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."
Learning from mistakes, encouraging feedback, and applying lesson’s learned should be common sense … you would think. Unfortunately this is not always the case. One of the most important “Tools Everyone Can Use,” is incorporating some method of applying “Lesson’s Learned” to things you or your organization do.
As a manager this is one of the greatest sources of frustration … as a leader it is an opportunity to learn, understand your people and to gain “Willing cooperation.”
A friend asked for a post on pressure. I wrote this with them in mind using tools other have shared with me. I hope that it might help other people as well. Handling pressure is a learned skill and sharing skills and stories is a great way to help friends and family.
Often lost in everything that is written or said about great leadership are small, but very important attributes. Leadership is about building relationships with people, gaining willing cooperation, consistency, and thoughtfulness. Please take a few minutes, read this post, share the points, and add anything that you think is missing.
Looking for a new job or career after fifty can be difficult and intimidating. Ageism is real. The fear and anxiety is real.
There is help though. This post offers a starting guide. Take a few minutes if you or someone you know is going through this process. Older workers have skills to offer and can make a difference in any organization.
I have been helped by some tremendous people throughout my career. To be able to pay back those people who took a chance on me, who mentored me, and who saw something in me worth saving and developing, is the primary reason I started doing these posts.
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.