doug smith training

What are you afraid of? Everyone who is honest is afraid of something. It could be that performance interview. It could be that presentation. It could be standing up for your team members when your own boss is being unreasonable. We're all anxious about something. Some days, it feels like a whole list of fears. Breathe. Relax. Let it go. The fear is your signal. The fear is your signal that you have a chance to show your commitment, show your passion, show your resolve. And...importantly, to show your courage. Successful supervisors speak and act with courage. Start there. -- Doug Smith Interested in developing your front line leaders? Bring our two-day workshop Supervising for Success to your location and see immediate improvement in your supervisors. Contact: doug@dougsmithtraining.com

Have you ever been blocked from solving a problem by emotions? Anger, sadness, grief, despair, impatience...emotions can make things tough on a problem solver. Staying centered helps. Keeping balance. Drawing on our core strengths of clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion to keep perspective clear and kind. Any problem exists in a field filled with possibilities. Emotions can poison those possibilities if we lose our way. The way is clear. Stay focused. Stay balanced. Stay centered. Breathe. Stretch. See. Stay curious. Relax. Easier said than done? That's why it takes training and practice. -- Doug Smith

Do you ever find it easy to identify the solution to someone else's problem? Without the headaches and heartburn of the problem sitting in your own life, it can seem far more simple and easy to solve. Seem. That does not mean that it is. And when we take on the problems of another without asking them what they've already done or plan to do, any solution that we do develop is likely to fall short. Ownership of the solution is just as important as creativity. Sometimes solving someone else's problem  for  them is a big mistake. Collaborate rather than dictate. Share ideas. Work together. Understand the problem at it's heart and center and not just on the surface. That takes time. That takes patience. And that takes collaboration. Centered problem solvers collaborate with creativity, courage, clarity, and compassion. Leave any of that out, and the solution may be incomplete and ineffective. We've all tried that already, haven't we? Why not start to get

Why would anyone not support one of your goals? It seems clear to you. You know the benefit. You see the value. It's an easy choice. Why isn't it getting the support that you want? People need help. We don't always understand a goal the first time we hear it. Or even the second. Or third. We're all so busy, that for any one goal to catch our attention (especially if it's not even our ow goal) it had better be clear, creative, courageous, and compassionate. In other words, it must prepare to do bold things in a kind way. When we can frame our goals from that point of view, they seem much more compelling. People who stand in the way of your goals don't yet understand them. So make sure that people understand these keys to your goals: - the financial value - the personal value (how it effects people positively) - what makes it cool (how is it amazingly creative?) - the adventure (where's the challenge in it that makes it almost a dare?) Include

Problems resist easy answers. That's why we need to ask the tough questions. Why are things the way they are? What is the deeper cause? On the surface, we may think we understand a problem. Digging deeper, asking probing and open ended questions, we can get at the heart of what is really going on. Are people being rewarded for incorrect behavior? Is someone benefitting from the problem situation? If so, who? Is it too easy to ignore the problem? Is the source of the problem aware that there is even a problem? For example, those who most resist a fair distribution of work are those who may not be working too hard. Why change?  Executives making juicy bonuses may not even be aware of how hard it is to live paycheck to paycheck. Creative problem solvers ask the tough questions with curiosity. Not to judge. Not to punish. But to know. What's really going on? Centered problem solvers use their creativity to separate people from the problem. They use their compassion to f

What is the typical reaction to courage? Often, people respond to true courage with resistance. They push back. They run away. They refuse to change. That should not surprise us. We should expect it. I've worked on projects where the biggest part of the goal achievement involved working through the resistance. People didn't want to change software. People didn't want to print less. People didn't want to move from Chicago to Trevose, PA. But in each case the change was inevitable, and embracing that change was necessary. For those of us driving those projects, we had to maintain our courage and conviction even when people were unhappy and rebellious. Courage is more often resisted than appreciated. You won't always get an award. In fact, you will seldom get an award for your courage. But, your courage is still required. Of course it's not easy. It wouldn't take courage if it was. How courageous are you prepared to be to achieve your goals? -- Do

