Creativity and Innovation in the Workplace: How to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

Workplace creativity and innovation are sought after goals in many organizations. Ever wonder how to get the creative juices flowing? Practicing creativity not only helps leaders make quick, confident decisions, innovate, and problem solve; creativity also helps us interact with others at a higher level.Living in this creative zone is as beneficial for leaders as it is for artists. Observe artists at work, whether it is performing artists, painters, sculptors, writers, or designers. Artists are present in the moment of creating with razor sharp focus as the divine download fills the spaces of their mind, heart, and body.Pablo Picasso reminds us, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”The best way to start tapping into our creativity is do what we did as children—play. Let’s get the creative juices flowing with the abandonment of child-like play.I would love to hear from you. What do you think? How do you get your creative juices flowing?With love,Maria 

What is the Definition of Leadership & How to be an Effective Leader

So often, I am asked these simple, yet profound questions: What is leadership? How can I be an effective leader?In my experience, the words leadership and management are used interchangeably in the workplace. In the management and leadership classes I’ve taught over the years, we define them differently, however, recognizing that leadership is a critical part of management. I’ve always believed that defining leadership as a component of management was like saying cocoa is a component of chocolate.Many organizations use the term leader when defining certain management positions. However, a title does not make a leader. My Grandpa Jaime used to say, “You can put a suit on a bum, but he is still a bum.” One may put the title of leader on a person, and he or she may or may not be a leader.Most definitions of leadership have one over-arching similarity: vision. Creating vision and motivating followers towards the vision is the fundamental foundation of leadership. If there is no place to lead (vision) and no one to follow, then leadership is absent. I define leadership as the action of inspiring and motivating others toward a vision. I don’t believe it needs to be any more complicated than that.In this episode, I share with you 15 essential factors of being an effective leader.

 I would love to hear from you. What do you think? How do you define leadership? What are the qualities you admire in leaders?With love,Maria

How to Influence Others and Create a Legacy

How can we gain influence with people at work? How can we create legacy?

Very rarely am I involved in a conversation about leadership that does not include the topic of influence. I believe that influence is what most leaders seek; although, many will confuse influence with motivation. Motivation is important in leadership; it gets the job done. However, influence, is lasting. Influence is legacy.In this episode, I share with you several sure-fire ways to increase your influence with others.I would love to hear from you. What do you think? What are some of the ways you’ve found to influence others, and what are the best ways for others to influence you?With love,Maria

Move Out of Your Comfort Zone When Leadership is Needed

How do you know when leadership is needed? Why is it necessary to move out of your comfort zone?

As a leadership coach, I am always excited when a powerful question or statement crosses my path or better yet, slams me in the face! The other day, I had such an encounter. Seth Godin got my attention when he wrote, “If you’re not uncomfortable in your work as a leader, it’s almost certain you’re not reaching your potential as a leader”. He was talking about the discomfort we sometimes feel as a leader and furthermore, when we identify the discomfort, we’ve found a place where leadership is needed. His list includes:

  • Standing up in front of strangers
  • Proposing an idea that may fail
  • Challenging the status quo
  • Resisting the urge to settle

I DO love those moments that move me out of my comfort zone and into what I call a “seat squirming” state. I know when I start squirming, I am on to something, and that something is usually growth!In this episode, I share a positive perspective on Seth Godin’s list for when leadership is needed.I would love to hear from you. What do you think? What is outside of your comfort zone that is holding you back? When was a time you moved outside of your comfort zone and how did you do it? How did it feel on the other side?With love,Maria

Meaning and Significance Instead of Success at Work

What would happen if we shifted our focus to find meaning and significance at work instead of just success?I recently heard Oprah talk about success and significance in the same sentence. This got me thinking…Looking at the word, significance, I wanted to explore the meaning and essence of this luxurious word steeped in depth and richness. I started researching great thinkers on significance and explored their quotes. In this episode, I share with you some of my favorites.What if we shifted our focus from success to significance? How would that look? How would that affect the way we lead?I would love to hear from you. What do you think? How would shifting from success to significance affect the way you lead? What is most significant about what you do?With love,Maria

