doug smith training

Is your team complete? Have you built the perfect work group capable of achieving every goal you could ever conceive. Probably not. Centered leaders realize that a team is never fully complete and needs constant change. Not change just for the sake of change -- but meaningful, mission-based, vision-focused change. Are you ready for that? What will you do today to bring that closer to reality? -- Doug Smith

What is your direction? How are you making things better? Where will you be a year from now if you keep doing what you're doing now? Is that where you'll want to be? What can you do TODAY to set a direct course for where you want to be? How about trying some of these CLUES to Success: - Create agreements - Listen with curiosity - Understand the facts AND the feelings - Express yourself clearly and positively - Share responsibility for success It takes practice, so clue someone in and practice together. Once you've become comfortable adding these CLUES to Success to your conversations you'll find that you experience deeper conversations, more powerful presentations, and more productive meetings. And, quite likely, you'll find that your relationships improve as well. Set a course for where you want to be: in a great dialogue. -- Doug Smith

What happens if one of your goals slips from your memory? As busy as most leaders are, it's easy for that to happen. Pay attention to any goals you've been ignoring -- they could reveal a quiet weakness. What goals on your list no longer belong on your list? What should you do about the things you avoid? When will you start? -- 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.

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.

Have you ever stopped saying what you were thinking because you thought it might be silly? What seems profound now may seem trivial later -- but express it anyway. If you don't express what you're feeling who will? -- Doug Smith What have you learned today?

Are you curious? Do you dig a little deeper to find out what's really going on when things seem odd? Do you keep a positive focus on your goals? High performance leaders stay positive, focused, and curious. What does that mean to you? What do you as a leader do to stay positive? What keeps you focused? What does that look like? Why is it important for a leader to stay curious? Could you prove to a detective that you have a long record of curiosity? What is your proof? -- Doug Smith

Did you see that last change coming? Does change sneak up on you, scaring your pants off? Or, do you look for it? The more we anticipate change the less it is likely to upset our plans. Centered leaders base their plans on constant change. Centered leaders create processes that endure change, that flow with change, that support change. The paradox is that the only true stability comes from staying fully adaptive to change. How do you anticipate which changes will effect your plans?  How do you create a team that expects and drives constant change? What are the benefits to moving quickly with change? -- Doug Smith

Centered leaders feel a calling for the work they bring to the world. It's more than a duty; more than a job. The sense of mission that leads to completion and satisfaction drives centered leaders as they work.  Centered leaders optimize their work by working on their calling. What's your calling? Are you working on it everyday? What will you do today? -- Doug Smith

Have you scanned your future today? High performance leaders frequently scan the environment for change opportunities. Individually, keeping informed of rapid changes, cultural shifts, and trends as well as collectively holding deeper conversations sometimes in the form of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. High performance leaders are always aware of what looms just down the road. They move with what they can influence, and prepare for what they can not control. As a leader, you'd probably rather not be surprised --to avoid the unexpected takes preparation. What's going on in your world that will effect your business? Are you paying attention to YOUR future?  What trends do you see developing in your field of work/play? What will you do to change the nature of your game? -- Doug Smith

High performance leaders co-create solutions that overcome constraints. As a leader, do you know what the constraints are? Can you pinpoint the largest and highest impact constraint? What stands in the way of success? Who can help you co-create solutions that will overcome overpower and overhaul these constraints? In order to optimize your results it takes a careful look at details currently slow or impede the results that you want. Often, eliminating a constraint opens the flood gates of success much faster than building a brand new process or path. -- Doug Smith

Do you really understand your biggest problem? What are you doing to solve it? Who else can you ask for help? Understanding is a critical first step to solving difficult problems. Moving too fast can lead to solving the wrong problem and complicating (or even over-simplifying) your situation.  Take the time to understand your biggest problem, and then seek the help you need. What is your biggest problem? -- Doug Smith

Problems are often solved temporarily. Permanent solutions are hard to find, because there are so many factors to consider. People, for instance. If you solve a problem, yet hurt some one in the process (physically, mentally, or financially) you haven't really solved the problem -- you've just pushed it to a more dangerous level. There are NO permanent solutions that hurt people. If it hurts someone, the solution is a problem in itself. Are you considering everyone in your problem solving? Are your solutions injury-free? --Doug Smith