doug smith training

High performance leaders pick goals that propel them to the next level. What's your next level? What's your next goal? Match the two and you're well on your way. -- Doug Smith

Have you ever sat in a meeting and thought "well, here's an hour (or two) of my life I'll never get back...?" Most people have. We get stuck in unproductive meetings. We find ourselves wondering why they couldn't just have sent an email. Or we wonder why they had a meeting at all, since nothing is getting done. Bad meetings result in the single biggest waste of time in organizational life. In my workshops I tell people that "you are hereby empowered. You no longer need sit thru an unproductive meeting ever again. If you have the courage." If you have the courage to lead from the back of the room. If you have the courage to lead from any chair. If you have the courage to grab that moment of unproductive noise and make a suggestion. Make a recommendation. Redirect the group. You probably know already that you are not the only person in the room who feels the meeting slipping away. Redirect it. Risky? Sure. You might need to build some relations

How we define success will largely determine whether or not we achieve it. -- Doug Smith

Creating a successful career is easier once you start achieving your goals. -- Doug Smith

We might not like the part of coaching that holds us accountable but we sure do need it. Embrace accountability, even when it hurts. -- Doug Smith

Learn from everyone. It's your best opportunity. -- Doug Smith

Put any number people in a room and some won't like each other. To turn that into a team is a task for a skilled high performance leader. -- Doug Smith

The best supervisors take time to reflect on the impact of their actions and the validity of their beliefs. -- Doug Smith

The art of leadership includes fine lines and bold actions. -- Doug Smith

Disagreement is easy. Criticism is easy. Curiosity takes more initiative and courage and it brings about better understanding, openness and increases your chances of reaching agreement. Stay curious! How do you stay curious? Ask questions. Pause. Listen. Listen to understand, not to debate. Remember when you were ten years old and you were filled with questions? When was the last time that you were truly open to possibilities? When was the last time that you stayed curious when your inner judge wanted to evaluate? Stay curious! Imagine what you can learn, just by staying open. The possibilities are limitless -- as long as we don't limit them. Stay curious! -- Doug Smith

The courage it takes to set an ambitious goal will help you to achieve that goal. -- Doug Smith

Who needs to improve their performance? Everyone! Of course! How do we improve performance? We improve performance in hundreds, perhaps thousands of ways, and yet these four ways are critical: Knowledge: knowing what to do. Practice: working at repeating the desired behaviors and actions. Feedback: staying open to and using observations about our performance. Discipline: relentlessly following the path to success, even when it's hard. Better performance comes from knowledge, practice, feedback, and discipline. For you, for your team members, for anyone interested in improving performance. And then, as it says on the shampoo bottle, rinse and repeat. Performance improvement never ends. -- Doug Smith