High Performance Leadership

  Have you ever had a hero who let you down? We all change. We create expectations that accompany our record. Things we think today might change (will change) tomorrow. What once seemed smart might tear us apart.  During the constant transformations that we all experience, a former hero might seem to have lost credibility. Maybe they lived thru a candle. Maybe they said something that no longer resonates but instead alienates. Who hasn't made mistakes? (don't think about that one too long -- we all have!) The source of your wisdom may not always be wise. Keep learning. -- doug smith

Hard fought lessons can be forgotten. What we forget can't help us. It's easy, but foolish, to disregard the lessons of the past. Remember what you've learned and your learning will serve you well. -- doug smith

Have you ever known someone who clearly needs training and isn't getting it? Or, maybe you've had a moment of your own when you could have bought that book or joined that workshop and decided to cut corners? No need to feel any shame about that; I've done it, too. But what if we took another approach? What if we always chose yes to opportunities for developing ourselves? Invest in yourself. Develop yourself. Learn constantly. Grow. It's the path of power even though it's not always free. If you don't invest in yourself who else will? -- doug smith

Do you have any regrets? I've got a few regrets. Relationships that didn't turn out the way they should have. Projects that could have generated more interest and results. Purchases that should have remained in the store. Food that should have remained on the plate. Even high performance leaders have regrets. Here's how I shake myself free of those pesky regrets (because all they are doing is making productive time reductive time) : figure out the lesson. Learn the lesson. Identify the learning and move on. You'll never regret a lesson learned. But, the regret is yours until the lesson is. Learn the lesson. I'll work on that today. How about you? -- doug smith

John Maxwell has said that the only failure is the failure to miss the lesson. So many times we when it feels like we failed, what we have gained is the opportunity to learn. Go with the learning and the lesson may be well worth the momentary loss. High performance leaders several low performance into lessons learned. It then leads to better performance. Feedback, plus insights, leads to learning. Learning leads to success. Find the lesson. Accept the feedback. Grow. -- doug smith

Once I was lost in Washington, D.C. That's easy for me because the streets are unconventionally situated compared to many other cities, plus I get lost quite easily. I could get lost in a hotel. While I was lost (before GPS was widely available) I stopped and asked for directions. Maybe the advice was good, maybe it wasn't, but I stayed lost. I asked someone else, at a deli. New directions, same outcome. Lost. Thank goodness for GPS these days! And also, thank goodness that I've learned not to take every piece of advice that's been offered to me. If I had, I might have: Given up on training Kept a dead-end job Never called an old friend just because she'd broken my heart Fired some people who later turned out to be exemplary team members Used facilitator's guides word for word You get the idea. There's a lot of bad advice out there. That's why a deep foundation of knowledge is vital. You don't get lost when you know where you'...

What skills do you need to develop in order to achieve your goals? If your goals are big enough, you've put some stretch in there. That means you'll need to grow. You'll need to learn. What is it you need to develop next? When I worked at Whole Foods, spending lots of time in the kitchen, I realized that to be the best possible supervisor I could be I'd need to learn some Spanish. So I studied. The company didn't send me to Spanish training, I just took it on myself, on my own time, and learned enough to help me achieve my goals. When I worked at GE, anyone who had anything to do with project management had to become certified in six sigma. That meant lots of training, lots of development, lots of learning. And it helped in ways that still helps me today. What do you need to learn? Where will you learn it? -- Doug Smith

"Make failure your teacher, not your undertaker." -- Zig Zigler You know that we can learn from our mistakes. You might also know that failure carries many valuable lessons. I like the expression that comes from NLP (Neurolistic Programing) "there is no failure, only feedback." There's always something to learn. Any effort that results in learning is not a complete failure. So it's up to us. While we would never choose to fail at anything (oh horrors!) sometimes we will. Whether we learn or not is completely up to us. Find the learning. Find the success. What have you learned today? -- Doug Smith

I used to run away from negative thoughts. They could be mine, or someone else's. Sometimes someone close to me would bring an idea that just scared me, or bothered me, and I'd pretend to ignore it. That wasn't a good idea. Just because someone is negative doesn't mean that they're wrong. They could be wrong. They could be right. They could be far off the mark, and they could be close. We owe to them and ourselves to stay curious enough to figure it out. A negative thought includes the potential for positive action. I'm all in favor of positive action. Sometimes, a critical comment gets us going. High performance leaders are not afraid of criticism. It tells a story. It tells us about our relationships, our processes, our goals. When people express themselves, positively or negatively, until we listen they won't go away, they won't be at their best, and we won't collaborate as well as we should. Take on that criticism. Stay curious. Sometim...

Wouldn't it be great to stop making mistakes? I would like that. I would love to never need to apologize again, or redo something I thought was finished, or reconstruct a project after it goes sideways. But mistakes still happen. High performance leaders don't stop making mistakes, but they keep learning from them. Learning how to do things better next time. Learning which relationships will make us more durable, more able, more agile. Learning which decisions needed just a little more feedback. Learn constantly. That's the key. Stop, breathe, and think it over. What did I learn? Where's the lesson in this mistake for me? Keep learning. It makes a difference. What have you learned today? -- Doug Smith

Some things that annoy us the most grow us the most. I never asked for some of my biggest lessons. I probably didn't ask for any of them. They hurt. They bruised. They provoked anxiety. They made me sweat. But I learned. I learned that people need lots of attention. That sending an email isn't enough. That a handshake (and even a kiss) doesn't mean that a deal won't ever be broken. That broken promises (especially when a kiss IS involved) are the hardest lessons to take. We go on. We strive forward. We learn. We forgive. I am annoyed by big lessons. My ex-wife once gave me a little present that was a miniature traffic cone with the words "Oh no, not another learning opportunity!" on it. That about sums it up: not right now please, I'd rather not get that lesson. We don't always get to pick the timing, but we do get to decide whether or not we learn from those things that annoy us. Things like the team member who isn't finishing the import...

How many tests do you face today? We face all kinds of tests. Tests of our skills. Tests of our will. Tests of our relationships. If you're like me, you don't pass every test. I've messed some things up in the many years of putting things together, creating, coaching, selling, and serving. Sometimes the learning curve is so steep it does not seem like there is an end. It's not always fun. While we may not pass every test, we can always learn from them. We can learn how to be better prepared. We can learn the secrets to the most effective process steps for what we need to do. We can practice. We can learn to repair relationships with honest, gentle, courageous, and compassionate communication. I don't know what tests I'll face today - but I do plan to learn from every one. How about you? -- Douglas Brent Smith