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Showing posts from July, 2017

No Hidden Agendas?

What if everyone were completely clear and open about their goals? Imagine working with no hidden agendas. -- Doug Smith

Scenes from Recent Workshops

Work Your Plan

Goals give direction. The work is up to you. -- Doug Smith

Is Your Problem Feeding the Status Quo?

Have you noticed that even when you have a truly sensible solution to a problem that you can encounter resistance to change? Why do some people resist making things better? Why wouldn't they want to solve that problem? Most problems have someone or something invested in the status quo. It works for them. They're getting something out of it. Even when it's a problem for someone else -- until you identify the payoff to the status quo, solving it may prove to be difficult. A great solution does more than solve the problem -- it does no harm. -- Doug Smith

Maintain Flexibility Without Losing Focus

Have you ever seen someone who is so flexible that it's hard to know where they stand? There have been times when I felt that way myself. It feels free, but then limits because it's so hard to make a decision. How do you choose? What's best? I've since learned that it helps in making decisions to rely on a solid set of values, a strong sense of purpose, and a committed set of goals. Everything else, from projects to past times, falls in line with those three things. When you add your sense of faith to your values (or as one of your values) it becomes much easier to see when it's necessary to be flexible and when it's necessary to remain firm. High performance leaders maintain flexibility without losing focus.  They know when to be flexible and when to be firm. How about you? -- Doug Smith

Is Stress A Choice?

How big of a deal is stress in your life? We all endure a certain amount of stress. Depending on what's going on in your work and in your life, you may be going thru more stress than you want. Not all stress is bad (setting an ambitious goal, for example, adds a kind of good stress) but too much stress can slow you down. How much of your stress are you choosing? Certainly, not all of your stress, but could you admit that some of it is the result of you doing too much worrying, or waiting too long to work on that big goal, or taking what the boss said too personally, or procrastinating when you knew the deadline was going to be tough? You know as well as anyone else the answer to what to do about the stress you cause yourself: let it go. Stop it. Relax, breathe, focus, and then get to work. When we do that, when we control the stress that we can control, when we choose "no" to a piece of self-selected stress, it makes handling the tough unchosen stress much, much e

Memorize Your Goals

Memorizing your goals will help you achieve them. Too obvious to mention? Maybe. But what if you're working on some goals right now that you can't remember? That makes it tough to get any traction, doesn't it? We all do it sometimes. It's another obstacle to achieving those goals that need not exist. Memorize your goals. Those that you don't remember might not belong on your list. -- Doug Smith

Communicate With Intention

Communicating effectively is a skill AND a choice. The skill takes practice and training. The choice takes intention based on values and character. We aren't born gifted communicators -- we develop or not. How are you developing your communication skills? -- Doug Smith

Elevate Your Project Teams

What do the people on your project teams get out of working on your project teams? I'm not talking about money. I mean attention, growth, opportunity. Are you making your projects the coolest possible things your people could be working on? Do they look forward to each meeting, each task, each opportunity? Is each project encounter a new creative possibility? What are you offering your project teams that they can't get anywhere else? Elevate your project teams by increasing the level of creativity. Try new things. Value new ideas. Get wild and crazy in your brainstorms.  When you find that and deliver, your teams will do whatever it takes to complete the project. Isn't that what you want? -- Doug Smith

Start Your Project Right

How do you begin a project? Are your goals clear? Is the goal of the project an ART goal (action word, results, time)? Have you involved the right people? Getting a project started correctly is critical to its success. A slow start or a poor start or an uncertain start will hobble your project from the very, well, start. Launch your project with enthusiasm by getting it started with these key components: - An ART goal - A group of people who are interested in the ART goal - A real problem that your ART goal solves - Focus, dedication, commitment, and creativity What else would you include? -- Doug Smith Bring our workshop "Creative Project Management" to your location to get your projects started right.