High Performance Leadership

  How do the people on your team feel about themselves? How about you? How do you feel about yourself? Self-esteem matters. The way we see ourselves influences the work that we do. If you want healthy, vibrant, vital work from your team, why not make sure that the way that they think about themselves is strong? There are few things stronger than healthy self-esteem. To strengthen self-esteem among your team members: Appreciate good performance by providing specific compliments Spend time talking one-on-one with team members just to let them talk about what interests them Smile The list is longer than that of course, but start with those three things and you'll like the results. And that is good for YOUR self-esteem, isn't it? -- doug smith

Improving performance does require us to take our work seriously. But it does not require us to take ourselves too seriously. Taking things personally is a waste of self-esteem. -- doug smith  

Here's another guest entry from my friend and fraternity brother, David Spiegel.  Late yesterday afternoon, as I was finishing my last run of the day, my daughter Becca called me. She was having one of those "I think you need a Snickers" days. Without rehashing each and everyone one of the multitude of things that were annoying her, suffice it to say she was less than a happy camper. As she ranted on and on, barking about the challenges of the day, each description ended with her saying "what does it matter?" She was not questioning the event itself. She was questioning why she bothers to make the choices she does, trying to create the life that she wants. What does it matter if I watch what I eat....the scale doesn't move! What does it matter if I workout as much as I do? The damn scale still doesn't move. What does it matter that I get blood work done? The doctor doesn't care to understand my lifestyle. He has pre-f...

Do you work better when you feel good about yourself? Of course! At least, I do. When I'm strong, confident, and prepared my work is much better. It builds my self-esteem and helps me solve problems and achieve my goals. But, it's up to me to find that self-esteem. It's up to me to build that confidence. No one else can give it to me and my work doesn't care. Have you noticed that your work doesn't care about how you feel about yourself? Your work is your work. Your problem doesn't care about your self-esteem. Your problem just needs to be solved. Will it? It depends on what you bring to your problem. Do you want to bring a great sense of self-esteem? That's up to you. Think about your previous successes. Think about problems you've solved before. Draw on your own clarity of purpose, creativity of design, courage of action, and compassion for others and then realize what a cool person that makes you. Yeah, you. Self-esteem is up to you --...