Have you ever been frustrated by a conversation (or a series of them!) that seems to go nowhere no matter how hard you try? Progress can be illusive at best when two or more people are in a conversation in which they are not committed to the same outcome. Yet even when you are seemingly » Read More
Everything you do and say communicates SOMETHING. In fact, the most effective leaders know that their team’s performance hinges on being a great communicator. “Since we communicate whether we want to or not, it’s in our best interest to get good at it” David Grossman Communication Expert. When a leader communicates effectively, everyone understands the » Read More
If you ever feel “working mother guilt,” this post is for you. No matter how flexible your job, conflicts inevitably arise. A child gets sick on the day of an important meeting. The preschool Mother’s Day Tea is at 10:30 a.m., smack in the middle of the business day. A meeting runs long, and you must scramble to find someone to pick up your child, because you can’t get to the school on time. An urgent business call comes in at 8 p.m. as you are reading your child’s bedtime story.
There may be a slight difference between the words react and respond. Yet, in practice, there seems to be a gulf of difference. When people react, it seems to be defensive. Responding, though, is more thoughtful. Responses contain reasoning. If mindfulness is being more centered within and aware of others, then this is a practice we » Read More
Do you get distracted? Everyone does. You do. I do. Distractions are everywhere. Social media has made distractions the norm. Work. Distraction. Work. Distraction. Work. Distraction. Distraction. Distraction. Work. Now go home and help yourself to some more distractions. Distractions are dangerous. Distractions are costly. Leaders are faced with multiple distractions everyday. Distracted from » Read More
When employees come to speak with you, do you put everything down, turn off your phone, and feel truly eager to hear their thoughts? Few managers actually do this on a daily basis, and as a result, they are like air traffic controllers without radar. Listening is an active quest to understand the knowledge, concerns, insights and ideas your employees bring to the table, and you need this information to do your job well.
What Does It Mean? You could see it from the road… The image of a lizard chipped into the stone’s desert varnish. It’s nearly three feet long, over 1,000 years old, and probably took the artist several months to complete. Standing on that hot windswept ledge with my wife and daughter in the Utah desert, » Read More
How Can I Get Them to Listen? I love this question – it is honest, sincere, and you can probably identify with the frustration behind it. In fact, the question in its original form comes from a mother of three asking about her children, and she qualified her questions: “Oh wait, wrong type of leadership?” » Read More
The term “soft” is often used when talking about those things that cannot be measured. In giving them a label alongside “hard,” perhaps we have been attempting to give credibility to those skills we inherently know are both essential and valuable to our success, even though their impact can’t really be proven based on “hard” » Read More
So Easy to Forget Whether you’ve led teams for decades or just started in your first leadership role, if you want to be effective, there are fundamental truths you cannot afford to ignore. You may even be familiar with them, but they are easy to forget and many leaders ignore them – at great risk » Read More
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