Work To Be Done

Many years ago when I was music director and touring with Child's Play Touring Theater we were putting together a show for children with a work-related theme. Children are often fascinated by jobs, by what their parents do, by what they see adults doing in the world.

It was just one of hundreds of shows that we did, but I remember one song from that show that I wrote especially. The first verse was:

there's a little bit of work to be done

an American phenomenon

there will always be a little bit of work to be done

to be done, to be done, by everyone...

I can't take credit for the lyrics because we used poems and stories written by children as the basis for our material. It was fun.

And it reminds me today that what was true then is still true today. There's a little bit of work to be done. We have problems to solve. We have goals to achieve. High performance leaders are never finished.

Even as I near retirement age (don't fret, my bills will keep me working for years!) I realize that there is so MUCH work to be done!

So many inequities to fix. So many wrongs to right. So many problems to solve.

Today, I think I'll roll up my sleeves and do a little work. How about you?

-- Doug Smith

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The Benefits of Supervisory Training

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Nobody Is Interested In Excuses

Imagine this - you've been expecting someone on your team to complete an important task. The deadline is looming. You're ready for the deliverable at any time, and then...and then they start the list of excuses why they can't complete the task. No fun, right? Not acceptable, true? True for you, and true for others who rely on you as well. Leading for success leaves little room for excuses. When I worked at Whole Foods one of my bosses once said, "we live in the land of no excuses." It was true there then, and it's true here now. Nobody is interested in any excuses. -- Doug Smith

Not Too Many Goals

How many goals should you have? Is there a limit? I've known people who said that they had a hundred goals. They were working their way thru the list and checking them off one by one. Good for them. I could never do that. It's too many. How do you even keep that many straight? How do you build energy for them? Some people call a list like that a bucket-list. If that's what it is, it isn't so much a list of goals as plans for experience. That's very different. Goals require work. Goals require attention. Goals require a level of focus seldom afforded anything else. The discipline that takes limits the capacity anyone has for setting goals. We can only do so much. Of course, we aspire to do more. Of course we put lots of stretch into our goals and our list of goals. But, we can only do so many. I can't tell you what that number is. I find that 5 goals a day is a good number for me. Five achievable goals for each day and another 3 - 5 major goals that ca...

Forget What You Know?

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Taking Responsibility

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What You Need

Use what you've learned to become what you need. -- doug smith

Skip the Meetings That Don't Matter

How much time do you waste in meetings that don't matter? Oh, they probably matter to someone. Whoever called the meeting must think it's necessary. But the agenda (if there is an agenda) does not include you or any goals that you are working on. Maybe it's not aligned with your mission or values. Maybe it is just a status update or something worse -- a meeting for the sake of meeting. Do you really have time for that nonsense? It takes courage, but it's well worth it to screen the meetings that you attend. Whenever you have a choice, if the meeting makes no sense to you and if there is a better use of your time, skip the meeting. Be polite, let your organizer know you won't be attending. Or before you send your intention not to attend, first ask if there is something relevant at the meeting that you're working on. Is there a goal that you need to contribute to? Is that a problem that you can help solve? Will the meeting move goals that you are working on ...

Stay With Compassion

Leaders need courage. They also need compassion. We can use our compassion to balance our courage, and use our courage to increase our compassion. Compassion is so vital we must never give up on it. No matter how angry we are, no matter how disappointed we feel, no matter how high the stakes -- stay with compassion. If it cannot be done with compassion, it should not be done. -- doug smith

Are You That Kind of Leader?

How do you know what your people want? If you assume that they want what you want, you could be wrong. If you assume that they need what you need from a manager or supervisor, you could be missing something critically important. Different people respond to different styles. While certain aspects of leadership may be universally important -- for instance I think that all leaders do a better job when they develop their clarity, courage, creativity and compassion -- how you interact with each team member also matters, and how they look for you to interact may be different from person to person. Ask. Find out. Get to know your team members. See what they're looking for in a leader and then determine if that's what they really need. We sometimes need to manage one person at a time. -- Douglas Brent Smith http://frontrangeleadership.com

It Takes Collaboration and Individual Performance

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...

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