Reality of Leadership Did You Ask to Lead

Where is reality kicking your leadership pants?

Tracy Worley is America’s leading grace coach, international key-note speaker, trainer, syndicated radio host, author, and potential seeker, strategist and CEO of three values leadership based organizations. She works with business executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders world-wide to develop potential, tailor employee engagement modules, and turn up the volume on individuals and organizations potential personally and professionally.

Tracy knows firsthand about what it takes to find your potential, Individuals and organizations have individual cultures, stories, and rhythm – Tracy’s innovative style knows how to make it work. With a background in business management, business communication, project management, and life’s drama, Tracy found herself running a multi-million dollar organization at the age of 25.

Tracy knows from life experience the ups and downs of colossal failure and the elation of success beyond imagination.

But it’s exactly all these experiences that built character, knowledge, wisdom, and intuitive insight into individual and organizational potential. Tracy is highly intuitive, perceptive, and a world thinker in connecting what you cannot see. These gifts give her the ability to strategize with clarity where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there. Tracy’s expertise: training highly successful people to lead with authenticity to the desired success her client’s desire and deserve.

Reality of Leadership Tracy WorleyMost of us end up in a leadership role by being promoted or asked to take over projects at an ever growing rapid pace. Common practice is to promote those with seniority, even if the employee is given no management or leadership training.

The numbers are still staggering on how many organizations are behind in training leaders within their organizations.  A research article in the Deloitte University Press* states;

“Leadership remains the No. 1 talent issue facing organizations around the world, with 86 percent of respondents in our survey rating it as “urgent” or “important.” Only 13 percent of respondents say they do an excellent job developing leaders at all levels—the largest “readiness gap” in our survey.” Deloitte University Press

If 86% of respondents admit that leadership is “urgent” or “important”, but only 13% of respondents are doing anything about it, then where is this disconnect coming from?

The reality of leadership is that most leaders did not ask to lead, and do not realize everyone is a leader in their organization regardless of whether they asked for it or not. As I work with organizations and entrepreneurs, it is clear that personal and professional development is essential and will always be the “golden key” to raising leaders.

This brings me to a recent observation while refereeing a High School Soccer game. While I was refereeing the soccersideline for a Junior Varsity game on the parent side, the home team Varsity Soccer team was causing a ruckus. Yes, this is normal behavior and usually the parents are causing the issue. Back to the team, they were yelling profanity, negative jokes about their own team members, and in general not setting a great example of respect for others.

My response was one of delicate but stern warning, “I only want to hear positive comments and cheering from this section.” The shock and awe of surprise that anyone would call them out on their bad behavior was priceless. I heard a few other comments about me throughout the game, but as usual when refereeing the parent side, most of the comments, slander, and disgust for our calls rolls off our backs.

At the end of the game, I pulled the Varsity coach aside and told him of the incident. “Coach you have a great team this year, and we are the sum of who we choose to hang out with. Your team members are leaders on the sideline, and I know you would not expect anything less of them.” The coach was appreciative, and the next week at the Varsity game the team was a little sheepish, but also seemed to understand the reality of being on a Varsity team. They are leaders. Perhaps not by choice, but now they are aware that they are leaders and people will follow.

Here are a few ideas for a Leadership Plan:

  • Internal training program: Develop a video series or testing series to continually add value and knowledge.
  • Budget for training/education leadership programs: Reinstitute or create these programs. Many organizations cut these programs in 2008 and did not bring them back.
  • Mentorship programs: These programs are the most cost effective and added value to your organization. Current leaders are sharing, pouring, and also learning from those who they are mentoring. No longer does the organization have an intellectual property “leak” because knowledge is being shared.
  • Leadership assessments: Have you interviewed and given all of your team members a leadership assessment? Seniority should not dictate promotion; the most prepared and willing should be your next promotion.
  • Succession planning: Does your organization have a plan in place for all leadership roles?

I build content and programs for organizations, and the first thing I ask for is an outline of the above. And if there is content for the programs, I ask for that as well. You see, 100% of organizations have blind spots in developing and lifting leaders in their organization. Not by neglect, but by default.

I welcome your questions on where to start or am willing to look at your current plan. Please contact us today, as we are committed to adding value to leaders–which is everyone. Reality kicks our pants! No matter what you do or where you are, people are looking to you for the next step through your actions.

Challenge Question: Where is reality kicking your leadership pants?

Look UP & OUT!

