Successful teams have a way of self-regulating. They make real-time decisions on where to focus their time and energy. Start each week by helping your team to identify the big 3 priorities. Encourage team members to create a 'stop-doing' list so they can dedicate themselves to the right things.

We live in a world of distractions. Anyone around the world can sabotage your day with an email and request for information. So learn to manage the distractions. Stay focused on what matters most. Chunk your time so you become more efficient. Limit the amount of time you spend on emails.

Find ways to keep things simple. Reduce the amount of paper-work or bureaucracy people have to complete. Ensure colleagues are not duplicating effort. Encourage collaboration and set a time limit on every piece of work. After all work tends to expand to fill the time available.

Your sense of motivation and fulfilment goes through the roof when you can make daily progress on your Mount Everest. So learn when you're most alert and on your game and protect this time for your most important work. Block out time in your diary for thinking and planning. Don't cram your day with wall-to-wall meetings.

Your job as a manager is not to fix people if they're not motivated. Motivation is self-driven. So ask great coaching questions. Create a safe place for colleagues to talk about what's impeding their motivation and how they can turn things around.

We feel unstoppable and on a charge when we're motivated. Sure you'll have some good days and bad days - but how do you stack the odds in your favour - so you can boost your motivation for when you need it most?

It's not the hours worked that matters - it's what people do in those hours. Help the team to understand you want them to be productive not just 'busy fools'. One enhances self-esteem and one leads to burn-out.

Ditch the old notions of wok-life balance. We are accessible 24/7/365. So it's about working when you want to work and learning how to switch off. Schedule sports and social activities into your routines - fail to do this and work will be the only thing that consumes you.

Leadership is not the preserve of those at the top or the select few. Get mass participation and mass involvement. When people 'punch above their weight' remarkable things happen. Change needs leaders at every level. Otherwise those at the top start to struggle under the weight of expectation.

Whatever you want to change - put it into practice. Don't over think it or find reason why it won' work. Simply put it into practice for 5 days and then review what worked and what didn't. And then extend it for another 5 days. This is how to build innovation into your daily routines.

Sending people on a course is not the only way to grow people. Our most powerful learning happens in the day-job. Use every success and every mishap as an opportunity to raise self-awareness. Set team members challenges that serve two purposes - helps deliver your business plan and stretches colleagues in the process.

Here's the reality. If you're not investing time in yourself - why should anyone else? Only when you have sought coaching and mentoring.....undertaken projects and tasks that have stretched you.....sought informal feedback on your strengths and gaps from those you trust - and acted on it - should you ask your organisation to invest in you.

Look beyond your unconscious biases. Profile each of your team and identify their signature strengths. Do telephone interview with your peers and get real-world examples of when they've seen your colleagues at their best.

Don't worry about what's missing - unless it's a show stopper. Instead channel your energy to give full expression to your strengths. Work with the grain. Re-design your role and goals around your strengths. You'll not only achieve more, you'll also find work more fulfilling.

Help team members to lead their careers. Sure this won't appeal to everyone. But for those who do aspire to progress - offer them coaching and feedback. Remember career progression does not mean promotion. Even side-ways moves can help develop new capabilities and personal challenge.

Don't leave your career development in others' hands. It's way too important. Put yourself in the driving seat. Use your network and find out where the opportunities are. Tell people what types of challenges and skills development you're seeking. The more you spread the word, the more opportunities will find you. It's called creating your own luck.

Encourage peer-to-peer coaching. It's a great trust-builder. Each quarter encourage peers to rotate their coaching pairs - so over the course of a year they've had the chance to learn from and act as Coach to others. Strong teams rely on honest conversations.

Even if you're not leading a team or managing others, seek a budding relationship with a few peers. This simply means you create safe place to think aloud. Ask great questions. Be curious. You don't need to give any advice....simply allow you colleagues to arrive at their own solutions.

Personal development plans don't need to be kept 'personal'. The more you can encourage the team to share and discuss their PDPs the more you'll see collaboration and goodwill. When colleagues reveal how they want to improve themselves, they earn credibility. Make it clear - having a PDP is a sign of strength not weakness.

We're always busy, busy, busy. There is no shortage of stuff that needs to get done. So any wonder our personal development gets neglected. We put it on the 'do-later' list. But the time and space rarely presents itself. So get a plan. One that excites you. Get 'out-there' and find those bold challenges.

Practice keeping a learning journal yourself. That way you have much more credibility when you ask others how they have stretched themselves in the previous week and what learning they took from both success and failure. Make it your job to help team members replicate and learn from success.

At the end of each week, take 10-15 minutes and jot down: your small wins. What you're proud of. How you have stretched yourself. One thing you've learnt. Not only do you heighten your self-awareness, but you cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Next, look at the week ahead. Think through how you'll handle any difficult conversations or tough decisions.

Resilience like any skill can be honed, sharpened and improved. The knack is not to hush-hush mishaps or mistakes. Nor should you come down on people like a ton of bricks. Just focus on the learning and how can colleagues emerge from setbacks wiser, stronger and prepared for more?

Disruption and change are here to stay. It's the world we live in. So how do you stay grounded, balanced and effective when all around you there is change upon more change? The skill is to focus on your attitude and mindset - it's the only think you can control. The skill is to stay calm and carry on - in the eye of the storm.

Often projects fail or performance slumps - due to individuals setting their expectations low. They may not have the belief or confidence they can excel. So they 'go missing in action'. Treading with care - trying not to slip up vs really going for it. Be curious. Learn more about the limitations people place on themselves - many of them founded on irrational thinking.

