What Teams Value Most
I’ve written and spoken on the subject of non-negotiables countess times this past year. It’s a topic we now cover with nearly every team we serve. What’s interesting is the themes that have emerged. Though the teams we work with are vastly different in their industry and their challenges – from retail, to heavy manufacturing, to technology and HR – their non-negotiables almost always include these four common themes: (more…)
Some leaders have a very small tolerance for below average performance, mistakes, and employees who take a while to get in their groove. Other leaders enjoy helping the stragglers and misfits work through their challenges and find success.
Different jobs and different leaders have different levels of acceptability when it comes to the grace period an employee has to step up and perform to expectations. No one wants to undergo brain surgery with a surgeon who is “still figuring things out!” (more…)
Accountability is one of those common issues that sometimes sneaks up on us. Rarely do major accountability issues appear out of thin air. More often than not, they start small and slow…but when we allow our standards to slide, our small accountability challenges typically become bigger ones we can’t ignore and are harder to clean up.
So, if you’re not sure if you have accountability problem, here are some indicators that you probably do: (more…)
In today’s world, or at least in the United States, most of us want to live in comfort! We want comfy homes and comfy cars and comfy clothes. We enjoy comfortable friendships and we like feeling comfortable in our jobs. We equate comfort with stability, harmony, and contentment, and who doesn’t want that?
There is, of course, such a thing as too comfortable. When we are too comfortable or when we value comfort too much, we become complacent and resistant to anything that threatens to lower our level of comfort. These include: (more…)
Last week Impacting Leaders held its second webinar of this year’s Leadership Learning Series, and our focus this time was on how to influence across and hold our peers accountable (thank you to those of you who participated!). I had a great time connecting with all our attendees, and honestly my favorite part of these webinars is the discussion and Q&A time I get to have with everyone at the end.
After the webinar I received a great follow-up question from an attendee, and since their scenario was one we’ll all encounter at one time or another in our careers, I wanted to share my response to it here on the blog.
The question was, “How do you approach a peer about accountability and avoid hostility? What is the correct way to do so?” You can listen to my audio response in the following video. (more…)
Last week a webinar attendee submitted the following question on the subject of critical conversations: “What’s the best way to approach your boss regarding the way they go back and forth between being your “Director” and being your “Buddy”…When they constantly go between being besties and then letting you know that the two of you are really not friends, but it’s a business relationship?”
Figuring out where to draw the line when it comes to boundaries with our teammates or our boss can be tricky, and every leader has different standards. Some are “all business,” and avoid developing any sort of relationships with their direct reports. Other leaders reside at the opposite end of the spectrum where they grant their buddies special privileges or refrain from holding their bestie to the same high standard as other teammates. (more…)
Before the New Year I crafted a message that I wanted to share with a few key leaders at one of Impacting Leaders’ clients. Though crafted for some particular leaders, we can all work to live out these ten actions as we strive to grow. (more…)
The gentleman who sat in the aisle seat next to me on my flight back from Dallas to Atlanta last week was clearly unhappy. I assumed his frustration was at the airline and his having to request to move from his middle seat a few rows up to an aisle seat next to me, so although I quite honestly was tired and not feeling like being too accommodating at the moment, I put my attitude in check and offered to raise my armrest so he could be more comfortable. (more…)
What if the people you lead could only grow based on what they heard you say to others? What if people adopted the mood and outlook of your Facebook or Twitter posts? What if your teammates learned about your leadership philosophy not by what you said to them but by what you said to others when you thought no one else was listening? (more…)
Train says it best in the lyrics of the song, “Words:”
Words, they’ll try to shake you, don’t let them break you or stop your world from turning. When words keep you from feeling good, use them as firewood and let them burn.