The Career Consultant's Potential Challenge for June

As a community here at OfficeArrow we can all benefit from both our successes and failures by sharing ideas, lessons learned and motivational tips to help us be our best and influence others to be their best. We all have the potential - sometimes we just a need a little challenge to get us going!

Practicing leadership skills takes effort and daily focus. Little things can make a big difference in how you influence others and increase your respect, credibility and professionalism.

Let's start with a simple, yet very effective exercise. Are you ready to take the first Potential Challenge? As you work through the challenge, share your experiences with the OfficeArrow community.

Potential Challenge for June:

In the morning, find 5 shiny pennies. Put the pennies one at a time into your left pocket. Make sure there isn't anything else in that pocket for the day. Make sure you wear something on the day of the challenge that has pockets!

Your challenge is to focus on giving 5 sincere compliments or expressions of appreciation to 5 different people during that day. Every time you give a compliment, take one penny out of your left pocket and put it in your right pocket. Tip: Do this privately and discretely. In other words, the idea is not to announce to everyone in the office that you can now move a penny from one pocket to the next. That sort of defeats the whole purpose of the challenge!

Here's the catch! Compliments can't be simple and easy, like saying "Thank You." Although it's very important to say thank you, in this exercise the challenge is to expand your potential and stretch a little bit. The language should be sincere, honest and directed at something specific about each person. Instead, get their attention and focus on positive statements such as, "Susan, I noticed you really spent some quality time with that tough customer this morning. You pulled some magic out of the customer service hat! It was great! (If in fact Susan really DID spend quality time with the customer!)

To enhance the challenge, at least two of the people should be outside your usual circle, or even one or two of those difficult co-workers. Remember, this is not about flattery or superficial comments. This exercise requires you to really notice people and find something about them that you can appreciate.

The goal is to move the 5 shiny pennies from your left pocket to your right pocket by the end of the day!

Good Luck!

De-Brief:

Did you notice anything unusual? Was it hard to find aspects of people to appreciate? How did the 5 people react when you expressed the comment? How did you feel at the end of the day knowing you had 5 pennies in your right pocket? How did you feel when you realized you had 3 pennies left in your left pocket? Share your thoughts, feelings and experiences with the community!

Get ready for Potential Challenge #2 coming in July!

Lisa Olsen provides OfficeArrow members with down-to-earth career advice from her extensive experience as a Career Consultant. An author, trainer, speaker and consultant, Lisa's dedication to building relationship chemistry and helping people power up their potential has been the catalyst for her own success. Learn more about Lisa and her services, including keynote addresses, resume revision, and on-site professional development training here.