At some point you just have to let it go. You set the gears in motion and then let the outcome happen. I see a lot of people trying to control the minutia all the way until the end. They are pulling all-nighters right before a deadline, calling everyone in a panic to follow up on tasks. While tying up loose ends and validating the upcoming tasks is a value-added activity, there comes a point where it starts detracting from overall performance. Continue reading
planning
If You Don’t Have Time to Plan, It’s Time to Fail
After interviewing 21 of the top producers in companies across the United States, Gary Michels understood the value of time management. On the show he shared tips from his book Turn It up a Notch. Here are a few pointers about taking it to the next level: 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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What to Do before You Write a To-Do List
The new year often brings with it an onslaught of planning. We make plans for what we want to achieve within our companies, within our departments, and often in our lives. This usually takes the form of us listing everything we feel we need to achieve that year and assigning dates and sometimes detailed action-plans. Unfortunately, while we may gain short-term success from this activity, our long-term success could be serious stunted. Continue reading
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Why Your New Year’s Resolution Won’t Succeed
“You’re going to be 40 anyway. Do you want to be 40 with a degree or without?” This was encouragement a friend gave her husband as he lamented how long it would take to get his degree going to school part-time. How often do we fail to start something because of how long it will take to reach our goals? We miss the big picture, though: we will still reach them, even if we are 40 or 50 or 90!
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Roadkill
Yes, that’s right, I’m writing a leadership lesson about roadkill. As I was driving to an event last night, I was very inspired by the poor animal who died prematurely. Projects are often killed prematurely, leaving quite a mess. Needless project death could be avoided by watching for a few warning signs. Continue reading
