Liza Marie Garcia

Speaker, Author, CEO

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Accepting Responsibility

July 22, 2016 By Liza Marie Leave a Comment

It seems to be a question as to when or if at all to accept responsibility these days.

For children this is one of the most important early lessons of their lives yet as they get older it seems like this lesson fades a bit. As adults, why does it seem like there is a question as to whether we will or we won’t accept responsibility?

I liken this question to years ago when I worked with a certain Project Manager who did not know his job. He was actually the husband of the installation manager and she wanted to put her man to work so she said he could manage a project that very clearly was completely over his skill set.

At the very first meeting I attended as part of his team, it came time for him to speak with the clients and vendors, he said “We have to take care of the telco” and then abruptly sat down.

For any telecommunications/VoIP professional we know this isn’t a really correct statement or question really. He was right that the issue of Telco needed attention and we needed to make sure all was in order, but calling it “telco” did cut it, there were very specific technical details surrounding “telco” that clearly he had no idea of.

Since I was a member of his team (actually quite embarrassed about it)  I didn’t speak up during the meeting however after the meeting and with our internal team only I asked him to explain what he meant by that statement during the meeting. It was then that I figured out that someone had told him he needed to manage Telco, and he clearly had no idea what this meant.

Very unapologetic, this project manager would not admit he had NO idea what telco was. He would not accept responsibility as far as I was concerned. Big surprise he didn’t last long on any team as a PM.

Why didn’t he just say to his team “hey I’m not familiar with telco, can one of you help me out”?

Why do we as professionals worry that someone might find out that we don’t know 100% of all we do? Why is it, we don’t take responsibility in our job, take responsibility in our relationships, and finally why can’t we take responsibility when we fail with life lessons?

There are so many ways we can fail. We fail by not telling the truth. We fail by taking the wrong approach to deal with a situation. We fail by inaction or fail by taking the wrong action? Either way I’ve learned this lesson, sometimes in a repeated fashion but at in the end I learned.

I learned the lesson of NOT taking responsibility which then means I accept the consequence.

I try to teach my daughters the VERY best thing they can do when they fail or make a mistake is to take full and complete responsibility because it is from there that we can move forward.

If I’m about nothing, I’m about always “moving forward”!

 

Filed Under: BUSINESS ADVICE, BUSINESS LEADERSHIP, Life, Main Blog, Parenting Tagged With: accountability, leading by example, parenting good practices, responsibility, setting an example

My Daughters Upbringing is Not Even Close to Second Rate!

May 11, 2016 By Liza Marie Leave a Comment

vermont trapp family lodge june 2015I read an article from JK Rowlings, another “single professional mom” where she said she didn’t want her daughter to be looked at as being raised in a less than favorable light.

I agree completely and more so I think my daughters actually have benefit in being my daughters for reasons that maybe don’t seem obvious.

First, we all know that values can not be taught in households that don’t promote them, this is whether there is two parents or one parent in the home.

Second my daughters through no fault of their own have had to learn that sometimes life brings hardships and stresses. I hope for the most part they see this as it affects me and not them. It isn’t what I would want them to see in me, but I’ve come to peace, understanding that children themselves understand much more than we might want them to, and more than anything children learn from who we are NOT from what we say we are.

The lesson that life has twists and turns and we have to do our best to react and rebuild is a key lesson of success that now at a very early age, both my daughters have learned.

Last, one of the most important lessons my girls have benefited from is the lesson that no matter what, through all the changes in their life, with all the ups and downs, through moving from one end of the country to the next, my daughters have learned that my love has never waivered, my care for them has never lessened. They have learned that our family, less one person, is still solid and strong as ever.

They have learned this lesson of love as I have liken it to a very small fraction of how much God loves us all. Of this lesson I’m certain they have benefited!

Filed Under: BUSINESS ADVICE, BUSINESS LEADERSHIP, Main Blog Tagged With: professional women, raising a family, sigle mother

Principals of Empowerment Level to Level

May 10, 2016 By Liza Marie Leave a Comment

mentoringrelationshipsThis morning I heard a talk about empowering our children and all that involves. This got me thinking about the responsibility of empowering the level below us through our organizations and then the level above us, reaching down to do the same.

It is the responsibility as an executive to reach to the management level of our organization and empower that level in order to make decisions that reach beyond their level for the good of the company mission.

This seems like a basic idea, this idea of mentoring, or paying it forward, but it involves more than that. To empower, really means to grant the power to initiate initiative?  Can you ask yourself if you are “mentoring” this in your management style? Or as a manager are you really allowing your direct reports to initiate new processes or develop new strategy that may affect your team?

I think this is a stretch for some of us, and partly due to the way most companies are structured, our organizational charts are mostly linear.  I think by virtue of the fact that we have “levels” within our companies, there is an implied idea that certain levels work within their level in all things. And no one executes “above” their respective level at least not without approval or collaboration. And although there are teams created with team members belonging to multiple levels, where team communicate and execute it is still within a single funnel that reports up.

