More Than Words...

No, not the 1991 single by Extreme! I’m talking about what you and I need to provide to set the tone in our organizations - especially since we’re far more likely to get what we are then just what we want! 

Whether they’re listed in the employee handbook, on a document in a...

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Who Sets the Standard?

One of the first things I learned after I moved from running a press to training on and implementing Lean Manufacturing initiatives nearly 25 years ago was how labor efficiency rates were set. In most cases, the number of widgets that were expected on an hourly basis from any given process was...

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A Real Life Example of Leadership

Since we’re gonna get what we are, and not necessarily what we want, I believe it would serve us all well to consider some real life examples of leadership that yielded teams of people who did what they did. Interestingly enough, my internet search for specific leaders who did this yielded...

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You Get What You Need? Nope, You Get What You Are!

The Rolling Stones shared a bit of wisdom with us years ago when they said, “You don’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need…” That may hold true in some cases but when it comes to leadership, you get what you are!...

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If You Expect Them to Follow, You Better Lead!

In many cases, the team members within an organization will indeed follow the leader because, at least for the most part, people do what people see… I’ve seen that hold true in companies with world class performance and I’ve seen it in places that were struggling to stay...

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People Do What People See…

Expecting anyone to blindly Follow the Leader is more than a little naive, especially over extended periods of time or in performing difficult tasks, because our teams are much more apt to do what they see us doing when we’re in similar situations! But let’s be honest with ourselves...

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Sending Two Messages at Once...

Since we can’t realistically expect others to just be patient indefinitely and maintain any level of leadership with them, or any respect for that matter, let’s look at what we can each do to make sure we’re sending the message we intend to - knowing that failing to reply...

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They Don’t Make ‘Em Like That Anymore…

As we look at ways to be intentional about providing growth opportunities for the folks on our teams so they experience true career development, we have even more reason to include them as we create our long range succession plans! One thing is for sure though; it’s no longer as simple as...

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The Pursuit of Happiness…

There’s one important thing we’ll have to do if we want to have any hope of creating a succession plan where the right people are in the right seats on our bus… We’ve got to know our team; I mean really know them! We need to understand how we can communicate with them...

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Succession Planning: Great Teams Depend on Great People!

Career development is critical for each and every one of us! And like I shared last time, a poor leader will never build a great team. Great people may be part of that organization, at least for a while, but poor leadership will never change a group with great people into a great team. As...

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Be the Reason They Don’t Quietly Quit!

Think back to the statements I shared from the article, To Find Success at Work, Match Your Job With Your Personality, suggesting that “Certain jobs attract people with predictable personalities” and “personality correlates so tightly with jobs that it may affect job choices...

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The Right Tool(s) for the Job

Last time I referenced The Platinum Role with regards to communicating with our team members based on what they needed, rather than just how we’re wired to share a message. That’s critical for simply limiting the amount of misunderstanding we have on any given day, but it’s even...

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