Dr. Seuss was a really smart guy!

Wouldn't this be nice if we could really hammer this into our brains so that we believed it every day?  That respectful honesty is really the best method?  That people didn't spend time trying to impress or influence those people who really don't matter.  It kind of comes back to one of my earlier posts - we so often take for granted the people who are closest to us - our children, our parents, our spouses, our friends.  Those relationships take work.  But in that work, we manufacture gifts that come back to us - love, respect, warmth and family.

So, be who are you are, the genuine you, the funny you, the weird you, the quiet you, the loud you, the REAL you!  Because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

Doing the Little Things

Today I taught a small group of employees the basics of tasks and appointments in Outlook.  Their job is changing and as part of their new responsibilities, they'll be responsible for scheduling appointments for other people and using tasks to keep track of upcoming items.  It was really an easy class for me and I think it made them feel a bit more comfortable heading into these new responsibilities. 

I've also had to think about getting back to my goals that I had set almost a year ago..none of which I've completed! :(  Why is it easier to procrastinate and sit my butt on the coach then to actually move forward towards something that will benefit me and that I really do want?  I guess it's just a motivation question.

Be Easy on Yourself

Today at our office we are releasing Office 2010 and I'm hearing some trepidation and uneasiness.  "What if I can't find my stuff?"  or "I won't know how what to do what was easy yesterday!".  I think we forget that no one expects us to be experts right away when trying something new. 

So here it is - truly, the expert in anything was once a beginner - everyone starts somewhere!

Yesterday I was suffering from a bad case of procrastination but I got over it and completed a major project that had a deadline that was looming.  So, I went home feeling pretty darn good about myself.  The feeling was well deserved but I have to remember that there's no resting on your laurels.  Back at it!

So, this is particularly apt today, yesterday was a victory but it's not going to do anything to help me today.

Cheers everyone!

Open your mind to your own possibilities

Why is it that we can often see the potential in others but fail to see it in ourselves?  I've been procrastinating on a project and wasn't really sure why until I was able to sit back and reflect.  It turns out that the only reason for my lack of progress is my lack of knowledge.  I really didn't know how to proceed - I didn't have the necessary knowledge to make the project quality work.  It's good to take the time to reflect on ourselves; to see what others might see.

The Best Leaders are the Best Learners

 

Leadership is not a one-time event, it's an ongoing process of growing, evolving and developing. We must believe that we (and others) can learn to lead, and that we can become better leaders tomorrow, than we are today.

This statement seems fairly straightforward; and may be easier said than done. It requires developing and strengthening the leadership behaviors of ourselves - but how do we do that?

In their Harvard Business Review article, "The Making of an Expert," K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula and Edward T. Cokely say it takes 2.7 hours of practice per day to improve at a skill - whether playing tennis, honing your golf swing or learning keys on the piano. And not just routine practice - the article says "...you will need to invest that time wisely, by engaging in deliberate practice."

Research has found that those leaders who engage more in learning are more effective as leaders. That is, their direct reports see them as more effective. What does this look like?

• They spend more time in learning activities. Literally, they engage in learning by reading, talking with others, experimenting with new ways of doing things or reflecting on their own leadership behaviors.
• They ask more questions.
• They don't assume they know everything.
• They aren't afraid to admit mistakes.
• They ask for feedback, and when they get it they say "thank you" and accept it as a gift by taking it seriously, whether the feedback is positive or negative.
• They encourage others to experiment, take risks and accept failure by asking "What can we learn?"

How do you fit 2.7 hours of deliberate practice on your leadership skills every day? It's likely we do many of these learning activities already, yet we don't transfer learning from the activity into deliberate practice on leadership.

Adapted from the original post at The Best Leaders are the Best Learners

It's Friday...again!

I fell off posting a little bit this week.  Pretty busy at work leading a great group of managers through a two day retreat.  Lots of great progress and plans to move forward with.    I did manage to post something just before I left.

This was Monday's picture.  All too often we forget that the people that we're closest to, our family and closest friends, we take for granted.  When was the last time you spoke to your best friend?  It really doesn't take that long to make a phone call - not an email!  So, I was really reminding myself that I needed to pay more attention.

Thursday came around and I was back in the office.  This is what struck me on that day.  I was really pumped up by the camraderie and fun of the past couple of days at the retreat and thought I should give myself a nudge that the energy that I'm feeling at work, I can bring along with me. 

And now it's Friday again.  The posts on Friday are meant to be a bit more lighthearted.  This one's a good one.  I won't put what I found but they actually were pretty descriptive.  Happy Friday everyone!