So the challenge here is simple, look at each member of your team as someone who might have that just right idea that they present because they feel completely accepted and empowered to do so. Their idea might change the course of your business.

Embrace empowerment from the ground up if you are able!

Filed Under: BUSINESS ADVICE, BUSINESS LEADERSHIP, Life, Main Blog, Parenting Tagged With: empowering, organizational advice, work relations

What is confidence?

March 3, 2016 By Liza Marie Leave a Comment

Young girl spreading hands with joy and inspiration facing the sun

I was surprised today while playing golf with someone I believed had a ton of confidence.

She looks confident, she is uber successful, she displays all the body language of confident people and most important when she speaks she speaks confidently!

So I was thrown when she displayed a lack of confidence on a particular subject and it got me asking the question to myself, what is confidence?
Since I’ve been a female business owner for many years and my work required me to travel 80% of the time, I had to possess confidence in order to travel alone to unknown cities and stay in unknown hotels. I had the confidence very early in my career to sit in a hotel restaurant or bar alone and begin friendly conversations.
This is one definition of confidence.

Another definition would be the ability to speak in front of a small or large group of people. I know for many this type of confidence is out of the question, however for me as my job required the presentation of technical training I also found this confidence.

For me to define what is confidence, is really for me to define what is a confident trait of mine only. Each one of us defines confidence in what we perceive to be those actions that stretch us or causes us to reach out into what makes us uncomfortable.
So is confidence the ability to over come the comfortable? I think so!

Filed Under: BUSINESS ADVICE, BUSINESS LEADERSHIP, Life, Main Blog Tagged With: 2016, BUSINESS LEADERSHIP, BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Change, EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT, Goals, Growth, MENTORING

BELIEVE IT BEFORE YOU SEE IT

February 2, 2016 By Liza Marie Leave a Comment

As I sit at my coffee table enjoying an unusually “free” Saturday morning, I can’t help but appreciate the stillness, quietness (my daughters are upstairs reading) and sense of calm around me.

I turn immediately to gratefulness for this day and the lifestyle that has been afforded to me. I remember it wasn’t long ago, (approximately two and half-years ago) that I relocated my family to Tampa after a series of unfortunate events and having less than $15k to my name and a number of pending legal actions before me.

I remember at that time thinking I would do anything necessary to take care of my family and build a new life for us. I was determined to build the “best” life for my daughters. In my mind I envisioned working 2 or 3 jobs if necessary and working Saturdays to do whatever it would take.

I had more than just “thoughts” about what I wanted though; I had VISIONS of what our life was going to look like in Tampa Bay. A great gated community, a fantastic school, involvement in a great country club. I saw myself playing tennis and golf as part of my weekly routine and “hopefully” gain new friends that would fill the void left from leaving a number of amazing “salt of the earth” girlfriends back in the harbor.

I saw my daughters excelling academically and being able to swim, bike or simply just being outside while the sun was shining.

Even more specifically I saw my backyard, formerly seeing the ocean my fantasy evolved into being backed up to the golf course so at a moment’s notice I’m walking with my clubs in hand to the tee, or with a tennis racket on the way to the courts. I saw all this as I closed my eyes and prayed for our new life. I saw exactly where I live today. Today we have all of this, and yet even more than I imagined.

For this there are no words that come to mind this morning but the one that comes close is the word “GRATEFUL”!

Filed Under: BUSINESS LEADERSHIP, ECSEFFORT, Main Blog, Never Drink Coffee, PBX, PBX MIGRATION, TECHNOLOGY, Uncategorized, VENDORS, VOIP Tagged With: BUSINESS LEADERSHIP, BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, C LEVEL INSIGHT, EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT, MENTORING, NEVERDRINKCOFFEE, TEAMWORK

How Do I Gain Clients?

January 21, 2016 By Liza Marie Leave a Comment

So someone asked me today, HOW do you get new clients?

What a question right?

This is the question all business owners ponder, lose sleep over and “hope” they can answer correctly.

So my answer, (not really an answer), “I wait until I receive requests for bids for our work”…

bizcontract.usageright

We all know this is really the wrong answer…..so why does it work for us?

I know our company is an abnormality; our success is different from most companies our size but I’ve always inherently known that we are both blessed and skilled in what we do.

For me, I think my business is different from the rest, but perhaps this thinking is nothing but naive.

What I mean is, the reason we don’t need sales people is because we have learned what our clients need and our mission is to fulfill these needs in the most innovative, cost efficient and awesome ways!

So my answer to the question “How do we gain clients?” is really this……

You continually strive to perfect your services to your existing clientele and then you expect they will continue using your services and provide you with continued business.

This formula has worked for us and I know it can work for you!

Filed Under: BUSINESS ADVICE, BUSINESS LEADERSHIP, ECSEFFORT, Main Blog, Never Drink Coffee, Uncategorized, VOIP Tagged With: BUSINESS LEADERSHIP, BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, business relationships, C LEVEL INSIGHT, EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT, MENTORING, NEVERDRINKCOFFEE, TEAMWORK

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