Shifting the Leader’s Mindset from Me to We

Too many new leaders also “have it all wrong,” at least in terms of how they view their new roles. They think of leadership as the next step in their ascent, one that represents an increase in responsibility and authority but not one that necessarily demands change in their core thinking and approaches. In truth, to assume a leadership post is to enter into a whole new professional arena.

Before assuming this new position, accomplishment was all about you and your performance. You worked hard to achieve success and hoped that you would get noticed and promoted. Time and effort were invested in self-promotion, with the understanding that your success would translate into the next step that you desired. Once you become a leader, however, achievement is measured by your ability to grow others, to make the people who work for you more capable and more confident. The game is no longer about you winning. It’s your team that must win for your term as leader to be deemed a success.

Get Your People Out of Their Caves

Your people are living in a cave and it's your job to get them out of it.

Oftentimes leaders don't even realize that their people are showing up every day and they’re just doing their thing.

They don't have the time, the bandwidth, the interest to learn new things, like he innovations, the creativity, the change, that's happening in the world around them.

They're totally clueless.

They have no sense, no idea whatsoever.

You, as leader, need to be providing consistent information, ideas, skills, tools and techniques, to help them grow and to go beyond the cave in which they live.

Get Your People Out of Their Caves

Dear Leader,

Your people are living in a cave and it's your job to get them out of it.

That may sound kind of crazy. But stay with me.

If you’re like most leaders, your people are showing up every day, doing their thing and they don't really have the time, the bandwidth, the interest in learning new things.

They certainly don’t make the time to understand best practices and the innovations, the creativity, the change, that's happening in the world around them.

Often, they’re completely clueless.

Delegate to Accelerate Lesson 4: Empower and Monitor to Ensure Success (DTA Registration is open!)

This fourth and final “Delegate to Accelerate” recording addresses how to empower your people and monitor their progress to ensure a delegated project is completed properly.

We cover these topics:

Granting authority
Learning to trust others
Being prepared to assist
Monitoring progress
Correct or redirect as needed

Listen in to the below recording to learn more and to bring yourself that much closer to true acceleration!

Oh, and by the way, I describe a special offer in this video that you don’t want to miss!

Delegate to Accelerate Lesson 3: How to Plan the Delegation Process to Ensure Success

This third “Delegate to Accelerate” recording (first can be found here; second can be found here) addresses how to plan the delegation process to ensure its success.

We cover these topics:

Why we need to develop a delegation culture
How to decide what to delegate
Building others’ skills and efficacy
Be clear on tasks and outcomes

Listen in to the below recording to learn more and to bring yourself that much closer to true acceleration!

Oh, and by the way, I mention a special offer in this video that you don’t want to miss!

Learn to Tell a Great Story

In my work as a professional speaker, I seek to weave in stories whenever possible. The reason is simple. Unlike dry, technical information, stories deliver messages direct to the heart. They deliver immediate understanding and are remembered much longer than other information.

When I use words like, “Let me tell you a story,” the audience always becomes more alert and attentive. It’s like they’re thinking, “Okay, here comes the really good stuff.”

Good stories have a power all their own. They can make complex issues understandable. They can give people a sense of community. They can call people to action in ways they never imagined.

Storytelling is not just an important skill for speakers. Now more than ever, great leaders are great storytellers. Storytelling helps executives weave rich narratives that inspire their organizations, set a vision, teach important lessons, and define the culture and values. Perhaps most importantly, stories explain who you are, how you got here, and what you believe most deeply about your work and about each other.

Focus on Expertise Over General Knowledge

It's hard to run when you can barely walk.

Or read fluently when you struggle to decode.

Or pull things together when each individual task is complicated and onerous.

Last week, I was walking on a sidewalk made from decades-old slate tiles. Between the rain and wet pollen, it made for a treacherous walk.

I slipped a bit on each step and had to walk much more slowly and gingerly than usual.

Walking went from an automatic, subconscious act to a conscious one that required thought and consideration.

My mind, which is free to think, was held captive by my need to get home safely.

How to Coach Your Team to Success

One of the biggest challenges for leaders is to create and maintain the proper conditions for worker engagement and productivity. We know that if we are to maintain high levels of workplace output and morale we need to ensure that our employees feel valued and challenged. We also recognize that if we want to be able to respond to, if not stay in front of, marketplace change we need to develop workers who are comfortable thinking independently and contributing to the collective brain trust.

Too many leaders and managers, however, fail to achieve this because they do not understand how to motivate today’s workers or how to empower them to think and act independently and more positively.

In generations past people would be told what they needed to do from their earliest years. Parents would instruct children on how to behave at home and teachers would demand student compliance in school. Failure to obey would result in corporal punishment or other heavy handed responses. In the workplace, employees would be given orders and were required to dutifully implement them if they wanted to hold their positions for any meaningful duration.

But times have changed. As younger workers make their way into the workplace, they expect to play by a different set of rules. They want to be given the freedom to experiment, a voice with which to weigh in at staff meetings and the ability to pursue what they view as meaningful, engaging work. Anything less they view as limiting, which spells dissatisfaction and, for the most part, underperformance (if not outside job seeking).

5 Tips to Increase Workplace Engagement

The statistics about worker disengagement are staggering. We read all the time about how workplace engagement levels are low here in the U.S. and even lower around the world. Loss of productivity is estimated to cost employers hundreds of millions of dollars annually, if not billions. And it all stems from how disconnected folks feel from the people working around them, the work that they do each day, and the purpose that it serves to them and to others.

Workplace connection results in many benefits, including stronger communication, greater synergy, enhanced anticipation of others’ needs and worries / concerns, and, last but certainly not least, increased worker engagement. When we feel connected, we operate with a sense of purpose and utilize our many talents and abilities to advance that purpose, consciously as well as subconsciously.

The need for connection at work is perhaps stronger today than ever before. It has become an expectation, especially amongst younger workers, that the workplace be a source of meaning and intention, not just a place at which to collect a paycheck.

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Oh, and by the way, I describe a special offer in this video that you don’t want to miss!