High Performance Leadership

How often do you check your work? When you're leading others you've got to check their work, too.  High performance leaders verify and then verify their verification. Things change.  Mistakes happen. Check to be sure. -- doug smith

Do you like yard sales? I know that some people do. The few times that I've participated in yard sales there were always eager shoppers there BEFORE the announced opening time. I've even seen a man (who was extremely well-dressed for yard sale shopping) carrying a map with all of the local yard sales marked, numbered in the order of starting time and access. He was looking for extreme bargains, with some very specific items in mind (he had to have boundaries, he was making the circuit on his bicycle.) Some people love yard sales. The bargains, the sudden finds, the thrill of the hunt. I do not enjoy them as much, because some have an air of desperation: please buy this crap that I don't want anymore. It's not all crap. But, some is. One particular yard sale that wore me out and sucked the joy out of them for me was set up by my significant other at the time. It's the yard sale in the picture above. That's it, just about -- the whole yard sale. Do you se...

How do you feel about quality? A long time ago I was a Blue Willow china fan. I collected pieces wherever I could find them, one at a time mostly, at garage sales, antique shops, and occasionally home goods stores. My collection was humble and yet it brought me much joy. Somehow the subtly Asian look to the pictures which seemed to be telling untold stories fascinated me. My grandmother had a complete set and it was a joy to eat and drink from them. One day I decided to order a complete set so that my family could not just admire them, but also eat from them every day. Frugal person that I am, I was enticed into buying a big box of the set by mail order. This was long before Amazon or any kind of online ordering and the picture in the magazine looked great. I could hardly believe my luck! Until the box arrived. It was a big box, to be sure, and carefully packed. The very first thing I saw though, at the very top of the packing material, was a roughly printed set of "instru...

Do you ever feel forced to choose between quality or quantity? You either make it right or you simply get it done fast? That's a false choice. It's not either/or. Sure, it's tougher to do more and do it well. That's why we train. That's why we focus. That's why we work hard. I've had times when I worked very carefully, very slowly, and very fastidiously on something to get it perfect. And you know what? It did not end up perfect. It ended up plenty good, but plenty good could have been reached in half the time. I'm not saying cut corners. Do things right. Build in quality. Find the ways to make your processes, your thinking, and your doing faster, better and smarter. Build in quality AND quantity. Because in today's fast-paced, highly competitive, rapidly changing world, what other choice have you? -- Doug Smith

"Don't touch a thing because it's already perfect!" What is perfect? What is perfection? High performance leaders understand that perfection is not only difficult to achieve, it can be a lie. A big, boldface, look the other way you silly person lie. Why? Because when we do not want to see our own faults we gloss over them, we hide them, and we pretend that they are not there. But they are. Working for perfection is commendable and sensible. Pretending that we have already achieved it is deceptive and dangerous. Let's not do it. What if the appearance of perfection was the clearest sign of danger? It probably is. -- Doug Smith

How do you feel when you do your best? Do you feel stronger, more creative, more in charge, more successful? I do - when I do my best. That takes extra effort. That takes constant focus. That takes an occasional (well, OK, sometime a frequent) redirect of energy and attention to move in the direction of my best. But, it's worth it. There are many ways to achieve success and they all require you to do your best. Why not accept that as a guideline and apply it wholesale to what we do? -- Doug Smith doug smith training: how to achieve your goals Front Range Leadership: Training Supervisors for Success