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Adult rec sport participation is one of the best w

Adult rec sport participation is one of the best ways to practice teaming skills with minimal consequences.

You can use an experience in adult rec sports to benefit from connecting with people and understanding team dynamics to win under a different kind of pressure than you’ll find in your typical work setting.

Being able to translate - what you practice on the field, as well as what you witness of and experience with great partners... to your profession - is an amazing opportunity. You can learn so much about what works best for you as you lead your organization.

Bonuses from the story: having fun while modeling good behavior for my sons plus so much more was worth more than gold!

I hope you had an enjoyable Sunday. Today my week

I hope you had an enjoyable Sunday. Today my week was lifted when my teenage son did a solid for his family.

One of my biggest life challenges has been ensuring my children understand keeping our home clean and in good shape is a team activity. Not something to be paid to do or tit for tat - it’s what’s owed for the privilege of living here.

Something we ALL need to chip in and do to be good stewards of the space we have been blessed to have good, comfortable shelter in. Yeah I pay the bills but my growth requires me to have this additional responsibility too.

I know I could do this a million different ways as a parent. This is just the way my parenting life is set up right now.

More than anything, I want them to leave their home with me with the skills and discipline to take good care of their own (or shared) spaces as adults.

As well know that it is okay to ask for help.

Anyway, I told the teenager to do the dishes while his brother and I were out today.

I came home to the task done!!!

Hallelujah 🙌🏾

#askandyoushallreceive #communicationiskey #growth

Today, I attended my first county Democratic conve

Today, I attended my first county Democratic convention after I heard a great keynote speech during a boys and men of color conference. It was quite a morning of virtual meetings - that may have had some overlap - with info filled to help my community and family be safe.

This afternoon, the boys and I played paintball at a friend’s birthday party and the way they worked together as a team in kids vs adults was beautiful ♥️

That’s the post. #imtired

One thing I learned early in participating on and

One thing I learned early in participating on and building teams is the importance of knowing my teammates. And I mean KNOWING them - having conversations and listening to them to learn some likes and dislikes, family backgrounds, birthdays/anniversaries, and more. Building relationships with teammates outside of your work together can help you collaborate more IN your work together, strengthen communication and even build loyalty.

For instance, anyone who has been close to me on a team knows my favorite snack is Peanut M&Ms (lifelong fave at that)! You can find more fun facts about me on the picture.

I tend to have a mental rolodex but you can maintain this information in your phone under contacts or a notes app.

Please note: some things are not to be documented📵. Vegas rules apply outside of Vegas sometimes 😅

I’d love to learn more about you. Share one of your favorite things in the comments 💜.

On another note, I hope you are enjoying this series on building a team. I’m participating in the #consistency2021 challenge for the next few weeks and this is my theme for April.

I’m better prepared for this challenge than previously. By the end of the weekend, I won’t be doing these late night posts anymore 😁.

My intention in participating in this challenge is to create a habit of using this platform to serve and attract those who may want to partner with me someday ☺️

Happy Friday!!

As a business consultant, I encounter some consist

As a business consultant, I encounter some consistent questions by entrepreneurs interested in business to those in the midst of growing their companies. One of those questions always comes down to how to know they can trust others to support the business. This could be related to concerns about someone else stealing ideas or being liable for someone else’s mistakes or a multitude of other reasons.

For several years, I owned an event childcare service. In the beginning, I operated it alone or with family members because I was an emerging business owner and unsure about who to trust in my company.

At one point, the company was growing so much that I had to hire staff to increase our capacity to serve and earn more revenue

To alleviate my fears, I put a whole process in place to hire staff who were a good fit including interviews, background checks, reference checks and word of mouth referrals from people I knew.

Through practice, I realized the best places to advertise jobs since some places provided candidates who were never a good fit for the company.

I also learned to let go of my fear and have faith things would work out (which they ALWAYS did).

Eventually I opened up to other business coaches, getting over my unreasonable expectations of knowing it all even though I was business consulting myself. I had to bring my blind spots into view so I could fix them.

Some past clients alleviated their fear by providing non disclosure agreements which I had no problem signing but I’ve heard of professional service providers who shun that. I also include confidentiality disclosures whenever I engage clients simply to help them feel more comfortable so we can get to work.

At the end of the day, knowing who to trust to bring on your team will require thorough vetting by you and ultimately faith.

To increase your capacity to serve with your organization, you have to be open to other people being involved since you cannot produce your best results alone.

If you have any questions about building, developing or leading a team for your professional or personal life, feel free to DM. I’m doing Q&A every Thursday!

*Pic of throwback to when I first expanded my team.

So now you know but I will repeat it again, going

So now you know but I will repeat it again, going after things alone is not the best approach.

I know because I was there for way too long and it is exhausting. I felt that I HAD to do things that way and had this unreasonable notion that others were expecting me to have all the answers (and not ask questions or for any help) so that’s how I had to move.

Now I’m sooo coachable 😅

It used to scare me when anyone told me how much they would support anything I did…. now I’m all. for. It 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 please and thank you.

