Strategic Serendipity

I know, you don't have time to take a vacation, you can't be away from the office, people who take vacations are looked down upon by senior management, etc.  Throw your excuses away!  I just came back from a ten day trip with my 14-month old Thomas-the-Train addicted toddler.  We took a 26-hour Amtrak trip each way and spent eight days with my parents.  Before I left I mentioned my hesitancy to a friend, "I will miss the office because I sincerely love my job" and received the best advice ever.  He told me he and his wife had a deal that he was more fun on vacation if he was plugged in.  He would spend a small amount of time each day tending to business and then focus entirely on family the rest of the day.  So I tried that.  It was hard the first couple of days to turn my brain off in between, I will admit it.  But I got to the point where I could leave my blackberry and only check it twice a day, respond to e-mails and ask if I could respon...

I will admit that as a mother of a 14 month old son, I have been indoctrinated into the world of Thomas the Train. Given my other interest of leadership development, however, I think I view it from a unique perspective. For those unfamiliar with the little blue train, his ultimate goal at work is to be "really useful."  Do any of us really want anything different. Accomplishment makes us proud of what we've done and energized to do more. It makes us engaged. So is keeping employees engaged as simple as making them feel, acknowledging that they are, and constantly challenging them to be "really useful?"  What are your thoughts?

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...

2012 was a great year in some ways and the hardest year of my life in others.  What I've found is while I don't dwell on the bad things and am happy where I am now, it is hard to remember the good things.  The worst part about that...it was my son's first year of life.  No baby book notes, no journal, nothing.  Luckily, I avidly post about him for my friends and family so when I go back to do a scrapbook for him (on my list of things to do in 2013) I will be able to use that to capture those good memories.  Going forward, I want to do better, but I know my time commitments and journaling for him or scrapbooking for him regularly will not get done.  Then I saw this post that had been shared and re-shared on Facebook... Start the year with an empty jar and fill it with notes about good things that happen during the year.  On New Year's Eve, empty it and remember the good times.   BINGO!  That I can do.  So I have started two jars today, on...

Spread Laughter Holiday Card Click here to browse Shutterfly's holiday card collection. View the entire collection of cards.

Shame on the Washington Post for its one-sided article about MBTI yesterday and its thinly veiled criticism of using it for professional development in federal agencies (and no I will not give the courtesy of a link).  The author uses a quote from a professor of industrial psychology at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School that equates the usefulness of the MBTI to that of the horoscope.  After acknowledging that "A common line from supporters is that the test starts an important dialogue around who we are and how we interact with others," the author uses a quote from a Cambridge psychology professor who says “Insight from the Myers-Briggs can start that conversation, but unfortunately it often ends the conversation. You’ve got your type stamped on your forehead.” For those who use MBTI to coach and develop others nothing could be further from the truth.  We use the MBTI to help individuals understand their preferences on each of four dichotomies while remind...

I attended an amazing training session with The Coaches Institute this weekend...more on that to follow over the next year.  In the meantime, I want to share with you one of the things that occurred to me.  We all have patterns in our life.  Some of them are good and some of them are not.  For example, for me, it always seems that just when I've found an area in which I can contribute quietly and effectively (because no one else cares about it) there is that person who suddenly cares just as much and beats me out for the job.  I'm not proud to admit that for a couple of years, I wondered why I should bother caring about anything because this will always be the outcome.  This weekend I remembered why I should care.  Because caring is so much more fun than not caring.  I also thought a lot about how to handle that person the next time they showed up in my life to take something I care so much about.  Then it finally occurred to me.  If I w...