The lighthouse, like a leader, provides a consistent and inspiring point of reference in turbulent times.
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Allgemein (Page 15 of 19)
The Oxygen Mask Rule
You must first help yourself, as instructed by the airlines, before you can help anyone else. When you are part of a leadership team, it is critical that you and your executive team members decide how you are going to help yourselves before you jump in to help others. Executives are confronted from day one with a multitude of problems to solve and opportunities to address. Everyone wants something from senior leaders; this is where many executive teams make the mistake of jumping into their company’s business issues too deeply at the beginning of their team’s evolution.
Tools alone do not make a good carpenter (or leader)
Do not hide behind tools or busy yourself with diagnostics that take your eyes off the real issues. Help people find the courage to be themselves. This means knowing what you want, saying what you think and being in the moment with the people around you. This is the mark of an effective leader and is more valuable (and feels better) than learning to simply carry a toolkit.
Let lazy practices flop into innovative breakthroughs
We must be careful how we look at people who view situations and challenges differently than we do. When someone does something differently, we should be mindful how we evaluate his or her new approach.
Lessons Learned Behind the Prison Walls
Leadership development should and must take place as a team experience. This is why I believe that we should not coach leaders in isolation. Sending a coached leader back into an uncoached team will not be as impactful as the leader and her entire team learning, improving and committing to change together.
Create More “Return on Reflection”
You and your team deserve to get more “return on reflection” (RoR), because weak team reflection leads to minimal or no learning which leads to little or no changes for the New Year. Everyone in the team holds an important part of your “reflection puzzle”. Put the puzzle together and you create maximum return on reflection.
Make Work a Laughing Matter
Laughter is good medicine. It reminds us to live (and laugh) in the present moment, not to take life too seriously and that work can sometimes feel like play. Make laughing matter in your organization or support someone who does.
Become a “Do Less Leader” and Create More
Busy leaders often produce mediocre results because they are simply too busy to recognize opportunities in front of them. Often leaders solve problems but fail to dig deeper and wider and create improvements. Busy leaders are distracted and this disrupts connections with others. Several leaders have commented to me, “I’d like to meet more with my people but I have too much to do”.
Mixed Messages from the Matrix Organization
Today’s technology is convenient and can be a cost effective way to connect and build partnerships. But technology can also drive a wedge between potential partners and turn misunderstandings into major turf battles if not handled professionally. Here’s a simple tip – never, ever respond to an email when you feel your temperature rising. Resist the temptation to become a “keyboard warrior” and instead pick up the phone and sort it out. 98% of these misunderstandings dissolve the minute you get your counterpart on the other line. This enables you and your colleages to move into the partner and prosper culture much easier.
Technology Rich and Priority Poor?
A lack of manageable priorities is a lack of leadership. You can be technology and priority rich at the same time. When you are, you’ve learned to thrive in the age of overload.