“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” This quote is attributed to Abraham Lincoln. Is it true for you? Today I was speaking to a 30-year-old who is in an entry-level employee position. He said for the first time, he's considering a leadership position. I asked him why he was considering it now? His answer was not surprising, “I am getting older and I need to make more money. Becoming a leader allows me...
What is one of the number one characteristics of a winning team? Talent is obviously needed, but is that all?There are many factors that go into creating a team, but one that is foundational is that each person understands and knows the role they play in the organization's success. My 8th grade basketball coach used to tell us, “Accept your role.” Whether we were a starter or practiced to make the starters better, he said accept...
It’s one thing when your front-line team members have conflict, but it is a whole new matter when your key leaders are in conflict with each other. If your leaders are “sideways” or in disagreement with each other, you would be wise to not let it just work itself out. We spend a lot of time at work with people most of us never choose to spend time with. Conflict is costly - especially if it is...
If you’re looking to grow a leadership culture at your organization, three leadership styles can help you achieve your goal. Think about a time in your life when you really were impacted by an effective leader—someone who cultivated success, effort and productivity. What qualities did this leader possess? It’s safe to say the leader you are thinking about was more than a figurehead. He or she was more likely to be someone who took interest in you...
Becoming an effective leader isn’t always easy. Leadership styles are often developed unintentionally, learned from others who led before you. Additionally, with all the pressures today and multiple pulls on our time and attention, it’s more challenging than ever to lead with a long-term vision in a way that develops the next generation of leaders. Even with the best intentions, people can develop poor leadership styles that can destroy productivity. If left unchecked, poor leadership traits can...
Vision statements can be a powerful way to lead a team to success because they help get every team member working together toward a common goal. If you’ve struggled to put together a vision statement for your team, or if your vision statement has failed to stick, it’s possible your statement is missing one of the following “Three R’s” of impactful vision statements. Relatable Vision statements need to be big enough to relate to everyone in the company in...
I had the honor of joining WCBI's Steve Schill to discuss my book Growing Weeders Into Leaders. Watch the entire WCBI Midday Interview right here. ...
Last week at work in our Leader-to-Leader meeting we discussed the word “enthusiasm”. I asked the different groups to define the word and I heard, “excited, passionate, eager”. One guy said, “hooah!” and explained that was the Army’s way of showing enthusiasm. You usually don’t see “displays enthusiasm” listed in job descriptions, but it plays a massive role in meeting production and getting results. I found that just talking about the word and letting others voice their...
Does your team collaborate, cooperate, do both or neither? I have worked with all types of teams and by far the collaborative team works with less drama and with great pride. There is a huge difference between collaborating and cooperating – especially in the outcome. Invest in growing a collaborative team. Cultivate your Greatness....
“I need a raise,” said one of my employees. I nodded my head and waited for the justification. No justification was offered other than there should be more pay for the job being done. I thought of all my employees and did a comparison. The employee standing in front of me was not doing more than was being asked; no being pro-active; no solution oriented thinking. Nothing about this employee stood out as being better, more...