Strategic Serendipity

I will never forget presenting a team-building program using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) when the self-proclaimed "senior" member of the group said "maybe I'm just old but most of this I've learned through my fifty-plus years of working with others."  I had to smile.  Because here's the deal, if you spend fifty-plus years paying attention to how you react and how others react to you in various situations and analyze what works and what doesn't, you don't need these types of assessments.  However, if you want to shortcut that learning process and learn from others (yes, please!) there are tons of ways to do it.  I like to call this Relationship Shorthand. There are three main instruments I like to use and each one is based on research.  Is this an exhaustive list?  Not by any means.  These three instruments are the ones I find give my clients solid information they can act on to improve their understanding of what they bring to the ta...

Did you put together a list of New Year's Resolutions?  When you were putting it together, did you think "if I can just achieve this, I will be happy?"  Have you felt that enthusiasm start to fade as "life" takes over and those resolutions get pushed to the bottom of your to do list?  Already thinking about doing a New Year's Reboot (no, really, from here on out I will do X.)?  Are you willing to consider a slightly different approach? Here's my recommendation to you… Download the unabridged Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh from iTunes or Audible.com, order the book from Amazon.com or BN.com, or pick it up from your favorite books store.  Whatever you do, don't put getting the book on your list of things to do later.  Do it and check it off as an item complete.  Print this article and keep it with you while you are reading.  For extra credit - grab a notebook and start your professional development journal with your reflections.  (Discl...

This time of year always makes me nostalgic.  While I get to go to class throughout the year and each time is like a mini flashback , there is nothing quite like the build up to the start of a new school year.  A friend of mine published a blog post on those "school" supplies that moms love the most , and I must say, her list (and the instant "Oh yeah I need those!" reaction we all have reading it) make me think that I am not the only one in the start-of-school-envy boat. We all know that kids pick up on what we do even (especially?) when it doesn't match what we say.  So, what are you modeling for your children about lifelong learning? I have a friend whose morning post today was that her daughter asked to start off her first day of school by attending a 6:30 AM sales meeting (celebrating a record sales month) with her mom.  It is easy to see that her second grader sees learning as an integral piece of the pie; that she sees execution as a by-product of tha...

There is a great song called "Watching You" by Rodney Atkins about how children watch and mimic us at our best and at our worst. It was a sweet and funny song until the first time my sweet little toddler said "s$@t" when he couldn't get his duplos to snap together. I had to suppress a small bit of pride that he had used it in the right context and make a split decision about what to do. Since he was 16 months at the time I ignored it and immediately took the word out of my vocabulary. (Since I get excited about every new word, this worked...this time.). What I learned is that he is taking in every single thing I do and say. I started practicing saying please and thank you and encouraging his use of them and he is often the first to say it now when someone holds the door for me while pushing the stroller.  It made me think about developing others. You can tell people to do things until you are blue in the face but if you are not modeling the practice you ...

There are many books, courses, blogs, and podcasts out there that can help you become a better leader. So why aren't we a world of master leaders?  Simply, because the business of leadership development is not easy.   When I took a developmental rotation from my position as an attorney to my position in as a leadership development professional I had many people tell me that I had sabotaged my career.  To this day, I am constantly asked if I am having fun or when I am going to go back to my "real" job.  In other words someone with a law degree is only at their highest and best use if they are doing legal analysis.   I would like to point out two things... First, the work I do on a daily basis as a leadership development professional is harder than any legal analysis I have ever done.  Legal analysis goes something like this.  You have a rule, you have a set of facts, you apply the rule to the set of facts and determine whether the facts ar...

From Dan Rockwell @Leadershipfreak (well actually from his wife via his blog)..." People who already know can't be taught ."  The whole blog piece is hilarious but I wanted to focus a bit on the serious side of the message. Let's start with the big question I hear so often.  "Are leaders made or taught?"  My opinion is that some people have an innate understanding of leadership concepts in the way that some people have an innate understand of how to throw a baseball or play a guitar.  It is easier for them to learn and master but they still have to practice if they want to make it to the big time.  For the rest of the world, there are thousands of models, books, courses, blogs, podcasts, etc. (if not millions by now) to help them learn what the others seem to innately know.  But it is like going to a piano lesson, if you don't go home after the lesson and practice, you might as well not go at all. In other words, true leaders master their craft thr...

Last week I attended four days of training to become a Level I Trained Facilitator for the Leadership Challenge Workshop based on the work of James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner.  I had the pleasure of being instructed by Dick Heller of Full Extension Leadership, a Level III Certified Master.  I am looking forward to obtaining my Level II Certified Facilitator training later this summer. As part of the training we took a 360 assessment, the Leadership Practice Inventory.  I am generally suspicious of 360 assessments because the person chooses to whom he or she sends the ratings request. If a person is not serious about the assessment, they will pick people who will rank them "high" and explain away any rankings that don't fit with their story of themselves.  I personally sent ratings request to people I work with in a volunteer capacity, people I work with directly at work, and my "customers" at work.  The LPI does not rank how well you do something, it ranks ...

