When I teach workshops on the tools of change leadership, I always end by jumping up and down on one essential final point. Which is that these tools are less than useless – they are actually damaging – if you do not take action on what you’ve learned by using them. Wait, what? Damaging? Yes. If you go through the …
The courage to lead
Leading takes courage. (I’m about to get political, just for one paragraph – it’s way past the point where I can take refuge in “professionalism” to avoid speaking out.) Look at the Republicans in Congress right now. The majority, if not all, are failing to lead, in my opinion mostly because they’re afraid. And yes, you can say the same …
Defend, deflect, deny!
I get it. When someone’s upset about something you’ve done, the immediate instinct for most of us is to defend our actions, deflect the accusation, and deny that anything was wrong. My husband and I recently encountered this at a local restaurant. We were initially (mostly) okay with the fact that service was slow because the dining room was clearly …
Humor, logic, and belief
Like it or not, we’re in an extremely politicized time. Whichever side you’re on (and if you’re reading this, and know me at all, I imagine you’re on the democratic side), it’s hard. It’s exhausting. And at work, you may be feeling like you’re treading on eggshells scattered across thin ice. I’m a solo practitioner, and my clients naturally self-select …
Got questions?
Questions are good – right? Leaders are told to ask questions. I teach my students and clients to ask questions of themselves and of their people. So, questions are good, right? Well … yes … and you have to ask the right questions. Last week, my husband texted me from work to ask if I’d gone to the market yet. I answered, …
Are you empowered?
Are you empowered? Do you even know what that means? Do you empower your team? Do you even know what that means? Yes, this is another of my rants about buzzwords. Because, as the third of those three linked articles says, buzzwords are once-meaningful words that have, through overuse and over-hype, become functionally meaningless. Of course, I’m not sure “empowered” ever …
The Disappearing Leader
A disappearing leader is a bad thing, right? Well … maybe. And maybe not. There are two basic principles involved. First, leaders should, obviously, be available for their people. They should listen to what their people are saying, what they need, what’s working, what’s not. Second, when a leader delegates and doesn’t disappear, that’s a problem. That’s micromanagement. Obviously, there’s …
The laundry is never done
That was the conversation with my husband this morning: the laundry is never done. There’s always more, often right after you’ve just done a whole lotta loads. Leadership, likewise, is never done. Yeah, I know: kind of a cheesy analogy, right? But I think there are a lot of people who believe that if they just take the right class, or read the right book, …
Thermostat – or thermometer?
Have you noticed there are some people that just seem to exude calm? And there are other people who seem to exude chaos? There’s an old, intended-to-be-amusing rhyme that goes: “When in danger or in doubt, Run in circles! Scream and shout!” Not very funny, really, because that’s obviously the epitome of unhelpful – and the epitome of what leaders …
Got conflict?
If you’re trying to remove all tension and conflict within your team, you’re doing it wrong. Any attempt to create a bubble in which no one disagrees with anyone else never works. As General George Patton said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.” Squashing disagreement means squashing creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. It means potentially disastrous (and certainly …