Crises happen in the workplace frequently. Whether these crises are real or artificial, it seems there are four types of poor leadership that emerges during crisis (or perceived crisis) situations. Each having a negative impact on the team:
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Bossiness Is Not Leadership
Bossiness is not synonymous with leadership, despite what the recent movement claims. The difference? It’s all about the approach. I was a bossy child. In fact, I was so bossy that at four I was in charge of my single-parent family. I told my mom what to do and held her hostage to my whims. I bossed my friends around to the point I didn’t really have any. If my friends didn’t do it my way, I had a bad attitude or didn’t participate at all. That’s not leadership.
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Why You Should Stop Faking It until You Make It
Or at least you should stop thinking of it that way. Many people recoil at the premise of faking it until you make it. It seems, well, fake. Inauthentic. I’m here to tell you that it isn’t. It’s semantics. Someone decided they liked the mnemonic device of rhyming and came up with “fake it until you make it.” What it really should say is, “practice until you make it.” That’s all it is, practice. We do this all the time in the arts, sports, etc., so why can’t it extend to the rest of our lives? Continue reading
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Is Achieving Your Goals like a Game of Tug-of-War?
As a business owner or a department head, do you have a strategy for your team? How successful are you at achieving your strategy year over year? What if I said you would be more successful if you did less?
One of the greatest pitfalls I see companies fall into when executing their strategic plan is trying to do too much at once. After going through a strategic brainstorming session, there are so many great ideas on the table. A five-year vision is developed, then the two-year strategic objectives, and finally the tactical initiatives they wish to accomplish that year. Once nicely laid out on a board or in a three-ring binder with page protectors and full-color pages, leaders begin assigning team members to champion each of the tactical initiatives. After receiving their assignments, everyone goes their own separate ways until next year. Continue reading
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Be Bold. Be Successful.
Be bold. I’ve heard that a lot, but it’s always been ambiguous to me. We hear stories of people being bold, but they are so fantastical that they don’t always feel real or like something we can implement. Over the past week I have learned the importance of being bold. Being bold can change your life.
I had the typical hang-ups about putting myself out there. First, I hate rejection. It’s not that I can’t handle someone telling me no; I’m afraid of them taking it further: “How pretentious of you to ask!” “Why would I ever want to work with you?” “You have a funny hairstyle.” Okay, I’m not so worried about what people think of my hair. But I’m afraid that rejection will be personal. Continue reading
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Managing Ambiguity
How are you at dealing with ambiguity? When you see a risk that might impact your project, but it’s tough to predict, how do you handle it? Do you respond well when you know a reorg is planned, but aren’t sure how all the work will still get completed? Ambiguity is a part of everyday life, whether in the workplace, in your personal business, or even your life in general. Things come up, and the picture isn’t clear. We aren’t sure what the impacts will be. Sometimes we aren’t even sure if the “thing” will even happen. Continue reading
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5 Steps When Faced with a Saboteur
Why are we so resentful towards successful people? Residing within our culture is a sense of entitlement. We see successful people and think we deserve the same thing. As you move through life and further up the ladder of success, you will inevitably encounter people who aren’t happy for you. Worse, you may even encounter people who work against your success. What do you do when faced with this type of skullduggery? Continue reading
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Who Moved the Bar?
“You’ve inspired me to do more.”
“When you stood up for what you believed, I knew I needed to as well.”
Nice compliments, right? For me, it was eye-opening. As a speaker and writer, I am always hoping someone is inspired by my words, that maybe, I have packaged information in just the right way to really connect with a person’s desire to improve. But these recent incidents had nothing to do with my blog or speaking events. These were people who I touched through mundane day-to-day events.
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Taking the High Road
This topic has been weighing on me lately. It seems many of the sacrifices good parents make could also be said of good leaders. Leaders spend much of their time on stage. I am not sure if many of them realize how much the things they say and do get analyzed by those who work for them. Leaders often become protagonists or antagonists in the hallway stories. Leaders need to realize they set the culture, the morale, and the work ethic within their organizations. While there are many points we could make on this topic, here are a few that stand out to me. Continue reading
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Finger-Pointing
Today I sent a project status report. Shortly afterward, I received an e-mail informing me that while I had reported a task as complete, it wasn’t actually complete. The manager wanted to know where I got my information, and I let them know I heard it on the status call. The manager then informed me via an e-mail cc’ing the world (OK not really, but when you are being criticized, it can feel that way) that I should get information from a reliable source, and the manager named a few. It just so happened one of those “reliable sources” was the person who told me the task was complete. Graciously, that person stepped up, responded to the e-mail, and said that she was mistaken and had passed the bad information on to me. The manager then sent me an e-mail berating this “reliable source” for passing on bad information. While the task was not done, it would still be done on time. Continue reading
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