I remember as a leader being very frustrated that only about 30% of my staff were really engaged and did quality work. There was another 30% that were actively disengaged and seemed to just want a paycheck by doing the bare min to keep from getting fired. There was about 40% somewhere in the middle. It seemed I spent a lot of time with the bottom 30% having to deal with silly time-consuming issues. You may...
Just like you, I take leadership seriously. For me, leadership has meant being the person in charge, the person with the title, the one who oversees getting the work completed. We know as leaders we need teamwork to make the dream work and trusting the team members to make good decisions is an important part of that. The team’s attitude and quality of work is a reflection on their leader and so many times over the...
“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson As a leader, I can get in the way of implementing ideas I have learned from another source. Istop short of success because for some reason I let busy work get in the way. Maybe you havedone it too. We become the “bottleneck” to our own organization. Here is how to stop it.This past week I got the opportunity to be at the University...
Many managers, directors, and supervisors (including myself) have been brought up in a culture that values productivity as a daily goal. True to my upbringing, I continue to strive for efficiency, production, and daily results; always trying to work smarter, not harder in everything we do. Whether you were brought up in this culture or not, I know you value productivity because you are where you are - you get results, you want your people to...
“Change is the province of leaders. It is the work of leaders to inspire people to do things differently, to struggle against uncertain odds, and to persevere toward a misty image of a better future.” ~James M. Kouzes, The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations I remember the first time I stepped into the room of my N. Miami department as the Director. I didn’t know a soul outside of those that had...
en·list: engage (a person or their help or support) Next week there is a good chance there will be a new project, initiative, or undertaking my team will need to tackle. I bet you are faced with the same situation. To tackle these challenges, we need to mobilize people to create extraordinary results and unite people to turn these challenges into successful opportunities. We all need more problem-solvers not problem-makers. And we all have bosses who need...
“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” ~Jim Rohn, American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker To say the new job was challenging would be understating the situation. It was rough, but that is why they hired me and probably why they hired you...
“Leaders are Repeaters.” ~Jessie Cole, Owner, The Savannah Bananas Last month I had the opportunity to attend a 6-hour backstage breakout session with the Savannah Bananas leadership team. If you are not familiar with the SB then do a web search and you will see they are an unusual, unique and very popular minor league exhibition baseball team. This baseball team has become a world-class case study in marketing, customer, and employee experience. Every game the Bananas play...
“The three most important ways to lead people are… by example, by example, by example.” ~ Albert Schweitzer Dr. Robert Khayat was the 15th Chancellor of Ole Miss. He was a strong leader who had a tremendous passion for excellence and caring for others. It was in Spring, 2000 when I walked the campus with him for the first time. I had heard the stories, so it came as no surprise to me that he was picking...
“It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.” ~John Wooden The Grand Cypress Resort, a 5-Star Hyatt Hotel, is committed to providing their customers with high quality results. When I was training to be a first-time property manager there the term having an eye for detail was new for me. I remember being in the office with two of my fellow project managers, both with several more years of experience than I, as...