Joy Marsden is an award winning motivational speaker and authority in Self-Leadership. Working internationally with organisations in both the private and public sectors. She combines real experience, strategies and insights with both humour and realism.
The proud creator of the Stepping for Success Programme, Joy uses it successfully to help people 'Keep Stepping' with confidence through challenging times with astonishing results.
Joy is also a trained strategic coach and has first-hand experience working in the fields of design, area sales management, marketing, customer service and management training. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management and a Fellow of the Professional Speaking Association. Her aim is simple - 'To help people to step into all they can be, and enjoy life in the process'. For more information visit www.steppingforsucess.com

Each step you take on a daily basis affects the person you become and the work that you do. So every single step that you take absolutely matters. Yet sometimes our default mode of action is to take no action at all, and stop in our tracks when faced with challenges and change.

Changing the way you do things can be really hard. This is because over time, you develop patterns of behaviours; ways of thinking, ways of acting, and ways of responding to certain situations. When you use these patterns consistently, you become conditioned to work in a particular way. If you want to change and work in a different manner, it will take time and energy in terms of your focus, your thinking and your behaviour. Change goes against the grain and it’s uncomfortable; that’s why it’s so hard.

If you want to move forward and consistently improve the way you do things, then you must pay attention to the steps that you’re taking. Ask yourself: Are you taking steps in the right direction and in the right way?
The Keep Stepping principles I use when working with leaders and their teams are very simple, but simple doesn’t mean easy. However, a very small change can make a very big difference. So it is about recognising that tomorrow can be different and you can be different, and being committed to taking those small steps.
I always say a positive outlook is better than a negative one. In order to achieve that mind-set there are a few things you need to do. There will be some habits that you use, some thoughts that you have and some actions that you take that simply no longer serve either you or the people with whom you work. You have to be prepared to ‘shred’ anything that stops you from making the step.
Another aspect is that in our working environment, it really does take some effort to tune into what is going on. When tuning in you want to be asking yourself questions such as:
– Am I getting the most out of my employees?
– Do I understand the staff who I work with?
– Am I engaging with the clients that I cross paths with every day?
– Am I truly present with them?
I think the best way to lead and motivate a team is to have a leader who is motivated and is leading themselves well. In others words, a leader who is taking the right steps in the right way. The key elements of self-management and self-leadership, which eventually flow into self-mastery. In my work, I find that there are many managers leading other people who haven’t yet learned how to lead themselves. If I am going to follow a leader, I want to follow someone who knows where they’re going and how to get there.

The development of their self-awareness is also key. A manager or leaders needs to be mindful that everything that they do impacts on the people with whom they engage. If you are fully aware of that, and really want to get the best out of yourself and other people; then you’re going to be more mindful of how you are interacting with others.

The steps you take are governed by the vision you have and where you see the business in the future. It may be that what you’re doing now is not going to be good enough to take them to where you want to go in the future. So in terms of where you are now –and your comfort circle – if you’re are happy then that’s fine. But if you want to explore new possibilities, at some stage the investigation of any opportunities is going to feel uncomfortable. In these circumstances you must be willing to explore outside of that comfort circle. It is scary but one of the topics I talk about is ‘the stretch’. We are not designed to stay still; we are designed to keep stepping and to grow. When we stretch ourselves, that is where the growth happens; in the stretch, not in the comfort circle.

Personal experiences make you who you are today, and it’s the way you respond to those experiences – be they good or bad – that puts you where we are today. So my life’s motto is simply, ‘keep stepping’. You have to be prepared to step up, step out and stand out to achieve success; because the steps you take now are going to affect the whole of the rest of your life and business.