doug smith training

How flexible is your perspective? Once we form a vision of what we think is true, it's so easy to stick with that view. Right or wrong, that view is incomplete. We omit important details. We add our preferences to our references and develop a distinctive mix.  As nice as that feels, it is also constraining. Flexibility allows for flow. Openness questions the certain to detect the incorrect. Perspective flexibility is our friend. It's not always easy to change the way you look at things, but it always helps. -- doug smith

Have you ever danced to a tune you didn't like? Maybe it was at a wedding, or a holiday gathering, or a nightclub, or some other place. Dancing was around you and so you danced.  Dancing is usually a choice. Unless it is against your belief system (as a child I remember people in my family who thought that dancing was a sin) dancing is on the whole more beneficial than difficult.  I used to believe that I was a good dancer -- until my partner broke up with me and I discovered that SHE was the good dancer, so good that she makes anyone she dances with look like a better dancer (even me). And yet, still I dance. I remember the celebration dinner for a project that I worked on when the president of the company joined the rest of us on the dance floor to do a fun line dance. I'll admit, he danced better than me. For one of the programs that I teach I offer the participants the opportunity to dance in a brief virtual dance party. Some people do (and seem to enjoy it) and some peopl...

Be kind, even when it's hard. Even when the way escapes you at first. If you can't think of a fast way to be kind, a slow way will do just fine. The point is to act with kindness. -- doug smith  

Thinking the best leaves less room for the rest. I'm a fan of unconditional positive regard. I can assume that people are doing the wrong thing on purpose when I don't like what they do, but it doesn't change what they did and it's not likely to make things any better.  When I assume that people are doing they best they know how to do it's much easier to correct mistakes. Fix the process, not the person. Change the behavior, not the intention. People intend to do good things -- they just sometimes get confused. -- doug smith  

Successful supervisors keep their attitude clearly and constantly positive. Leave no doubt what you care about. -- doug smith  

Everything is work in progress. What will you improve today? -- doug smith  

Your products will prosper when people are your priority. -- doug smith  

A deadline given to you by someone else is their deadline, not yours. Agreement is everything. -- doug smith  

Give your customers what you promised, and fix it when you don't. -- doug smith  

 When we are frustrated it is tempting to say "no." When customers are unreasonable it is oh so easy to say "no." As a high performance leader and as someone who learns to balance clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion, you'll hold off on that "no" long enough to consider a useful "yes." A yes that will please your customer and you as well. A yes that builds a relationship bridge instead of constructing a negative wall of "no". Sometimes, instead of saying "no" we need to say what it would take for us to say "yes". You can always say "no" later if you need to. Keep that "yes" ready, though, and it will likely work out for the best. -- doug smith

How do get your staff to provide the best possible service? It is complicated and yet also simple. Here's a good place to start. Hire people who like people and you won't need to beg them to serve. It's already what they do. -- doug smith

Does it ever feel like bad behavior is constantly rewarded? Maybe that's because in the short term, people can get away with behaving poorly and even seem to prosper. Justice is sometimes slow to react. Bold aggression bowls over good taste time and time again. It's not permanent. It won't last forever. Whether or not you believe in or call it some kind of karma, justice will find a way to even out aggression and malice. I choose to believe that integrity is not only important -- to do the right thing -- it is also inevitable. If you act with integrity, you will eventually enjoy the equity it brings. If you don't believe in integrity, that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, but it does mean that you may take longer to experience it. Unless you believe that integrity wins, it's hard to have any integrity. But all that means is that lacking integrity will mean lacking justice, too. Let's do the right thing. Let's treat people fairly. Let's enjoy t...