Category: Blog

High functioning organizational teams are the result of many variables. Here are some of the important elements that  go into that complex melting pot:

• Purpose
• Clarity of Vision
• Autonomy in work deployment
• Alignment of skills to assignment
• Fair compensation
• Trust
• Relationships
• Balance

The people I admire most live in a constant state of challenge. They challenge themselves daily to get better at both the things they already do well and those areas where they still “need a little work.”

These folks make a habit of getting better, every day, on purpose.

The best teams and organizations I know behave in the same way. Today’s successes are celebrated. Tomorrow, they turn their attention and effort to doing better work or providing more exemplary service.

These folks make a habit of getting better, every day, on purpose.

Complacency is an insidious disease. It slowly diminishes individuals, teams, and organizations. But it does so only when we choose to quit challenging ourselves.

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning. 

How often do we feel like we run off into the ditch in organizational work. More often than not, our getting into the ditch has to do with the complexities with which we are dealing. As one of my mentors is fond of saying, “There’s a whole lot of ways to get it wrong, and very few to get it right.” The more complex the issue, the more “wrong ways” there are to deal with it.

As leaders, we are wise to keep our effort/attention on the BIG PICTURE, the worthy outcomes we pursue. We also own the responsibility for managing the attention/effort of the entire team in that regard.

How can we effectively deal with the inevitable complexities (and stay out of the ditch)?

1. Clarify and condense the Vision so that it is easily understandable and communicate-able.
2. Communicate that Vision in many ways, loudly, across a wide array of platforms. No one should have any confusion about what it is we’re trying to accomplish.
3. When dealing with complex dilemmas, gain the perspective and insight of a wide array of stakeholders. In each engagement, embed communication of the Vision.

A wise and valued mentor of mine (aka ED) drew my attention to one of the biggest challenges we face in attempting to accomplish important things. ED helped me understand that in most cases, the executive team and the mid-management leadership all share the same vision for the outcomes they espouse. He posited that almost always the differences of opinion spring from each level’s expectation around the appropriate pace of the action steps to be deployed in pursuing the vision.

ED shared that wisdom with me 30 years ago. My work and observations since have only underscored the astuteness of his guidance.

Thus, one of the trickiest pieces for us as leaders (regardless of level) is to build teams and systems that can and will move at the pace we need in order to chase that worthy and noble vision (producing the outcomes that provide evidence of our success).

Let’s get to it! (Sooner than later.)

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning. 

“Failing forward” is a phrase we hear with some frequency. And, it makes sense.

IF we are bold… 

     IF we take risks to achieve ambitious and important things… 

          IF we step out of our comfort zone… 

There will inevitably be some fails. 

But, then what? What do we do with that failure? It can make us less, or it can make us more. The choice is ours. A good recovery recipe for when it didn’t go like we planned:

• Assess critically and objectively what went wrong. It often helps to have a valued, wise, and nonjudgmental other to assist in this process.
• Accept responsibility for the failure. Own it. Don’t play the blame game, the only-if game, the poor-me game. 
• LEARN from the failure. Be intentionally reflective about how the unpleasant experience is gonna make us better.

Then……………………tee it up again!

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning.

Grand plans and lofty projects are often hatched as result of stakeholder conversations. Most of them look and feel extremely important. Some are.

Far too often they are codified (in a three-ring binder) and put on a shelf, usually somewhere in the Boss’s office or on a buried page of the website.

Then……………………..they die.

Why? Some reasons that plans/projects die:

• No one is assigned to lead and be the champion of the project.
• The project “champion” has little or no authority act upon.
• Resistors (there are always resistors) are given too much moxie.
• Insufficient, or no, resources are allocated to the project.
• Forecasting the barriers and challenges never happens.
• The plans (which usually mean significant change of some kind) never get consistently and clearly communicated.
• The plan/project is never, or rarely, monitored after the initial crafting.

I have long been convinced that the day we stop learning and growing is the day we put our first foot in the grave.

If that is true (or even close to true), then how might we be measuring our growth?

Learning new skills?

Finding a new way to serve others?

Reading in unfamiliar genres?

Experiencing completely novel stuff?

Engaging with people we don’t know (especially some who don’t look and think like we do)?

Taking classes (even if we already have full transcripts)?

We each get to choose whether or not we’re gonna grow, and the metrics of that growth. The scariest option of all is choosing both no growth and no metrics.

Yep, we can start anew today…

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning. 

TONS have been written and produced in the interest of unlocking the keys to successful leadership. We’ve all read, seen, and heard the voluminous advice and admonitions.

In my profession of education we often refer to the “knowing-doing gap.” It’s that void between the valuable knowledge we’ve acquired and the actual application of that knowledge in some meaningful way.

Many impactful leaders I’ve observed over the years implement a plethora of powerful strategies that move the organizations they lead toward the goals they desire. They know the stuff, but applying it effectively seems elusive.

The MOST effective leaders, however, disproportionately spend their time, effort, and resources on two things (I’ll call them the Success Twins).

What are those Success Twins?

• Vision – Clarity of direction and intention is communicated relentlessly, in simple terms, across all internal and external stakeholder groups and platforms. Those leaders make persistently clear Why we’re doing what we’re doing, Where we’re going, and How we can tell how well we’re doing.
• People – These superb leaders major in knowing and understanding the team members, growing and developing them tirelessly, and placing them in roles that fit them and serve the organization well. No resource in the organization is more potent (or more destructive) than its people.