Tag: Leadership

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Time to Move

Life is full of detours, delays, and dumb things. All of them bump into our lives. Some of them change the trajectory of our lives. Some things are just annoyances.

A friend and colleague, Kevin Applegate, dropped a pearl of wisdom in my lap many years ago. Kevin is full of it….wisdom that is. I was nursing and rehearsing my frustrations with not being able to do some things at a particular time in the life of a church, and Kevin simply said: “Do what you can. Don’t worry about what you can’t.”

He just let it sit there. I sat back and soaked it up. 

In the early Centuries A.D., some monks (I believe it was Monks…could have been the Desert Fathers of the 4th Century……doesn’t really matter) said: “When you don’t know what to do, just do the next right thing.”

It’s a pearl of wisdom I often share with Coaching clients to kick them out of neutral, which in emotional terms is the gear found in frustration. When life feels cut off from the past and uncertain about the future, we can feel paralyzed or stuck.

We might cry out with the Psalmist: “How long, O, Lord? How long?” (Psalm 13; 35:17)

When Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt, He experienced a “stuck” moment. 

Exodus 14:13-16: “Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”

Sometimes we cry out to God in our frustration or fear (or both), and God says – “Move!”

  • Do the next right thing.
  • Don’t worry about what you can’t do. Do what you can.
  • Rather than waiting for God to do something, what can you do now?

Often I find that it’s not until I take a step in the direction I sense from God that I see steps 2, 3, 4, and more. It takes me moving.

We pray for God to work, to solve, to rescue but don’t move ourselves. We’re like Moses saying: “stand firm” and watch God. And God is saying, stop standing there and move.

I speak of “Praise the Pieces of the Process” when Coaching leadership. Once we become clear about our goal in a month, six months, a year or more, then we can work backwards to understand the process.

If I want to run a marathon in a year, then I have to start by working toward running a mile. Or perhaps I need to get the right shoes as a first step.

If I want to bench press 200 lbs, I need to first bench press 100 lbs. A power-lifting world champion friend says it just takes energy and time. I agree. I would add that it takes steps in the right direction.

We often get so wrapped up in the goal that we miss the pieces of the process. We get stuck. If we break down the goal into steps and milestones, concentrating on those, then the goal will take care of itself. Along the way, we win with each step of the process.

To my email list of business and sports clients and potential clients, I am saying: “Use this time to grow your leadership so that you are ready for your next steps.” There are always things we can do.

Applying this idea to our present world circumstances, I’m drawn to a song by Matthew West titled: “Do Something.” 

The lyrics in part read:

I woke up this morning
Saw a world full of trouble now, thought
How’d we ever get so far down, and
How’s it ever gonna turn around
So I turned my eyes to Heaven
I thought, “God, why don’t You do something?”
Well, I just couldn’t bear the thought of
People living in poverty
Children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So, I shook my fist at Heaven
Said, “God, why don’t You do something?”
He said, “I did, yeah, I created you”

What is a step you need to take today?
What can you do?

Be blessed to be a blessing

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Lead by Communicating

If you are a leader in today’s fast shifting time, communication can be your enemy or it can be your friend.

The goal of a leader’s communication is to take the guesswork out of your people’s day to day.

4 keys to communication that for the most part are good any time, except now the frequency of communication is crucial.

  1. Consistency is #1. Be consistent with what you say. When circumstances change, as they are daily right now, then say that. Give the reason for the change.
  2. Frequency. In times of uncertainty and fear, frequent consistent communication is a must. I’m encouraging leaders to communicate with their people EVERY day.
  3. Conciseness. Too many words and your people will get lost in them. Too few words and your people will have to fill in the blanks. Be balanced. Answer questions but don’t try to answer everything. There is no way to right now. Be truthful about what you don’t know.
  4. Caring. Let your people know you care. Let them know where you are struggling. Be real with them. Be human.

These are four cornerstone’s that I’m suggesting to clients. Let me know how it goes. And if you want to get on a call for 30 minutes to clear your own mind about what you do next, let’s do it. This is my way of adding value to my world right now. No dollars needed right now.

Jeff Raker, Executive Coach

Level Up Leadership Coaching

jeff@levelupleadershipcoach.com

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The 3 P’s: Level Up Leadership Tips

A recent conversation with one of my 1-on-1 athletes led to thinking about thinking. (If you are a human being who is seeking to grow your leadership, athlete or not, read on.)


I noticed some patterns in this athletes words, phrases, and images. They led me to share some great insights from the father of Positive Psychology, Dr. Martin Seligman with his 3 P’s of Thinking. When I observe these, I know there can be trouble, a slippery slope into a fatalistic approach to leadership, competition, and life.


Here is an excerpt from my book in progress, “The Journey from Average to Elite”:

1. Personal – The brain begins to interpret the event in a personal way. “Why didn’t that sale happen? I’m no good.” When a race goes poorly, when a salesperson doesn’t make a sale, when anything negative results, if “I’m a failure” becomes your self-talk, you will be held in the grip of the past.You interpret in a way that says: “I’m not good enough.” Every leader does stuff that doesn’t work. But the “dummies” don’t take it personally. They say “I guess they weren’t ready, or I need to tweak the presentation.”

But they don’t conclude it’s because “I’m not good enough.” And they go on to succeed. You will never see an elite athlete carrying this baggage to the next level because the baggage is too heavy to make it that far. It will be a ball and chain, keeping you anchored in place.For those who take it personally, the brain begins to shut down, and goes to the next P.

