Questions are a leader’s most powerful tool. When you lead well, you learn to ask more than tell. There’s a distinction between teaching and leading. For the team, they can become blurred when the leader blurs those lines. Teaching means showing, telling, correcting, learning, and generating. Leading is involved, but the outcome is clear: transition competencies and accountability. For many of us, especially parents, we don’t always…
When you pursue a dream, a future opportunity or a goal, all kinds of concern, worry, and fear can show up. After all, it wouldn’t be a future possibility if you already knew how to do it. Recently, while working with a group of CEOs, one of them declared something big. It was something career and life altering that wasn’t in the plans; it was an epiphany.…
I was working with a team recently and one member challenged me on single point accountability. She said she disagreed with the concept and their people “share” accountability for getting things done. While this is a great idea, it will always lead to the same outcome. When things are working, it’s a fine concept. What happens when things don’t work – when the stuff hits the fan and things don’t work? You know, the project is late,…
When you are working on a team, it can bring the best and the worst of each other to the table. When mired in how things look, we get rigid, stuck, and default to process instead of thinking. When things are working, it’s easy to hide the lack of thinking because the results mask automaticity and allow us to defer to how we’ve always done things or how…
Imagine you’re planning a road trip from Toronto to Los Angeles. As fun as that sounds, especially during the cold winter months, it’s also a great analogy for the distinctions between leadership and management. Who knew you could learn so much from a road trip? 😊 Leadership is about setting the destination. As a leader, you’re the one in the driver’s seat who says, “we’re heading to California, specifically the…
Excellence is always an option. Sometimes, it’s evasive and when life is overfull, excellence seems harder to reach given the time constraints. I don’t do well doing things halfway. In fact, I have so many ideas about what’s possible and how great something can be, it becomes hard for me to settle. I’m learning how to manage that as excellent doesn’t mean it has to be elaborate. I can temper my ideas and reach…
To lead well means you turn challenges into chances. When things get difficult, pausing to get perspective will give you space for three things: Adaptation. In order to respond, not react, you change your plans to fit the situation, just like a pilot adjusts their course during a storm. Inspiration. Find ways to boost your team’s spirits, reminding everyone of the compelling reasons to persist and work together – especially when times are tough. These moments define who…
You are the total of the six people you spend the majority of your time with. If you haven’t heard this phrase, consider it. As I consider my own life, it absolutely influences my habitual behavior. We all need a cast of characters who support and uplift us, challenge us, care enough to be honest, and help us become the best version of ourselves. When you consider…
We can learn a lot from trees. When we think of strength, we often equate it to something like an oak tree. It’s been referenced as a tiny acorn growing into a “mighty oak” through many childhood stories. When people build, they use oak because it is hard, sturdy and strong. They’d never consider using soft wood for flooring when building something to last; it just won’t work. Yet think about when it’s storming…
Have you ever had someone walk into your office or hop onto a Zoom meeting and say: “Hey, I’ve got a problem?” It’s fine if that person needs to vent or is asking for coaching, but when they want to leave the problem with you for you to solve, that’s another story. We’ve all been there, and it stinks. Taking on other people’s issues is like dealing…