Tag Archives: Leadership

Shock The Status Quo. A New Blog Series!

Personal Growth 5 Comments

For must of us, I think it’s safe to say we establish a routine and we stick with it for a long time.

At the beginning, we make conscious decisions about individual parts of a routine, but before long, we’re just doing. Doing subconsciously.

Before we know it, months have passed.

Courtesy of Filter Forge on Flickr Creative Commons.

Courtesy of Filter Forge on Flickr Creative Commons.

The truth is there’s comfort in a nice routine, but there are also downsides. Downsides for us personally, for our relationships and for our leadership.

While I’ve not written much here in quite some time, I intend to change that and start a new series called, “Shock the Status Quo.”

It’s all about examining life, determining what needs to change, and being intentional about making change happen.

Here’s a taste of what you can expect in this series.

- How a friend of mine shocked the status quo by starting a note-writing campaign called “Thank You Revolution”;

- How I led a team from “I hate my job” to “I love my job”;

- How developing a personal mission statement and goal setting will put your life on hyper-drive;

- More tips to shock your own status quo.

- And what the Bible has to say about it all.

I hope you enjoy this series, participate in comments section below, and tell others about it.

Question: How has being intentional about making a specific change improved your life?

Never hear from top leadership. And I don’t care.

Leadership, PR and Marketing Leave a comment

Employees want and need communication from top leadership.  Survey after survey reinforces this.  As a result, leaders implement a myriad of tactics to give employees what they want.  More savvy leaders ensure there are feedback mechanisms available, too.

But is communication from or with top leadership really what people are after?  Is it really important to their long-term effectiveness? Is communication from leaders layers and layers above you in the chain of command really valuable?

When polled, sure, people will tell you it’s important and perhaps it is for some.  However, I submit what most employees want is to feel valued, do work that matters, feel team unity and have high morale.  Top leadership, especially in mega corporations, could do nothing but communicate and it would not give employees these things.

On the other hand, I submit that employees who feel valued, believe their making a difference, feel a part of a strong team and have high morale all have strong leaders as their direct bosses.  Leaders who are with them daily.  Leaders who care about them, succeed with them and more importantly are there for them when life gets hard.  When this is the case, does it really matter what top leadership has to say?

What do you think?

 

Look up

Leadership Leave a comment

Most days I never look up. I spend all of my time looking at what’s in front of me. I analyze, think, criticize, laugh, smile and talk about it all.

My life is largely consumed by what exists from street level to the tops of trees, give or take a few feet.

Well, today I looked up, I mean really looked up. If I was listening, I would have been actively listening. And it was awesomely calming and enlightening.

I was reminded that when I look up it is nearly impossible to think the same way I normally do. It was a wonderful disruption.

If you’re like me, you have established routines for every day of the week, even weekends. Routines are all about task accomplishment and efficiency. However, at times, I think they can stifle thinking. This is why organizations do “off sites.”

Leaders think that by changing the setting and limiting day-to-day distractions, their teams will be more productive and creative.  They’re not wrong either. However, after looking up today for the first time in a long while, I’m convinced that simply swapping one indoor setting for another may not be the best way to spur creative thought and solve problems.

Instead, take yourself or your team outside, find some grass to lie down on, and just look up.

I think you’ll be amazed at what happens.