Influence Your Team and Your Boss

How can I gain influence with my team? How do I influence my boss?I’ve heard repeatedly from my clients, students, and colleagues these questions. While teaching leadership or marketing courses, I’ve often thought…Leading people and marketing are really the same activity. Isn’t the primary objective of both to influence people in the direction of a goal?You may challenge that statement! True, marketing and leadership could sometimes be an activity of manipulation, and not of influence. We have seen and experienced this many times in both marketing and leadership.Both activities of influence and manipulation have power. The key is that only one has sustainability. Manipulation can be an effective influencing tactic, but it is not sustaining; in fact, it is exhausting!Influence, on the other hand, is nurturing, motivating, and full of momentum.  In today’s video are 10 specific strategies to increase your influence.I would love to hear from you. What else would you add to this list to increase your influence? What time did you gain buy-in and what strategy did you use?With love,Maria

Your Perception is Your Reality

Understanding how your perception becomes your reality is a powerful tool.

I love the story of Plato’s cave. The shadows of the people outside the cave and distorted images from the fire flames all created a dark reality in the recesses of the cave. What dark reality exists within the confines of the caves of our mind?

Thoughts are powerful; they are the seeds to ideas, beliefs, creativity, attitudes, knowledge, wisdom, and reality. Thoughts can be our best friends or our worst enemies.

Unconscious thoughts are just as powerful as thoughts steeped in awareness. Negative self-talk are weeds that have grown in our minds. You know these voices, since many of us have cultivated these over years and decades:

  • You can’t do...
  • You should do….
  • You shouldn’t…
  • You are too old… too young… too fat… too thin...
  • Who do you think you are?

Sound familiar? We could probably add to the list with little effort! These voices come from fear, anxiety, doubt, guilt, and shame. Our behaviors are reflections of our beliefs. If we believe the negative self-talk, it manifests in our behavior with ourselves and with others.Do you ever find yourself stuck, unable to accomplish that goal or unable to overcome a fear of something or someone?The negative voices and gremlins in our heads fuel underlying beliefs we have about ourselves, others, and the way we view the world. It is important for us to step into awareness and recognize the beliefs that no longer serve us. For example, not talking to strangers is a common lesson taught to many of us as small children. As we grew into adulthood, we abandoned that belief, albeit unconsciously.Developing our perception-shifting skill serves us well. In this episode are 3 steps to help you develop your perception-shifting muscle.I would love to hear from you. When have you discovered your initial perception to be false? How long did it take you to shift your perception, and what were the results?With love,Maria

Intuition and Decision Making in the Workplace

Using intuition for decision-making is a powerful technique used by successful leaders. However, using intuition in the workplace may be tricky because Western culture loves proof, anything empirical that has evidential credibility attached to it. I’ll never forget an experience I had early in my corporate career. One of the first meetings I had in my new position leading the marketing division was a meeting with the company president. I was excited and nervous. Having done my homework in the area of our planned discussion, I was ready. The meeting began smoothly and I felt confident in my knowledge and insight. Then, my moment came. The president asked me about my thoughts. I promptly answered, “I feel …” and immediately was interrupted by him with words that cut to my core, “Maria, I don’t care about your feelings, tell me what you know”.That experience was the first of many that unfortunately taught me how to not listen to my intuition. Enter spreadsheets. Luckily, I only followed this mode of operation for a few years, before I realized that my previous way of decision-making served me much more efficiently and effectively, which was of course using my intuition.Intuition is a power tool that all successful leaders use, like an internal GPS. I found through working with my clients that some of these leaders have to re-learn how to use intuition because in many of our corporate and work experiences, we learn how to not listen to it.In today’s episode, I share with you a simple strategy to develop and re-connect with your intuition, by just remembering the acronym:I N T U I T I O NAs always, I would love to hear from you. How have you used intuition in your job, career, or personal life?With love,Maria

