High Performance Leadership

How was your most recent brainstorming session? What's your experience at group creativity? Chances are, your performance has been mixed. Getting people together is a wonderful way to get lots of ideas, and sometimes when you get lots of ideas you get great ideas. But not always. People want to get along. A skillful facilitator can make sure (most of the time) that the group does get along. What is more difficult is assuring the sponsor of the session that the outcomes will be what they want. Some people work well in groups, and some work well individually. Some great ideas come when people think on their own. These are some of the points brought out in the summary article from the Wharton School of Business. Here's there promo and link: How Group Dynamics May Be Killing Innovation To come up with the next iPad or Amazon, the pacesetters of the future need solitary brainstorming time, according to new Wharton research. In a paper titled, "Idea Genera

Is your team complete? Have you built the perfect work group capable of achieving every goal you could ever conceive. Probably not. Centered leaders realize that a team is never fully complete and needs constant change. Not change just for the sake of change -- but meaningful, mission-based, vision-focused change. Are you ready for that? What will you do today to bring that closer to reality? Douglas Brent Smith http://frontrangeleadership.com

How long does your compassion last? What circumstances sustain your sense of caring and which tend to work against it? As a leader, your job is to persist in your patience and compassion. That doesn't mean buckling in or being weak. It does mean caring enough about people that they can feel your emotion. The true measure of compassion is it's persistence. How do you measure up? -- Douglas Brent Smith http://frontrangeleadership.com

What are you working on that could change the world? Do you have a vision and a mission for making things better? Have you assembled a team? The clock is ticking - when will you take your dream to the next level? What are you working on that could change the world? -- Douglas Brent Smith http://frontrangeleadership.com

What do you do when your customers are rude to your team members? Do you tolerate that behavior under the slogan that the customer is always right? Or do you have a way to educate or guide rude customers toward respecting your team members? Rude customers need relationship training. Are your people ready? -- Douglas Brent Smith Learn more in the workshop: Building Your Team

Do you think that the customer is ALWAYS right? Are there some times when it's possible that the customer is wrong and not entitled to their demands. The customer is not right when disrespecting team members. As a leader, you have an obligation to watch out for the respect given or denied your team members. They are watching you, and will respond according to how you treat them AND how you allow them to be treated. How do you treat them when the customer is flat out wrong?  Is that what your team expects? -- Douglas Brent Smith Learn more in the workshop: Building Your Team

If everything is urgent then nothing is urgent. Centered leaders prioritize with clarity. Have you ever had a boss who told you that everything was urgent? Everything had to be done RIGHT now, with no excuses, and no differentiation? How did that work for you? If everything is urgent, how do you know what to do? Prioritize according to your vision and mission, and the rest clarifies. What is truly important emerges from what truly matters. What matters in your vision and your mission. Most everything else is "nice to have". If everything is urgent it all becomes the same. There's no time for that. Centered leaders prioritize with clarity -- so that people truly know what to work on first. - Douglas Brent Smith http://frontrangeleadership.com