High Performance Leadership

I once worked with a leader who said that he and his team lived "in the land of no excuses." It stuck with me. It shed light on the heart of many problems, which is people refusing to face up to their responsibilities. It feels easier sometimes to avoid accountability, but all it does is delay the inevitable show-down with the truth. Why not skip that unconvincing dance step? Why not take ownership from the start? Why not live in the land of no-excuses? How many fewer problems would you have if you eliminated excuses? Yours, and others? My guess is that most of your problems would melt away in the heat of truth and responsibity. How would you like that? -- Douglas Brent Smith Contact me today to see if your organization qualifies for a special rate session of Solving Problems: Creating the Collaborative Space for Success . info@frontrangeleadership.com

Have you noticed? When you're excited about something, when your blood is really moving inside your body, when you emotionally react to the way things are going, there is often a conflict involved. Do you pay attention? Do you slow down enough to center yourself? There's a message in there for you. There is feedback, a promise, an opportunity, a solution to be discovered. Conflict is trying to tell you something. Conflict is there to get our attention. Are you tuned in? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Have you ever noticed the side-effects of penalties? People have hundreds of ways of balancing the equations of life, and work hard to balance those they see as unfair. Penalties seem fair to those people imposing them, and nearly always seem unfair to those people who experience them. While some penalties are necessary, does it ever seem that we rely too much on them? Especially when those penalties backfire in the forms of broken relationships, hard feelings, resentment, and revenge. They perpetuate a cycle of ill will. We eventually pay the penalties we impose on someone else. Why not find more kind and lasting solutions? -- Douglas Brent Smith

It's easy to blame someone else. It's easy to hide from responsibility. It's just not all that effective. We often have more responsibility in a problem than we will admit. Once we do admit our responsibility the solution is much easier to find. -- Douglas Brent Smith

Do you ever get tired of leading? Does it ever seem like what you're working on will just never get done unless you do it all? The price of leading can be heavy. Challenges push against our efforts. People resist our best ideas. Tasks remain unfinished. How do we keep on moving forward? Leaders must breathe. Leaders must pause. Leaders must find the help that they need. Centered leaders build support from people who can help them relax, who can keep them from taking themselves too seriously, who can add a sense of spontaneity to their work and life. It doesn't just happen. The time to build that support is before you need it. The time to invest in friendship, teamwork, and vision is now. If we take leadership for granted it becomes a weight too heavy to hold. Why not lighten that load? -- Douglas Brent Smith