Tracy Worley

Deloitte University Press Link

Global Leadership Survey & Data Link

 

Tracy Worley (2015) Authentic Leadership, Authentic Self

Canwell, Dongrie, Neveras, Stockton (2014), Deloitte University Press

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5 Ways to Authentic Leadership

Tracy Worley is America’s leading grace coach, international key-note speaker, trainer, syndicated radio host, author, and potential seeker, strategist and CEO of three values leadership based organizations. She works with business executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders world-wide to develop potential, tailor employee engagement modules, and turn up the volume on individuals and organizations potential personally and professionally.

Tracy knows firsthand about what it takes to find your potential, Individuals and organizations have individual cultures, stories, and rhythm – Tracy’s innovative style knows how to make it work. With a background in business management, business communication, project management, and life’s drama, Tracy found herself running a multi-million dollar organization at the age of 25.

Tracy knows from life experience the ups and downs of colossal failure and the elation of success beyond imagination.

But it’s exactly all these experiences that built character, knowledge, wisdom, and intuitive insight into individual and organizational potential. Tracy is highly intuitive, perceptive, and a world thinker in connecting what you cannot see. These gifts give her the ability to strategize with clarity where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there. Tracy’s expertise: training highly successful people to lead with authenticity to the desired success her client’s desire and deserve.

Authentic leadership is moving past the paralysis of perfection; keep moving forward with intentional belief success is yours. When I coach executives and teams on projects, 99% of the time what is holding them back to gleaning extraordinary success is the mindset of perfection. I call this the paralysis of perfection; you remain the same and glean the same results because you are unable to move forward.

Waiting for perfection often leaves you at the starting gate in the paralysis of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE must be perfect before you start. My advice to you, start even if it is ugly!

Opportunity Tracy WorleyLife is not a straight line from start to finish; you have stop signs, obstacles, distractions, and tall buildings to climb toward your finish line to success. When living your authentic-self doors of opportunity you did not see before will appear. . . now which one will you choose? Below are guidelines to moving forward without perfection and finding the door(s) of opportunity you seek.

 

 

 

5 Ways to Authentic Leadership (Self)

  1. Potential: Keep compounding interest (knowledge) on your strengths through coaching, educational opportunities, and mentoring others.
    1. Gifts and Strengths; when you compound knowledge you become the ‘wisdom’ expert in your field.
    2. Weakness; address weakness, be aware of them but do not dwell in weakness. Know what you’re potential and delegate area’s you do not excel in.
  2. What You Want: Knowing what you want and understanding the belief “I can’t” simple does not exist if you are moving in and toward your potential. Everything is obtainable within your gifts, talents, and strengths. Yes, everything is obtainable within your gifts, talents, and strengths with the right attitude!
  3. Character of Achievement: Character is your solid-foundation in supporting sustainable success. Authentic leadership (self) is your self-image and belief you can move toward your goals and finish with celebrated success.
  4. Perfection: Your beliefs, dreams, passions, and growth to your desired goal. Perfection is who you are right now; this is the celebrated success of your perfection!
  5. Celebration: If you love what you are doing, you are NOT willing to lose it.
    1. Celebrate Wins: if you have a goal of closing 20 clients and 3 have signed. This is a time to celebrate the 3! These clients deserve your best in attitude and achievement of 3! And 3 is better than 0.
    2. Celebrate Losses: taking time to learn and glean from losses creates bigger wins for tomorrow.

Authentic leadership is staying in love with what you love and allowing it ignites others; remember when you are living and celebrating your unique self; everyone wants what you are having.

“It doesn’t matter where you have been in the past or where you find yourself today. Growth comes from a positive attitude and the willingness to challenge your self-belief. Courage is the gift of becoming the person you are meant to be. The seeds of courage fuel your heart for change and the aspiration to possess the perfection of your dreams.” ~ Tracy Worley

 

AuthenticLeadership Tracy Worley

 

Law of Character is the solid foundation to your life and life stance. Core of your character is your values, beliefs, experiences, and set points. Your dominate thoughts is what you will attract or detract from your success. Be firm with yourself by creating a solid-foundation of belief!

Law of the Lid is the limitation of achieving higher than you can today. A lid inhibits your ability to be more tomorrow than you are today. What self-limiting belief are you stating to be true? See yourself where you want to be and delete the truths you no longer need or want to hold true.