May I Present

How can we have a strong presence and make a good impression? Do we show up in the way we want?Presence is showing up.So often, we are replaying in our head the argument we may have had with a spouse, the traffic on the way to work, or the memo we just read. How different would it be if we really showed up—mind, body, and spirit? How would our showing up affect our communication, our connection and relationships, or our leadership?Great leaders, who communicate and connect, fill their minds with the person in front of them. We feel this connection when others are fully engaged in what we are saying. We see it in their eyes, we feel it energetically, we know we are connected and drawn to that person and the moment. Presence is mindfulness. Mindfulness is found in the present, and when you are present, you show up.We can practice three simple exercises to show up in the way we want.As always, I would love to hear from you. What practices do you do to show up? How would you like to show up differently, and what will you do to accomplish a stronger presence?With love,Maria

Are You Experienced?

Have you ever driven away from your home and looked back to see if you closed the garage door? Awareness is tricky that way. How can we be more mindful at work? Why practice awareness in the workplace?

We must first be self-aware before we can begin effective, meaningful relationships with others. As a leader, awareness is the foundation on which to build your leadership skills. Don’t get me wrong, many leaders go about their day-to-day activities unconsciously leading, struggling, and wondering why it is so darn hard. The answer is that we must first effectively lead ourselves if we are to lead others successfully.Luckily, we can practice three simple steps to cultivate awareness and become a better leader.I would love to hear from you. When was the moment when you became fully aware? What are some steps you use to stay in awareness?With love,Maria

How to Work Through a Communication Breakdown and Communicate Better

How many times a day do we experience a communication breakdown and want to communicate better?

We’ve been talking about communication for decades and we still can’t seem to get it right!The challenge we have with communication is the noise.Three super simple strategies can help us eliminate that noise.I love to hear from you! Please share below your funniest Mars/Venus communication exchange. Or what’s the most challenging conversation you’ve had and how did you manage through it?With love,Maria 

A New Reality, A New Leadership

We have to give it, share it, mentor it, and grow it.

It is love, knowledge, care, trust, love. As leaders, we have a responsibility to be students of those that went before us, stewards of our gifts and talents, and mentors to those that come after us. Our challenge is to go through our own inward journey, describe the lessons we’ve learned, and then return to teach those lessons to the next generation of leaders. “A journey to find the treasure of your true self, and then home to give your gift to help transform the kingdom – and in the process your own life. The quest itself is replete with dangers and pitfalls, but it offers great rewards: the capacity to be successful in the world, knowledge of the mysteries of the human soul, the opportunity to find your unique gifts in the world, and to live in loving community with other people.”[i] Meaning, abundance, and meaningful existence await.Today, we need a new reality. “To prevail in the face of violence, homelessness, malaise, and the many other spiritual challenges of modern life, we need a vision of leadership rooted in the enduring sense of human wisdom, spirit, and heart.”[ii] We need a new generation of leaders who have the courage and wisdom to love themselves, to love their Source, and to love others. We need you, the authentic leader within. “Our journey is a search, often arduous, for our spiritual center. Once we find our own light within, we can share it with others, offering our own gifts from the heart.”[iii] As we claim our light, let us remember the words of Rumi:You were born with potential.You were born with goodness and trust.You were born with ideals and dreams.You were born with greatness.You were born with wings.You are not meant for crawling, so don’t.You have wings.Learn to use them and fly.Rumi – 13th century poet[iv] New year Blessings to you.With love,Maria


[i] Carol S. Pearson, Awakening the Heroes Within (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), p. 1.
[ii] Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal, Leading with Soul, p. 173.
[iii] Ibid., p. 177.
[iv] Rumi quoted by Wayne W. Dyer, The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-create Your World Your Way (Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc., 2004), p. 120. Dr. Maria Church, CPC, is a leadership coach, speaker, and author of Love-Based Leadership: Transform Your Life with Meaning and Abundance and her upcoming book, A Course in Leadership: 21 Spiritual Lessons on Leadership, Love, and Life. Maria holds a doctorate of management in organizational leadership, teaches at several universities, and is CEO of Dr. Maria Church International LLC, a leadership coaching, development, and training firm. For more information, visit www.DrMariaChurch.com.

