Randy Grieser's Blog, page 4

Why I Support the Anti-Racism Movement

Last week I was driving home and saw a lone teenage protestor holding a sign in support of the anti-racism movement. Upon seeing her, I had an immediate feeling of solidarity – I only wish I would have been bold enough to stop the car and say so. I was inspired by the site of a young teenage girl who was brave enough to stand alone and raise her voice.

My own voice seems muted in comparison to hers. What part can I play? How do I show support for our collective responsibility to combat systemic ...

Leading With a Sense of Urgency

Due to the impact of COVID-19, in the last several months I have been leading with a heightened sense of urgency. However, this isn’t entirely new for me as I have always lived my life with a level of urgency.

As a teenager, I was antsy to leave home to go to university, and by my second year I was ready to graduate and get my first “real” job. Once I started working, it wasn’t long before I needed something more. This led to the creation of ACHIEVE and CTRI.

For more than a decade, I have been ...

Building Resilient Organizations

For businesses and organizations that survive the impact of COVID-19, resilience is a required attribute. The definition of resilience is the ability to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. Right now, we are all in difficult conditions I know my organization is, and Im sure yours is too. Whether we come out of this intact or not will depend on our level of resiliency.

In action, resilience means going on in spite of it is about being able to persevere in the face of...

Wanted: Trauma-Informed Leadership

As we lead our organizations through the COVID-19 crisis, most of us are making decisions and communicating at a higher frequency than normal. When leaders fail to consider the impact of trauma when doing these things, we risk impacting employees in negative and sometimes harmful ways words or decisions that are meant to inspire may actually deflate instead. This is why a compassionate and trauma-informed approach to leadership is crucial during this time of stress and crisis.

Trauma is...

Culture Matters Now More Than Ever

During the current COVID-19 crisis, How are you doing (as an organization)? is a common question I receive from colleagues, friends, and clients. Its asked in a genuine spirit of caring and concern. Given that most people are used to hearing how bad things are from leaders of other organizations, my response of, We are doing pretty good actually, typically surprises them.

Dont get me wrong, its been hard and I would prefer we not be in this pandemic, but we are doing pretty good. We are...

How to Communicate in a Crisis

I have been communicating a lot over the last two weeks with our leadership team, with our staff, and with our clients. The disruption COVID-19 has made to our business, and the speed of decisions we as an organization have made as a result is unprecedented.

As a training organization, we are in the business of bringing people together and yet there is a loud call from health and government officials encouraging us to do the opposite. Working our way through the challenges presented to us...

Always Be Five Minutes Early

One of the sayings I have always resonated with is, “If you’re five minutes early, you’re already ten minutes late.” When my wife and I are meeting friends for supper, I’m worried about being late, so we try to leave in time to be there early. Part of what drives my need to be early is an enormous sense of urgency I feel.

While attending university, I never pulled an “all-nighter.” My sense of urgency meant that I finished writing a paper well before the due date. And in my current work, if a...

The Art of Prioritizing

For those of you who have been reading my blog regularly or have read my book, The Ordinary Leader, you know that I have been dealing with post-concussion symptoms for a long time. A few weeks ago, I hit my head again. It was a silly incident that shouldn’t’ have happened – I hit my head on a door in my house.

Anytime I bump my head there is a moment of pause where I wonder, “Am I going to be okay?” Most times when I have a minor bump to the head I am fine, but this time I was not. After two...

Why We Need to Let Under-Performers Go

One of the most important decisions we can make as leaders is when to let someone go. Although it’s never a fun decision and an even less enjoyable task, I personally find it easiest to let someone go when their behaviors don’t align with our culture. There is no place for, and I refuse to tolerate, mean-spirited and disrespectful people. No matter how skilled or experienced the person is, if they are not a nice person, there is no place for them in our organization.

I find it more difficult...

How to Be an Authentic Leader

[Excerpt from The Ordinary Leader]

Many positive adjectives can precede the word leadership – servant leadership, empathetic leadership, and compassionate leadership to name a few. The adjective I like the most is authentic. For me, authenticity ties together so many of the words used to describe good leadership. Being authentic is about expressing yourself congruently – the person others see is who you really are. Authenticity means being genuine and true to who you are. You are not a...