People who are initiating often anticipate opportunities and problems and call attention to them. If you’ve ever been a part of a Group Dynamic session, you’ve seen this shopping cart picture. We can spend an hour or more on what it symbolizes; we usually use it to introduce the Four Levels of Maturity. Today, it … Read more
People who are driven tend to urge others to move quickly and can be annoyed when people lack a sense of urgency. The alternative is to remain “low-key” when it’s time to execute. On business teams, this is common when the leader/manager errs on the side of staying hands-off, saying things like, “I don’t like … Read more
People who are encouraging tend to inspire others to believe in the importance of their work. When aligning a team, an aloof or matter-of-fact approach can be the opposite of what you need. I was part of a student activities group in college led by a staff person named Ben. Ben would never begin conversations with … Read more
People who are expressive tend to be upbeat and communicate in an open and lively manner. In a previous life, I was a band director. If you’ve ever been involved in any fall school activity in a Midwestern high school, you know that “Senior Night” is a big night at the football game, especially for … Read more
A common buzzword now is “disruption”. The idea that if we are to grow, we have to innovate, and the pace of change is so fast that innovation cannot be incremental. We need people who will “disrupt”. Diversity is a competitive advantage. We know this, too. If everyone on our team were the same, many … Read more
Leaders know that it’s important to show appreciation, maintain optimism, and attend to rituals and traditions. These can inspire and motivate. But consider the element of surprise and novelty. That works even better. While everyone appreciates “jeans on Friday”, there are more surprising ways to show some thanks. Consider playing against type: In a manufacturing, … Read more
Early in my career, I had a conversation with a colleague in which I proudly stated: “I will get so much repeat business, and positive word of mouth, because of my total commitment to customer satisfaction.” This sounded like a normal, yet worthy goal, right? My colleague snorted, and said “That’s not so special, Alan. … Read more
No matter how far you’ve come, a leader always asks: “What’s the next step?” True to my DiSC® style of a strongly inclined iD — I’m impatient. It’s been a lifelong tendency of mine to interrupt, or at least formulate my response before the other person is done talking. A college professor I had called … Read more
When I was a teacher, I didn’t get a lot of handwritten notes from my principals and superintendents. So when I did, it was pretty exciting! To think that my boss would make the time to write words of appreciation or encouragement when a pop-by or email might have sufficed, really made a major impression … Read more
I like low-cost and efficient ways to make improvements. If you could make progress without spending much time or money, wouldn’t you try? Here’s one simple, but effective technique: Smile more. It’s the most powerful facial expression or gesture, and causes these two things to happen: 1) We have less stress. 2) Those around us … Read more