Blog - Page 16 of 39 - Evergreen Leadership

Change

Divergent Thinking Does Not Come Easily

In organizations today, divergent thinking is becoming an imperative to sustainability – rather than an impediment to organizational stability. Disruption has become a competitive advantage, much in the same way market dominance was in the past. Organizations that regularly challenge the status quo in order to create new products and services stand a much better chance of surviving.

Yet those organizations know just how difficult it is to disrupt the existing order. We chastise ourselves for failing to raise our voice in meetings in which yet another ill-conceived project is launched. We shrug in resignation and halfheartedly carry out flawed plans that waste time, money and energy. And we are not alone.

Leadership is About Who You Are and What You Do

At times people are startled when I refer to them as a leader. “But I’m only an employee, a student, or a volunteer,” they say in protest. For they believe that leadership is defined by role, position, age or appointment. I don’t.

I believe leadership is about who you are and what you do. It is seeing a way to create a better future, stepping up to make that happen and engaging others in the pursuit of that goal.

To illustrate my point, let me tell you a story about Lilly…

Challenges

Let’s Put Humans Back in Charge

– and Relegate Technology to its Rightful Place

Ever feel like you are working harder and longer, yet getting less done? You are not alone. A recent article in HBR by Michael C. Mankins sheds some light on why. In his article “Is Technology Really Helping Us Get More Done?” Mankins, a partner at Bain, combed through email and meeting schedules using data mining and people analytics to confirm what you already know in your gut:

The easier it is to leave or send a message, the more messages you have to deal with
The easier it is to schedule a meeting, the more that get scheduled
The more meetings it takes to get work done, the slower the work gets done
The broader your network, the greater the number of interactions and requests for your time and attention

The net result is that a decreasing amount of time is spent on real work. We are meeting more, communicating more, and getting less done. And it takes longer to get things done. As a result, most everyone feels overwhelmed, stressed and overworked. A few simple actions can help…

Leadership

How to Cast Vision with Your Team

Hate to tell you, but if you are patiently waiting for upper management to proclaim their vision for your work and your team, it most likely is NOT going to happen. Or at least in the degree of granularity you might be hoping for.

We all want to have work with meaning – and as a leader, it is your job to help create that meaning. The good news is that each of us has the ability (and perhaps the obligation) to cast vision – for yourself and your team.

The notion of vision scares us at times. It sounds big. Pretentious. Unknown and unknowable. You might struggle with deciding what is “too big” and what is “too little”. I encourage you to acknowledge the doubts and plow ahead. I’d much rather put my effort toward a “too big” vision than none at all. And if you err by starting small, you will have at least started. Small steps are better than no steps. …

Leadership

Mary Parker Follett: Influential Visionary

I stumbled across Mary Parker Follett’s name about six months ago in the book, The Power of Collective Wisdom. My curiosity got the better of me – and I dug deeper. And what I found was the work of a brilliant women with great influence. Some call her the “mother of modern management.” How is it that I know her work and not her name?

In celebration of Women’s History Month, I honor this female visionary. Although I never knew her name till recently, my study of her work reveals just how much of my practice in leadership and organizational dynamics is influenced by her…

Change

Would You Rather be Change Managed or Change Engaged?

Make no doubt about it, as change management emerged in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, it was a big step forward. The fact that someone, somewhere in the organization was helping employees through a structured methodology that included awareness, communication, and training began to address the compelling realization that people were most often the “make or break” factor in the success or failure of any change effort.

Yet change management, to me, conveys the ideas of doing something “to” people rather than “with” people. What if the mind-shift changed a bit? From change management to change engagement?

Change

Make it Easy to Do the Right Thing – Planning a Successful Change Initiative

We all fall prey to the path of least resistance – doing what is easy and expedient over what is in our long term best interest. We are hungry and pop into a convenience store, where we are overwhelmed by poor choices. Do we seek out the isolated piece of fruit hidden among the chips, candy and donuts? I don’t know about you, but peanut M&M’s win out every time for me.

Understanding the human proclivity to take the path of least resistance can help us design ways that “pull” people into the desired behaviors more easily. That’s why this simple mantra can make a big difference in any change initiative…

Performance

Fueling Your Fire

I believe each of us has something that sparks us. It may be our work, or our family, or social justice, or the environment, or any one of a thousand things. I also believe that it is far too easy in our hyper-paced world to let that spark turn into a raging fire that consumes us. Work demands are high, needs are everywhere, we are connected 24/7, and being busy and feeling overwhelmed is the predominant mode.

In grade school we learned the three elements needed for combustion: a fuel source, oxygen, and a spark of heat. I think the same conditions apply to our inner fires: we need something that we are passionate about to spark us. But we also need to be diligent to avoid being consumed by it.

Accountability

Ten Things Accountable People Abhor

I’m not sure how we came to the point where demanding accountability is equated to finding a scapegoat, placing blame, and demanding retribution. The cry for “someone to be held accountable” is code for finding someone to fire or dismiss so that business can go on usual. It has very little to do with what I would define as true accountability.

It’s very easy to spot someone with a high degree of personal accountability by what they do and don’t do…

Performance

Which is More Important – Dreaming or Doing?

Folks get tripped up in the dream/do cycle. There are two types of traps:

Doers who believe that dreaming is a waste of time. Far better to do something, anything. And oh, by the way, they are far too busy with all they are doing to take some time to pause, reflect, or allow themselves to imagine anything other than their current state of affairs.

Dreamers who believe that what they think up will magically manifest itself once they articulate the dream in some manner. They create the vision board, sit back, and wait for good things to happen.

Both are dead wrong.

Evergreen Leadership Blog

Divergent Thinking Does Not Come Easily

Leadership is About Who You Are and What You Do

Let’s Put Humans Back in Charge

How to Cast Vision with Your Team

Mary Parker Follett: Influential Visionary

Would You Rather be Change Managed or Change Engaged?

Make it Easy to Do the Right Thing – Planning a Successful Change Initiative

Fueling Your Fire

Ten Things Accountable People Abhor

Which is More Important – Dreaming or Doing?

Stay up-to-date on the latest Evergreen news.

Categories