High Performance Leadership

Do you expect to solve every problem? Or, have you learned that some problems are unsolvable and simply must be managed? Sometimes we run into a problem that must be managed, and sometimes we simply miss solving a problem. Centered problem solving is knowing that you are alright whether or not the problem is solved. Your blend of clarity, courage, creativity and compassion will see you thru, problem or not. Of course, we DO want to solve our problems. But our dignity, our happiness, and our centeredness does not rely on solutions. What do you think? -- Douglas Brent Smith Front Range Leadership

Why are humans compassionate? In what can feel like a competitive, dog-eat-dog world why is it that sometimes people are brilliantly compassionate. Wonderfully caring. Gloriously respectful. Whatever your beliefs, the belief in the effectiveness of compassion is probably in there. We like compassion. We hope for it, pray for it, and use it to help us thru the difficult days. And, there is a bonus. Compassion has a healing effect. It helps in the healing process for those who need our compassion, and it helps to heal the very person who has expressed compassion. Compassion heals the compassionate one. Where is your compassion leading you today? -- Douglas Brent Smith Front Range Leadership

How much time does a supervisor spend problem solving? If I asked every supervisor I knew, there would probably be many who said "too much time." Supervisors are faced with performance, people, and process problems every day. How do you get the resources you need? How do you motivate poor performers? How do you achieve goals that seem far beyond your capability? How do you make time for lunch? I'm interested in helping supervisors to solve those daily problems. As someone who has been a supervisor many times for many different teams, in many different businesses, I empathize with what we each go thru as we try to balance our personal needs with our professional obligations. What supervisor problems effect you the most? What do you consider the most common and most pressing supervisory problems? Let's look at the big questions together and come up with some answers. After all, we can all become better leaders. -- Douglas Brent Smith

Do problems sometimes drive you crazy? We've got to center ourselves before the problems in front of us make any sense and allow them to reveal their simplicity. You aren't going to let that problem get the best of you, are you? We center ourselves as leaders, thinkers, goal achievers, problem solvers, and humans when we balance the use of our key strengths: clarity, courage, creativity and compassion.. When one or more are out of balance, it's tough to be centered. We may from time to time need to focus on applying one of these core skills to achieve our goals -- at the same time it is useful (and often necessary) to keep the other strenghts nearby, waiting to be used (or being used) to keep our sense of fairness, assertiveness, and balance available. Center ourselves first, and the problem looks a lot less intimidating! -- Douglas Brent Smith