By Ola Manigo, founder and CEO of The Olympians Academy and member of NAWBO Nashville
The most innate human characteristics are oftentimes the most underutilized. As entrepreneurs and business owners, one of our greatest assets is the ability to action our efforts. We are managing multiple channels of responsibilities and will have all of the necessary hardware and software tools in place to accomplish goals, but it can become challenging to successfully sustain, increase and further future target goals.
The ”Success-preneur” Equation
Effective Communication + Active Listening + Emotional Intelligence = The “Success-preneur”
There is a foundational truth in consistency and guiding principles. One of the biggest challenges and most under-utilized tools that can hinder goal accomplishments and achievements is the lack of leveraging the practice of consistent guiding principles. Guiding principles allow us to use a framework as a guide for all circumstances, irrespective of changes. They apply to values that set a standard for how we practice making decisions that include behavior, information received, perceived and processed. Combined with a framework, implementing consistent guiding principles will help maximize the overall growth, success and longevity of business practices and endeavors.
The strength and foundation of our entrepreneurial and business efforts truly lies in our ability to always be aware of and relentlessly practice communicating effectively, actively listening and managing our emotions. While these may not be the first business requirements one would think of, they are extremely important in the continuous effort to build critical business (and personal) relationships with business partners, clients, lines of business, etc. that allow for the continued growth and expansion of our efforts.
Regardless of the industry or location, effective communication will always be a constant factor, in that there must be a clear understanding between all stakeholders as to the direction of the information that is being exchanged in order to successfully achieve and maximize outcomes. Effective communication allows for the clear understanding of exchange of information between either two individuals or a group of individuals. Oftentimes, miscommunication occurs when the shared information from an individual is processed by the receiver in a way other than what was intended. The end result can lead to project delays, budget impacts, increased operational risk factors and resource overhead efforts. Ensuring that received information is correct will help reduce those delays by focusing efforts to actively listen during conversations.
Active listening is another powerful tool that can be leveraged to maximize productivity and engagement. The ability to be fully invested in conversations, comprehend what is stated, process and understand what is not being said or heard can provide clarity to any situation, and can help advance goals forward in an extremely fluid way. The benefit of implementing this practice leaves no room for misunderstanding, ensuring efforts remain on time, on budget and reducing any last-minute conflicts that may occur from lack of effective communication. It allows for individuals to either confirm or clarify what was stated, keeps all parties on the same page and reduces any initial misunderstandings.
The final factor of sustaining success includes the relentless ability to leverage best practices of managing our emotional intelligence. Leveraging the ability, skill and awareness to know, recognize and understand emotions helps us make the best decisions possible with the information we have. The most effective decisions are made using a combination of logic, understanding, self-awareness, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, critical thinking and problem-solving. Those decisions are elevated by incorporating the practice of empathy, through social awareness, and allowing for the understanding of feelings and perspectives, which enables effective communication and collaboration.
Best Practice for the “Success-preneur” Equation in Motion
Clear understanding of information exchanged + process thought(s) for clarity + decisions made using emotional knowledge, logic, facts, reasoning, critical thinking, problem-solving = minimized risks and effective, sustained success
Granted, what I am discussing is information that you have likely heard before, but every now and then, revisiting the innate basics of our human nature is a gentle reminder that the foundation is where our success begins. Leveraging and maximizing our innate capabilities, being fully committed, dedicated and focused allows highly effective individuals to sustain continued success by being able to thoroughly process knowledge through comprehension, application, analyzing and evaluating information with logical reasoning. This increases the execution of decisions with defined clarity and clear understanding. The application of leveraging consistent guiding principles in our business foundation allows for a high level of direction and guidance that keeps intended end-goals and/or targets in focus and allows efforts to remain in scope for sustaining continued successes over time.
About the Author…
Ola Manigo is founder and chief executive officer of The Olympians Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. She is also a member of NAWBO Nashville. The Olympians Academy is a professional leadership development academy that develops and/or enhances leadership management skills for emerging/entry-level leaders, career leader professionals and business organizational leadership teams. To learn more, visit www.theolympiansacademy.com.