High Performance Leadership

Have you ever known someone who seems to be waiting for a miracle before they make any major change? Miracles are great in stories. I also do believe that miracles happen. Things beyond our power may intervene in our behalf. It's risky to wait and rely on miracles, though. If the power you need is power outside of yourself how will you ever get it? What can be done right now with what we have is where we begin. It wasn't magic that brought you here and you don't need magic to improve. Just get moving. -- doug smith

Do you enjoy conference calls? Despite good intentions, conference calls often end up being train wrecks of epic proportions. People check out. People leave, multitask, or argue. Sometimes one voice will be easy to hear but others are inaudible. Compounding this is a very common practice. Maybe you fall into this practice. I've seen it over and over and even been a participant myself. The flawed practice is mixing the group, with part of the call all together in one conference room and the rest of the group off site on separate phones. A variation of this, and even tougher to manage, is a chain of conference rooms with groups of people sharing one phone at each location. What's wrong with this arrangement? People are then communicating on different levels, in different channels, and on different status plane. In any room you have the issues of status to deal with. When you put some people together in one room, that is one status dynamic to manage. When you mix that wit...

How do you manage your time? I've taught time management skills for longer than most people I meet have been alive. Some things change (technology, styles, priorities) and some things stay the same (healthy habits, counter-productive habits.) It's all important and some of it is helpful to apply. But what comes first? Once I realized that time is the one common currency -- the one resource we are all truly created equal in -- I realized how important it was to not get everything done but instead to get what is important done. To focus on the vital. To savor the healthy. To grow. Because all the time in the world doesn't matter if it's spent on things you don't like. It's why some minutes feel like hours and yet some weeks feel like days. When we are happy with our actions, when we are in that blissful flow of creative sparking and helping -- time truly flies. Managing time only works if you're happy doing what you're doing. Do that, and ma...

Do you have too many meetings? Many leaders do. Staff meetings, committee meetings, team meetings, project meetings, all-company meetings...the list goes on. Most of us can think of many meetings that were simply wastes of our time. Time is too important to waste is bad meetings. Do the people in your meeting want to be there? If not, maybe it's not a meeting that you need. Maybe there's another way to communicate your message. Maybe the work that is waiting is too important to wait. We can like the feeling of having a meeting. It feels like we're doing something. But if we're not -- if we are delaying real work, maybe we don't need that meeting after all. What scheduled meeting could you eliminate this week? Wouldn't it be nice to have that time to be...well, happy and more productive? -- Doug Smithy

Do other people sometimes waste your time? I facilitate workshops on workflow and time management occasionally and there are usually people in the workshop who blame their circumstances on other people. "It's all their fault" may feel like it takes the responsibility off your shoulders, but does it help? No. Any time we choose to be a victim we get to stay there. Time. No one knows for sure how much we have, except that we all have only 24 hours at a time per day. No stretching. No expanding. Time doesn't care what we do with it. Time keeps moving. So why blame other people? Sure, other people make unreasonable requests. Other people use inefficient processes. Other people make mistakes and talk endlessly when we know we should be working. But think about it. Other people can only do that TO you if you let them. Take charge. Move along. Keep your focus. Other people can only wast your time if you let them. Why let them? -- Doug Smith

Do the people on your team know how important their performance is to your team's success? Can they articulate just exactly how they make things better, cooler, more high impact, more world worthy? High performance leaders help their team members work on important work. When the team goals are achieved, it should be cause for celebration. Team goal achievement should accomplish great things that the whole team can feel great about. It's easier to improve performance when you believe what you're doing is important. Let your people know. Find ways for them to do important work. And, then watch how much they improve their performance. Performance IS important to you, right? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  High Performance Leadership Training doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals What have you learned today?

Is your team as productive as it could be? I haven't seen a team yet that was. We can all improve our productivity. That doesn't mean asking people to work harder or longer. They're already tired of that (just ask them). What it does mean in finding things in your processes that you can fix. It means identifying which customers are taking up most of your time and why (and if they are actually earning you money or costing your money). It means bringing out the potential in each and every team member. It means to STOP having silly time-wasting status report meetings and instead, get things done. It means to stop making excuses or complaining and to think of better ways to do things. Productivity is an endless cycle of improvement if you move in that direction. And, that's the direction your team wants because the only alternative is entropy. Yuck. What could your team do TODAY that would double its productivity? Why not ask them? -- Douglas Brent Smith I...