GET A CHECK UP FROM THE NECK UP

Tim Beimal 6/20/22 Tim Beimal 6/20/22

Is Your Organization Ready for Emotional Intelligence Training?

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) training is a tool that has boosted countless businesses around the world. Fortune 500 companies like 3M, Toyota, Merrill Lynch, Walmart and Apple are just a few of the many organizations who saw increased profits, better leadership skills, and stronger relationships formed as a result of EQ training.

The great thing about EQ training is that it works on one person just as well as it does on a group of 1,000 people. No matter the size of your organization, you can find success for your future.

Employee performance, conflict resolution, stress management and strategy improvements are all benefits that come from EQ training. At Neck Up, we help companies realize these benefits by recognizing and respecting emotional cues as data to inform the overall decision making process. We have access to real-life case studies, data and white papers that prove the value of EQ training over and over again.

If you’d like to get a small taste of EQ concepts, try taking an assessment for yourself to quantify and measure your current capabilities. This will show you where your strengths are and where you can improve. Once you know where you’re at, you can grow your career and help boost your organization in a truly meaningful way.

For more information or to find an assessment tool, contact us today. We can’t wait to meet you and we are excited to help you take the next step as a leader!

Neck Up Leadership brings together three nationally recognized leadership curriculums into one single source to help you get further faster on your leadership journey. Learn more at neckupleaders.com.

Tim Beimal 9/18/19 Tim Beimal 9/18/19

Creativity

Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m just not a creative person”? Perhaps you’ve even said it yourself. While the statement is common, we’ve come to find that people often mistake creativity and artistry and using the wrong word can cause us to sell ourselves short.

Creativity is defined as the use of imagination or original ideas. Artistry is defined as a creative skill or ability. We admit, the words are similar, but they are not perfect synonyms.

Based on its definition, imagination and original ideas are the keys to creativity. Everyone has an imagination, and everyone can come up with original ideas. We often sell ourselves short in the creativity department because we compare our imagination to the many brilliant minds of famous inventors and leaders who have affected the course of history. Very few of us would compare ourselves to the amazingly creative mind of the late Steve Jobs, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have the capability to imagine a new and better solution for the task at hand—it just takes a little practice.

Artistry, meanwhile, is based on skill and ability. Some folks are incredible painters and sculptors. Many of us have a hard time drawing a stick figure of ourselves. While we can improve our artistic abilities with practice, artistry has more to do with natural skill or ability.

So, when we say we’re “not creative”, we are probably misusing the word. We are all creative—but it might be more fitting to say we’re “not artistic”.

At Neck Up, we believe that everyone is a creative person. We are not all creative in the same ways, but each of us has an imagination that is unlike any other. Tapping into that imaginative ability can be a little tricky at first, but it can be accessed easily with a little bit of practice.

Tom Monahan’s book “The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy” is a fantastic resource that can help you unlock your imagination. The steps in this book will make it simpler for you to transition into a creative thinking process, and Monahan’s style of writing will empower you to make his concepts work for you immediately.

We also enjoy drawing on our real-world experiences and the continual challenges we face to remain meaningfully creative for our clients on a daily basis. If you’d like to hear some ideas or share your success story, please reach out to us. We’d love to hear from you!

Tim Beimal 9/3/19 Tim Beimal 9/3/19

Think you're good at multi-tasking? Think again.

We’ve been trained for many years to believe that multi-tasking is a valuable acquired skill. In some circles, the concept has been raised nearly to the level of something sacred. Those who seem to be able to channel this mystical power are admired to a fault.

Our desire to do more faster has driven us to extremes in the world of mechanical and automated processes. It’s only natural that we look to better ourselves as operators, but new research tells us that we’ve fooled ourselves with the entire concept of multi-tasking.

Multi-tasking was first thought to be a great key to exponentially improved efficiency, but that’s not the case. The human brain is designed for sequential processing. This means that we are meant to complete tasks and then switch to the next one. Multi-tasking pushes the idea that parallel processing—or trying to do several open projects at the same time—leads to improved efficiency. Unfortunately, this just isn’t true. Try solving two math problems simultaneously—your brain won’t be able to do it. We are adept at switching back and forth very quickly, but only after a degree of completion is reached within each individual task.