Living life is more like driving a boat than driving a car. When you are driving a car you must stay inside the lines. When you are driving a boat you pick something in the distance and steer towards it. I was spending time with a friend I hadn't seen in years and I said this.  I've been thinking about it since.  On so many levels, I realize that the harder I try to keep my life "between the lines" of the path I have planned out the harder life is.  When I pick an end goal and keep open to opportunities that arise, things seem to fall into place.  Does that make me a slacker or procrastinator?  Maybe not.  I recently attended a lecture where the speaker said the days of "simple" strategic planning are gone and leaders must become adept at scenario planning.  When you plan for multiple scenarios, you are able to jump on opportunities that you might otherwise have missed if you were tied to one plan. From a business perspective, where strategic plan...

What two critical elements are necessary?  If you are an organizational leader, you probably think your senior leaders need to be able to work as a team, communicate effectively, and think critically.  You probably think, with respect to your own personal development, you just need more support and time from your organization. While these elements are all important, there are two critical elements, that if not present, will prevent effective leadership development.  (In other words, the return on investment for the individual and organization are negligible.) Leadership development is about learning a leadership tool and then engaging in a circular process of testing it, reflecting on the results, refining your technique, and repeating until that tool has become second nature in both determination of appropriate use and execution.  Then you learn another tool and start all over again.  Every class you take, every book you read, every mentor you spe...

When it comes time for mid-term or annual reviews there are obviously things a MANAGER needs to tell an employee.  But if you are a good LEADER you have consistently given in-the-moment feedback on the things that the employee does well and the things the employee does not do well.  And so the annual review becomes a practice in "busy" work for both. So how does a LEADER effectively use the reflective time called the "annual review" if both the employee and the leader know all the nuances of that piece of paper?  Admit it is just a formality, shake the employee's hand, sign the necessary paperwork, and send the employee off with a new assignment?  Possibly.  Or the leader can use that time in a way that will serve the employee, the leader, and the organization for the next six to twelve months. Here is a proposed agenda for leaders who want to maximize the annual review time with high-performing employees: 1.  Welcome the employee to the office. 2...

You know my opinion that when it comes to professional development , you get out of a program what you put into it.  So now you get my opinion on the single most important element of personal/professional development. 
SELF AWARENESS 
 What is it?  Self awareness is knowing your strengths and how to maximize them, knowing your weaknesses and how to buffer them, knowing that you have blind spots and being open to feedback about them, and being willing to do the necessary reflection and work to constantly improve yourself. I have observed so many people in leadership development programs (1 hour to 18 month) listen to an amazing instructor describe an action, reaction, or career derailer and immediately speak up and identify someone else who has that quality.  You would not believe how often, that person has the same quality.  However, they often even follow up with because of my experience working with that person I make a point to not do this.  Awkward....

I recently gave you one way to use a journal in your personal and professional development process but there are many more.  Journals are important because the exercise of writing things down gives you time to reflect, process, make connections, and plan future courses of action.  I know it seems like this is the last thing in the world that you have time to start, but I know it will make a huge difference if you commit to it.  My challenge to you is to journal for the next 30 days and decide for yourself whether it is indeed worth your time.  For those taking the challenge, I will post journaling prompts on my Facebook Page everyday that you can use if you don't have something to write about.  (Like the Facebook Page while you're there and select Get Notifications if you want to receive the daily journalling prompts automatically.) The first question you face sometimes seems the hardest - where will I keep my journal? If you go to your local book store ...

My 18-month old son is learning tons of words a day and we are constantly talking when we are waiting for a bus, shopping in a store, etc.  I name things and sometimes he'll repeat what I say.  With the things he knows (like train, bus, and puppy) I will often ask him what is that?  What I have noticed is that if someone else is around and my son doesn't answer right away, the adult will answer for him.  Now sometimes he is playing shy and sometimes I am pretty sure he is thinking "I am not a performing monkey mom!" but either way, jumping in and giving him the answer before he has even had a chance to process is not the way to teach him.  And just because he doesn't answer right away, does not mean he is stupid or incompetent.  He knows how, in his own little way, to ask for help if he needs it and I have learned to wait for that indication before jumping in and taking over.  Sounds relatively simple and like the rambling of a mother who hasn't gotten...

I am struck by the number of amazing leaders I hear lately saying "there is nothing I can do to make things better for my team given the climate in which we work today."  Times are difficult, particularly in the federal sector where employees are facing furloughs, an increased workload, or both.  But how can you expect to maintain or increase employee engagement when you yourself are slowly disengaging either through burn-out or personal advancement disappointments? Albert Einstein said, "Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the only means." If you expect your team to weather the storm, you better be the first one in line with an umbrella and a raincoat.  Seriously. When leaders say there is nothing that can be done, they convey that they have given up.  Why would an employee keep pushing forward when their leader has given up? Does this mean that you should start pumping the soundtrack from the broadway musical Annie through...