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Showing posts with the label leadership

Tough and Tender

  It's possible to be both tough and tender as a leader. Be tough on the task, and tender on the person. -- doug smith

Caring About Change

  Have you ever felt a sudden change that you did not approve of? Maybe your company decides that you have reduced hours. Or, maybe your boss decides that the promotion you were counting on is best given to someone else. Change is like a dance we did not choose the music to. Change is like an invitation to a party filled with strangers. Change rocks our world, and only sometimes makes it better. How are you using change to makes things better? Good luck is a change you can approve of. Bad luck is a change that you do not approve of, but that happens anyway. Change basically does not care what you think. The choice is still up to you. Which next change gives you positive choices? Where is your best choice? -- doug smith

Make It Happen

Leaders are paid to produce results. What if the results that leaders produced included optimism? What if they included hope? What if they created great days? Leaders can do that. You can do that. Let's do that. Give people a reason to believe that this is a great day.  Because if you make it happen, it happens. -- doug smith

Keep Them Working

Are you a hands-on leader? Do you get involved in the work of the work? How much time do you spend "in the trenches" whatever your field is, working like the rest of your crew? Ideas flow. Communication improves. Morale mysteriously grows. And... Some of our best thinking is done with our hands.  If you're blessed with hands that work, keep them working. -- doug smith

Work Out The Details

  Leadership is a combination of big-picture thinking and attention to detail. One without the other will leave you lacking. Big picture thinking is the inspiration, the invitation, the appeal to all of your senses for some noble cause.  Attention to detail gets it all done.  Everything will work out when you work out the details. Work out the details. -- doug smith

For the Points?

  What race are you racing? We've seen everything possible get gamified - shopping, performing, deciding, status, promotions, ticketing, seating...on and on we are all subjected to points, likes, smiles, and other ways to manipulate us into buying one thing or another, whether or not we want it that way. Let's pause. Let's think about all this gamification. Are the points adding up to significance? Are the likes making the world a better place? Are we at all better off by competing for every nugget of attention? Hmmm? Some people are already reacting. What happens when the old enticements stop enticing? What happens when people focus on what really does matter -- relationships, hope, trust, love, compassion...human interaction? We need to decide quickly, because AI surely does not care, will not differentiate, and will not forgive. The points add up, but people matter more. When the rat race rats stop racing the rat race has to change. Let's change for us, and not for t

Good Advice?

  Ever hear a piece of advice and think "yeah, that's a hard no..."? Or how about this -- ever offer someone a piece of excellent advice and watch them completely ignore it? Advice is funny like that. It's not good advice if nobody takes it. -- doug smith

Good Intentions, but...

  Problems are not always caused by mistakes. Sometimes they're caused by good intentions. While it is great to begin with good intentions, what we do still matters more than what we intend. If a leader creates an unfair atmosphere out of the intention to help one particular team member, that could be a problem. If a leader intends to build a high performance team and yet supports without ever challenging team members, that could be a problem. Good intentions are not enough. Right actions matter more. -- doug smith

That Silly Ego

  How do you feel about the ego? Or, how does your EGO feel about the ego? A healthy self-image is essential. We do better when we feel better about ourselves. But, it's easy to take that too far. It's easy for someone to make critical decisions based only on the impact to the ego. That causes more problems than it solves. Silly ego. We shouldn't let it decide for us. It will learn to get over whatever is going on. Let that ego energize you, but don't let it polarize you. The ego is less dangerous when you see how funny it is. Laugh, and move ahead using your head. -- doug smith

Leadership Muscle

Stretch goals might leave stretch marks but they also build muscle. -- doug smith

No Fear of Detours

  I don't like to get lost. Unfortunately, without reliable directions I would be lost most of the time. Those directions often lead to detours. The original path is blocked, or unavailable, or more problematic than anticipated...something causes the route to change. If the destination is the same, it's still a worth journey. A detour doesn't stop you from going where you want to go. It's just another scenic route. Slow down and enjoy the view... -- doug smith

