doug smith training

Have you ever worked for a cranky leader? Someone who can't be happy no matter what? Grumble, grumble, grumble! It's easy to fall into a habit of frowning, scowling, and growling. Easy, but silly -- because it does not good, I've tried being cranky and it just makes things worse. Stay positive, be positive, create positive change. Your mood is SO contagious, why not spread a positive mood? -- doug smith  

Goals make a profound, positive impact on people and their work. Goals help us focus our efforts and rally our support. We need goals. As important as goals are to your overall big picture, they are truly only part of the picture. You still need work. You still need support. You still need the knowledge it takes to make decisions quickly.  Goals aren't enough to make you happy, but they sure do make it easier. What's your top goal today? -- doug smith

It's fine to feel proud about hard work that is well done, about accomplishments, about achieving your goals. When you've worked hard, you do deserve to be proud. I've learned to be careful about how much of that pride influences me. Too much, and pride creates blind spots covering up the areas in need of improvement. Too much pride and arrogance toward others, or toward disciplined good habits, can sneak in. Pride delays improvement.  Feel the pride when you've earned it, and then get back to work with the full sense that none of us are perfect yet -- and never will be -- and yet we can constantly improve. -- doug smith  

How hard should we work? How much does it matter? Work as though your work will make a difference and it will. To you, to others, to your organization, to the world. -- doug smith  

Wouldn't it be nice if the only feedback we got was all positive? Our self-esteem would be so happy. Our confidence would be flying high. Work would be wonderful! The problem is, the mistakes we make, the opportunities we miss, the offenses we offer would go unchecked leading to - gulp - worse performance. Yes, we love the positive feedback. I can run a week on one "good job!" We also really need the constructive comments. Ready or not, we can always improve. Asking only for positive feedback sounds comforting but it's wrong. We need to ask for feedback and handle it, positive or not. If we do not receive any constructive feedback, as high performance leaders we owe it to ourselves and our teams to ask for it. It's also true when it comes to delivering feedback. Our constructive feedback for others may make them uncomfortable. Our observations of behavior may run counter to their self-evaluation. As leaders, we owe it to people to help them improve, to lead them t

What happens if you start working before you have set any priorities for the day? It might cause you to miss a high priority item. What happens if you always prioritize work over your own needs? Well, you decide that, but often it leads to dissatisfaction, trouble in the home life, and burn out. Your work matters, of course. Your own well being matters even more. Your work matters most when you matter first. Better you = better results. What do you think? -- doug smith  

I once had a boss who had higher standards than me. Every day seemed like a challenge. There just wasn't any pleasing this boss. I'd get to a new level and she'd urge me to raise the level again. "Keep learning," she'd say. "Keep developing. Make your customers unforgettable and they will never forget you..." She was right. The chase is endless. The effort is unrelenting. And the joy, ah the joy becomes inexhaustible. If your boss has higher standards than you do, raise your standards.  -- doug smith  

"I'm looking for my dream job." "What exactly is that?" "A job that makes me happy." "You think it's up to your job to make you happy?" "You know what I mean -- meaningful, rich, rewarding work where I can advance my career and be a success." "How does all that happen?" "That's the search." Yes, there is meaning in the search. And, yes we all want meaningful and rewarding work. Here's what I've learned about that: Find the joy in work and you'll find fewer things to complain about. Every job is a dream job when your dream is to serve willingly and with joy. It's simple, but not easy. Oh, and it is still up to you. If you want to you can find your dream job right where you are. -- doug smith 

What do you do every day that helps you achieve your goals? Keep doing that. What do you do every day that stands in the way of your goals, slows you down, distracts you, and keeps you stuck? Do less of that! Bad habits are the biggest obstacle to success. Good habits facilitate success. Find the habits that work, practice the discipline to stay with them, and watch your results improve. Need more help on this? The best source of help I've found is the book Atomic Habits by James Clear . Honestly, it's one of those books I should probably read once a year, but if you haven't read it yet, you probably should.  -- doug smith Note: I'm not sure where I found this graphic on Atomic Habits -- most likely from my Pinterest feed. 

