Category: Leadership

Leading When You’re Not the Expert

Let Your Organizational Culture Help

Technology changed a lot over my thirty-three year technology career. I started as a programmer who knew how every piece of hardware and software in our environment worked. At the end I was a VP who was tailed by IT staff when I entered the server room to make sure I didn’t touch anything (only partly kidding).
Culture of trust: Audit

I couldn’t execute my strategic responsibilities and still keep up with the operational details of the evolving technology. I had to learn to trust others with the expertise that I lacked. But my neck was in the noose if they failed. Continue reading Leading When You’re Not the Expert

Connecting at the Virtual Water Cooler

Creating Space for Casual Conversation

One of the commonly mentioned downsides of working remotely is the lack of casual conversations that happen in hallways or at the water cooler. Casual ConversationLike the challenges that come with any change, we can either whine about our loss or be intentional about optimizing our new reality.

Here’s one idea how to do that. You’ll need to adapt it to your context and probably do some trial and error to make it work for your team. For some team members it might be a hard sell at first. But if you can get a core of people who are committed enough to work through the inevitable startup hurdles, you might find you’ve created a valuable culture-building tool. Continue reading Connecting at the Virtual Water Cooler

Developing T-Shaped Skills

Bringing Value through Depth and Breadth

It’s great to be recognized as an expert. And experts do bring value to organizations that need their specific expertise. But sometimes experts are so focused in their field that they are practically unintelligible to the rest of us.T-shaped skills

Generalists, on the other hand, can bring value by connecting the dots across disciplines to get diverse functions to work together. But the jack-of-all-trades hits a wall when a master-of-one is needed.

I recognize the value of both experts and generalists. But if I’m building an organization I’ll place the highest value on the team members who have “T-Shaped Skills”. Continue reading Developing T-Shaped Skills

Productivity is a Team Sport

Time Management Isn’t Just Personal

Everyone wrestles with time management challenges at one time or another. I have a library full of resources with “surefire” solutions to this ubiquitous problem. But what works great for some doesn’t work for others. We’re not all the same and personal time management starts with knowing ourselves. But that’s a topic for another time.Productivity impact

Where most of these resources fall short is that they’re all about “me”. How do I become more productive? Seems logical, but… Continue reading Productivity is a Team Sport

When I Can’t Choose My Own Team…

Working with the Hand We’re Dealt

Choose Team

In a perfect world, I would get to select all the people I work with.  Alas, the world is often far from perfect.  We don’t always have the option to cut the deadwood and replace them with rock stars.  You’ve seen the sports flicks where the underdog coach comes in and turns a bunch of “losers” into championship athletes.  Some of these are true stories – take away the Hollywood touch and replace it with hard work, leadership skills, and grit. Continue reading When I Can’t Choose My Own Team…

Leading Through Crisis

Where Great Leadership Shines

Some changes we create. Others, like the current world crisis, are thrust upon us. But in addition, those you lead also experience the changes you’re creating as being thrust upon them. How you lead them will define whether you thrive or just survive once you’ve executed your strategic plan.

Continue reading Leading Through Crisis

Character Traits: Selflessness

Personal Success in Helping Others Succeed

At the core of good character is the recognition that we win most by helping others win.

SelflessnessI find it helpful to think of good character in terms of three TRAITS: Integrity, Selflessness, and Responsibility. Each of those traits can be further detailed as a set of ATTRIBUTES. (See diagram.) The central trait of good character is Selflessness.

Selflessness

If you had to choose between living in a world where everyone was selfish and one where everyone was completely selfless, which would you choose? Continue reading Character Traits: Selflessness

Character Traits: Responsibility

The Right Thing Above My Own Thing

“Character” is easier to recognize than it is to define in a succinct and meaningful way. It’s about mental and moral qualities that define what “normal” is for us. Some have defined it as who we are when no one else is looking.

ResponsibilityMy way of getting a handle on good character is to define it in terms of three TRAITS: Integrity, Selflessness, and Responsibility. Each of those traits can be further detailed as a set of ATTRIBUTES. (See diagram.) Let’s explore the trait of Responsibility.

Responsibility

When you’re responsible for something, you accept that you own the success or failure of it. No excuses, no passing the buck or blaming others.

A responsible person keeps their eyes focused on the things that matter most. The choices they make demonstrate a willingness to say “no” to personal desires to fulfill their commitments. That also implies they recognize their own limitations and don’t commit to what they can’t deliver. Continue reading Character Traits: Responsibility

Character Traits: Integrity

The Real You, Everywhere, All the Time

Would you prefer to hire people of good character or bad character? Silly question…perhaps even sillier is to ask whether you want to be known as a person of good character or bad. But what is good character?

IntegrityThere are countless adjectives that could describe aspects of good character. I use a model that describes it in terms of three TRAITS: Integrity, Selflessness, and Responsibility. Each of those traits can be further detailed as a set of ATTRIBUTES. (See diagram.)

Integrity

In grade school we learned about integers – whole numbers, not fractions. That’s the essence of the word integrity: To be complete, consistent, undivided. With a person of integrity, what you see is what you get. You don’t wonder which person you’ll see under today’s circumstances; you can count on them to be real all the time. Even if being real causes them personal discomfort or even pain. Continue reading Character Traits: Integrity

Difficult Performance Reviews

Harder Than They Need to Be

Performance Reviews

I’m not going to pretend tough performance reviews should be easy. And if you’re stressing over a review you must give tomorrow, most of what I’m writing here won’t help you much. But laying the right foundation can take some of the pain out of future difficult conversations. Continue reading Difficult Performance Reviews