Yes there is pride in saying you did something on your own with no help BUT what if the end result would have impacted 10X more people… been 10 times greater… if you just asked for one other person to support your work.

There are too many humans on Earth who are willing to simply play a role on your team AND who need your best. Or who really need your support and voice on their team so more people can be positively impacted vs the opposite.

I want to help you get over that hurdle too so here are just three things to do:
1. Identify one big hairy audacious goal you would seriously like to accomplish in the next year. Not five or ten years from now. Just in the next 12 months. Personal or professional.
2. Consider what you need to make the outcome a reality. Meaning your areas of strength as well as any gaps you need (what explicitly isn’t your ministry 🤔).
3. Create a list of people, other resources and tools that could fill the missing pieces. You may have to purchase, rent, outsource, hire, or implement some other partnership to activate these people and other resources for your team. Add those considerations to your list as well.

Following these steps will help you be on your way to seeing how a team could support you achieve meaningful outcomes, sooner than you think.

Do it for one goal and see how you’ll be excited to do it for more!

For many years, I took pride in being able to acco

For many years, I took pride in being able to accomplish things solo. But when I look back, my best, favorite work was that done with a team.

Doing it alone meant having blind spots, not completing tasks efficiently, and not having the very best outcomes.

When I’ve been an individual contributor on a team, I appreciated working with others on a common goal, especially with established expectations and alignment towards a common mission. I’ve had my share of days experiencing ambiguity as well.

When I lead teams I’ve recruited to support: my company as staff, a committee on nonprofit boards of directors I’ve served or teams to provide additional resources for my sons’ school and activities (and much more), I am always impressed by what we are able to accomplish together. Organizing a plan and actually seeing it implemented produce two different emotions 😅

I even remember organically coming together with a group of young professionals to work on our business school applications. We desired admission to various MBA programs and a solid number of us gained admission to different schools thanks to how we were organized, encouraging, and accountable to each other. #proudUNCMBA

I don’t only consider teams from a professional standpoint though. I’ve had plenty of teams to support my parenting, fitness and general personal growth.

Teams come in various forms but 9 times out of 10, a captain is essential (which will likely be YOU).

Nice to have are members of different backgrounds, functions and/or perspectives to make the results of the work whole. This isn’t always a priority but it’s definitely achievable despite what some business leaders say 😒

Anyway, one person simply cannot do it all alone and achieve top results.

Most importantly, essential tools for a well-performing team are ones that promote CLEAR communication amongst the team with expectations, challenges, results, kudos and most of all, the organization identity - mission, values and vision.

Stop tackling problems alone, recruit your team and make sure your essential tools are in place.

Since the year started, I’ve been doing the most

Since the year started, I’ve been doing the most to get in shape including attempting two fitness challenges and purchasing another bike. I have now resolved to just make sure I move daily at least 30 minutes because it’s just better for my style 🤷🏾‍♀️. It’s why project work has been great for me 😅

One thing I noticed works really well for me is having a supportive team. For example, a few weeks ago, I participated in an adult mountain biking clinic for beginners (which if you look at my tags, you can learn more 😁). It was one of the toughest activities I’ve done in a while but I wanted to do it to have a better understanding of what my kids are doing on their mountain biking team… so I can better support them.

There were several (SEVERAL) times during the clinic that I wanted to just quit and go home but the coaches kept giving me direct feedback on specific problems to work through which gave me something to look forward to correcting the next go around of practicing our lessons. By the end of the session, I completed a 0.7 mile mountain biking track without falling - always one of my goals. I was even told I had a good recovery when my back wheel slipped on one of the trail turns. The coaches and my peers were completely encouraging but the cutest thing was when this young girl who was out there for practice came up to congratulate me for completing my FIRST mountain biking track.

It’s great to attempt doing things on your own but you may see even better outcomes when you have a team supporting you with mentoring, coaching, peer feedback, and more.

I have been under the weather for the last few day

I have been under the weather for the last few days and finally feel better 😊 But so much for that #consistency2021...

I’m back to say, it’s time to get working. I know you have an idea that will change the world, or at the very least, your community, your family even.

It CAN be difficult for some people to just get started. So this is me, encouraging you to just get started (just like I have 😁).

If you’ve noticed some of the things put out in the world lately that simply took off or even had been incubating a while 😳😩🙃, you may be struggling with knowing you have something amazing inside to also add to the world but for some reason, you are hesitant to release.

I suggest the following approach:

1) acknowledge why you are hesitant to move forward
2) address those reasons including what could actually go wrong and how you would resolve that even if it means asking for help
3) then just get started

Getting started can be daunting but it is soo necessary.

To help remove some friction and take at least one decision off your hands, you should decide now on when you will dedicate time towards your work over the next few months. You can make it as flexible or as stringent as you please. Respect the boundaries of your family, 9-5, self-care, etc but please choose some time to work on your business or community centered goals. If you can do it 4-8 hours a day, even better 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

To support you, I’m here to offer you a work schedule template with suggestions and tips on how to make it work for you.

At the link on my bio, you will see how to access it. It is a special gift from me to you ♥️💜.

Now get started! Enjoy 😊

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