doug smith training

It's tempting. It's right in front of you as a leader. Someone violates your trust, or misses a goal, or fails to respond to the promise of a reward, and the logical action seems to be to punish them in some way. Take away a perk. Deny a personal day off. Refuse a good assignment. Be careful. Every punishment brings about unexpected payback. Maybe it's immediate or maybe it comes months (even years!) down the road -- but payback is coming. It could be assertive, even aggressive -- or it could be so passive aggressive that you fail to see it coming. Oh, but it's coming. You may not like that payback. You may want to consider another path. What do you think? -- doug smith 

Discipline gives us the power to do what we want to do -- and that comes from developing discipline by doing work we don't want to do... That might sound like a paradox but it's more like a matched pair. I'm not saying that we should do a lot of work that we don't like, but rather that sometimes within the work that we choose are tasks that we would not have chosen. Those necessary but unappealing tasks give us the opportunity to persist -- to stick to our goals because of and sometimes in spite of the details. Discipline. You can live without it, but you probably won't achieve your goals that way. -- doug smith

How much more disciplined do you wish your team was? Disciplined enough to do the work, to achieve the results, to bring about the organization's mission on a daily basis. It starts by modeling discipline. Developing and demonstrating healthy habits like: Showing up early (but not too early).  Listening without judging even when you are aching to comment critically Taking on the tough assignments Finishing what you start Standing up to unfairness and injustice Working side by side with your team The list could go on. Add whatever behavior you want to see more of to that list and then, if you truly do want to see more of it from your team, you'll need to show it more often TO your team. They'll follow you. Maybe not at first, but eventually, and seriously. Discipline helps us to do the right thing before we realize it's the right thing. That's what makes it so powerful. -- doug smith  

Jobs are a balance of learning and repetition. We forge new ground and we walk on well-worn territory. The routine wears us down, even when it's necessary.  High performance leaders show the value of a well practiced, skillfully executed job routine. Discipline in work comes from the extra effort of pushing thru when the task is due. Maybe you did it before, maybe you'll do it again -- give it all you've got right now. Someone is watching. -- doug smith 

Creativity and discipline are not mutually exclusive, they are mutually dependent. To rely on both, develop both -- creativity to light the fire and discipline to keep it lit. --  doug smith  

Leaders thrive when daily discipline is non-negotiable. Establish healthy and productive habits and then keep them. -- doug smith 

Strategy gets you started; discipline keeps you going. That looks like showing up early, staying late, attending to the details, mapping the big picture, and mobilizing team members every day. It means reading material in your field, related to your field, and in other fields where you never know when a bit of inspiration might appear. Your strategy is important. It sends you a detailed message for your plan. But you are more than your plan. You are a high performance leader with goals to achieve. That takes discipline. Strategy gets your started; discipline keeps you going. Keep going. -- doug smith

It takes discipline to discover what is otherwise not available. -- doug smith How do you find the answer to building your best team? Is there a magical formula? Teams take work and the work is never done. For a leader to find the time to talk to each team member one-on-one frequently it takes the discipline to set a schedule and THEN to follow it -- even when your boss tends to pull you away and even when you get distracted by other urgencies. Your team members deserve your time and they need your time. Even when they do not ask for your time, they need it to connect, to calibrate, to collaborate. Give your team members one-on-one time and the payoff will be great (even if it takes a while to notice, hang in there.) The answers to your problems, the solutions to your challenges, the magic secret sauce that differentiates your team from dozens of others that are otherwise similar, hides in the discipline of doing the work. It takes discipline to discover what is otherwis

What roles do you take on as a leader? Front line supervisors must own many roles, including some they may not enjoy. Supervisors must lead, consult, advise, counsel, discipline, confront, defer, decide, revive, inspire, deny, build, reduce, cut, maximize, minimize...all depending on the state of the organization and the mindset of the team. When I was a supervisor, I did not enjoy the role of enforcer or disciplinarian, and yet those roles became necessary. I did have to enforce the values of the organization, even when they were inconvenient. I did have to discipline team members who had lost the ability to discipline their own behavior. Sometimes, sadly, that even involved saying goodbye. Know the roles that you must play. Follow your roles when they harmonize with your values and your goals. It's easy to ignore our most important roles, but it is a critical mistake to do so. As Grandmom Smith once said, "mind your roles." You'll be glad that you did. Mayb

Creativity + discipline = power. -- Doug Smith