What inner script gets played out when you're under pressure? Do you end up putting yourself down...planting seeds of doubt? Are you your own worst critic? Sometimes the only personal holding us back - is ourselves. But you can change this. Learn to be your own best friend.

Anxiety, blame, cynicism, frustration are all the sorts of emotions that can fly around when change and tough-times land. Problem is this takes energy away from what matters most. Stop people from wallowing and focus their attention on the small things they can do to turn things around.

When tough events land - how do you react? Do you lose your temper? Vent your frustration? Take it out on others? Or do you count to 10, take a deep breath, weigh up your options and rein in your feelings? Whichever strategy you use - will colour the perceptions others have of you....and how effectively you influence them.

Without self-belief colleagues tread with care. End up being risk averse. Quit at the first signs of a problem. Seek permission rather than forgiveness. Nothing remarkable gets achieved. By surfacing the self-limiting beliefs prevalent in the team, you begin to diminish their hold and power over others.

You don't have to be defined by your past. You are not the same person today, you were 5 years ago. So make peace with yourself. Learn to forgive yourself. If you were hurt in the past, let down, over-looked for promotion - let it go. The only person you're hurting is yourself.

High performance workplaces know that appreciation and recognition is free - but makes all the difference in keeping committed colleagues - committed. When colleagues know someone cares about them, appreciates them when they do well and listens to them when they go through tough times - they put more of their discretionary effort into work.

When you appreciate someone else, give them a pat-on-the-back and say thank you - you increase your own feel good chemicals. We all have a responsibility to be good team members. So show your appreciation to those colleagues who have helped you out or lent a hand. Don't take their goodwill for granted.

Why shouldn't colleagues be happy at work? It's where we spend the vast majority of our waking hours. So learn to bring fun into work. Give people license to be themselves. To strengthen social ties and networks.

Don't attach your happiness to an event. 'When I land that ideal job....get that pay grade...get that promotion - I will be happy.' All you have is now. So find ways you can find joy and fulfilment right here- right now. Focus on one aspect of your role you truly enjoy.

In a matrix structure you need to break down the internal barriers. Make it OK for people to reach out and ask for help. In your meetings ask the question - whose help do you need and have you asked for it? If you're not getting the help - how can you raise the issue - rather than create work-arounds?

You don't have to struggle alone. Sometimes the fastest way to make progress in a matrix organisation is to ask for help. Connect with peers and colleagues from other teams. People do business with people they like. So build your network and ask for others' advice and support.

Preserve the energy of your team - so it's channelled into doing great work vs loads of worrying. One of the most powerful things you can do is to be an extraordinary listener. Keep people focused on what they can control vs what they can't.

Staying calm in the midst of constant change is a vital life skill to develop. So change your outlook. Spot the opportunities change presents. Build fitness into your daily routine. Talk things through with a trusted colleague. All these things help change your perspective.

Collaboration can get you there faster. The life skill is to engage people early. To clarify who is accountable for what and to sort out the contentious stuff up-front. Be the Conductor who brings people together. Failure to do so, will most likely lead to confusion and frustration.

In a connected world, it pays to bring people together - virtually or physically. Find ways to leverage each others' strengths. Talk candidly about the challenges. Give each other the autonomy to use your judgement in delivering on your commitments. Success after all is a great energiser.

Make it clear - whilst there are so many things your team can't control - their mindset is one of them. They can either choose to remain neutral and focus on opportunities. Or they can give in to 'catastrophising' and 'lose' before they've even started. Challenge colleagues to fee the right mindset - especially when no-one else is watching.

You don't have to buy-in to 'the doom-merchants'. When the going gets tough - you might feel anxious by what you might lose - or feel energised by new doors opening. Change can be liberating and empowering - providing you keep an open mind.

Optimists back themselves to succeed. They're not being fool-hardy. Just open to walking towards challenges vs walking the other way. It's OK to question things constructively. But don't let this slip into cynicism. Help your team re-frame situations and ask 'how will you look back on this experience in 5-years time and see it as a positive turning point'?

We can all make someone's day and put a smile on their face. Even a small gesture of kindness - like holding a door open for someone, buying soup for a homeless person or letting another driver in at a junction - create a positivity for two people. You and the person you helped.

Like it or not you have a big impact on the motivation of your team - directly or indirectly. As they say, people join a business given its brand reputation but leave due to a difficult relationship with their boss. So go public. Help your team to understand when you're at your best and when you're not. How will they experience this and how can they help you to turn up as the best version of yourself?

No one ever teaches you how to manage your boss - but he or she can have a massive impact on your motivation. So learn more about them - their strengths, their priorities, their values and their pet-hates. You don't have to like your boss - but you do need to respect them. So make the time to discover what you respect in your manager.

When change lands make 3 points evidently clear. First the rational for change. How will it benefit your customers? Two how will it benefit the individual. Even though they may not see it - start the conversations. Finally, how will individuals develop new habits and ways of working?

It's too easy to get stuck in your comfort-zone and do things the way you've always done them. But unless you're re-inventing yourself - you risk being yesterday's person. Don't wait for senior leaders to be the only one driving change. You can team up and start supporting change initiatives locally. And in the process - acquire new skills.

Create learning moments in every meeting and every one-to-one. For example, set aside 30 minutes in any meeting for a subject matter expert to do a 'master-class'. Tips, hints and techniques they can pass on to others. In every one-to-one, ask colleagues in the month ahead how will you challenge and test yourself in some small way? Don't allow learning to become an after-thought.

You don't have to go on a course to develop yourself. You can do so right here- right now. You can choose to work with a buddy, find yourself a Mentor, take on a few ambitious goals, shadow a peer you respect and learn by observing. Fact is you're the best person to take control of your personal development.