Bestselling author Dave Crenshaw has some amazing insight on the topic.

“Switchtasking is attempting to do multiple attention-requiring tasks at the same time,” explains Crenshaw. “Each switch in attention incurs switching cost, which includes a loss of time, decrease in performance, and an increase in stress levels. When most people say they are ‘multitasking,’ they are most often referring to switchtasking.

“Background tasking is performing a task while something mindless or mundane occurs in the background,” continues Crenshaw. “Examples include: delegating tasks to employees while you work on more valuable activities, putting a machine to work on a large job while you answer email, and exercising while you listen to music. Background tasking can improve productivity overall.

“Multitasking is neither a good thing nor a bad thing…it simply does not exist,” concludes Crenshaw. “The question is, are you background tasking, which may improve productivity, or are you switchtasking, which always harms productivity.”

At the end of the day, juggling tasks not only harms productivity, it can also harm relationships. Increased errors and missed details can cause a divide between you and your team. Productivity drops but we press on, foolishly thinking that we’re performing at our best when we’re isolating ourselves and hurting the ones we rely on most. In Crenshaw’s words, “Multitasking is worse than a lie.”

Tim Beimal 8/6/19 Tim Beimal 8/6/19

What’s Emotional Intelligence?

What is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)? Odds are, you’ve heard it talked about many times in the past. Depending on your experience, you may have even run across several different definitions for the phenomenon.

At Neck Up, we understand that there are many roads that lead to the definition of EQ. While several definitions are available, we describe EQ as recognizing and respecting the value of emotions in the decision-making process. We teach two important points that can help change how we interact with our emotions:

1. Recognize and label the emotions you’re having so you can understand their meaning.

2. Respect your emotions by acknowledging them, which will help you learn to better control them.

Mastering these two steps helps people take a huge leap forward in their leadership and relationships. Without EQ, we tend to react to things that happen. A reaction is nearly involuntary. Someone cuts us off on the highway and we get angry, so we holler and honk and shake our fist at them. Our emotions take over and completely dictate our actions.

When we use EQ to our advantage, we can respond to situations rather than reacting to them. When the bad driver cuts us off, EQ can help stop us from making a rash decision. We can feel the anger, but EQ helps us to remain calm. We understand that we are justified in feeling angry, but EQ helps us refrain from saying or doing something we regret, or that could create a more dangerous driving situation.

Emotional reactions have destroyed many leaders and damaged countless relationships. Informed responses have helped diffuse danger and maintain order in many crucial situations that could have ended very badly.

If you’d like to learn more about the power of EQ and how you can use it in your daily life, give us a holler. We’ve seen EQ work in our lives and watched it help our clients prosper many times over. Visit our website and we can point you to a few of our favorite emotional assessments to get you started!

Tim Beimal 6/20/19 Tim Beimal 6/20/19

Introduction to Leadership Training: Five Simple Steps

At Neck Up, people often ask us what we can offer through personal coaching. We have a simple approach that is built on nationally recognized leadership curriculums as well as years of hands-on experience across a wide range of industries.

Our personal coaching process is built on a five-step process that helps clients understand who they are, where they are, where they want to go, who they want to become, and how to get there. Here are our five steps:

1. Self-Awareness: We help clients understand their values, Emotional Intelligence level, and temperament. We have several tools to help improve and clarify these areas to bridge the gap between current reality and future dreams.

2. Personal Leadership: We build off client values while using their input and approach to create a unique decision-making design.

3. External Behaviors: This step helps move people into the spotlight where their leadership qualities can shine. Our methods within this step are backed by the world-renowned Kouzes and Posner Leadership Challenge.

4. Goals: Once clients understand where they are and where they want to go, we help complete the picture by applying tools to help them reach those specific goals.

5. Cadence and Calendars: Tracking goals and seeking their completion is a crucial step. We help clients stay on course while celebrating every victory along the way.

