High Performance Leadership

  What can be possible right now? Is there a problem facing you that you've been avoiding because it feels like there are already just too many things going on? It's easy to fall into an "all or nothing" mindset where, unable to solve ALL of the problems we manage to solve NONE of the problems. That there are too many problems to solve them all shouldn't stop us from solving the ones we can. If what can be is one solution to one problem that is a wonderful place to begin. -- doug smith

It's not the problem that upsets you, it's not getting what you want. Get clarity about what you REALLY want, and then work relentlessly to get it. If it was easy, how much fun would it REALLY be? -- doug smith  

  Some problems are actually negotiations -- you can't solve them until someone else agrees. High performance leaders spend more time building agreements. -- doug smith

Everybody wants something. Some people seem to want everything, or at least everything that interferes with what we want. That's a problem. And when what causes us a problem turns out to be an advantage, a benefit, a payoff...for someone else the problem is compounded.  If your problem is someone else's benefit don't expect them to help you solve it. Find another way to provide the benefit first, and then maybe they'll listen. -- doug smith  

Are you feeling a little busy? Are there more problems than you can juggle at once? It feels new, and yet the world has always had unsolved problems waiting for your help. There are more people now, many more, and that does make a difference. Everything is multiplied.  Which makes you even more important than ever. The world will always need centered problem solvers. Are you ready? -- doug smith

Problems are signs of life. Keep living. Keep giving those problems all they can handle. You've got this. -- doug smith

Have you ever shared a problem that is so sensitive you just want to keep it to yourself? I have. Sometimes I have been weak when it comes to talking about problems. I get all quiet. I practice my secret power of invisibility and simply disappear. Well, no, but in the past sometimes I have acted as if that was a possibility. Anything to avoid talking about a troubling problem - especially an interpersonal one. Maybe some problems should be kept to yourself. But in my experience, they are much harder to solve that way -- and if they involve another person, virtually impossible to solve alone. Unwillingness to discuss a problem is pure cowardice. Grab the courage. Muster up the nerve. Talk about it. That's the first step into solving it, so make that step. -- doug smith

You don't need to be the first to come up with the solution to a problem for the solution to work. Stay open to the ideas of others and you never know when brilliance may come your way. Collaborate the work to celebrate the success. -- doug smith

What stands in your way when it comes to achieving your goals? Life will give us lots of obstacles. We have to learn how to deal with them. But, we also give ourselves some unnecessary barriers. We build walls out of our limiting beliefs. Limiting beliefs are those thoughts that we believe so strongly that they prevent us from doing what would otherwise be possible. They are different from person to person, but they often sound like this: "I'm not good enough...they would never appreciate me...I failed at this before so why try again...that's the kind of person who always gives me trouble..." and on and on. Our limiting beliefs are so deeply ingrained, many of them formed when we were very young children, that we often are not even aware that they are there -- or that they are limiting our possibilities. Our job is to increase our possibilities and choices, not limit them. Not to take unnecessary risks or subject ourselves to danger, but to overcome the lit...

If you have the same problem that you had a year ago you have not yet found the real problem. Keep digging. -- doug smith

You might not solve that problem by talking about it, but what if you did? Centered problem solvers create dialogue. They listen and share in order to reach mutual understanding. The first step to mutual agreement on the solution to a problem is to understand the problem AND each other. Got a problem? Talk about it. -- doug smith

How many problems could stand up to you using all of your clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion? Not many, my friend. Not many at all. High performance leaders solve problems. What are we waiting for? -- doug smith

If you lead long enough (ten minutes will probably do) you will discover a difficult person. Some days it will seem like teams filled with difficult people who are impossible to manage. You can't change all those people. What you can change is how you interact with them. Maybe there's a way to reach them. Maybe they aren't difficult at all but in a difficult place. Maybe all they need at this moment is a compassionate AND courageous leader who can patiently coach them to better choices. Maybe. What won't help is rapid judgment and condemnation. Some people really are too difficult to manage, but we should be patient and careful before reaching that conclusion. Given patience, all that difficulty turns into a problem that can be solved. And that - solving problems - is what high performance leaders do. -- doug smith

It's annoying. It's in need of attention. It's a distraction. And - it's an opportunity! A problem is a platform for your advancement. Get on board and move forward! -- doug smith

How does it feel like when your mind is foggy? For me, fogginess happens when there are an overwhelming number of choices, or possibilities, or the problem seems to cut so deep that only a tourniquet will help. Fogginess can also come from incomplete thinking - we stop at a place that makes sense to our unseen bias, and move forward without looking for other facts. Flaws in our thinking develop when our thinking is misdirected (it was true about something else so it must be true about this), polluted (that advertisement is just SO convincing), corrupted (it might not be exactly right but it's good for me), and any of dozens of factors that fog our thoughts. The flaw that blocks you knocks you off center. The flaw that deceives you leaves you without a real solution. Find the flaw in your thinking while you can still find it, or the problem is yours to keep. -- doug smith Level Up It's challenging to think about what we think about. Our minds don't always se...

How much of that difficult problem is our own doing? Do you remember the last time you caused yourself your own problem? I seem to do it enough that it's like a secret power: cue up the situation, make it more complicated, then dig my way out. I've learned to check in on what part of the problem I have contributed to. Rather than blaming someone else (they don't want the blame and it's probably not true anyway) it's better to see how the problem is built of smaller pieces and that some of those pieces came from your closest source: yourself. Think it thru, I tell myself, think it thru. Breathe. Figure it out. What did I do to create this situation and what can I change to improve or solve it? Problem solving sometimes requires a level of self-examination we are reluctant to try. But sometimes going deep inside is the only way out. -- doug smith

Those big problems are tough. Like giant stone walls they overshadow everything around them. How will we ever solve them? Those walls are made of smaller bricks. What if we tackle one brick at a time, one smaller problem at a time? High performance leaders find ways to break down the big walls into digestible pieces. What if our biggest unsolvable problem is really one hundred perfectly solvable little problems? -- doug smith

Solving a problem is challenge enough. Adding personal and cultural differences to the mix confuses conflict into the situation. Centered problem solvers sort out the interpersonal difficulties and focus on the process behind the problem. Most of the time, when we solve the process problem, the people problems are much less significant. And still we must solve the people problems as well. Here are some antidotes to the poison of culture clash: respect, clarity, understanding, taking the time to find and create shared meaning. Trust. And, let's not forget the most powerful help: love. Culture clashes create problems within problems. Understand rather than undermine. Reveal rather than conceal. Heal rather than steal. You can not only solve the problem -- you could also build better relationships. -- doug smith

High performance leaders solve problems. They know that there are no perfect processes and there sure ARE a lot of imperfect problems. Focused on results, we solve problems. When we do, I've learned to keep this in mind. Whatever your solution, it will affect people. Some will like the change, and many will not. Whether or not the solution works could very well depend on how well people receive it, implement it, and support it. To win the support of people, keep them in mind. Make sure that your solution is good for the process AND good for the people. Avoid trimming the fun out of a project at the expense of the people, just to save a dime. Avoid cutting organizations so such a lean point that people suffer from the burden. Take care of people. At the end of the day, whether you are fixing a process, developing a product, or even changing the world...isn't it all about the people? Take care of the people as well as the problem. None of it matters without people. --...

Solving a problem gives you confidence, and that's useful. The challenge is that the next problem is brand new. The previous solution likely won't work. The previous process toward reaching that solution might not even work. The new problem is new. Stay creative. Stay centered. Focus on what you want and find ways to bring that about. We may not be able to solve our next problem with the solution that worked for the previous problem. -- doug smith