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The Most Successful People Do These Four Things

Posted by on August 27, 2018

I passionately believe that every person is a leader and the most important client you have is yourself. Until you accept this responsibility to lead yourself and own your personal character development, you will never reach your potential. It is also no longer effective to lead only from positional authority at work and this Forbes post tells you why:

“I would argue that at one time leadership, in the traditional sense, was linear, one-dimensional and strictly focused on a managerial approach. In business, the term “leader” was used to reference someone in a position of authority, without consideration of the many attributes that we now find important in our great leaders.”

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When Is Teamwork Really Necessary

Posted by on August 24, 2018

It has always amazed me that when we tend to correct a bad situation, we over react and go to the other extreme. The top down directive leadership of the 80″s gave way to today’s highly collaborative meetings that in many ways are even more ineffective. At least with positional leadership everyone knew what to do. Today we talk too much and actually work less. This HBR post is a must read:

“Most leaders assume that they need to foster teamwork among the people whom directly and indirectly report to them. Teaming is now seen as the workplace equivalent of motherhood and apple pie — invariably good. The problem is when leaders try to drive the wrong kind of collaboration on their particular teams. The result: wasted time and unnecessary frustration.”

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Management Today

Posted by on August 22, 2018

There is a lot of confusion and even tension between the disciplines of management and leadership. Both are extremely important but distinctly different. Management is where execution lives and therefore must be incredibly effective for any strategy to be successful. This Forbes post is an informative read:

The idea of management comes from the military because that was the first time in human history a diverse group of people who did not know each other were organized to work together towards a common goal. That structure gave us a few principles:

Hierarchy
Command and control
Incentives for achieving the goals
Division of responsibility based on function
Centralized decision making

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How To Help Your Spouse Cope With Work Stress

Posted by on August 20, 2018

The hardest part of the day for most of us is when we get home and finally look forward to not having to be the person who is on in the room. The challenge: that is the exact same expectation everyone else has who walked through the same door. This HBR post was very helpful for me:

“Home is a sanctuary from work stress, right? Not always. Even if you are able to leave your projects and worries at the office, your spouse may have difficulty doing so — and that stress can rub off on you. How can you help your partner cope? What’s the best thing to say when your partner starts complaining — and what should you not say? Is there a way to help them see things differently? And how can you set boundaries so that home can be a haven again?”

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The Importance Of The Employee Feedback Loop

Posted by on August 17, 2018

In my executive coaching we deal with a lot of best practices: human capital, process improvement, productivity, teamwork, alignment and strategic priorities. Regardless of how well you do in all of these areas, if your organizational culture does not value ongoing feedback, you don’t stand a change in long term success. This Forbes Communication Council post is a must read:

“In the employee recognition business we are always stressing the importance of clear and honest communication between employees and managers. We do this for a couple of reasons. For one, the employee-manager relationship is consistently ranked as a top driver of employee satisfaction. In fact, a Gallup study found that managers alone account for 70% of variance in employee engagement.”

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How Trust Accelerates Success

Posted by on August 15, 2018

Every day we have limited data to use to evaluate people and situations before we reach conclusions and make decisions. It is critical when working with your people to be able to place trust in that gap both ways. The team needs to be able to trust the leaders and the leaders must believe in the team. This Forbes post is a great read:

“Trust is one of the hottest topics in today’s global conversations. Whether we’re talking about so-called fake news or benchmarking a company’s reputation for integrity and ethics, the importance of trust to an organization or business is undeniable.

It may seem obvious that a misuse of trust is bad for a company’s bottom line. We’ve read enough about data leaks, shareholder deception and corporate scandals in the news to understand how a company can damage its reputation and relationships through bad behavior.”

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New Practical Techniques On Planning And Productivity

Posted by on August 13, 2018

Once I finally died to the use of multi-tasking all during my day, things began to get a lot better. The idea of knowing when your most productive work can be done and the blocking of that time for deep work is transformational. Leaving at least 20% open time for new daily inputs now gives me the time to shift priorities as well. This Fast Company post was great:

“How many hours do you work each day? If you’re like most of the U.S. working population, you probably think you get a solid eight hours in. That’s 40 hours a week. Around 1,800 a year (minus 2 weeks’ vacation). Not too bad. The problem with this kind of thinking is that just because we’re at work for eight hours a day doesn’t mean we’re doing eight hours of work.”

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4 Mind-Set Shifts To Greater Productivity

Posted by on August 10, 2018

I live in this space of personal productivity every day just like the rest of you. I want to leverage the latest technology and sustain the necessary discipline to stay focused. However, the sheer volume of daily inputs has forced me to walk away from any idea of wiring up my entire day. This Fast Company post was very practical:

“High-potential employees are those who have exceptional decision making, technical, and analytical skills, according to the study. However, these workers still have trouble staying focused on the right priorities, struggle to meet deadlines, and fail to communicate or avoid surprises in their workday or responsibilities.”

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What Busy Leaders Really Need From Their Spouses

Posted by on August 8, 2018

My passion is to help develop leaders so they can fully integrate their personal and professional lives. This is not about balance but the willingness to be a great leader in every area of your life. If you don’t develop the ability to lead yourself first and then at home you can forget reaching your potential at work. This post by Andrea Williams was excellent:

“With divorce rates hovering between 40 and 50 percent, experts spend countless hours discussing the reasons why so many Americans can’t make their marriages work. Arguments over money, sex, and kids are perennial fire starters. But there’s another issue that is critically important—especially for husbands and wives with demanding careers.”

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5 Ways To Avoid Burnout At Work

Posted by on August 6, 2018

The constant stress that we all deal with everyday in many ways is caused because of the almost constant connectivity we have with data. Yes, a major part comes from work but also from the media and many social platforms we chose to engage with the rest of the day. The solution is a combination of emotional intelligence and leadership development. This Forbes post is helpful:

“Everything’s going great at work. You’re operating on all cylinders, moving quickly. You’re saying yes to everything, taking on all the projects, and it seems like nothing can stop you.

Until one day, it hits you like a ton of bricks. Exhaustion and stress prevail, and you’re completely fried. You are officially burned out.”

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