Season's Finale - A look back - Jan Robberts

Jan Robberts - "Influencing for Global Impact"

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Introduction
Good morning, you are listening to IBGR.Network, the International Business Growth Radio Network, I am your host, Jan Robberts, Global Influencer, Co-Founder of Ki Leadership Institute and founder of JRs Speakers Club. For more information about me, go to the IBGR website and check out my profile. There you will also find all the links to follow and get in touch with me.

Show Objectives 
Do you want to be successful? There are many different, important aspects of being a well-rounded, successful business owner. 
Today’s show will Look back at this last season and some of the areas talked about in each session

The subjects I have covered this season:
P1.02.3 – A Professional Image for impact
P1.03.3 – There’s no impact in your comfort zone - Get out!
P1.04.3 -  People skills; It’s all about influence
P1.05.3 -  Cultural Awareness in Business 
P1.06.3 -  Entrepreneurs and Leadership
P1.07.3 -  Influencing the outcome - The meeting before the meeting
P1.08.3 -  Business meetings, a necessary evil?
P1.09.3 -  Strategic impactful connections
P1.10.3 -  Your network is your net worth, not your nightmare
P1.11.3 -  Consolidate your global influence
P1.12.3 – Intentional is Essential….In every area of Life and business.

P1.02.3 – A Professional Image for impact

What is the importance of a professional image?
Your professional image is a key defining element that shapes your reputation. It is part of your personal brand both inside and outside the workplace. It reflects your appearance, behaviour, conduct, and the verbal and non-verbal communication used in face-to-face interactions and, yes, even social media messaging…

The image we portray sends an important message to our clients, as well as influences how we feel about ourselves. It is important to feel confident in the way you present visually through what you wear, and you need to understand the professional image you are putting across

P1.03.3 – There’s no impact in your comfort zone - Get out!

You often hear the saying ‘get out of your comfort zone’ but what is the ‘comfort zone’ exactly and why do we happily stay inside it even if deep down we know it might not be the best place for us to be.

The following is a simple description of the comfort zone:
To understand what is inside your comfort zone, a great simple exercise is to draw a circle on a piece of paper. Everything you are experiencing in your life right now is inside your comfort zone (your circle): your current state of health, your personal fitness, your style of parenting, the friendships you have, your current job, your financial state, and so much more.

Everything you desire in your life, but do not currently have is just outside the circle, and to get it inside you’re probably going to have to do something new or different. You’re going to have to step outside of your comfort zone.

“If you want to have something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done”

P1.04.3 -  People skills; It’s all about influence

My friend and mentor John Maxwell says this about influence:
“Leadership is influence, nothing more nothing less”

This is equally appropriate for entrepreneurs and business people as we are all leaders and we all need to lead our businesses as effectively as possible…and that takes … Influence!

What is the importance of influence?
Your ability to influence others can empower people development, accelerate results and ultimately ensures an easier working environment. Influencing is about understanding yourself and the effect or impact you have on others.

“Everything rises and falls on leadership."

P1.05.3 -  Cultural Awareness in Business

Cultural awareness is all about recognizing and understanding that we all have different values shaped by our diverse cultural backgrounds. What we consider to be 'normal' behaviour in one country can be entirely different in another.

Cultural awareness is essential for all employees working across cultures. ... By providing your employees with opportunities to participate in a cross-cultural training programme, or Diversity & Inclusion awareness training, you will increase their cultural awareness which will help them avoid the risk of major miscommunication  or even  international failure.

Cultural sensitivity, also sometimes referred to as cross-cultural sensitivity or simply cultural awareness, is the knowledge, awareness, and acceptance of other cultures and others' cultural identities.

Culture
Understanding 'culture' awareness is essential because, otherwise, it's easy for people to underestimate the impact cultural differences can have. 
Underestimating culture is the point at which things can start to go wrong. 
Although it may be easy to learn facts and do’s and don’ts about different cultures, this is not necessarily being culturally aware.
Cultural awareness helps us reduce the chances of making bad decisions and increases the chance of us making more insightful, considered decisions.
P1.06.3 -  Entrepreneurs and Leadership

What does entrepreneurial leadership mean?
Roebuck defines entrepreneurial leadership as "organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal using    proactive entrepreneurial behaviour by optimising risk, innovating to take advantage of opportunities, taking personal responsibility and managing change within a dynamic environment ...

What is the difference between leadership and entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship means a set of attributes that an entrepreneur possesses and practices in starting his /her enterprises. ... But, leadership is the process of influencing people and providing an environment for them to achieve the organizational objectives.

What is Entrepreneurial Leadership and how it’s different from entrepreneurship?The skills and attributes of Entrepreneurial Leadership are a fusion and overlap between those of “Entrepreneurship” and “Leadership”. Here, Entrepreneurship refers to the attributes and capabilities of an entrepreneur to initiate a business venture, organizing the necessary resources and managing it along with risks to make a profit whereas Leadership is defined as strategic visioning and influential ability to motivate people through culture, system, and process of the organization.