The need for quality leadership is always present, no matter what industry you may work in, and there’s nothing we enjoy more than seeing individuals grow while elevating their team, process, and business. If you’re ready to take the next step in your leadership journey, contact us today. We can’t wait to meet you!

Tim Beimal 4/3/19 Tim Beimal 4/3/19

The First (Emotionally Intelligent) American

The term “emotional intelligence” was coined in 1990 by psychology professors John D. Mayer of UNH and Peter Salovey of Yale. Rutgers psychologist Daniel Goleman later adapted it for use in business leadership. Emotional intelligence has grown in popularity ever since, but the ideas and practice it contains go much farther back in history. One of the greatest examples of the power of emotional intelligence can be traced back to “The First American” – none other than Benjamin Franklin.

The list of inventions, influence and accomplishments attributed to Benjamin Franklin is quite long. He is often remembered as the man who discovered the power of electricity, invented the lightning rod, authored countless political papers, served as a diplomat, and lived a great portion of his life as a civil activist.

The early years of Franklin’s life, however, are in stark contrast to the legacy by which he is remembered. While he possessed great intelligence and a desire to learn, Franklin’s social graces left a lot to be desired. His cocky, stubborn, opinionated behavior as a young man caused people to resent him and avoid him in many circles. He was known as a womanizer who enjoyed the company of several prostitutes and fathered a child outside of marriage, which was cause for condemnation and disdain in the puritan world in which Franklin was raised.

By the age of 20, Franklin finally realized that he needed to develop his character. He created a system of 13 virtues to help him accomplish this goal. Franklin listed the following virtues:

1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.

11. Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Franklin focused intently on these virtues, dedicating entire months to bettering himself by focusing on one virtue at a time. Franklin freely admitted that he often didn’t live up to the virtues that he was trying to live out, but he never gave up.

History often remembers Franklin as a public figure. As his career in business and politics expanded across the American colonies and around the world, Franklin’s endless efforts at self-improvement sometimes went unnoticed. While there are many things we can admire about Franklin’s contributions to the world, perhaps the greatest is the one that underpins all of the outward-facing successes—emotional intelligence, long before it could ever be identified as a buzzworthy term.

You and I may never be as intelligent or talented as Benjamin Franklin—but his life’s story illustrates to us that if we work to attain the skills emotional intelligence, we will have gained the tools that can take us to heights that pure intelligence never reaches. If we learn to master our emotional cues, we can conquer much more than we ever imagined.

Tim Beimal 2/28/19 Tim Beimal 2/28/19

Corporate Values

Great concepts sometimes become so common that their true message gets lost. This often happens with corporate values. Many companies have spent tens of thousands of dollars in consulting fees, research, and committee meetings as they worked to create the best mission, vision, and values statement. Despite the investment, few things are as universally ignored as those placards on the wall that seem to say the same thing as every other one at every other company for which we’ve ever worked.

The best way to bring corporate values back into meaningful focus is for individuals to take time and really think about their personal core values. Have you done this lately? Looking inside can be uncomfortable at first, but the reward far outweighs a few awkward moments every now and then. Once you truly know what motivates you and guides your decision-making process, you can better identify with your company’s culture.

It’s best to know your core values before you sign on with a company in the first place. Many times, people struggle or feel unhappy at their jobs because their personal values are quite different from the ones their employer upholds. This may not seem probable but remember the story of the Princess and the Pea—all it took was one small bump to keep the princess from being comfortable. Core values sometimes work the same way—one small difference can really throw off our productivity and cause us to become really unhappy over a longer period of time.

The true power of core values will grow over time as individuals embrace their guiding principles and then live them out at work instead of having someone else’s trite ideas imposed on them every time they walk through the main entrance.

Tim Beimal 2/14/19 Tim Beimal 2/14/19

Who Wins an Argument?

