High Performance Leadership

You can't keep a good idea down. Yet, so many leaders think that if they disagree with an idea - no matter how much merit it might have - that they can hold it down. Stopping a good idea is a bad idea. How can a leader know if an idea is a good one? You may never know for sure until you try it, but here are some signs: - most of your team likes the idea - the idea is a game-changing, even revolutionary concept - the creative disagreement the idea stirs up creates energy - you are moved from stasis to action - the idea promote growth - the idea is expressed with respect and enthusiasm I often catch my first impulse being incorrect. I have learned to be careful of following what people affectionately call "gut instinct". My work in six sigma project management proved to me once and for all that gut instinct is often flat wrong. Our gut instinct equals our built in bias. Our gut instinct is that trench we keep marching in because it's too hard to get out ...

Are you a fan of your inner judge? We all have an inner judge (sometimes called inner critic) who wants to assess everything. To the inner judge, nothing is ever perfect. To the inner judge, there is always fault to find. How annoying. We grow up with this inner judge and let the judge drive us when we're not paying attention. When we lack focus on what is truly most important our inner judge tries to decide for us, and usually makes poor decisions. As Don Miguel Ruiz has said, "our inner judge lies." Judging a creative idea too soon is not fair to you or to the idea. You'll have time to judge. You'll have time to decide. But imagine how many more possibilities you'll have to work with if you first choose to stay curious. I promise to work on that every day from now on. How about you? -- Doug Smith

Are you struggling to find the right idea to solve a problem? I've constantly got a few problems percolating in the background that I know are still waiting for my best, most creative ideas. The best ideas seldom happen right away. They need time. They need energy. They need to be fed with other creative activities to emerge. But they are there. If you haven't found your best idea yet, the key word is yet. It's there. Your most creative ideas will take you where you need to go. They'll solve those troubling problems. They'll develop that next big change. They're there. Keep digging. -- Doug Smith

Lead long enough, and some type of crisis will develop. Stay the course and eventually you will find obstacles to overcome. Resistance is a natural part of progress. Difficulty is bound to follow innovation. How do you handle it? Does every leader eventually travel thru a dessert of darkness when you're not sure of the answer and not even sure of the direction? What will pull YOU thru? Having an answer before you get to that dessert is critical to success. -- Douglas Brent Smith http://frontrangeleadership.com