When you are leading in a challenging season, you must up your game in just about every dimension of effective leadership. But no skill could be more important than that of leadership intelligence. When your team is feeling unsettled, or even fearful, there’s little point in casting vision, devising strategies or even setting goals; at…
How To Pursue Excellence Without Driving Everyone Crazy
Aspiring for “excellence” can lead to an inspiring environment of achievement. But if you miss the target, you might only create a neurotic atmosphere of fear. I once was talking with a new team member as part of his on-boarding process, when I mentioned to him that “excellence” was one of our core values. “Oh…
Stop These 3 Celebrations Before They Hurt Your Culture
Leaders build culture by choosing what gets celebrated, and by what does not get celebrated. So be careful. Because you could be holding celebrations for accomplishments that could actually be undermining a healthy culture. If you celebrate teamwork, then collaboration will become a part of the culture. If you celebrate treating one another with kindness,…
The Unseen Forces of Leadership: 4 Disciplines That Make a Difference
In order to maximize leadership effectiveness, there are a number of disciplines that must be mastered. Some are obvious, but a few essential disciplines are often well below the radar. The obvious disciplines include: Hard work Planning and execution Initiative Resilience But what about the “below the radar” disciplines? Effective leaders know that there are…
Protect Your Team: Spotting and Neutralizing the Top 6 Culture-Killers
What you allow, you encourage. In leadership, this nugget of truth is especially true when it comes to the building of a healthy culture. When you allow fun, candor, initiative and diligence, those qualities will be encouraged to flourish. Similarly, when you allow Culture Killers like grumbling, selfishness and laziness, so too are you encouraging…