How extreme is your creativity? It can be hard to be a little creative. Once the creativity flows we tend to let it fly - full tilt, unhindered, unmasked, extreme. That can cause problems. Still we must remain creative. To achieve our goals, to solve our problems, we must remain creative. Extreme creativity is often misunderstood. "Why did you paint it THAT color?" "What on earth were you thinking?" "Did you know that would happen?" We can create something so new that people do not understand it. We can also create something that is distinctive yet flawed. I have at times created something that I loved so much that I failed to see its flaws. That's one reason I advocate collaborating in our creativity. Get help. Build a team. Work together. Our strengths left unchecked turn into weaknesses. Working creatively with other people frees us up while holding us up as well. We might need help seeing boundaries that are there for a reason. C

Are there conversations that scare you? It's easy to quote Eleanor Roosevelt and say "face into your fears" but the reality is that there are some conversations that freeze us. Some discussions that put us off, so we put them off. I know that I have missed some vital conversational opportunities. I expect that to change. If we want better conversations, we need to initiate them when the opportunity emerges (not when we feel like it, right then and there). Let's keep the conversation going. Let's talk when we need to talk. Let's build our relationships, our teams, and our organizations using much more effective communication. It takes hard work, it takes courage, but as I have recently discovered in many startling ways, how you communicate is who you are. Who you are to yourself, who you are to other people, the who of you that you create. It's big. It's scary. It's critically important. I'm willing to work through the fear of a tough conv

Do you ever get stuck setting priorities? I work with lots of people who struggle with what to work on. By trying to work on everything, they feel like they aren't finishing anything. That's a formula for frustration. We need to prioritize. We need to decide what is most important and also what is less important. What's less important then must get less attention so that we can focus on what is important. That takes courage. It takes the courage to make the decision. It takes the courage to let people know. And, it takes courage to stay the course when other people resist your decision. Not all goals are created equal. There are some goals that we will never finish. Why not finish the ones that are important? Why not focus on the goals that contribute to and align with your mission? That's what centered, high performance leaders do. That's how goal achievers achieve. Sometimes it takes courage and determination to prioritize your goals. Take that c

Do you ever think that it's a bit hard to uncover the truth? Sometimes I've worked on problems where the hardest part in getting through an obstacle is uncovering the truth behind what's causing it. And yet, once the truth is uncovered, things can get moving again. People have their reasons for hiding things. Maybe they are afraid of the consequences. Maybe their self-esteem is at stake. Maybe they just don't know any better. As leaders, when we stay curious and persistent we can do everybody a favor by discovering the truth. The objective, fact-driven, feeling-validated truth. Solving that for the whole world would take a lifetime. Solving that for each project is just plain responsible and certainly possible. It takes more courage to uncover the truth and that's because the payoff is so huge. Finding the truth helps us solve our problems and achieve our goals, and that's what project management is all about. What deep-rooted truths does your projec

What are you good at? Really, really good at? What can you do that is absolutely wonderful? How many people know about that? Here's a tricky trick - how do you do your best, give your best, and let other people know about it without letting your ego take over? We have many essential leadership skills to choose from. I find it useful to think of these five essential leadership core strengths as a place to start: Clarity - know exactly what our purpose is and setting clear goals to live that purpose. Courage - speaking and acting assertively without getting aggressive. Creative - discovering and expanding our possibilities Compassion - caring about and for others Centering - staying mindful, in the moment, flexible, and able to use whatever core skill we need You're really good at one of those. Better than most. It's your core leadership strength. Bringing that core leadership strength to work with your team is doing it a wonderful service. The world needs wha

How many times have you seen a problem solved and wondered if the solution was worth the effort? How often have you seen leadership drive change that no one wants and that in the end creates no value? All too often, probably. The solution to any tough problem should include a clear change that makes a courageous, creative difference. Things should be made better by change. Processes should be streamlined by change. Customers and team members should find more joy in interacting because of change.  Any change that delivers less is a problem unsolved, a promise broken. As centered and high performance leaders, we can do better than that. We can manage to keep our problem solving promises. We can make the solutions worth the effort. What can you do today that will make your next change effort both more courageous and more creative? -- Doug Smith

Which leadership traits are you working on today? Do you walk your talk? Centered leaders speak and act with courage. What does courage mean to you? When has your courage been severely tested? Where do you go to get help with your courage? How does building your courage help you to constantly optimize your results? -- Doug Smith Help your people develop their leadership, communication, and productivity skills. Contact me today at: doug@dougsmithtraining.com about scheduling a workshop or teleclass.