What makes a good entrepreneurial leader?
– An entrepreneurial leader is willing to innovate and take risks -- in good times and bad. The business climate is always changing. Being flexible and finding opportunities to launch a new initiative, a new strategy, a new product or service is key to business success. Take good care of yourself and stay curious.

P1.07.3 – Influencing the Outcome – The Meeting before the Meeting

The meeting before the meeting….as if there are not enough meetings to go around, to be dragged into, to spend countless hours of, what appears to be, utter time wasting, while often talking about the same things the very next day!!!!

Why then do we need even more meetings BEFORE we go into those bored room meetings???? 

I looked at the definition of a pre-meeting:
A gathering in the run up to an official meeting in which details of the official meeting are discussed….
That is certainly one way to describe them..but there is a bit more to it…

I hope to bring you some clarification on its importance today, and why you MUST have them….if you want to positively influence the outcome from those aforementioned big meetings….

Everyone hates long meetings that are unorganized. These days, people are busy enough with their regular work so when meetings are bad, they get mad.

Most meetings suck because people are unprepared. They haven't given thought to the reasons why the meeting is happening and the desired outcome. Worse, they are afraid to step up and take control so other offenders don't steal time.

Don't let bad meetings steal your time. Prepare to make sure you and the others attending, get the most from any meeting whether there are 2 or 10 people present. Whether it’s a boardroom, someone’s office, or a coffee shop…If you want to positively influence the outcome, Proper preparation is a major factor to your success.

P1.08.3 – Business Meetings – A necessary Evil?

What is business meeting?
A business meeting is a gathering of two or more people for the purpose of making decisions or discussing company objectives and operations. Business meetings are generally conducted in person in an office, however with the rise of video conferencing technologies, participants can join a business meeting from anywhere.
 
Why are meetings important in a business?
As decisions are made faster and employees are more engaged in their work, important company resources are put to good use. You don't have to conduct more meetings just to resolve an issue or re-explain project goals. 

You can help direct your team toward the right goal by conducting effective and clear meetings.

What is the goal of a meeting?
The Purpose of the meeting is the reason the meeting is being held. The reason must be acceptable to both the organizing body and the potential attendees. Meeting objectives, those objectives that affect the planning process, not the content of the meeting and its various sessions, are important to consider.

As companies become more focused on efficiency, productivity and profitability, it has become essential that businesses look at their numbers to ensure that their time, money, and manpower are being put to good use — one of the biggest opportunities lies in assessing how business meetings are run.
What do you call a short meeting?...A miracle. 

P1.09.3 – Strategic Impactful Connections

What Is Strategic Connecting? 
Strategic connecting equates itself to the business strategy of advancing a company or organization. In this strategy, you are finding out how the opposite party can be a stepping ladder for you. 
Let’s be real here. This means you aren’t going to waste time with people who are on common ground right? In most cases, both parties benefit because each party has something that person wants in order to arrive at something.  

Normally there is common ground, and those individuals have something that person can utilize. So, you reach out to connect for advancement. 

The tricky part to this is, is the advancement something of good or bad.  Are those strategic connections led by good or by greed? 

Now, you might well say, business is Business if it’s done right, but when it comes to positive impact, I feel there has to be a different approach. I think that when you use impactful strategy to properly connect with others, you really have to evaluate the intent? 

Will this be a win-win business relationship?

What is your intention? Making money? ….regardless who or what you damage in the process? …Doing good? …even if it means to not make that connection which could potentially make you a lot of money, knowing it does not feel right? …Or Making money while doing good?

Maybe the question to ask here is: What kind of impact do you want to have with your business? (On people, Environment, any future technical development…)

As the late and great Zig Ziglar always used to say:
“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want”

Building strategic relationships 
Building strategic relationships with the people important to the success of your business is critical. These relationships can lead to new business, improved customer or client engagement, and an improved reputation and profile.

P1.10.3 -  Your network is your net worth, not your nightmare

There have always been an abundance of opportunities to attend network sessions, conferences, and a wide variety of other meetings and sessions.

The effectiveness of those leaves a lot to be desired.

We all know that in the modern business environment, networking is important. Yet, how many of us actually know how to network properly? The truth is, hardly any of us do. Most people associate networking with awkward attempts to chat with colleagues at a dinner party or with competitors at conferences. Perhaps as a result of bad experiences, many of us deliberately avoid the whole process of networking and assume that we are no good at it.

But this view of networking is false. There is much more to the process than we think. Understanding this process will give you the skills and information you need to become a more strategic networker.

With a much further reach online these opportunities have not diminished, and virtual conferences can be attended from the comfort of your living room. 

