Tag Archives: Employee Engagement

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The Epidemic Risk of INconsistency!

For Families, Communities, Organizations and Even Nations...

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When we announced our plans to move to a giant sandbox on the other side of the world. I promised to share both the beauty and the struggle of our experiences.

It’s been easier to capture the beauty and share it.

  • Mostly because it’s energy-filled, it bubbles out and I know that people will be encouraged by it.

Sharing the negative side is tougher.

  • Because it’s hard to write about the things that cause frustration and pain without being judgmental.
  • And it’s even harder to write about them without feeling negative and heavy. (And that is not something I want to pass on to anyone.)

The reality is that our lives here are both beautiful and hard.

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Learning to Leverage Your Strengths

...That often show up as a weakness

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Have you ever struggled to figure out how to leverage a strength that is coming across as a weakness?

If you’ve ever watched popcorn pop, you’ll understand one of mine.

One little kernel heats up, flies into the air and explodes into light fluffy happiness. POP!

Then a couple more kernels join the fun! POP! POP!

Then a few more! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP!

Soon the party is in full swing, as the noise, chaos, and joy increase rapidly! POP! Pop! POP! Pop! POP! POP!!! POP!!!!

That’s me and…My popcorn brain

 

For many years I sat in meetings:

  • Excited by the challenge of problem solving.
  • Fueled by the opportunity to be creative and to collaborate.

And frustrated because I could not clearly articulate what was happening inside my brain.

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Executives: Do you have the courage to sit and listen?

Your team has just offered you the gift of honest feedback, will you open it or return it?

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Have you ever had someone that works for you ask you for a meeting? …Try to share a concern with you? …Or passionately try to share an idea?

How do you react when that happens?

 Have you ever considered that they are bringing you a gift?

  • The person that is coming has chosen to take a risk and invest in you and in the organization.
  • No matter what their title is – they have knowledge and experiences that you don’t have.
  • No matter what their role is – they see things in your organization that you don’t see.

~ Thank them for their courage.

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. ~Winston Churchill

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Continuous Improvement: Cures The Two-Year Itch

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Several years ago I had a long but fun job interview. In that interview I was honest with my prospective employer about my strengths, my passions and my need to be challenged.

I pointed to my historical pattern of two years of achieving in a role, before I got bored and needed to learn something new and needed to make a greater difference. (Which usually meant I moved on…)

The interviewer smiled and nodded and shared that he had the same problem. …Until he came to work in this company…

He had my attention.

I had his attention.

And I got the job.

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Have you personally witnessed leadership in a crisis?

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Current events and a class I’m taking have me thinking about how people lead in a crisis.

So I reached out to my network and asked:

  • Have you personally witnessed great leadership in a crisis?
  • If so what did you see, feel and experience?

The answers I got back were fascinating.

  • One person told a story of a life and death experience.
  • Everyone else shared a work-related experience that impacted them emotionally and sometimes physically.

Think about that for a minute…

In the face of horrific current events in our world – work related crises impact so many more lives!

And just in case you are tempted to dismiss work-related experiences as something that could be called a crisis, check out how Webster defines the word:    noun cri·sis \ˈkrī-səs\: plural cri·ses  \ˈkrī-ˌsēz\:

  • An emotionally significant event or radical change of status in a person’s life
  • The decisive moment
  • An unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending; especially : one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome

Before I share their stories, I’d love to hear your stories as well.  Please share!  

 

  • [Tweet “Have you personally witnessed positive or negative leadership during a crisis?”]
  • If so what did you see, feel and experience?

Leadership meand understanding others