Shaw Leading Self and Others

How to make a difference where you are with what you've got
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-0-620-67342-6
Verlag: Publishdrive
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 222 Seiten

Tim Shaw is a people development practitioner. He completed his BA Ed (Hons) at the Nelson Mandela University in 1985 while working his way into the national cricket team.
His purpose is to live a happy, healthy life helping others to overcome their insecurities and encouraging them to use their unique 'Thumbprints' to make a difference.
After retiring from cricket his passion for nurturing people called him to become a behavioural coach and since 2000 he has worked with teams, leaders and individuals across all business sectors.
He is a certified coach through Mentors and Business Coaches International (MBCI).
Leading Self and Others was born out of personal experiences and the ongoing challenges faced by the people with whom he engages. The book is essentially a life manual for every adult with relevant topics to be used as a quick reference for character and team building. Alternatively, the process of reflecting on thought provoking questions will enable one to break through the constraints of the past which may be holding them back, thereby curtailing their true potential.
He and his wife Heather live in Port Elizabeth which lies on the East coast of the republic of South Africa and they have two adult children, Kendal and Michael.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shaw, Tim

Leseproben

INTRODUCTION
I was called into the people development arena in 1999. Although the book by Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers, suggests that one becomes an expert in their field after at least 10 000 hours of focussed subject application, I feel as if I know less today than I did back then, although thankfully I have learnt along the way. What I do know is that ‘Everything Rises and Falls On Leadership’. This truth has been validated in my own life through numerous events and I have witnessed it while interacting and engaging with many leaders whether they were on the sports field, in the office, within their homes or communities. So what then prompts one to write about something? Everyone has at least one book ‘inside’ waiting to be written. I just decided to follow through after being prompted and given a series of nudges. Besides, it is difficult to talk continuously about the three types of people you find in life without positioning yourself. You would be familiar with the three: namely, those people who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened. I felt uneasy when linking this classification to my current reality and so I adopted another famous sports brand slogan - Just Do It! My wife and I were treated to a wonderful weekend at Kariega Park River Lodge in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, (www.kariega.co.za and www.facebook.com/Kariega.Game.Reserve) and while we were enjoying the solitude of the bushveld silence and the magnificent splendour of a late evening sunset we heard the solitary call of a small bird. The bird was possibly a kilometre or more from us along the river although its call carried throughout the entire valley. The experience reminded me to shout it out - we all have a voice which we must use. We just need to know how and when to use it. One person with conviction is the majority. People with a cause need voices - emotional pragmatism! Today’s highly connected shrinking world brings more questions than answers. Consider these factors - there are more than three sides to a story; there is black, white and grey, and then some. Cultural paradigms are causing havoc within communities as people are continually being exposed to different thinking and behaviours; one’s gender is no longer an obvious physical attraction for how we were designed; individuals are feeling more isolated despite numerous connections through social media avenues and their potential influence is more powerful than ever before. Contemplating the implications of only these few truths may cause you to wonder whether people will ever be able to get along. Historically, according to the book of useless information, in the last 3500 years there have been 230 years of peace. Presumably the peaceful times were used to replenish stocks. So what’s been happening in your neck of the woods? Are things trucking along pretty smoothly or is there any consternation? Were you affected by the FIFA and IAAF sagas in any way? If any of your leaders had been involved, how would they respond? Although we all have a tendency to err, it has been most interesting watching this unfold with accusals, blame and denials being thrown about. Today most people attribute the demise of the rainbow nation to the leadership who are undermining our pot of gold, a common trait with self-serving leaders. We stumble from one crisis to the next without vision and direction. As a nation South Africans are beyond knowing we must do something to purge the scourge of incompetence and disdainful attitudes displayed by some leaders. Thankfully a groundswell of evidence is seeping through supporting that we can do something about the predicament- which begs the questions on which our futures depend -how will we go about doing this, will it remain a dream? Dreams
