Volkmar Völzke's BLOG

What if you do not only create great results in your life and business, but also make the road to these results the most joyful possible for yourself and your people in your team? 

My point is this: there is no meaning in spending hours, days, weeks, months, or even years on topics we do not enjoy.

What is the meaning of results if your journey is a constant struggle? 

To be clear, I am an advocate of the belief that we sometimes need to struggle to get to the next level, that we have to work hard and be relentless. But what I also suggest is not making the struggle the primary driving force. 

Ask yourself, how much better could the performance, productivity, and quality of our work be if we were more joyful?

I suggest you make joy a top priority for your life and the people surrounding you. Here is how to do so in three simple steps: 

1. Identify sources of joy. Look at your most important tasks and responsibilities and for each item find at least one reason to be...

One of the key questions to ask if you want to achieve new success levels is: “Why do we want customers?” Now, you might think that this is far too easy to answer. “We want to make money, that’s why we need customers,” may be your first thought. 

But here is the point: what are your next three answers?

I’m asking because if your only reason for having customers is to make money then you will cause lots of collateral damage and most likely not stay in business for a long time.

In fact, this one answer is exactly the reason why many companies struggle, hit a plateau, and then drown: they forgot to deliver the next answers to this question. Additionally, their employees were only focused on getting the highest profit possible from each customer. 

On the other hand, if (yes, if!) you manage to anchor a bunch of sound answers to the question “Why do we want customers?”, your team will act differently in the case of customer...

Most of us constantly lie to ourselves. We tell what we want to achieve and rationalise why we didn’t achieve it so far. Let me be brutally honest: These are all lies! Sounds harsh, and yet, sometimes, the most helpful pills are the toughest to swallow. 

Why can I say this? Because almost all that you truly want, you will achieve. The emphasis is on “truly”. We all are masters in sabotaging ourselves by telling us stories that hold us back from unlocking the full power.

Often, we try to get to a hundred miles per hour, but leave our feet on the brakes. Or we want to become financially independent, but do not behave in the best way to attract money. Believe me, I’m also talking from my own experience. 

Here comes the thing: You will achieve almost everything in your life that is not only a “want”, but a “must” for you.

Conclusion: Everything you wanted but haven’t achieved so far, is not a “must”, but a...

Why are you doing what you are doing? Why do you get up each morning, work hard, and sacrifice much of your time? For money? No way! Money is nothing more than a means to an end. So, what’s your “end”? Freedom? Maybe. Influence? Possible. 

The only thing that acts as a valid reward is happiness.

You want to feel happier. Yes, I know, if you are the always rational engineer or lawyer, you might think “I want only hard facts.” And even for you, besides all the “hard facts”, you only need to feel more fulfilled, more powerful, and freer. In one word: happier. 

Here comes the point: one of the strongest triggers for our own happiness is when we make others happy.

There are countless studies that prove over and over again that we feel happier when we see others being happier because of us. 

But, during our busy days – and even sometimes for weeks – we forget this simple truth. We are chasing many rewards and forget that...

Many people give me the impression that they do not own their life, but rather rent it. The difference is huge: as a renter, you know that you can return whatever you rent at any time, according to the contract. No obligations left. As an owner you have full responsibility; as a renter only partially. Have you ever washed a rented car? 

What I see as a key difference between successful and average people is that the former treat all they do as if they owned it.

They are proud of it, maintain it, leverage it, and maximize its impact. In contrast, those who do things just as renters become negligent about their tasks and goals, do not think of leverage, and hardly maintain a high performance level. 

What I describe here as “it” can be your life, your business, your job, your body, your relationships; in brief, everything that you deal with. 

Here comes the even more interesting part: the most successful businesses have teams that see themselves as owners of...

If your team or your staff went into a theatre, how would they fill the seats?

Would they walk in slowly, hesitating to take the seats, preferring the seats at the aisles to easily escape when it becomes unpleasant? Would they leave the front rows empty and stay at the back? Would they stay silent when the show begins and only provide moderate applause at the end? 

Or would your people rush into the room, trying to grab the seats in the front rows, chatting with each other, making jokes, impatiently waiting for the show to begin, releasing their excitement with a roaring applause? 

You guessed it. This scenario is a metaphor for two extremes of your team or corporate culture. And it really works if you imagine your team being in the described situation in the theatre.

Are you a front row or a back row team?

Honestly! Which one is more fun to work with? Which one would more easily take on new challenges? 

Most teams I see are back row teams.

Here is what you can do to...

I find that a high number of managers and even top leaders have surprisingly questionable manners for personal interaction. 

Examples: No answers to value-generating personal communication, even if they know the other person. Not showing up on time to confirmed meetings. Ignoring work performed by their team. Not executing the agreed tasks. And so on. 

Showing good manners is an attitude.

This becomes in particular obvious when I interact with somebody who demonstrates superior manners: they answer to valid requests (no matter if the answer is negative), they show up on time and are prepared, they do what they say they will do, they are present in personal interactions, and so on. 

And by the way, good manners have nothing – yes, nothing! – to do with available time or position. Often, even the busiest and most “important” people are the ones with the best manners. However, it has everything to do with the respect for others, prioritisation,...

I’m writing a lot about success. Hence the question is important: what is success anyway? The answer to this question has a significant implication on the future of your life and your business. 

As for all other building blocks that shape our future, the perception of success is also a question of our mindset and our beliefs.

In other words, what I believe about success will determine how successful I become. 

In most of my workshops, some attendees will connect to success in negative, rather than positive, stories. For them, success is associated with stress, obligations, “blood, sweat, and tears”, failure, envy, and much more. The consequences are clear:

People with negative beliefs about success will do everything to subconsciously sabotage their success. 

This effect of the mindset of team members on the success of the entire team and their leader is largely ignored. Even if addressing these challenges is most effective in coaching or workshop...

You may know that I have a Masters degree in engineering.

And perhaps you also know that today I essentially help my clients to climb new performance levels - be it as a leader or as a team as a whole.

Of course, this involves a great deal of psychology - which is not exactly a focus of engineering studies.

So how can this be done? Well, quite simply: through a burning interest in psychological relationships (which I already developed as a teenager) and therefore ongoing intensive study of the most important topics.

And here comes the best: Due to my technical background I can pick up rather technically thinking people all the better and accompany them on their way.

I'm not telling this to impress, but to show that often seemingly contradictory topics have the greatest potential for success.

And I also find it exciting how our passions guide us in life.

My question to you: what completely different themes can you bring together so that you can benefit yourself and others? Feel free...

Question for today: What wonderful things are there in your life that you don't appreciate enough?

Here's an off-the-cuff list of simple things that I'm always grateful for (and that many people sadly don't have):

Hot water in the shower in the morning 

Incredibly good health care

Buses and trains that you can simply rely on

Walking on the street at night without fear

Respectful interaction with each other

Nice people

Clean rivers and lakes

The possibility to travel 

A heated apartment

Living in freedom 

... 

What are your things you are grateful for?