Not a Dress Rehearsal

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.  Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.  Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice.  And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary. - Steve JobsI love this quote because it speaks to so many of us with the depth of truth. As we close out another year, let us honor and acknowledge the road we’ve traveled and with conscious intention, design our next chapter. This is not a dress rehearsal for life; this is it, your life now.Who are you and who do you want to be? Is there a gap between those two people? Who are you meant to be and what keeps you from living your purposeful life?  What resistance are you experiencing? Steven Pressfield refers to resistance in the War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles as “the most toxic force on the planet…the root of more unhappiness than poverty and disease.”Do you have a book inside of you, or a painting, or another calling? This is the year to break free from resistance and live the life you are meant to live. Here are five strategies for overcoming resistance:

  1. Use the 5-Why technique and peel back the layers to uncover your why, your purpose, your calling.
  2. Use the 5-Why technique to peel back the layers of resistance. Name it, and release it.
  3. Give yourself permission to dream without resistance.
  4. When you hear those negative voices inside of you saying, “Who are you to do that?” Simply reply back, “Who am I not to?”
  5. Visit and sit with your dream every day and soon enough you will be living it without resistance.

I love to hear from you. What is your big dream and what resistance are you experiencing?With love,MariaDr. Maria Church, CPC, is a leadership coach, speaker, and author of Love-Based Leadership: Transform Your Life with Meaning and Abundance and her upcoming book, A Course in Leadership: 21 Spiritual Lessons on Leadership, Love, and Life. Maria holds a doctorate of management in organizational leadership, teaches at several universities, and is CEO of Dr. Maria Church International LLC, a leadership coaching, development, and training firm. For more information, visit www.DrMariaChurch.com.

Secrets and Challenges

The secrets of leadership include awareness, mindfulness, intuition, power listening, and perception shifting. These five skills are innate, although they become buried for many of us based on our cultural upbringing. The great news is that they never go away!  Reconnecting with and developing these five leadership essentials are key to successful leadership. These skills help leaders know themselves better, enabling them to understand and influence others. Let’s face it: leadership is about influence. We cannot influence others in an authentic and effective manner without first understanding ourselves as well as those whom we lead.The challenges that leaders face take on many forms.  When we peel back the layers of challenges or problems, we find that in most cases the same root cause affects everything – fear. Manifesting itself in many forms, fear shows up as ego, micro-management, misunderstandings, and reactionary behaviors. When we learn to recognize the underlying cause (fear), we then will know how to rectify the real problem instead of just putting on a band-aid or superficial fix. When we only treat the problems superficially, we experience the same issues repeatedly.What is your biggest challenge with leadership and what secret solution do you have? As always, I love hearing your insight.With love,MariaDr. Maria Church, CPC, is a leadership coach, speaker, and author of Love-Based Leadership: Transform Your Life with Meaning and Abundance and her upcoming book, A Course in Leadership: 21 Spiritual Lessons on Leadership, Love, and Life. Maria holds a doctorate of management in organizational leadership, teaches at several universities, and is CEO of Dr. Maria Church International LLC, a leadership coaching, development, and training firm. For more information, visit www.DrMariaChurch.com.

Leadership Secrets: Unlock Your Potential

While some of us demonstrate leadership skills naturally, I do not believe that leadership skills cannot be learned. I have seen many leaders who innately have great leadership potential, but do not use it; and I have seen leaders who choose to learn to be great leaders. I believe the combination of our authentic innate skills and characteristics (whatever those may be) along with proper education and training, and coupled with heart-based thinking, will produce fabulous, irresistible leadership.

The secrets of leadership include awareness, mindfulness, intuition, power listening, and perception shifting. These five skills are innate, although they become buried for many of us based on our cultural upbringing. The great news is that they never go away!  Reconnecting with and developing these five leadership essentials are key to successful leadership. These skills help leaders know themselves better, enabling them to understand and influence others. Let’s face it: leadership is about influence. We cannot influence others in an authentic and effective manner without first understanding ourselves as well as those whom we lead.

