High Performance Leadership

Life is filled with disappointments. We can wallow in them or we can swim thru them to the other side. On the other side is an answer. If it's not the right answer, it's still the perfect answer because it leads to whatever is next. High performance leaders remember a key ingredient is love. When we encourage, when we coach, when we poke and prod and push, we do best when we remember to keep love in it. The kind of love that remembers that some part of everyone is broken in some way and maybe, just maybe, our little love is the glue that can hold it together. Come to love when it's tough. Come to love when it's harsh. Come to love when you're broken. Come to love when the only love you can think about walks out the door and slams it tight. It's not over for you, for your team, or for your hopes and dreams. The seeds are still there, in your own little love. Because your little love is huge. Because your little love will see you thru. And because it is a...

Does it ever seem like your people have an inexhaustible supply of questions? That's probably because they do. How do I do this? Why are we doing this? Can I have my birthday off? Why did Donna get a promotion? Is our business going to lay people off? Questions! While it is not completely your job to answer every question -- your people are looking to you for guidance. When you can provide that by allowing them to discover their own answers to questions, they will grow. Sometimes, though, they simply can't get the answers or would be in danger of making answers up unless you help them. So help them. Every answer raises two more questions.  Or as I like to think of it, two more opportunities to lead. -- Douglas Brent Smith Would you like the supervisors in your organization to get better at answering the tough questions? Consider bringing our workshop Supervising for Success to your location. It's surprisingly affordable -- especially in the Rocky Mountain front...

Motivational speakers are a dime a dozen. Motivational leaders are your friends for life. Leaders who motivate become your friends because they add lasting value to your work and to your relationship. Think about the most motivational leader you've experienced -- whether it has been at work, at school, at sports, at church, or at some other organization. How did they motivate you? What effects did it have? I remember being motivated by my assistant track coach in high school, Mr. Hursey because his approach was so different from that of the main coach. While the main coach seemed aloof and bossy, Mr. Hursey was filled with enthusiasm, patience, and yes - love for every athlete on the team. It didn't matter if you were fast, talented, winning, placing or simply showing -- Mr. Hursey gave each of us attention, instruction, and patient support. You could see it in his smile. You could feel it in his concern. You knew he touched you deeply, with his presence and care. That instruct...

Developing leadership skills has similarities to training to be a fire fighter. You need a combination of study, direction, and experiential application. But the experiential part of the training should build according to your skill level. A first day fire fighter trainee for instance never sees any real fire – they could easily get hurt or hurt someone else. The really difficult tasks must build on skills that have been learned before. Knowledge must be internalized and feel fully integrated before you apply it on a dangerous ground – and leading others can often be dangerous ground.  Leadership develops in scalable stages I’ve been both a fire fighter and a manager and so I can find many similarities in the development process. You can be a novice and inexperienced fire fighter and still contribute to the effort of the crew, provided that you are surrounded with more experienced, patient, and yes even insistent fire fighters who will be assertive and courageous enough to keep y...