Law of Perfection is your beliefs, dreams, passion, and growth. Through humble learning you can find ‘perfection’ in your purpose, desires, passions, dreams, and value. Perfection is the truth you hold true and set new truths toward your success. Do not wait for ‘perfection’ as the world sees it, step forward without knowing the next step because life is messy and to achieve Authentic Leadership you must model perfection of not knowing ‘everything’ before moving forward. Step out of the paralysis of perceived perfection and move into your perfection of belief!

Law of Celebration is unfolding a more meaningful and greater expression of your leadership purpose. Success is staying in love with what you love and allowing it to ignite others to their authentic leadership style. Remember, when you are living and celebrating your authentic self; “they want what you are having.” If you love it, you are not willing to lose it.

Look UP & OUT!

Tracy Worley

Tracy Worley (2015) Authentic Leadership, Authentic Self
Tracy A. Worley (2015) GRACEbreak Radio

 

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Allow Temporary Discomfort to Clarity

Tracy Worley is America’s leading grace coach, international key-note speaker, trainer, syndicated radio host, author, and potential seeker, strategist and CEO of three values leadership based organizations. She works with business executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders world-wide to develop potential, tailor employee engagement modules, and turn up the volume on individuals and organizations potential personally and professionally.

Tracy knows firsthand about what it takes to find your potential, Individuals and organizations have individual cultures, stories, and rhythm – Tracy’s innovative style knows how to make it work. With a background in business management, business communication, project management, and life’s drama, Tracy found herself running a multi-million dollar organization at the age of 25.

Tracy knows from life experience the ups and downs of colossal failure and the elation of success beyond imagination.

But it’s exactly all these experiences that built character, knowledge, wisdom, and intuitive insight into individual and organizational potential. Tracy is highly intuitive, perceptive, and a world thinker in connecting what you cannot see. These gifts give her the ability to strategize with clarity where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there. Tracy’s expertise: training highly successful people to lead with authenticity to the desired success her client’s desire and deserve.

We have all heard “No Pain No Gain”, this is true in any area of growth up and out of current circumstances, success, and leading others.

The pain comes from the discomfort from being outside of your comfort zone. Some discomfort comes from planned growth and other discomfort comes from bad experiences. What sets you apart from others is learning from all experiences good or bad and applying the lessons learned. John McDonnell said, “every problem introduces a person to himself.”

A  problem to me is an opportunity for growth. I also state and have my team not say “we have a problem”, I have them change the world to challenge or opportunity. Every discomfort is a temporary lesson to clarity. Life has a way of giving you more than you think you can handle from loss of a spouse, child, parents, job, divorce, natural disasters, etc…at the end of each life changing scenario you come through the back end with more clarity, purpose, and strength.

Law of Pain Tracy Worley

Discomfort in hiking 4,000 vertical we found something of significance! The payoff of the view, wildflowers, and great satisfaction of accomplishment!

I’ve never known anyone who said, “I love problems,” but I’ve known many who have admitted that their greatest gains came in the middle of their pain. ~ John C. Maxwell

My personal life of discomfort has truly shown how attitude and looking for the lessons in clarity has created a life of significance and the gift of coaching others through my own experience of divorce, loss of children, loss of a job, hiking 14K+ mountains, sky-diving, and so on. . .these few examples from my stories give courage to character. Given strength, wisdom and knowledge to take into the corporate arena with a fierce understanding the discomfort is only temporary for the team to achieve something of significance! 

Attitude is the number one trait of achieving great clarity through the Law of Pain. Virginia Satir states, Life is not the way it’s supposed to be, it is the way you cope with it is what makes the difference. Experience is the best teacher but the examination and taking lessons from each experience is key to the clarity of significance. Where there is no conversation of discomfort innovation becomes stagnant and the clear road ahead becomes foggy.

Look at current or past experiences to find creative clarity of moving forward:

  • Define the challenge or opportunity (a.k.a. problem)
  • What is the emotion involved and understand why (dig deep)
  • Articulate and outline the experience and lesson learned (like Thomas Edison stated, just one more way not to make the light bulb which took him 10,000 tries)
  • Now outline desired  change to move forward with clarity (brainstorm numerous pathways)
  • IMPLEMENT course of action from the temporary discomfort to a life of significant clarity

Discomfort, Pain, and Clarity is not something kept on your daily agenda, but I promise once you define them as outlined above the temporary discomfort will bring you to achieving something of significance! Not sure where to start , please feel free to contact me!

