High Performance Leadership

Why would a happy person ever harm anyone? I don't think that they would. When we are happy, content, and at peace any effort to disturb or harm anyone else will just disturb or harm ourselves as well.  When we experience someone trying to disturb or harm us we can be sure that they are already in pain. Fighting back might seem valid, but will it help? What if we helped heal the pain at the root?  Difficult people did not become difficult randomly. Something, in need of healing, caused it. -- doug smith

  Goals may not be the cause of all happiness, but they make a lot of happiness possible. What is the most important goal that you're working on today? -- doug smith

  Should high performance leaders smile more? If you've ever worked for a leader who did NOT ever smile, you probably yearned for a bit more human touch from them. How can you know that you're pleasing your leader if they remain cold and unfeeling? Sure, it can be annoying if a leader is happy-go-lucky all of the time. Tough leaders face tough situations with toughness without tearing their people (or themselves) apart.  Smiling is essential. Smiling keeps us grounded. Smiling puts positive energy to work for us, regardless of what's going on. Think about it: you can smile whenever you want to, it is completely up to you. When you do smile, it makes you feel better. When you do smile, it makes other people feel better, too.  There is more power in your smile than in anyone else's smile. Go for that power: smile. -- doug smith

What makes you happy? More importantly, who makes you happy? I spent a lot of time thinking that someone else could make me happy. Someone else could meet my needs, fill my dreams, solve my many puzzles. It didn't happen. It couldn't happen. I didn't figure that out all on my own -- it did take other people to help, so in a sense it isn't all up to you. And, yet it is. Our happiness, our mindfulness, our joyfulness is up to us. Take charge of your own happiness -- you'll like the power...and the results. -- doug smith

  Contentment is a learnable skill, not an accomplishment.  -- doug smith

  Happiness is a product of service. You can look for it in a million other ways. You can invent reasons why you can avoid the secret, but the secret remains. Joy comes from sharing. Love comes from caring. Happiness is a product of service. -- doug smith

The song of success contains many variations. -- doug smith I'm not the world's greatest singer but wow do I love to sing. And, sure enough, I cannot sing everything. Almost no one can, of course. We're all limited by our vocal range and even though we can expand that vocal range, almost no one can sing ALL THE NOTES. And, we don't all like all the songs. Success is like that. What one person calls success, another might think of as torture. I know some jobs that people absolutely love that would irritate me to try to do. My own definition of success has evolved over the years. As I have discovered my limitations in some areas of aspiration (oh no, I CAN"T hit that note, or OH NO I'm NOT going to be a professional athlete!) I have also discovered new horizons -- all very colorful, exciting, and new. Success can be this simple: think of a goal, write it down, achieve it. Of course it's work. Naturally, there's much more to it than that. An...

Life's too short to spend all of our time working on goals we don't like. Maybe you have a boss who assigns you goals you don't like. Have you tried changing your relationship with your boss? Have you tried finding more exciting goals? Find goals that are exciting enough, noble enough, and useful enough and you'll find other people who are excited about them, too. Stick with goals that are stuck to you, and you stay stuck. It, like so much else, is a choice. What's your happy-face goal? Maybe it's your happy-face goal because it's so preposterous. Maybe because no one else would dream of it. Maybe because it will turn your life around in ways that make you giddy. Go for it. Always have at least one goal that makes you smile when you think of it. Giggling occasionally is healthy! -- doug smith Leadership Call to Action: Consider your current goals. If none of them make you smile, it's time to create one that does!

Collage by Doug Smith How does it feel to work on goals that don't matter? Frustrating! And yet we do it. Once committed (or worse, once assigned) we plug along on some goals that have lost their relevance. They don't matter. No one really cares, least of all us. What's the point? That slows us down! In my workshops I often quote Brian Tracy on setting priorities. "In order to prioritize we must have the courage to de-prioritize." No one can do everything. Since we can't do everything, we must decide what we will not do. Often, as unpleasant as it may feel, that means letting go of goals that don't matter anymore. Drop those irrelevant goals. Work on those that matter. Work on those that energize you and lead you toward your mission. Time marches on. March to the band that makes your heart beat with verve and happiness! -- Doug Smith

Does your team know how you feel today? They are probably paying much more attention to you than you realize. They probably do know exactly how you feel. We let people know our feelings in dozens of subtle ways. Whether or not we say hello. How we say hello. Our eye contact. Our tone of voice. Whether or not the door is shut, the music is on, the phone is available. People are going to figure out how you feel. Wouldn't it be helpful if they figured out how energized, motivated, and supportive you are? We communicate how we feel whether we like it or not. Why not communicate positive, productive feelings of friendly joy? It's entirely possible. And -- sparks high performance results. -- Doug Smith

