ON MY MIND: Wisdom of Improvisation
Are you someone who dislikes surprises? Do chaos, messiness, and unpredictability stress you out? Do you find yourself perplexed by and just a bit envious of people who have the capacity to just “go with the flow?” I, for one, do not like surprises or messiness. I’m a planner. Some would say a control freak. […]
FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Feedback (and Other Dirty Words): Why We Fear It, How We Fix It By M. Tamra Chandler with Laura Dowling Grealish
Everywhere we look in organizational life there is evidence that feedback is a source of fear and anxiety, both for the people on the receiving end and for those delivering it. It’s time to “fix” feedback. Too often feedback is: Non-existent: Feedback is simply avoided through an unspoken “don’t ask for it, don’t give it” […]
IN MY TOOL BAG: Meet IRMA — The Impact x Resources Matrix
Have you ever been part of a meeting that produced a terrifyingly long list of new projects and initiatives? As a client of mine recently described such a meeting, “It was an energizing and inspiring conversation right up until the point we realized we were going to have to implement all of these ideas!” Without […]
ON MY MIND: Saying a Skillful “No”
What makes saying “no” so difficult? First, we all have these archetypal saboteurs that run like tape recordings in our heads. Some of the saboteurs that make saying “no” most difficult include: The pleaser who believes “people won’t like or value me if I don’t meet their needs by saying ‘yes.’” The hyper-achiever who believes […]
FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Essentialism by Greg McKeown
After sharing my blog Leadership and the Art of Subtraction, I received emails from readers suggesting I write a book on what I call “skillful life-carving”. I began to look for existing resources and came across Greg McKeown’s Essentialism, which is a better book on the topic than I could ever write. I love McKeown’s […]
ON MY MIND: Leaders, We Can Be Kinder to Ourselves
You won’t be surprised to know that I’m my harshest critic. Often, when I return from a high-stakes client meeting a family member or colleague will ask: “How did it go?” Usually, my answer is something like: “The client was blown away by how well it went…I give myself a B.” Then I list all […]
IN MY TOOL BAG: The Team Check-in
Most high performing teams run fast and furious. Moving at that kind of pace we often walk into our meetings and jump right into the agenda. While hitting the ground running may feel productive, something gets lost: We fail to look up from our devices and to-do lists, even if for a moment, to see […]
ON MY MIND: Leadership and the Art of Subtraction
In my free time, I carve wooden spoons. The process of carving a spoon is quite simple: Draw a spoon on a piece of wood and then carve away the extraneous material. Unlike art forms that are additive, spoon carving involves incremental subtraction — gradually taking away wood in order to reveal the spoon’s essential […]
ON MY MIND: Is Your Leadership Feeding the Roots?
When Linda and I lived in the state of Washington we planted a small orchard of apple and pear trees on our property. About three years after planting I began to notice discoloration on the leaves of the trees. I responded by spraying, dusting, and trimming back the deadened branches. But the problem only grew […]
IN MY TOOL BAG: The Power of a Project Charter
Your project team, task force, or committee got off to a fast and enthusiastic start but lately, it’s struggling to make progress. For every step forward it feels like the team takes three steps backward. You keep hitting bottlenecks and having to revisit decisions you thought were made. Team members are becoming frustrated with one […]