Manage Your Boss

How much time do you spend managing your own boss?

Front line leaders can spend so much time leading their own people that it's easy to forget how important it is to develop your relationship with your own boss. You do need your boss's support for any plans, discipline, or development you have for your people. You do need your boss's cooperation when your team members go over your head about an issue and go directly to your boss. And, you'd like your boss's help in developing your career.

But your boss is busy. Your boss has personal tasks to take care of. Your boss has a challenging boss to keep happy. It's easy for you and your boss to drift apart as you both work hard to accomplish your goals. But still you've got to find a way.

The toughest task for any boss is managing their own boss.

Although it may be tough, your future could depend on it. Without your boss's help, everything is harder. With it, almost anything is possible.

Here are some quick ways to manage your boss:

Schedule and complete weekly conversations with your boss to talk about your goals
Be the "go-to" person for your boss -- that one person your boss can always rely on
Smile!
Appreciate your boss -- so often we're quick to let our boss know what's going wrong and then we forget to appreciate the boss for how they have already helped. Say thank you!

Which one of these will you do today?

-- doug smith

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The Team You Build

Do you love your team? I've been so blessed and lucky in my life to have been part of some truly outstanding teams filled with people who challenged me, supported me, and made my life (and work) better. I have loved the people on those teams and many years after working with the people on those teams I still think of them fondly almost every day.

The team pictured here was one of my early teams at the Ryan Insurance Group. The talent on that team, and on other teams, astounded me every day. We had our struggles, but they were hard working, brilliant people and I miss every one of them.

There have been other great teams of course. Today I think about this group and what it grew into as we expanded, improved, and grew as people and as a business. I was not a perfect boss, and I'm sure I sparked more than a little frustration now and then, but they patiently dedicated themselves to achieving the goals of the team.

I'm proud of that team.

I invite you today to reflect on your…

Does Your Team Hear You?

How we communicate is how we lead.

High performance leaders communicate clearly, creatively, courageously, and with compassion.

Clear, so that the message is understood. The mission is strongly centered as the focus. The goals are clearly aligned with the mission. The leadership actions support the goals.

Creatively, because problems are not easily solved and do require new ideas. Because people prosper better in a creative environment. Because growth is the preferred direction.

Courageously, because the more important your work is the more resistance you are likely to encounter and it takes guts to overcome that. It takes courage to stand your ground against the temptations to cut corners and shave ethics. It takes courage to keep going when it feels like your cause is lost. It takes courage to stand up to your boss in support of your own team.

Compassion, because while high performance leaders must deliver on their goals and produce increasingly outstanding and high quality results…

What Is Your Team Teaching You?

What have you learned from your team today?

It's not too late, and your team has a lot to teach you. Sure, your job as a leader includes training your team members and making sure that they develop in ways that help them while also achieving your team goals. What many leaders forget, though, is that your team is also constantly teaching you.

They are teaching you what they need to succeed. They are teaching you how their interpersonal dynamics are developing. They are teaching you how effective your leadership style is. It may not always seem like it, but they have things to tell you that may not be said directly with words.

How is their performance? Are they happy? Do they feel connected to something larger than themselves? Are they proud to be part of the team? Do they feel valued and appreciated?

Watch their body language. Listen to their tone. Get clarity around what their words say. Stay attentive to what they have to teach.

Every team teaches its leader whether or not they&…

High Performance Leaders Manage Their Egos

Does your ego ever get in the way?

Leaders do need healthy egos. We must demonstrate belief, confidence, and assurance. All of that requires healthy self-esteem that allows us to stand up to resistance and push thru difficulty. It's possible, though, for that self-esteem to turn into self-aggrandizement if we're not careful.

How can we manage our egos? The best way I know is by developing the kinds of strong, open, honest relationships with people that allow others to provide feedback. Have a friend who is willing to tell you when your ego is bloated or your assumptions are presumptuous. Develop the resilience and resolve to realize that, gasp! you are not always right. Especially when we begin operating fast and relentlessly the safety valve of honest people keeps us out of trouble.

Also, everyone we deal with has an ego. Our team members, our customers, our bosses. Egos are everywhere and whether they are confident or hesitant we deal with them in the middle of working on o…

People First

High performance leaders always remember that people are the reason we do what we can do.

Take care of your team, and your team will take care of you. Make your goals centered on improving things for people first, and people will respond.

-- doug smith

Two Word Mission Statements

What is your two-word mission statement?

I'm sure you've seen a lot of mission statements. I have, too. Most of them are so long that I couldn't remember them if my job depended on it. And yet, in many ways, your job does depend on it.

I've learned that if you keep it brief, it's easier to remember which makes it easier to do and much more likely to shine as the strategic guiding light that you're looking for.

Try this. First, identify what you do. Second, identify how you do it. Put those two things together. If you don't like what develops, try again. Find yourself a two-word mission statement and see how empowering it makes you feel. If you like it, keep it. If you don't, try again.

What is your two-word mission statement?

Mine is "developing leadership."

It's an abbreviated version of the full mission statement of "developing leadership with clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion." I like both. I can remember both. But…

Build Yourself

How far can your team go? How much work can your team do? How successful can your team become?

I have two answers to all of those questions. The first answer is "amazingly so." The second answer is harder, "only as far as you allow."

Your team's biggest limiting factor is you. That's hard to hear, perhaps, but also liberating. Grow yourself and you will grow your team. Limit yourself and...well, you get the idea.

In order to build your team you might also need to build yourself.
Build your ability to listen. Build your ability to take charge. Build your ability to solve problems. Build your ability to lead.

Build yourself. Your team will follow.

-- doug smith

How to Stay On Track

How often do you review your goals?

My experience, and my studies, show that it's best to review your goals every day. Even if you don't review all of your goals (some people have dozens of them!) it is helpful to review your top five.

Keep them in front of you. Remind yourself why they are important. Reinforce your motivation to achieve those goals. And then, work on them.

Goals can keep us on track when we are otherwise distracted.
What are your top five goals? Have you reviewed them today?

-- doug smith

No Excuses, Ever

High performance leaders are not swayed by excuses.

-- doug smith

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