How effected are you by what other people think of you? There have been times in my life when I was extremely effected by what some people thought of me. It steered me. It troubled me. It kept me trying to play the game of making people happy who couldn't really be made happy. Happiness is up to us. I'm still working on it. A background in service jobs, a general desire to please, a sense of compassion can all lead me to try too hard to please. Yes, I'll do my job to the best of my ability. Yes, I will be kind. But, I can't drive myself crazy anymore wondering if people like me. Whether or not they like me is a reflection on them, not me. At some point it doesn't matter what other people think of you. Get to that point quickly. Then get busy on your goals. -- Doug Smith

What makes you happy? I'm lucky that lots of things make me smile. Lots of things make me happy. A really good baseball game (and yes, it does help if the Phillies win), a great guitar solo, a fabulous concert, a bike ride in the early morning, a walk in the woods, a hug from a friend (a real hug, not one of those little half hugs with an immediate pat on the back), Chicago stuffed pizza...playing with my children (and now, my grandchildren!) all kinds of things make me happy. And in many cases, other people have contributed to making those things available. But I'm the one who has to find them. And when I do - I'm happy! No one else can tell you how to be happy. They might try. Advertisements will entice you to find happiness in their product. People will offer you happiness by connecting with them. Events will promise amazing joy and miss the mark. It's up to you. It's up to me. It's up to each of us to make ourselves happy. Are you happy today? ...

Photo by L. Scott Force How often does your team see you smile? I've known leaders who haven't been known to smile. They seem almost grim. They could be fine leaders, sincere and high performance in nature but for some reason they just don't smile. How do you think a team reacts to that? People like to see you smile. It puts them at ease. It creates a bond. It feels right because don't we all want to be happy? And, smiling is the most clear outward sign that someone is happy. When you're happy, it's easier for me to be happy. When I'm happy (and smile!) it sends a little but powerful signal to you that it's perfectly OK for you to be happy, too. Let's all be happy! There is something priceless about a leader who smiles. Smile! -- Doug Smith doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals Front Range Leadership:  High performance leadership training

Are your problems all work and no play? I know how that feels. The more work they seem the less likely I am to work on them, which means that they then don't get solved. That's not what I want. When we look at problem solving as a chore it's not wonder that we avoid it. Why would we ever subject ourselves to actions that cause us discomfort or inordinate amounts of work? But, problems are more than that. In addition to the satisfaction of actually solving a problem, the process of solving a problem can also be filled with joy. The process of solving problems brings us together with those we collaborate. It increases our need (and ability) to be creative. It develops the courage it takes to confront issues. It builds more compassion within us for those who share similar (or worse) problems. And the focus that we can feel while in the process to solve problems helps us to feel even more alive. When we are focused, when we are centered, solving problems makes us more of ...

Think about it. So much of what happens to us in life depends on how we react to it. If you're like me, you've occasionally (well, OK, more often than I'd like to admit) gotten angry at things you had no control over. I've even been known to shout at a football game and throw a pillow. Wow. Dangerous, eh? But unless that anger can be channeled into energy to do something (say for instance I was actually on the football field and could TACKLE an opponent) it's not doing us much good. It's not doing us any good. So why not make a better choice? When something in life disappoints us, do we need to get unhappy? Will that change things? I also admit to getting upset when things don't go my way. Did that improve the situation? Of course not. There are better choices available. So this week, facing deadlines and new living arrangements and travel delays and irate relatives (OK, my mom is mad at me again...) I will choose happiness instead. Puppies and k...

How do leaders (or anyone else for that matter) increase their happiness? How can you increase your joy? One way is to be aware of joy when it happens. For many people (hopefully) that happens many times a day. To multiply those feelings it's necessary to first truly feel them, savor them, and reflect on your role in creating those feelings. We have far more to do with creating our own happiness than we'll likely ever know. Embrace your moments of joy in order to multiply them. With enough practice, happiness becomes a way of life. Wouldn't you rather work with a happy leader than an unhappy one? So in a way you owe it to your work as a leader to embrace happiness. - Think about your most recent "rush" of happiness. Experience it again by thinking about it with sincere appreciation. - Who can you help create a moment of joy today by bringing your own joy into the room? -- Douglas Brent Smith Teleclasses and Workshops for Front Line Supervisors