In 1500 words or less, each post will give you something you can use TODAY to build yourself, your people and your organization whether your organization is a "for-profit" or a "not-for-profit."
People have questions. New people to your organizations and even existing staff have questions. Some are complex and some are very basic. Often times the people who know the answers aren’t available. Struggling and not knowing causes stress and frustration. Consider creating a simple tool, a “Who Does What” tool.
Few teams in high school, college/university, and even in the work environment currently apply project management skills to everyday assignments and projects.
These skills can make a difference, eliminate frustration, and help transform groups of individuals into high-performance teams. These skills work on large construction projects, software design projects, and on any academic and work projects whether they are large or small.
Effective leadership is not easy. An effective leader is always learning, always reinventing themselves, and always adapting their skills and approach to the current environment. To be successful, effective leaders cannot be entrenched they must constantly look at different perspectives and be aware of their blind spots.
Effective leaders never forget that leadership isn’t about them, it is about the people they lead. They are facilitators, they empower, and they are whatever the situation, their organization, and most importantly what their people need them to be.
We have all experienced them.
The kind of meeting where the clock, if it seems to move at all crawls at a glacial pace. Far from being productive, the attendees have long since stopped paying attention and only want to find an escape so they can get some real work done.
Ineffective meetings frustrate everyone, the people attending them and the people running them.
The first step to resolution is to recognize the warning signs and then start today rectifying the situation.
Rigidity usually happens slowly and without most people noticing.
If we do notice it, we usually only see it in other organizations and in other people. Most people do not even realize it is happening to them, many will deny it, but those who do are only fooling themselves.
The rigidity of thinking and action can stifle growth, success, and happiness, and even threaten survival.
August/September is a good time to look for a summer job. Any time is a good time to remember the skills, attitudes, and behaviors that make any job good for workers and employers. Hiring students is good for businesses and for charities and non-profit organizations.
In my experience and observation the organization that causes the most stress and anxiety for its people and leaders … is usually their organization.
We have a responsibility to recognize, appreciate and acknowledge, and most importantly to help alleviate that stress for our people.
The closer people are to your “front-lines,” the more people “working in the weeds,” the more stress and anxiety they likely feel.
Is your daily focus simply on “surviving” each day? What follows are some simple ideas that can help you have your life again, achieve a better work/life balance, and “grow” your business or organization.
These are not my ideas, these are lessons learned from some of the best leaders and entrepreneurs I have met in more than thirty years in the “for-profit” and “charitable” sectors.
Becoming a good leader means embarking on a path that never ends. People, organizations, and the leader themselves will evolve, change, and adapt in response to their changing world.
I have learned while being mentored by some incredible people. Three of those lessons helped to shape my entire philosophy of leadership, “Humility, Consideration, and Determination.”
We had thought we were inclusive, but we realized we needed to do even more. We discovered the real driving force for our continued success was because we learned to appreciate, acknowledge, and respond to the blind spots that we didn’t even know were there.
Start small, but start now.