A young mom, Sheila, took her only little girl to her first day of school. Her young daughter, naturally nervous, became scared and frightened at the thought of her mom leaving her. She cried and clung tightly to her mom’s leg. Leaving her daughter at school that first day took courage from them both. But Sheila remembered the things she had done in her own life that were scary … that she didn’t want to do...
I asked a group of landscape leaders how observation had played a role in their success today. Here is what they said: Intentional and deliberate communication: “I learned to slow down when I spoke to my bosses and team. I observed how my bosses took time to communicate deliberately and intentionally each time they spoke to me. That is powerful.” Leaders lose the opportunity to instruct others when they fail to thoughtfully and exactly communicate – be...
A few weeks ago, I was speaking to an audience of high-end landscape owners and leaders focusing on leadership growth and personal development. I discussed how each of us define our world by what we look for and expect to see. We can all learn something new and valuable, simply by watching/listening to someone other than ourselves. As an example, I used Chick-fil-A. They do not compare themselves with other quick service companies. The CFA experience is...
I have been working on a course about mentoring for our team. I am designing the course to assist our current team members in developing new employees and student workers, while increasing growth and engagement for our existing front-line employees and supervisors. One staff member told me that he sees his mentoring role as his main contribution to our team. When asked “Why?” he said, “I may be training someone who goes on to change the world....
Credibility: the quality or power of inspiring belief All humans have a hardwired survival instinct and how we determine who or what totrust is basic survival. When we take on a leadership role, we earn credibility over time.Actions speak louder than words; people are influenced by what you do, not just whatyou say.Here are five ways to grow your credibility with your team: Lead by example. You can’t get around this one. Model what you want more of. Be...
It’s difficult when your boss does not recognize your hard work or, worse yet, they purposely ignore your good work. Some bosses will actively try to bring you and your efforts down. But why? Do they think it will somehow help the organization? When this happens, the most important question you need to ask is “How do I respond to this behavior?” Recently, I was at a leadership conference when the speaker mentioned an Australian term, the...
Last week I attended a 4-day leadership training session at Ole Miss. At the end of the training, we were asked to talk about a take-away; something we got out of the four full days we had spent together. For me it was the opening 15-minute ice breaker where we interacted with almost all 30+ participants. I didn’t know many of the leaders in the room, so the ice breaker was an opportunity for me to...
I had to be around 5 or 6 years old, my job, each Saturday was to dust the furniture and empty the trash. I really hated dusting, but at the trash detail I was good. I could see it, grab it, and remove it. Not so much with the dust. At such an early age, I rarely, if ever, noticed dust on the furniture. So, for the longest time, what I remembered most from those chores was...
I rarely use the word freedom in the workplace. It is a 4th of July word. It works well when I talk about our founding fathers, not so much in the workplace. If you have a weak team player, freedom may mean they will goof off, not work or, worse yet, hide. I have a friend who often jokes about weak team players in this way: “Why aren’t you working?” “Because I didn’t see you coming.” But autonomy (a.k.a....
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” ~ Abraham Lincoln Have you ever had to teach one of your up-and-coming leaders to be quiet instead of talking all the time? Over the years, I have experienced leaders who are amazing chatterers. I have often set up a meeting to visit them with my 2-3 meeting items to cover. Much chattering happened, but I left the meetings with my...