2. Pervasive – “My whole life sucks.” The individual event becomes the picture for everything. It goes to a different region of the brain and everything goes bad. Then there’s another event. You get an email that’s critical. You have another bad performance. You injure yourself, and see it as evidence that it’s because you are you. It reinforces the first two Ps. Then to the third P:

3. Permanent – You think it’s permanent. Once the brain begins to go into this state, things can get bad. It’s a downward spiral with force that seeks to keep you down. But there is a way out. I challenge this thinking with athletes, asking questions that often start with, “Really?” One athlete was so deep, I leaned forward and said, “It’s a good thing you get up in the morning or the sun wouldn’t even rise!”


My recent 1 on 1 conversation went from crying (because it was so bad) to laughing and then crying because of the relief.

Do you see yourself? Do you see your co-workers? your athletes? your boss?

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Are you a Sports Psychologist?

A family relative said to me recently, “Sports psychology is what people think you do.”

He knows it’s not what I do. I know it’s not what I do. But it’s easy to assume that’s what I do. So what do I do?

I am an Executive Leadership Coach who has taken the training and skills from that certification, combined it with 30 years of leading people in the non-profit arena; mixed it with my passion for sports and my continued pursuit of competition as a Master’s athlete. This gives me a very unique toolbox from which to draw to meet the needs of coaches, teams, individual athletes, and athletic departments.

I teach leadership. It’s that simple and complex. I am not a mental coach, although mental toughness is a path that crosses leadership. I am not a psychologist who is concerned about WHY something is the way it is, or WHY you behave the way you do. I want to know WHAT you are going to do about it today regardless of the WHY.

I teach self-leadership through building a foundation of self-awareness. All the tips, tricks, and techniques of a mental coach will not last without being planted in the soil of self-awareness and self-leadership.

First, I help people get to KNOW who they are through an assessment. I most often use a DiSC Assessment, but StrengthsFinder, Enneagram, or others can easily find their way into my work. It really doesn’t matter what assessment you utilize, the important part is to KNOW who you are at a deeper level than before.

Second, I help people EMBRACE themselves. This is vital, and also a place where I bring a unique skill set. For 30 years I served as a Pastor of a Local Church, helping people KNOW and EMBRACE themselves. Each unique individual is valuable and to EMBRACE means to treat yourself with value. I help individuals and teams create a non-judgmental culture that allows people to grow, while providing boundaries of what is acceptable and what is not within the pursuit of team goals.

Third, I help people LEAD themselves. From becoming their own best coach to applying principles of neuroscience and self-awareness in a variety of settings, people I work with truly learn how to LEAD who they are.

Who you are is never an excuse for poor behavior. Awareness is about embracing your strengths and weaknesses, and learning how to adapt and grow to perform at your highest level possible.

I do have two Ph.D. Psychologists who serve as advisors for me, one of whom is a sports fanatic and works with athletes on a variety of levels. They do help me when I may get in over my head. That’s part of self-leadership by the way, knowing when I need help and then asking for it. There is no condemnation for not getting it done by myself. That’s the EMBRACE part.

Let me know how I can help you, your team, your staff.

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Mundane: Level Up Leadership Tips

A conversation with Mary Lee Tracy, owner of Cincinnati Gymnastics and coach of multiple Olympians, helped me understan the difference between average and elite. She said that at the beginning of a practice, everyone starts the same way, with somersaults and cartwheels. Only then moving on to round-offs and ariels. The mundane things create the foundation for doing more complicated motions. But the different is that Olympians do the mundane at a level called “excellent.”

If you want to succeed it will be beacuse of the foundational things that you do with excellence. What are they for you? There may be things specific to your business, but here are three that I find to be universal:

(1) Self-Awareness & Self-Care: Take time to know yourself, embrace yourself, then lead yourself. Only then can you lead others. Working on yourself is not selfish because only when you are at your best can you be the leader your people need. There’s a really good project that helps you be at your best which I’ll write about later.

(2) Communication: Take time with your words. Choose them carefully, the right words, not too many, and not too few. Too many words leads to confusion about what is important. Too few words and people may have to guess at your point.

(3) Relationships: Take time to know the people with whom you work and play. It’s not a waste of time to take time to make time for chit-chat. People are your greatest resource. Know details and take time to check in on people. When people know that you care, they will be more engaged in their work.

What are the small things that will make a difference for you? Choose one to work on this week.

If you find this helpful, please send the link to someone else who can benefit. Want to know more about Level Up? Go here

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Jeffery A. Raker

Owner, Level Up Leadership Coaching

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Change: Level Up Leadership Tips – 055

Change is sometimes intentional and it is almost always surprising. What I mean is, you don’t have to change everything in order to change everything. Every change – a new employee, a retired or fired employee, a new account, changing offices, an employee has major surgery, someone has a baby or gets married – every change initiates more change.

A new leader comes into lead a team, things have changed.

Leaders recognize that when one thing changes, it affects everything else whether they want it to or not.

Times of change are prime times for:

(1) New Expectations: Leaders understand that change brings enough uncertainty that new expectations need to be communicated. Clear, concise communication about what has not changed, i.e. mission, vision and purpose for instance. With change comes the need to understand what is new and what remains or else people will feel like “everything” has changed.

(2) Training: when a new leader arrives or you land a huge new account, bring in a trainer or coach. People are more open to learning when things have changed. Especially, I think, in the case of a new team leader. There are too many questions to leave forward progress to chance. Peak performance doesn’t “just happen.” Get everyone together and let a Coach lead the team through a proven process so that you don’t lose time experimenting to gain traction.

(3) Prioritizing Relationships: during times of change, leaders must get out with their people. Listen. Ask questions. Spend time. Walk slowly. These are not time-wasters but are vital behaviors to create a sense of connection in times of change.

Leaders, be aware of the change taking place when just one thing changes. Let’s talk about how Coaching can help you navigate a change without losing any momentum.

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