The economic weather is changing, and it feels like a storm is approaching. Possibly a big one. The question on my mind is, “Will the leadership lessons of the past few years stick?”
We write and talk about succeeding as managers and leaders in this world. We spend a lot of money on training. Your humility, commitment to creating a personal experience for everyone, and your authenticity in leading from the heart may be most of what you need to succeed in your important role.
How do we access the power of purpose in our role when many above and around us might not be playing with the same sense of motivation? Here are some lessons from some great managers about finding and harnessing the power of purpose in their work. Read and think about how you might put their ideas to work.
Ideas are oxygen for problem-solving. Yet, all the ideas in the world won’t help you solve the challenges in front of you if you don’t have solid ideas-to-actions flow. As leaders, we need to complete the process and make sure there’s a robust Ideas-to-Actions machine operating on our teams and in our organizations. Here are approaches to help strengthen the flow of ideas into actions in your workplace:
Our mistakes in pursuit of learning are the burpees, extra gym time, and leg days of our mental fitness for most of us. For those where mistakes are measured in cost or time (not life impact or safety), your mistakes measure how hard you are pushing yourself to grow. Here are ideas to turn your misfires into gold.
While an incredible number of people move every year, and everyone knows what a miserable project it is, there are a surprising number of leadership lessons in these situations. Here are a few I gleaned from our recent move efforts.
I’m on record describing one-on-ones as some of the most valuable real estate on a manager’s calendar. These sessions are opportunities to engage, share ideas, identify plans to eliminate obstacles and frankly, in this stressful world, just connect. Unfortunately, from my workshop and client surveys, the manager and employee one-on-ones are some of the most frequently canceled meetings. Here’s an easy to remember formula to help you design one-on-ones that work for everyone:
The best managers are devoted students of the art of character study—not out of some desire to play armchair psychologist, but rather out of the desire to help.
There’s little doubt creativity is vital in the workplace, and that idea generation is the enabler of creative problem solving and innovation. The better our teams and colleagues are at generating ideas, the better the odds of surviving and thriving in our topsy-turvy world. Yet, idea generation and problem-solving practices are stale and decidedly lacking in creativity in too many organizations.
Last week I wrapped up two different cohorts of my Experienced Manager Program. In twelve hours of program time spread over multiple sessions, the ideas and insights flowed, and I left impressed with the passion so many have for their work leading and managing. Here are some of my favorite insights from the program:
