doug smith training

How we communicate is how we lead. High performance leaders communicate clearly, creatively, courageously, and with compassion. Clear, so that the message is understood. The mission is strongly centered as the focus. The goals are clearly aligned with the mission. The leadership actions support the goals. Creatively, because problems are not easily solved and do require new ideas. Because people prosper better in a creative environment. Because growth is the preferred direction. Courageously, because the more important your work is the more resistance you are likely to encounter and it takes guts to overcome that. It takes courage to stand your ground against the temptations to cut corners and shave ethics. It takes courage to keep going when it feels like your cause is lost. It takes courage to stand up to your boss in support of your own team. Compassion, because while high performance leaders must deliver on their goals and produce increasingly outstanding and high qual

A short video from one of my top influences in leadership development, Tom Peters.

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

Merry Christmas from our place to 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

A problem is just an unfulfilled goal. -- 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

A problem left to its own tends to grow. See the light. Find the solution. Fix that problem. That's what high performance leaders do. -- doug Smith

Even if you are promoted by surprise, even if you inherit the role, even if you have no idea how you suddenly came to be in charge, leadership is a choice. Leadership is a choice to influence for the greater good. It's a choice to develop people so that they can get a job done. It's a choice to stay with it disappointment after disappointment with the discipline it takes to refine, develop, discover, and deploy the tools you need to succeed. Leadership is a choice we make over and over and over. Make the choice. Take the learning. Make things better. It's up to you. -- doug smith

Is hurting someone's feelings inevitable? Perhaps, sometimes, no matter what we as leaders do we will somehow hurt someone's feelings. But, if that happens as an accident or as the result of someone else's low self-esteem at least we didn't intend it. Most of us have known leaders who DO intend it. Leaders who play with people's feelings are playing with fire. It may feel like a fine way to manipulate someone into giving you something you want, but there is a heavy cost. The relationship takes some bumps and, often, the bounce-back reverberation (some might call it karma) is big. Very big. Being careful about other people's feelings is in the end also taking care of your own. Hurt feelings seek revenge. Why bring that about? We never escape unscaved when we hurt someone's feelings. What to do instead? Talk about it. Listen with curiosity. Show social courtesy and compassion. It's better for your relationships -- and therefore also better for

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