Want to learn more? Click Below:

Look UP & OUT!

Tracy Worley

 

John C. Maxwell (2012). 15 Invaluable Laws of Pain, Chap8.
Tracy A. Worley (2015) GRACEbreak Radio

 

 

 

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Are You Creating The Future You Want

Tracy Worley is America’s leading grace coach, international key-note speaker, trainer, syndicated radio host, author, and potential seeker, strategist and CEO of three values leadership based organizations. She works with business executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders world-wide to develop potential, tailor employee engagement modules, and turn up the volume on individuals and organizations potential personally and professionally.

Tracy knows firsthand about what it takes to find your potential, Individuals and organizations have individual cultures, stories, and rhythm – Tracy’s innovative style knows how to make it work. With a background in business management, business communication, project management, and life’s drama, Tracy found herself running a multi-million dollar organization at the age of 25.

Tracy knows from life experience the ups and downs of colossal failure and the elation of success beyond imagination.

But it’s exactly all these experiences that built character, knowledge, wisdom, and intuitive insight into individual and organizational potential. Tracy is highly intuitive, perceptive, and a world thinker in connecting what you cannot see. These gifts give her the ability to strategize with clarity where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there. Tracy’s expertise: training highly successful people to lead with authenticity to the desired success her client’s desire and deserve.

Powerful statement, Are you creating the future you want?

Whether your are a Home Engineer, Entrepreneur, or work within someone else’s corporate structure I DARE YOU TO ASK YOURSELF, “Am I creating the future I want?”

Environment Tracy Worley

The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment you first find yourself in.” ~ Mark Caine

Creating the future you want is not a narcissistic question so allow yourself to release any “selfish” notion with the question. Creating the future you want is growing your potential in the right environment. Your environment is made up of your daily agenda, people, places, and things.

  • Yourself: Few people will share your enthusiasm for growth and moving up and  out. Here are a few statements to focus on for your self-growth and creating a positive environment(can also be applied to your home or work team): 1) Others are ahead of me  (if you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room 2) You are continually challenged 3) Your surroundings are affirming 4) You are out of your comfort zone, DAILY 5) You wake up excited 6) Failure is embraced and not your enemy 7) Others around you are growing 8) Growth is modeled and expected .

Whether you are a success or failure in life has little to do with your circumstances; it has much more to do with your choices.” ~ Nido Qubein

  • People: This truly is the law of sacrifice as to go up we must give up and often this means relationships and or an environment holding us back. Jim Rhone states, “We become like the five people we spend the most time with.” Ask yourself, are there  people in your top five Mastermind Tracy Worleyholding you back? These people determine as much as 95% of  your success or failure in life. This is one of the hardest because you need to sacrifice time spent with people you know and love. However, you do not have to “dump” them just spend less time and create a reference group who will challenge you to be more tomorrow than you are today! My personal best is when I spend time with my mastermind group, they model all of the 8 areas referenced in the YOURSELF category and I am my best when others around me are growing!

You cannot take this journey alone, not if you want to reach your potential. The most significant factor in any person’s  environment is the people. If you change nothing else in your life for the better than that, you will have increased  your changes of success tenfold. So think long and hard about who you’re spending the most time with, for where ever they are headed, so are you. ~ John Maxwell

  • Focus: “Today is when everything that’s going to happen from now on beings.” ~ Harvey Firestone Jr.  A great lesson is what is the happiest moment of your life? The answer, right now! Focus is moving forward today despite yesterday, this morning,  or whatever is in your mind, body, or spirit holding you back. Don’t wait for change to happen, focus on the change and take one step forward. Just as a little one learning to walk, you will be wobbly, fall, and perhaps get scraped up. However, when when taking charge, laugh, and learn from the wobbly-fall you quickly find a way to RUN!

The bitter ingredient in your future is the unwillingness to try: If you do not try to create the future you want, you must endure the future you receive. ~ Tracy Worley

Self leadership is the start to creating the success you desire and creating a dynamic team of leaders who will succeed beyond your “business-plan” expectations. I am sure this peaked your interest . . . “succeed beyond business-plan?” Yes, and if you want to find out more please feel free to contact me because what keeps your team alive is you!

Want to learn more? Click on Law of Environment.

Look UP & OUT!

Tracy Worley

 

John C. Maxwell (2012). 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, Chap6.
Tracy A. Worley (2015) GRACEbreak Radio