Are these as effective or ineffective as physical get togethers? After all, we can not meet face to face, so it is often a zoom call, webinar, go-to meeting or other electronic get together. 

I was recently on an International Maxwell Certification event with 6,000 people online and speed networking sessions of 2 mins each to give people a chance to meet as many people as possible….it was a stunning first ever virtual event, and a roaring success.

But what about real connections? What about possible collaborations, finding strategic partners or our customers?

Most of the time it has little to do with what type of event you attend but far more with you, the person walking into that event….YOU!
Do you know why you are even there? I know that might surprise you but, if I asked you at the front door what your intentions where for being there, could you actually tell me?....or, would it just be a nice meeting to go to, have some breakfast or a cup of coffee, and just see what happens????

THAT is where so often the challenges are; We go to meetings, meet a variety of interesting…and some less interesting, people….we walk away with a hand full of business cards, then go home, put them beside the phone or laptop, and hope those people…who in just a few days you can barely remember as you have already attended your next amazing event,… you hope those stunning contacts will connect with you for mutual benefit…yours especially….

…and you are once again disappointed when there is a deafening silence from your mobile and no emails come flooding in with requests for your products or services.

Then there are others who go to personal development weekends where they will change their fortunes around…..Life changing it was……the same as the last 4 or 5 times????...yes, you guessed it, nothing changes…

“When nothing changes, nothing changes”….that might be mighty obvious…but tell that to the networking, conference, and life changing weekend junkies or groupies…….

On the other hand, there are people who attend just a 2hr event, and everything changes in their lives from the minute they walk out of the door???

P1.11.3 -  Consolidate your global influence

Once you got the hang of networking and recognize its importance, there is more to consider…yes, there is always more. It is all about your personal and professional development which is not just a ‘one day thing’ …it is an every day thing.

So, this week we will be talking into following up with the connections you have made and how to take those all important next steps to gain potential clients or customers.

At this point, It is worth remembering the VCP process from the BNI founder, Dr Ivan Misner…Visibility, Credibility, and Profitability…all in that order…..

As I mentioned last week, this is about so much more than gathering a bunch of business cards from people you will not remember by the time you get home…Think about that: If they left such a shallow impression on you, …how big an impression do you think you left on them?....just asking for a friend ☺

P1.12.3 – Intentional is essential …in every area of life 
Change does not happen just by chance, that happens by choice.

There is a real need to be intentional every single day….not have good intentions, but live an intentional life where we have to make things happen.

What is the difference you may ask?
We have all had some good, even great intentions…and how much did we do with those?....

With the New Year just around the corner, are you already planning your New Years Resolutions???...which very rarely lead to revolutions and disappear from your agenda within the first 6 weeks….only to do it all over again next year…because next year is the year!!!!

New year? …New day!

“Intentions alone are not enough to make a difference; The world is paved with good intentions. People with good intentions do something good occasionally. People who live intentionally, do something good continually.”

Not tomorrow, one day, or some day…every single day!

Change happens all around us; It happens to us…and it happens within us.

• What happens AROUND us, we have no control over what so ever
• What happens TO us we can often not control (We can move…)
• What happens WITHIN us we have total control over (…choice!)

Final thought for the season…and the year:

For many of us, if not all of us, this has been a year full of unexpected surprises, character building challenges, and possibly a time for new directions.

Maybe this has pushed you to really look at where you’re at in your life, what you have achieved so far, and how you want to continue.

Maybe you have thought about a new career…maybe you are forced in a different direction….just maybe, this is the right time to grab life by the scruff of the neck, give that person in the mirror a good but stern talking to, and make that change you always wanted to make but for some reason never did.

As our station commander Bill Eastman always mentions, 57% of all people are entrepreneurs or are employed by entrepreneurs…that’s a whopping 1.9 Billion people.
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Is this YOUR time to join the entrepreneurial ranks?...or do you know people who are now talking about it? Then join our IBGR network as there is a plethora of important information from experts around the world to help and guide you towards the life and success you so richly deserve.

We hope to see you in season 4, either in our live radio calls, our FB lives, or our YouTube Channel…and, do not forget to join us and download the IBGR App so you will be able to catch any episode anywhere.

Wishing each and every one of you a most amazing 2021 and may you achieve everything you are willing to work towards so next year will become your very best year…YET!!!
☺

Written by Jan Robberts – Global Influencer

Contact me on: jan.robberts@kileadershipinstitute.com for any questions about how I can be of service to you and your organization.

Keynote Speaker, Coach, Mentor, Trainer, Facilitator.
Leadership Solutions Provider
Values Based Leadership Specialist
Behavioural Analysis Consultant and trainer

You can also download a free e-book from our Ki Leadership website with successful case studies from some of our international programs and processes.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janrobberts/
www.kileadership.com 
www.jrspeakersclub.com

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