Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most effective. In this article, I share six ideas on how to use a leadership journal to strengthen your performance through continuous daily improvement.
Leadership Grit is that grind-it-out sticktoitiveness in the face of adversity displayed by individuals long on character and short on “I can’t.” It’s also THE essential leadership characteristic I want to see in my developing leaders. Here are 12 examples I’m grateful to have observed and learned from:
Too often, our approach to professional development and growth comes in the form of big, broad solutions and approaches. While these approaches sound appealing, they often don’t address the core behaviors essential for improving performance. Instead, learn to thin-slice your professional development for effective behavior change. It helps to recruit a Swim Buddy along the way.
Starting out as a manager and learning to lead is hard enough, without the obstacle course of doom many of our organizations set for us. However, there are some approaches that can help you move beyond “bad at the beginning.” Here are 3 leadership hacks to help smooth the process a bit:
After more than a decade of managing and leading, I needed a break. I thought I would find satisfaction in being responsible for just one person: myself. I was wrong. It turns out, leading was a calling, but I needed a leadership break to reset and reframe. I’ve never looked back.
As much as we might like to believe people support plans based in good analysis and logic, reality says they act on emotions and in what they perceive is self-interest. This is why effective leaders understand the need to appeal to hearts first and then the minds will follow. This approach helps leaders safely navigate the perilous intersection of of logic and emotion.
We struggle to force the pace of leadership development in our organizations. Instead, we need to adopt a pace that operates on a person’s natural time.
Being the hero of your own leadership and management journey isn’t about focusing on yourself. To the contrary, it’s about focusing on those around you and striving to leave every encounter, situation, and person a bit better than how you found it. Here are 4 questions to use daily to strengthen results on your own heroic journey:
How confident are you that your message is getting through to others? Too often we perceive we are communicating clearly and effectively, when all anyone hears is something resembling the adults on a Charlie Brown feature. You know the noise they make: “Wah wa wa wa wah wa.” Don’t let this be you.
Cross-functional teams are a fact of life in our organizations. As a team or initiative leader, you are competing with a host of other priorities and initiatives for the hearts and minds of your team members. Your group’s performance depends upon you taking steps early in the team formation to ensure a healthy, effective working environment. Here are five ideas to help you jump-start your cross-functional team’s health:
