doug smith training

One goal at a time. Ask an expert on goals how to get the most done and they will likely answer "one goal at a time." You can't do everything at once, but you can certainly do something right now. One goal at a time. Make that improvement. Develop that team member. Fix that process. Restore a resilient workforce. One goal at a time. How do leaders lead? One goal at a time. -- doug smith

Who likes rejection? Me, either. And yet there is something even worse than rejection. Something that gets us all worked up and nervous, something that creates the kind of environment where rejection becomes certain: fear of rejection. Fear of rejection is far worse than rejection. Make the request. Listen for the answer. Move ahead. -- doug smith Leadership Action Plan Leaders must deal with rejection on a daily basis. Today, the very next time someone rejects one of your requests, pause in silence for three full seconds.  Stay curious, and find out what they might need in order to give you what you requested.

Your best performance should be your baseline, not your ceiling. Keep improving. -- doug smith

Peter Drucker (and others) said that it's the job of a leader to develop more leaders, not followers. High performance leaders surround themselves with people who show initiative, who get things done, who are ready to lead. They develop, sustain, support, and promote leaders without any fear or jealousy. Surrounding yourself with leaders who are growing and creating success will only make you more successful. It's what leaders do. Leaders develop leaders first to sustain long range high performance results. Better results, with their people taking care of themselves and each other. Isn't that what you want? -- doug smith

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 worki

Are you keeping up with change? I find myself sobbing just a little every time my mobile phone wants to install an update. How do I know it'll be better? Can't I just wait a little while? What if I like things the way that they are? High performance leaders are in the business of change. We rock the boat for a living. As Tom Peters once said "if it ain't broke, break it." That quote is more than twenty years old and we've been rocking the boat constantly since then. What about the people who fall off of the boat? What about the details that are tried and true and tradition? Is there a place for tradition in today's rapidly changing world? Yes, there is. Tradition is more than the way things used-to-be. Tradition is more than old habits. Tradition is a topic worthy of a book, but for now here are a few things tradition means. Tradition is honoring the past and the people who built that past. That past got us to here, so they must have done somethi

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

High performance leaders are not swayed by excuses. -- doug smith

A high performance leader is tough without being abusive and tender without being soft. Find the balance and the magic is yours. -- doug smith

High performance leaders pay attention to details. Sure, we must be strategic. And yes, it does make sense to delegate as much of the details as we can. Still, we can never let the details slide. Just a few of the details that we must tend include: are your customer happy? are your team members energized by the work AND by each other? are you showing the appropriate levels of respect for the people who work around you? is your cash flow headed in a positive direction? is your core business still viable? is your work environment conducive to building and engaging collaborative teams? Details matter. No matter how high you rise in the organization, the details will either sustain you or drain you. Work for the side of sustaining. High performance leaders pay attention to details. Are you? -- doug smith

Does every single member of your team understand and follow your team standards? Leaders can get lazy about the behaviors they accept and the behaviors they tolerate. It can feel like a hassle to remind team members that they must keep your team norms and meet your expectations. Remind them anyway. It's tough to tighten up loose standards -- do it anyway. Where is your team headed with sloppy, loose, carefree standards about what is acceptable and what is expected? Down. That's not for you. That's not what you want. Meet your standards. Remind your team how to meet your standards. And keep quality (and morale!) high. It's something that high performance leaders do. -- doug smith

High performance leaders set goal achievement expectations from the start. During the hiring process, during orientation, during training, and especially during those critical weekly one-on-one conversations, high performance leaders set clear expectations. They tell their people more than once. They stay attentive. Average performance is not for you. Go for more. Lead others toward high performance. Build those wins for everyone on your team. High performance leaders set goal achievement expectations from the start... ...and keep it going! -- doug smith

We've all broken promises. It's possible that we didn't even realize it when we did. Maybe we mentioned an opportunity to someone and then didn't follow-up on it. Or, maybe we promised someone a gift after a big favor, and then forgot all about it. We don't always mean malice when we break a promise, but still the pain is there. People count on their leaders. They want promises kept. A broken promise is remembered forever and the person who broke it loses a bit of credibility in the promise. High performance leaders keep their promises, even when it's not convenient to do so. It's hard to keep a promise -- that's what makes it so powerful when we do. Please, keep your promises. I'll do my best to keep them, too. -- doug smith

Do you ever avoid talking about a problem? I have. Many times. Truthfully, too many times. And you know what? The problems didn't get better on their own. High performance leaders need to talk with their team members about any problems occurring in the team. What we hear won't always be pleasing, but what we don't hear doesn't go away on its own. We should talk about it. You can't fix everything by talking about it, but you can't fix anything unless you do. Talk about it. -- doug smith

High performance leaders do not take shortcuts when it comes to agreements. It takes time with people to develop the consensus and support that you need to achieve your goals. It takes honesty, dedication, and patience. Some people can only be convinced by facts. Many people can only be convinced by emotions. But, until a leader reaches agreement, the team isn't truly going anywhere. Barking orders is temporary. Even your most grand vision pales in comparison to the needs of others when you are driving them toward change. What's in it for them? What's the truth behind the change? Why does it make sense and feel right to reach agreement? Telling someone that they must agree to something is not an agreement. Put in the work. Communicate. Share ideas. Collaborate. And, then reach a real agreement. -- 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

High performance leaders, creating beneficial change, usually encounter resistance. Change is threatening to the status quo and those people who like things just the way they are will dig in. They will push back. That's one reason why courage is one of your core leadership strengths. Develop more courage, and you will have the strength to stand your ground. Find more courage and you can make the changes you already know are needed but which have someone been stalled. Find that courage. Make that positive change. Let the resistance to change come. Courage is amused by resistance. -- doug smith

If you're going to wait for someone to tell you what to do they're going to expect you to do it. Get ahead of that drama. Take initiative. Set your own plan. Get things done. It's what high performance leaders do. -- doug smith

Are you an assertive leader?  High performance leaders must be assertive. They need to express their expectations clearly and frequently. They need the courage to stand up to aggressive behavior without getting aggressive themselves. That's where the science of leadership can meet the art of leadership: knowing how much to dial up your assertiveness and knowing how much to keep steady, to keep centered. Holding your ground and holding your own does not mean holding anyone else emotionally hostage. People will disagree. Strangely enough, some people will fail to meet your expectations. We can deal with that without getting started on raging, yelling, or berating. All of those aggressive behaviors produce side effects and none of them are desirable. Instead, breathe. Think things through. Work on the relationship and the results will follow. Focus only on the results and the relationship could unwind. Bullies get paid back when they least expect it. Why not treat people wit

The more resistance you get the more impact you could have. -- doug smith Leaders create change. Change causes resistance. Lately, it seems that we are given lots of change without any influence over what that change will look like. It's easier to simply force the change than to build consensus. That's fast, but I doubt that it's sustainable. As high performance leaders, let's do better than that. Let's handle resistance by listening. There might be merit in the resistance. There is, at least, human nature and feelings involved. Every time leaders bull doze a change thru, something is broken: trust. How do you handle resistance? If your changes are creating vocal resistance, it might mean that your change is truly important. It could also mean that it's off-base. But, forcing it thru doesn't increase its value. The more resistance you get the more impact you could have -- if you take the time to explore what that resistance is all about. -- do