Dial Down The Noise

  How noisy is it for your team?  When we ask our teams to deal with extraneous details -- too much noise -- they lose track of the purpose of the team. I've lost patience over the years with administrative details that add zero value to the customer proposition. If it doesn't help you serve, help it out the door. Too much noise makes the head lose focus Learning to focus is learning to breathe. Breathing is, of course, the way of life. -- doug smith

Not too short

  We like things short. To the point. Skip the filler. Brief is good, but sometimes deep is necessary. Deep takes longer at first, but eventually produces more -- when it's needed. -- doug smith

Change Credibility

You've probably heard this expression since you were a child: "do as I say, not as I do..." or some variation. And yet, as leaders, we often expect people to adopt a change we haven't fully supported or even adopted ourselves. That new software. That new attendance policy. That reviewed customer service skill. We cling to the past even as we promote the future. That's not for you. If you are a leader in a hybrid environment and you spend every working day at the onsite work location -- what kind of picture of hybrid does that paint for your team? How supported will your hybrid team members feel if they can only gain your support in the office? If you catch yourself promoting something that you don't do, that's cause for reflection. Asking someone else to change something you haven't already changed is curious indeed. If people have to ask "why" then it's clear you're not already doing what you want them to do. -- doug smith  

Play On

How resilient are you? Would your team say the same thing? So many times in life (and in leadership) I have been disappointed. Whether it was circumstances, scarcities, or troubling people, it felt easy to give up.  But even when the cards seem stacked against you -- even when defeat seems certain -- if you persist you will learn far more than you ever thought possible. I remember a time long ago when as a high school coach for a middle school basketball team, drawing a bunch of inexperienced and un-developed players and doing my best to coach them beyond their perceived weaknesses into an enthusiastic team capable of embracing of who we were -- rank underdogs who were surrounded by supremely talented teams who always won more games than us until the playoffs came, the games mattered more, and somehow we managed to hustle our way to a trophy. It was fun, but just before it became fun it was a lot of hard and sometimes discouraging work. When in your life do you remember overcoming the

Stay Strong

It is a balance. If you want peace, you have to make room for justice. If you want calm, you've got to be able to weather the storm. If you want to support the weak and the needful, you must be strong enough to help. Seek peace but stay strong. Because those who do not seek peace will exploit any weakness. -- doug smith

Listening to Our Enemies

Anger. Resentment. Pain. Things get in the way of listening when we see an enemy in front of us. Even when we did not choose the enemy because the enemy chose us. Listening to our enemies is tough. Is it necessary? What are the comparative risks and costs: listening to not listening? It's hard to listen to our enemies and it's so much harder when we don't. When we don't listen to our enemies we miss opportunities to understand the thinking behind their moves. We miss hints and signs of trouble. And, we miss the ability to reach shared meaning and perhaps shared understanding. Even if compassion is not instantaneous, leaders have an obligation to keep it possible. Listen. It is a slow way to peace, but so much faster than fighting. -- doug smith  

Strength On Demand

Some people are strong all of the time, or appear to be. They built that strength over time, thru a series of challenges, difficulties, and misses. Tension and pressure produces strength, but the effort is so big that many of us miss developing our strength or increasing its capacity. It takes courage to take something on when you do not have the strength. You aren't fooling anyone, you can't really fake it until you make it, but you can increase the strength you already have. Every time you test your strength against that tension and pressure, you get stronger.  There's no getting that by ducking out. It comes from facing the problem with courage. Courage creates strength under pressure.  With that increased strength -- more becomes possible. Leaders need the courage it takes to build the muscle you do not have, until your strength matches your courage.  -- doug smith

Yes, Love

All the good we do is because of love. All the bad we do comes from missing love. When in doubt, love more. -- doug smith  

Leadership Problems

Leaders have problems just like everybody else and they have an unfair ability to spread those problems. They can, with their power and influence, make things worse. But they don't have to. You don't have to. Leaders can also use their influence and power to make things better. Working well with others, leaders can solve those problems. Let's take the better choice. -- doug smith