With love,

Maria

Dr. Maria Church, CPC, is a leadership coach, speaker, and author of Love-Based Leadership: Transform Your Life with Meaning and Abundance and her upcoming book, A Course in Leadership: 21 Spiritual Lessons on Leadership, Love, and Life. Maria holds a doctorate of management in organizational leadership, teaches at several universities, and is CEO of Dr. Maria Church International LLC, a leadership coaching, development, and training firm. For more information, visit www.DrMariaChurch.com.

Reflections and Stories

As we approach the end of a year and the beginning of a new, it is important for us to reflect on our stories. You know these stories; they are well-crafted and visited repeatedly for years and sometimes decades. These are the stories we tell ourselves, building beliefs and behaviors based on these tales. As Plato reminded us, perception is reality. Our thoughts create our perceptions and our perceptions influence our emotional, psychological, and physical response.I am reading Marianne Williamson’s latest book, “The Law of Divine Compensation” and was struck by her discussion about how negative thoughts deactivate the divine law, which falls into three major categories: (1) negative sense of self, (2) anger, and (3) guilt. Wow – the big three!This got me thinking how the big three derail other aspects of our life, including how we love others and how we lead. As we reflect on a negative sense of self, anger, and guilt, let’s explore the following questions:

  • Why do we hold on to these beliefs? Is it habit, unawareness, or true to you?
  • Is it really true?
  • Who would you be if it weren’t true?
  • With what loving thought can you replace the negative thought?

Think about this:When is the best time to plant an oak tree? Twenty years ago. When is the second best time to plant the tree? Now.When we step into awareness about our stories and thoughts, we come to realize that we can change those thoughts, and ultimately change our lives. What’s stopping you?With loving thoughts,MariaDr. Maria Church, CPC, is a leadership coach, speaker, and author of Love-Based Leadership: Transform Your Life with Meaning and Abundance and her upcoming book, A Course in Leadership: 21 Spiritual Lessons on Leadership, Love, and Life. Maria holds a doctorate of management in organizational leadership, teaches at several universities, and is CEO of Dr. Maria Church International LLC, a leadership coaching, development, and training firm. For more information, visit www.DrMariaChurch.com. 

Help Wanted: Team Conflict Manager

Dealing with team conflicts can be a full time job for many leaders and managers. Sometimes we spend more time focusing on our differences than we do our similarities.

I am not advocating that we all need to be alike, because then we would fall prey to groupthink and find ourselves stuck. If we look at the individual unique qualities of our teams, and understand how to leverage those individual strengths, our teams would be strong, innovative, and productive.We can also take some simple steps to avoid conflict with mindful and intentional strategies. Here are six steps to avoid workplace conflict and build teamwork:

  1. Ensure that areas of responsibility are clearly understood
  2. Eliminate conflicts of interest among team members
  3. Goals and objectives should be clearly explained and understood
  4. Let people know the importance of their contribution to the team effort
  5. Assign jobs that are appropriate to each team member
  6. Create conditions that help people motivate themselves for their reasons, not yours

Remember that we cannot do our work alone. Teams and collaboration are what gets things done.What are some strategies you employ to move your team from conflict to collaboration?With love,MariaDr. Maria Church, CPC, is a leadership coach, speaker, and author of Love-Based Leadership: Transform Your Life with Meaning and Abundance and her upcoming book, A Course in Leadership: 21 Spiritual Lessons on Leadership, Love, and Life. Maria holds a doctorate of management in organizational leadership, teaches at several universities, and is CEO of Dr. Maria Church International LLC, a leadership coaching, development, and training firm. For more information, visit www.DrMariaChurch.com.

WIIFM?

What’s in it for me?  As an entrepreneur and leader of my own business, I often take this perspective of my clients when I write marketing copy and have client conversations. Framing thoughts this way helps me identify the benefits for clients and potential customers.

The funny thing about this thought, WIIFM is that it is not only on the minds of our customers, it is also on the minds of our team members and those we lead.  While they may not directly ask, “What’s in it for me?” they are definitely thinking it!

