When there’s a serious message to deliver, we often ponder the words we want to use, redrafting them, and practicing how we’ll deliver them, until we think we have it right. But despite all our best efforts, many messages are not understood as intended. One reason this occurs is because we tend to communicate messages the way we like to hear them, without considering how our listeners might hear them. Combine this tendency with the …
Before there can be accountability, there must be responsibility. The responsibility of committing to a decision, of taking ownership of a challenge, of striving to make a difference. It’s the opposite of compliance – of just doing the job, of not taking a risk, of doing what everyone else is doing. What matters is a person’s willingness to see what’s wrong or what could be better, and then striving to do something about it. It’s …
“Leaders learn best by leading in the face of obstacles. As weather shapes mountains, problems shape leaders.”~Warren Bennis Leaders perpetually face problems and challenges – it’s a responsibility that’s part of the job. Some are planned like change initiatives, and some arrive unforeseen. Some are familiar, and some are new; but every one of them involves barriers to be overcome and priorities to be sorted. Each challenge presents an opportunity for leaders to learn and …
When a customer encounters a problem, they tend to tightly control the information shared with external suppliers in their quotation requests. There is urgency to resolve the problem, so these If your solution is more complex, offering to produce more benefits for the customer with a related higher purchase investment, then responding as the customer expects, with simplicity, speed, and minimal dialogue, reduces your chance to earn their business. Proposing your solution, without first discovering why resolving their …
Wanting to do meaningful work, to make a difference, often involves sharing that pursuit with others. Joining with others to achieve a goal, to explore a novel concept, or to improve a process can be a transformational journey. This collaborative approach gets more voices in the room, more ideas on the table, increasing the probability of success. It creates a learning experience that bonds team members, enabling them to gain insight about their individual strengths …
Shared accountability for delivering results is a quality that defines high performing teams. Under this principle, team members accept that they are accountable to each other for fulfilling the team’s mission or goal, sharing the responsibility for the commitment they made, including the consequences it creates. In addition to being accountable for their individual duties and goals, team members accept responsibility for the overall team goal as their higher obligation. Each team member holds themselves and then each other, accountable for delivering the …
When employees are asked why they support their leaders, why they choose to follow them, the characteristic cited most often is credibility. Qualities like vision, communication skills, and high engagement always appear near the top of the list, but consistently, it’s credibility that scores highest. Credibility is typically a composite response, meaning that it is a compilation of replies to several different questions like: How consistently does your leader model your company’s core values? Do …
“Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night, with no lights, while looking out the back window. The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Peter Drucker Companies rely on strategic planning to help create their future. But often, the outcomes of strategic planning fall short of projections; 90% of strategies are never fully implemented. To be fair, few strategies survive first contact with …
Daniel Pink cites 3 motivators that drive performance for those doing cognitive work: 1. Their purpose: yearning to do meaningful work that makes a difference, to do what they do in the service of something larger than themselves; 2. Their pursuit of mastery: striving to continuously improve “something that matters;” 3. Their desire for autonomy: wanting to direct their own lives. Daniel’s theory ranks autonomy as the primary motivator, and purpose as the 3rd . …
The most effective and proven tool for improving performance is feedback. Positive feedback validates our strengths, and our sense of value in the workplace, increasing confidence and satisfaction. But it’s constructive feedback that teaches us and helps us grow; it reveals what others see, what they value about our contributions, and what they expect or need from us. Seeking feedback from others shows that we value their input, and are secure enough to hear how …