People who seek counsel tend to consult with trusted advisors to help evaluate risks and possible outcomes. We’ll start with a real-life negative example: A new superintendent in a school district put forth a new program idea: SCUBA diving instruction. He had done it at his old school, to great success (according to him), so he … Read more
People who speak out tend to be willing to volunteer bold ideas, even if it will put their credibility on the line. If we hold back and play it safe to preserve our credibility, we can make mistakes. I was part of a hiring committee for a non-profit leadership position once. One of the finalists, … Read more
People who are adventurous enjoy the excitement of taking risks and are comfortable with the unknown. Caution is good at times, but not in a visioning phase. Can you name any worthwhile endeavor that didn’t involve some risk? A local community group once had the opportunity to shoot for the moon on raising money and awareness … Read more
People who prioritize the big picture tend to focus on the broad, overall view of an idea or project. The opposite of big picture thinking – obsessing about details – is critical when executing a project, but not when developing vision. I was working with a client on a long-term training plan to solve some problems … Read more
***This is the first post in a series based on the Work of Leaders process (details way below). Throughout the series, I’ll be providing real-world negative examples from a variety of settings. For positive examples, however, we’ll look at one specific case study: The Small Business Saturday initiative from American Express. Small Business Saturday has … Read more
We love big stories about exciting, game-changing leadership moments. But when you’re asked about the best leader you ever worked with, you probably don’t respond with a story or example of their biggest project or resume-builder. Instead, you talk about the way they made you feel. Years from now, people will forget the little things you … Read more
Here’s a common question, but it’s confusing and vague: “Would you mind?” For example, “Would you mind getting the report in a day early?” Seems like a basic question – but how do you handle the answer, “Sure!” Lots of times, it goes like this: “Sure… sure you’ll do it, or sure you’ll mind?” “What?” … Read more
Whether or not you took last week’s suggestion to evaluate your top three and bottom three from a list of possibilities, make sure you start the new year with some sort of review and goal-setting. If you’ve been at your work a long time, you might have a routine and feel like you don’t need … Read more
Sometimes we know we should invest a lot of time in year-end evaluation, but we’re overwhelmed or tired. Here’s an idea to make it both easy and productive: Top Three/Bottom Three Gather your team, or just your calendars, and pick one of these areas: Pick your top three, and your bottom three within that area. … Read more
There are times in conversations or meetings when you really want to move on, but you don’t want to shut people down. So, you use a generic question that unintentionally telegraphs a lack of openness, rather than a desire to check-in. For example: “Does that make sense?” “Any questions?” “Does everybody get that?” Unfortunately, there’s no … Read more