Just because we accept where we are does not mean that is where we are supposed to stay. As leaders, it is important to recognize, celebrate and take peace from what has been achieved and to harvest the wisdom learned. At the same time, we need to continue defining where we are going long term in a way that engages the team. Without the motivation and involvement of your team, success at climbing your mountain may be just out of […]
In this week’s video blog our expert guide, Don Hadley, discusses evolution vs. revolution. When leaders and teams disagree, it’s important to stop and understand the focus and reasoning behind the decisions or choices. Sometimes ideas are revolutionary while others are evolutionary. The goal is to see a full range of ideas, concepts, possibilities, and options. Many times leaders are the only ones with the vital information that may shape the conversation of those around them. We encourage you […]
I often see people who are fantastic at a task or series of actions and get a great result. When I recently discussed this with a client about his team, he replied, “What looks like brilliance is many times simply lots of experience!” This reminded me of a famous musician by the name of Horowitz. Someone came up to Horowitz after a particularly good concert and said, “I would give my life to play the piano like you.” Horowitz looked […]
Do you understand what makes people around you tick? Most leaders reach a point in their organizational development where they realize that they and their teams need to not just work harder to achieve, but they must also work smarter. In many ways we are tired of hearing “work smarter” since rarely is that followed up by valuable, tangible action that can be taken. We have found that when leaders and team members better understand each other, their organizations run […]
I used to think that when there was a teachable moment for others, when there was time on their part and mine, and they were open to learning new things, I should teach… Wrong! I have learned that when an exciting opportunity or a potential crisis occurs, there is a need that others have. They must handle the opportunity or the crisis! They have a need to learn and perceive it, so I may be able to teach them. I […]
A wonderful friend and client is 60 years old. He commented to me one day that when he was a child, anytime anyone got married, it was not wise to move further away than you could see the smoke from the chimney of the in-laws home. This way the spouse could still easily go see her mother and father (I think we call it keeping your support system today). As part of this, children of the married couple could spend […]
In this week’s video blog our expert guide, Don Hadley, discusses the 2 key factors for growth: people and money. During times of growth (or when the opposite occurs) challenges arise and changes that need to be made can be quite painful. Having leaders focusing on people as well as money can help create a clearer, more focused path for employees to follow. We encourage you to ask yourself the following questions: How do you keep momentum going to overcome […]
Experiencing and reading about how economic crisis occur around the world is fascinating. In the book “Too Big to Fail” by Andrew Sorkin, where he details a meeting between AIG and JP Morgan in late 2008 he says: Even worse, Dimon didn’t think that they had an accurate read of their financial data. As far as he could tell, Schreiber was simply reading off a sheet of siloed information that had never been aggregated and analyzed in one piece. “You […]
Do your leaders and teams know how to progress from the “Storming” stage on to the “Performing” stage? In this week’s video blog our expert guide, Don Hadley, discusses the “Storming” stage for teams in order to have a clear future and begin performing at a higher level. Teams typically progress through several stages, the first being formation, followed by “storming”. In the storming stage, some complaining and reviewing of the past occurs, along with a bit of conflict. The […]