Dale Carnegie, author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, said there’s no such thing as winning an argument. Why? Because as soon as you view a disagreement in terms of winning or losing, you’ve lost sight of the value of the relationship. The phrase ‘you’ve won the battle but you haven’t won the war’ illustrates our determination to prove ourselves right—unfortunately, what’s lost is often respect, and what’s gained is usually resentment. Carnegie notes that “a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” Why? Because arguing doesn’t change opinions, it only makes us feel defensive.

It’s completely natural to go into defense mode when someone takes an opposing view on a topic that we care about or is our responsibility. Getting defensive often leads to trouble, so try to get curious instead. Find out why the other person feels the way they do. Look for a solution that can benefit everyone involved. Show others that you’re listening to what they’re saying, rather than planning your next attack while they’re talking.

Keeping an end goal in mind helps us work towards a solution rather than falling into an argument that derails a relationship. Focusing on a goal also helps us step outside of our emotions. Rational facts always trump irrational emotions while helping us stay open-minded.

As you explore perspectives other than your own, you can build a stronger desire for a positive resolution to the issue at hand. Seeing the other person as a teammate instead of an adversary helps build mutual respect and trust.

Successful leaders know that the only way to win an argument is to never have one. They choose to meet conflict head-on because they know something productive can be gained before things turn into a personal battle—or all-out war.

Tim Beimal 1/31/19 Tim Beimal 1/31/19

What is servant leadership?

If you had to make a list of the leaders you love and appreciate most, it’s likely that most or all of them were also great servants. It may seem like a contradiction, but those who lead best are also the ones who have learned how to serve those they are leading.

In his book “The Servant”, James C. Hunter explains that effective leaders must know the difference between power and authority. Hunter defines power as the ability to force or coerce someone to do your will, even if they would choose not to, because of your position or your might. Conversely, he defines authority as the skill of getting people to willingly do your will, because of your personal influence.

Servant leaders know that the more power they use, the less they have; however, the more they serve legitimate needs, the more authority they gain. Helping others builds trust and loyalty, while lording over people only creates resentment and indignation.

Learning to serve the needs of the people around you is the key to growing as a leader. In order to effectively do so, you’ll have to carefully discern needs from wants. In “The Servant”, Hunter explains that slaves serve wants, but leaders serve needs. Take time to look into the lives of the people around you. Find ways to help them meet their needs whenever possible, while steering clear of becoming enslaved to someone else’s wants.

It may cost you some time and effort to serve the legitimate needs of the people around you, but the end result will be worth it. As you help others elevate themselves, you will elevate your leadership journey at the same time. The gift you give is service to others; the gift they give back to you is the authority that will propel you to new heights as a trusted leader.

Tim Beimal 1/17/19 Tim Beimal 1/17/19

Introvert or Extrovert?

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Introverts generally prefer solitary activities over interacting with large groups of people. Introverts would rather work through their feelings in a journal or diary than have a conversation to talk things through. Solitude helps introverts recharge their batteries.

Extroverts enjoy talking to other people. They generally love parties and social gatherings. They enjoy meeting new people and gain energy through social interaction.

Once you know which tendencies apply to you, a door of insight that goes beyond behavior can be opened. Knowing why you act a certain way is more important that identifying the actions that were taken.

The same is true in the workplace. Look beyond your team members’ actions or personality profile label. Take time to understand why Dennis never eats his lunch in the break room with everyone else. Listen to the words behind Kay’s incessant chatter.

Extroverts need love, approval, reassurance, agreeableness, and participation. Introverts need solitude, composure, reservation, toleration, and a feeling of being understood. Successful leaders work to cultivate these needs in their team members on an individual basis. When employees see the leadership consistently working to understand them and work with their natural tendencies, a great amount of confidence, respect and trust can be built.

Though introverts and extroverts seem very opposite, resist the urge to silence one and amplify the other. Keep in mind that introverts and extroverts can co-exist with fantastic results. Don’t focus solely on the varying tones produced by these two personality types; instead, listen for the harmony that is produced when each is accentuated, encouraged, and appreciated. A masterpiece of personality is the reward for diligent efforts to include and affirm each member of your team, regardless of their personality traits.