Blog
Are you Ethically Fit?
One of your subordinates’ cheats on his safety certification test. You learn of an adulteress affair which has occurred between two employees in your company. Sarah wants to fire John who is not performing. She is correct about his performance but has never formally appraised him or trained him. Your top sales associate lies about the efficacy of your service to gain several new clients. An email gets sent to a wide distribution of people in your company with a cartoon and joke which is a bit sexually and racially sensitive. Brian’s personal Facebook posts are very political and abrasive which is not in keeping with the values and culture everyone subscribes to in your company? The extra hours Chelsey must work this week are only due to her own failures when she attempted the task the first time. Should you pay her for those hours? What do you do in these situations? How should you lead?
An outstanding ratio to add to your leadership kit bag!
Welcome the month of May! The weather is warming, trees are greening and it seems many places are coming out of COVID restrictions to bring people back together. I’ll take that as a sign of hope and better days ahead. Here is an approach for your leadership kit bag as we welcome May and sprint toward summer.
The missing essential ingredient in the Job Description
Vision, Values, Culture. There is your short answer. As leaders we can sometimes be so enamored with what we want from a certain position in our company we overlook the person who we want to fill it and the values and beliefs we want them to possess. New positions in a company typically fill a dire need generated from the expansion of the mission and the demands on individuals. A leader envisions a new Internet Technology Manager relieving the pressure and headache related to IT problems in an organization. She or he creates a job description, a recipe designed to solve a problem and relieve pain. Missing from that recipe is what an organization wants that person to believe in and subscribe to.
What and who are you a steward of?
I held several especially important positions in the Army. I was given limited resources and complex missions; I was charged with the wellbeing of my soldiers and inclusion of their families. I was a good steward of all of this. Merriam Webster defines stewardship as, the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care: stewardship of natural resources. I love this word in leadership.
What Is Crisis?
What is a crisis? In leadership it is essential to bring clarity to this word. Merriam Webster defines crisis as an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending. Words are important for a few reasons. First, they shift the thinking of leaders and employees. When words like crisis are spoken, they capture (or should capture) the attention of people as shouting stop or freeze would.
The “I’m Too Busy” Myth and its Cost on Leadership
Words do not themselves treat people poorly, leaders do. Lofty words and catchy phrases and their associated processes cloud over the reality and need of human connection. In the production of my book “It’s Personal,” while interviewing over 75 business leaders and HR professionals I rarely heard the word “people.” I felt as if we were talking about the management of machines instead of the leadership and care of people. “Human” was used but only in conjunction with another word like “human resources” or “human capital.”
What Does Communication Look Like in Crisis?
When crisis happens, people look upward to leadership. What comes back at them ought to be effective and constant communication.
Memorial Day...It's Supposed to Hurt
Whatever remembrance you choose, let the pain return like I do when I think about that visit to New York. Never forget the fallen, for they paid the ultimate sacrifice. Remember, it’s supposed to hurt.
Impersonal Words and Their Impact on People
Words do not themselves treat people poorly, leaders do. Lofty words and catchy phrases and their associated processes cloud over the reality and need of human connection. In the production of my book “It’s Personal,” while interviewing over 75 business leaders and HR professionals I rarely heard the word “people.” I felt as if we were talking about the management of machines instead of the leadership and care of people. “Human” was used but only in conjunction with another word like “human resources” or “human capital.”
What does Investing in People Mean Anyway?
According to Dictonary.com, to invest is “to use, give, or devote (time, talent, etc.), as for a purpose or to achieve something.” As you might invest time in a garden to take in its beauty or consume its vegetables, or as you might invest in real estate to create more income, you invest in people to gain something; that something is to make them better people.
Happy-Invested In-Employees Even in a Virtual Environment
But we are socially distant! Nonsense. I did it in a combat zone. You can invest in people through virtual means. Programs like Zoom, Slack and many others facilitate that. Your personal smartphone is a nice place to start!
Need Help During This Crisis? Turn to the Veteran on Your Team
“What’s happening or happened and who else needs to know?” This phrase, famous among military operation centers, promotes heightened awareness followed by knowledge sharing so critical managing a crisis. These skills are so important that those who fail the test are eventually separated from service.
Which leader are you?
A leadership thought... Which one describes you after being assigned a task? Thought A: "this is now more work for me, ugh!" or Thought B: "this is an opportunity for me to help the team!"
Do only those things that only you can do
A Leadership Thought. Do only those things that only you can do. A mentor used this philosophy for managing a large task load. As a leader you bring specific, and sometimes unique skills and experience to your organization.