Why are there such disparaging opinions regarding dreams? (see page 212) I throw this out not as a topic for debate but to prod you regarding what you think about the word and why? Are dreams only for those with vivid imaginations, humans with childlike hearts or those who are divinely inspired? Why dream? What does it take to dream? What holds one back from dreaming? What about the African Dream? Africa healed of the hurts of her past, Africa justly governed by her own people, Africa maximising her economic potential. Does this dream flicker within you? What thoughts does it immediately conjure up in your mind? I implore you to set aside some quiet time to contemplate the significance of striving to fulfil your dream, your deliberate role in spreading it and the possibilities which this holds for you. Wherever you may be, are you currently living your dream, is it a work in progress or have you surreptitiously buried it? Should you have a ‘dream’ or vision and are being purpose driven, I salute you. Should you be searching for meaning, I salute you. Would you like to restore trust, respect and dignity to families, communities, your workplace and nation? If so, I salute you and encourage you to stay with me if only to consider the possibilities. The ability to imagine lives within each of us and should be cherished. ‘What if’ thinking has been catalytic in changing the world and it is something we should never renege on - ask the Adidas sponsored athletes who understand that impossible is nothing. We are precariously placed at the crossroads; tomorrow may be too late. We have little option but to introduce some fundamental shifts urgently within our families, communities, government and the workplace. I mention families first (which includes the greater family- ‘Ubuntuism’) as nations are built upon strong families which emanate from the home. The ‘home’ effuses into the community, which in a democracy, freely participates in electing its government. The ultimate responsibility of the government is to serve and protect the needs of its citizens unselfishly through being accountable, transparent and unyielding in its pursuit of providing a platform of wellbeing and nation building. Within the workplace, business also cannot function effectively with only a casual political awareness, despite the many complexities. There ought to be a thriving symbiotic relationship whereby government and business relentlessly strive for job creation and economic prosperity. An Overview
This manual should be used as a practical working guide for anyone who decides to exercise their capacity to help themselves and to encourage others through their desire to make a difference in the lives of those around them, in their workplace, community, sports field, places of worship and homes. I have tapped into my experiences across a range of organisations and written the manual as a consequence so that it will be especially relevant to supervisors, team leaders, managers, business leaders, government leaders, sport and community leaders, teachers, spiritual leaders, parents and all who wish they had a voice that could be heard. The manual is ‘main stream’, pitched for a discerning and enquiring mind. It is for people who are open and willing to embrace the learning process as things around them change. It is for the mind which senses the urgency and massive responsibility we all have to overcome seemingly impossible barriers wherever we may find ourselves. Although I relate mostly to a South African context, the underlying leadership principles are universal, allowing you to draw parallels within the situations in which you may find yourself. It has been designed to cater for the ‘skimmer’ as well as for the ‘digger’ while not neglecting the possibility of those of you who will employ a ‘combo’. A skimmer becomes a digger when they wish to learn more about a topic. A skimmer will flip through while a digger will slow down, often pausing to reflect. Your approach will depend on where you find yourself in your journey through life - sometimes skimming, at other times digging (usually to acquire deeper meaning, insight and understanding) and hopefully not too much time drifting! Oh, it’s so easy to drift and its refreshingly free spirited... whichever way the wind blows... no need to set the sails, that’s work! However, we often find ourselves going to work and back, work and back, work and back, work and back, work and back... weekend! Click over into the next week and its work and back, work and back, work and back, work and back, work and back... weekend! Click over into another week, another month, another year and it’s pretty much the same - unless we hit those brick walls or experience an epiphany of sorts. When did it strike you that you are living your Dash? That seemingly insignificant-looking line between your date of birth and death; yet in reality that represents your lifespan. Is it perhaps time to seriously contemplate your Dash? Tragically there is a huge price we pay for ‘drifting’ through life. It seems a shame that, as Oliver Wendell Holmes said, The average person goes to their grave with their music still inside them. This pile is high enough, we don’t need to contribute to it. Carpe diem - make today count. The Outline
The manual begins with a look at the brain as neuroscience is rapidly advancing an understanding of human behaviour. The second chapter covers Leadership, a definition and a number of general topics pertaining to it. The next section deals with self-awareness (Leading self) as all leaders should conquer themselves internally before they...