If we can frame our leadership guidance and requests with the mindset of what’s in it for them, we can open up new ways to motivate our teams, clients and customers for more engagement, commitment, productivity, and loyalty; resulting in tremendous benefit to our companies and organizations.

Don’t wait for our teams and customers to fill in the blanks of what’s in it for them, just communicate to them up front the benefits and results they can expect from joining you or buying your product or service.

Don’t you just love win-win scenarios?

With love,

Maria

Dr. Maria Church, CPC, is a leadership coach, speaker, and author of Love-Based Leadership: Transform Your Life with Meaning and Abundance and her upcoming book, A Course in Leadership: 21 Spiritual Lessons on Leadership, Love, and Life. Maria holds a doctorate of management in organizational leadership, teaches at several universities, and is CEO of Dr. Maria Church International LLC, a leadership coaching, development, and training firm. For more information, visit www.DrMariaChurch.com.

Are you Tom?

For some of us, finding our passion may be an ominous task or we may wonder why leveraging our passion is even relevant.  However, when we find and leverage our passion, the magic happens.For example, for Tom, the cleaning and maintenance man for a homebuilder I worked with, it meant creating beauty. Tom worked by maintaining and cleaning model homes and guesthouses. He treated these homes as if they were his own home with great care and love. The models and guest homes Tom maintained were so immaculate and clean that you could eat off the floor.Tom passionately cleaned and organized homes in his care, giving the appearance that the homes were just completed and furnished that same day. He delighted prospective customers with all of their senses, from the special aromas he hand-selected, pillows he fluffed, blankets folded beautifully, to detailed floral and accessory arrangements.Tom was passionate about beauty and he shared his unique love by ensuring that those around him too, would experience beautiful sensations as well. The homebuilding company led the sales in our marketplace, due in large part to Tom’s passion.What entices passion in you? What makes your heart sing, your soul stir, and captivates you for endless hours? Where do you first when you go in a bookstore? What section catches your attention, your desire? If you had a day off, with nothing to do, what would be your first choice to spend your day? What would you teach to others? What brings you joy? The answers to these questions will give you some clues as to where you passions lay.What are you passionate about and how do you leverage your passion?With love and passion,MariaDr. Maria Church, CPC, is a leadership coach, speaker, and author of Love-Based Leadership: Transform Your Life with Meaning and Abundance and her upcoming book, A Course in Leadership: 21 Spiritual Lessons on Leadership, Love, and Life. Maria holds a doctorate of management in organizational leadership, teaches at several universities, and is CEO of Dr. Maria Church International LLC, a leadership coaching, development, and training firm. For more information, visit www.DrMariaChurch.com.

Leading on Purpose

To lead and live on purpose, we must become aware of our values. You may have heard of “values-based” leadership. Aligned with the concepts of love-based leadership, this idea of self-awareness around our values makes complete sense. Our values play such an important role in our leadership. Values are the foundation on which everything in our life is built. Our attitudes and beliefs, our thoughts and our behaviors, all stem from our values.

Knowing your values, helps bring clarity to what is significant to you. Take a look at your calendar and review how you spend your time. Do the activities on your calendar align with your values? If not, why not?Looking at our values is a conduit to our inspiration and our passion. We have developed our strengths, in part, because we value those behaviors, and at some level of awareness, we’ve felt passionate about those activities. With the alignment of our values, our strengths, and the flame of passion and inspiration, leadership effectiveness is certain.This is the road to fulfilling our purpose. Leaders who live and breathe passion are irresistible; they are inspiring others with vision and hope.What do you value and how do your values influence your leadership? I love hearing your thoughts.With great value and love,MariaDr. Maria Church, CPC, is a leadership coach, speaker, and author of Love-Based Leadership: Transform Your Life with Meaning and Abundance and her upcoming book, A Course in Leadership: 21 Spiritual Lessons on Leadership, Love, and Life. Maria holds a doctorate of management in organizational leadership, teaches at several universities, and is CEO of Dr. Maria Church International LLC, a leadership coaching, development, and training firm. For more information, visit www.DrMariaChurch.com.