Dig Deeper

image: https://pixabay.com/photos/shovel-earth-hand-shovel-dig-dirt-3759461/

What keeps problems stuck? What makes them so stubborn? Why do the obvious answers and solutions so often fail?

It's the inner workings where the problems are the most persistent.

The relationships. The dependencies. The gnarly rusted busted pieces. The tough stuff is deep.

It takes longer to dig deeper.

Dig deeper.

-- doug smith

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Better Feedback

The trouble with feedback is that we don't want it, or if we do we don't know how to give it, and don't know when to start or stop it. Ah, but what if we did? What if we could build a high-feedback culture where people were open to feedback and knew how to put it to immediate use? We can. It takes practice. It takes experience. It takes caring about how we do feedback and who we share it with. Here's one thing you can change immediately that will dramatically improve the feedback frequency on your team: ask for advice more often...and then really listen. Don't even call it feedback. Ask for advice and not only will everyone have some, once you show that you're open to it, they'll ask for advice in return. What's your best tip on giving and receiving feedback? -- doug smith

Right In Front of You

It isn't possible or necessary to solve every problem. Focus on the problem in front of you. Solving that first problem builds momentum and experience for solving the next problem. You'll never solve them all, but imagine how much better things will be after you've solved the ones right in front of you. -- doug smith

Save that thought...

Whenever I ask a class "have you ever said anything that you regret saying?" the answer is always 100% yes. A mumble easily becomes a stumble when it's tainted with trauma, distrust, anger, or sorrow. There are things we could say that don't help in any way. It's better to keep those things to o oneself. I had a boss once who wisely told me "Doug, when you're upset, pause and count to ten." "And what if I stay upset?" "Then count to a hundred." She might as well have said count to a thousand, because I knew exactly what she meant. Some things do not need to be said. We've all got better words inside us willing to take that mistake away. -- doug smith

The Team You Deserve

Whether you are a great leader or something less, the reality is that you will build the team that you deserve. High performance teams develop accountability, excellence, and positive results. High performance leaders develop that and more through clarity, courage, creativity and compassion. Leaders need clarity around their vision, their mission, and their goals. Teams need to know which direction to move, direction provided with clarity. Leaders need the courage to stand against obstacles, to resist temptation to take the easy way out, to fully back their people. Teams need leaders with the courage of their convictions and with visible assertive support of their team. Creativity gives a leader the ability to generate new ideas, to innovate in a constantly moving environment, to think of new ways to inspire and motivate their teams. Teams, equipped with creativity, never get stale. They find the fun in what they do and they convert that fun into positive results. Since leaders deal wi...

Careful With the Question

Have you ever been in a conversation so intense that you question the health of the person who is arguing with you? Most of us have. In that moment, when our nerves are frayed and our anger is rising, it is ever so easy to say the wrong thing. It's tempting to ask the wrong question. When we push against someone's dignity the reaction will not be positive. You know that, I know that, and yet we've done it anyway. Here's a note-to-self: stop, pause, breathe, evaluate. What would be the best thing to say or do? Because...if you ask someone what's wrong with them they will likely find something wrong with you. And they might not be wrong about that... -- doug smith

Collaborate Instead of Commanding

As a recovering know-it-all I remember making many mistakes, trying to solve someone else's problem. I've learned that maybe, just maybe, I can help, but it is highly unlikely that I'll solve that problem. The problem with solving someone else's problem is that it may not fit into their schedule. Or their plan. Work together. Collaborate. Share. If the solution emerges between you, let them take credit for the brilliance of the solution. You'll never run out of problems to help on, unless you try to solve them all on your own. -- doug smith

Real Time Problem Solving

I've had the joy of working with many talented leaders recently. Here are some in-action photos of them hard at work solving problems and achieving their goals.

Creative Trust

How's your creative impulse? Do you roll with it, or resist it? Do you chase it, or embrace it? Creative intuition comes and goes. When we grab it, we instantly have something to work with. When we let it pass, it fades away. If you don't trust the creative impulse it might stop trusting you. Where will you be then? Trust your creative impulse. -- doug smith

Set Clear Goals

"Your ability to discipline yourself to set clear goals, and then to work toward them every day, will do more to guarantee your success than any other single factor." - Brian Tracy There's a classic quote for you. Every once in a while it comes up in one subscription email or another and so today I feel compelled to share it because it's so good, so useful, so inspiring. Set clear goals. Work toward them every day. There's your formula for success. What are you working on today? -- Doug Smith how to achieve your goals: doug smith training Fast, affordable leadership training: Front Range Leadership

The Smartest Person

What makes a team member seem smart? Is it their knowledge? Is it their experience? Or, are they simply gifted? High performance leaders work to build teams that include people smarter than they are. They are out there, why not bring them to your team? If you think that you are the smartest person on your team you are either wrong, OR not finished recruiting. -- doug smith

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