Strategic Serendipity

Employees or volunteers - it doesn't matter one bit when you are dealing with the concept of engagement.  Why?  As Stephen Covey said, "You can buy a person's hands, but you can't buy his heart.  His heart is where his enthusiasm, his loyalty is." In other words, you can make someone come to work and do a specified set of tasks through the "carrot" of a paycheck.  Getting a person to go that extra step, however, requires enthusiasm and loyalty, engagement and value alignment, and a core belief that the people with whom you are working have more to offer than the completion of the specified task list in your mind.  Without these you just have a body in a seat.  In the work world this is nicely described as disengagement, sometimes referred to as retired-in-place, and can lead to passive sabotage.  In the volunteer world it will usually lead to loss of volunteers.  In both realms, keeping people and keeping them productive requires keeping their ...

I did a basic team building presentation for a volunteer organization last week and was absolutely shocked by the answers to one of my questions.  Now I will admit, I learn something from every presentation I do and pretty much every person I talk to.  But this incident stood out in my mind and really made me think. As part of the presentation, I have a slide with two columns and twelve rows titled "Which Do You Prefer?".  It is a basic checklist that I recommend using during the start up of a team to find out more about the people with whom you will be working and how their styles may differ from your own.  In addition to asking if you prefer "Agenda" or "No Agenda" I ask "why."  For instance, one person reflected that if the meeting is about something they know well, they do not require an agenda ahead of time.  If it is a new topic they may want the agenda up to a week ahead of time.  There is even a silly question as to whether you prefer...

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 ...

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...

I spent the first three days of the week teaching Franklin Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Signature Program) for the first time.  As with any content, I swear I learned from the class.  I had an amazing group of senior leaders and it was one of those experiences that you wish you could meet with that group of people over and over in a think tank because you just know the world would be a better place if you did. As they all go back to their lives and jobs, I am still struck by one particular point in the class when we simply asked the question..."I am at my best when..."  I even saved the flip chart paper with the answers we came up with.  This is not my independent work, but the work of some brilliant leaders I had the honor of teaching.  I dare to say, there isn't a work environment in the world that wouldn't benefit from these qualities. I have a sense of pride and accomplishment in our work. I am healthy. I am busy but not stressed....

There is a song on my playlist that can instantly slow me down and center me, wherever I am.  Ironically, it is the acoustic version of "Wherever You Are" by Jack Ingram.  I like the acoustic version because it reminds me of a USO Visit I participated in where he and his band sang to a soldier with cancer and her husband who were in DC without their four children fighting against everything to get through their challenge. This song means something completely different to me than it means to most.  It reminds me of how lucky I really am.  How generous some people are with their time and talent.  How strong some people are (the soldier).  What true love (the husband's) really looks like.  What a few minutes of your time can do for other people.  How challenges can be met head on.  And to never, ever, ever give up. Today I needed that centering.  It was a great day.  I taught two new classes and I was really pleased with the way th...

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...

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....

In so many of the development programs I work with, people come in with an attitude of what will you teach me?  Or worse yet, what is the minimum I have to do to get credit?  If there isn't a change after the program, the assumption is that the program failed the person. If you're trying to learn how to work a computer program, like Microsoft Excel, then yes, if you can't work Excel after the program, the program failed you. If you're trying to develop yourself as a leader, however, you have to commit to the homework and reflection.  If there isn't a change after the program, I suggest you failed the program. Keeping that in mind, here are my recommendations for anyone considering entering a professional development program (works for a coaching relationship, too). 1.  Be willing to commit to honest self-reflection. 2.  Know how you will define success after the end of the program or relationship. 3.  Do the homework!  (If you don't, the on...