How good are you at providing feedback? If you're not sure, ask your team members. If you are good at it, they'll tell you. If you're not good at it, then maybe they will and maybe they won't. Feedback does not come easy. Skillful, useful feedback that improves both performance AND self-esteem is a delicate balance of recognizing positives and occasionally providing insights on areas of improvement -- all placed into the context of why it matters. Without the "why" -- why the feedback matters, why the improvement matters, why the performance matters, all the feedback you can muster will only fluster whoever you provide it to. Tell them what they did that was great, ask how they could make it even greater, and share with them why it all makes a difference. Because unless it really makes a difference who cares? Feedback, like any skill, takes practice. -- doug smith  

Have you ever gotten stuck pondering the nature of things and wondering about all that work in front of you? Why do it now? What does it matter? Is anyone paying attention? Performance isn't everything but it sure does pay the bills. Be the poster for productivity, the best example your team members can think of for getting things done, and they'll get more done to. If that's what you get paid to do...it's up to you to come thru. -- doug smith

If you can do more when you're not interrupted then go where you won't be interrupted. Another room. Another building. Another floor. Go for a walk. Go for a ride. Find a place where you can hide. And then -- get stuff done. Will people object? Maybe...but only until they realize that is how you get stuff done. -- doug smith

It may sound weird to plan for future learning, and yet we should. We should plan to keep learning confidently.  There are more lessons to be learned ahead of us than all of those we think we've learned already. Bigger lessons. Better lessons. Built on the lessons we've learned from before. What will be your next great source of learning? -- doug smith  

We're taught to constantly raise the stakes, but raising the stakes also raises the risks. And, raising the risks causes more harm. We need to calibrate more carefully. We might gain a bunch when we raise the stakes. Or maybe we are stretched enough.  Maybe the stakes are fine right where they are.  -- doug smith

Is strength relative? The limits on strength are imposed by forces not sympathetic to your strength. You can do better. You can be stronger. I can be stronger. We all can develop our strength. No matter how strong you think you are, you are stronger than that. Just look at that muscle... -- doug smith  

Do you take your goals too seriously? That may seem like an odd question for a coach to ask, yet if you are coaching someone -- or if you are reflecting on your own habits -- it is worth asking. Do you take your goals too seriously? Goals are important. They propel us forward. Goals keep us going when we might otherwise lose our way. Still, I do my best to remember that goals are created to help us, to serve us. While it does take a solid plan and relentless pursuit of that plan to achieve our goals, we should also consider: a) are those goals contributing to our purpose, and b) are those goals contributing to our happiness? Your goals are there to help you, not control you. Fair enough? -- doug smith

Sometimes the work is hard. Challenges force us to get creative, to muscle up and make a difference. Hard work feels harder when it's resisted. Instead of resisting, dig in, get deep, get done. -- doug smith  

We can't get everything done. Our team members can't get everything done. High performance leaders know that prioritization is a key to success. That could mean deciding as much what you won't do as what you will do. Have you ever put some thing off for so long that you eventually didn't need to do it anymore? (Honestly, doesn't it seem like that's the strategy for some procrastinators?) It's not all bad. We could simply be more intentional about it. While getting the important stuff done, we should feel OK about leaving some less important things undone. It's not procrastination if the thing you are avoiding is not worth doing.  Just don't do it. -- doug smith  

Things go best when we work hardest. -- doug smith  

Wouldn't it be great if respect came naturally and we didn't even need to think about it? It doesn't. We carry around so many tensions, stresses, and levels of bias that sometimes respect comes very hard indeed. It might even feel impossible. Respect takes practice. It takes practice to demonstrate respect all of the time, and so it is always practice. Intentional, studied, demonstrated practice. I'm still practicing. How about you? -- doug smith