Lee Ellis's Blog, page 175
June 14, 2019
Leading with Honor Wisdom for Today, June 14, 2019
“The only truly reliable source of stability is a strong inner core and the willingness to change and adapt everything except that core.” – Jim Collins
The post Leading with Honor Wisdom for Today, June 14, 2019 appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
June 13, 2019
Article – Do Not Rely on Annual Reviews to Effectively Develop Leadership
Interesting perspective on the Forbes.com article by author Stuart Levine on the long-held belief that annual reviews should be the primary tool for feedback and leadership development. What are team members asking for instead?
Please read on the Forbes.com website and comment on your thoughts and suggestions too – thank you
The post Article – Do Not Rely on Annual Reviews to Effectively Develop Leadership appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
June 12, 2019
3 Quick Tips to Motivate Your Team to Take Ownership
Do you want three quick tips to take more personal ownership in your work (and/or motivate your team)? Lee offers this timely advice –
Clarify expectations. Seek clarity on what is expected. What’s the desired outcome for the task or assignment? You need to make sure that what you are thinking is expected, matches what your boss is expecting. Your first job is to make them happy.
Consider the bigger picture on what will be required to make it work beyond the minimum requirements.
– How can I serve in the best way? How can I make it smooth for my boss, customers, clients, and teammates?
– Will this impact others or other organizations? Should I coordinate with them to make sure they are on board?
– What problems or issues might come up that we had not thought about?
– Are there any unintended consequences that might arise?
– Be intentional to cover every angle to make sure it goes well.
Commit your heart to the task of exceeding expectations. Go above and beyond to make sure things are done the right way. Most often, it’s fulfilled as having a positive, servant-oriented attitude.
There is no guarantee that taking ownership and exceeding expectations will guarantee your advancement, but it does position you in the best possible way. Please post your advice on this topic too – thank you
Also, read the entire article on this topic – “Exceeding Expectations as a Leadership Success Strategy”
The post 3 Quick Tips to Motivate Your Team to Take Ownership appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
June 11, 2019
Thank you Georgia Farm Bureau President, Gerald Long
Special thanks to Gerald Long, President of Georgia Farm Bureau, for his kind words on their recent Leading with Honor Team Development Training –
“I was very impressed with how Lee Ellis was able to motivate our employees – from very different backgrounds – to work together and build consensus on some difficult issues. In fact, we later invited Lee to work with our Board of Directors, and the results were just as impressive.”
Please see the work that we’re doing to help build honorable teams in the Training section.
The post Thank you Georgia Farm Bureau President, Gerald Long appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
June 10, 2019
Reminder Cards for Your Team
Keep the 14 leadership lessons from Leading with Honor at-a-glance in your workspace. These low-cost reminder cards come in packs of 10 ready to give out to your entire team or staff.
Shop in the Leading with Honor Store!
The post Reminder Cards for Your Team appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
June 9, 2019
On This Day in Leadership History, June 9th
On this day in leadership history in 1986, the Rogers Commission released a report on the Challenger disaster. The report explained that the spacecraft blew up as a result of a failure in a solid rocket booster joint.
What’s the leadership lesson? Do you use debriefs with your projects (progress, successes, and failures)? It’s one of the best ways to refine and improve your leadership and team performance.
Rogers Commission Report – Wikipedia
The post On This Day in Leadership History, June 9th appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
June 7, 2019
Leading with Honor Wisdom for Today, June 7, 2019
“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, and a little less than his share of the credit.” – Arnold H. Glasgow
The post Leading with Honor Wisdom for Today, June 7, 2019 appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
June 6, 2019
Exceeding Expectations as a Leadership Success Strategy – Monthly Article
<<<Watch the interactive coaching video on the topic of exceeding expectations.>>>
Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by someone who exceeded your expectations? Someone who put careful thought into their interaction with you and simply made you feel special? Wonderful feeling, wasn’t it? My wife Mary and I had that experience recently, and it reminded me of an important, game-changing leadership principle.
Trekking Through Italy
[image error]
Recently, we returned from two glorious weeks in Italy. It was a delightful experience seeing so many places that I had read and dreamed about since my early teens. We had been in most of the other countries of Europe but did not know exactly what to expect in this historical country that we have read about for a lifetime.
I’m happy to report that Italy exceeded our expectations in every way. Of course, Rome, Florence, and Venice are breathtaking art and historical sites, and there is so much to delight the senses. We toured the Vatican, the stunning Sistine Chapel, the easily recognizable Coliseum, and the Roman Forum (the musical, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” came to mind!). Our tour guides did a great job sharing the stories behind the stories.
[image error]
[image error]
[image error]
Leaving Rome was hard because we wanted to stay longer, but a quick 150 MPH train ride took us to Florence in an hour and a half. Florence is much smaller, more compact and you can walk about everywhere. And of course, you must see Michelangelo’s seventeen-foot-tall sculpture of David.
Next another fast train to our unforgettable visit to Venice. There are no cars or delivery trucks—only canals and small boats getting it done. As a history major in college, I reflected on leadership examples from 200 B.C. to the first century, the long span during the Roman Empire, and even the Dark Ages and the Renaissance period.
People Exceeding Expectations
“While the famous sites of Italy were awe-inspiring, it was the people who really caught our attention by exceeding our expectations.” [Tweet This]
They were friendly, helpful, and even patient—except in driving. Since I’m a fighter pilot and generally drive aggressively, that part was fine with me too.
After Venice, we headed north to visit Aviano Air Base for three days of speaking and a leadership forum for their senior leaders. It’s a beautiful base on the coastal plains just ten miles south of the Alps and snowcapped mountains towering in the distance.
[image error]
[image error]
At the air base, we met the folks behind the scenes who had been working with our team for several months to coordinate our visit. Here again it was the diligence and commitment of the team that caught our attention. It was clear that they had ownership of their job and they made the effort to exceed our expectations.
Looking to Get Ahead in Your Career?
During my time as a leader in the Air Force and now working with young people in civilian life, I often get the question, “what can I do to get promoted?”
The morning before the senior leadership forum at Aviano, I was asked a similar question during my breakfast with a dozen young airmen. My answer is always the same – “Take full responsibility for your job and think and act like an owner.”
“When you take ownership in any endeavor, you will exceed expectations and be an influential leader.” [Tweet This]
Doing the minimum to fulfill your duties is the first step and is essential, but it’s not enough. When you take ownership, you put your heart and energy into it to make your performance the best it can be.
Three Steps to Taking Ownership
What does it look like to take ownership? How do you do it? Here are three simple steps that will enable you to take ownership and exceed expectations –
Clarify expectations. Seek clarity on what is expected. What’s the desired outcome for the task or assignment? You need to make sure that what you are thinking is expected, matches what your boss is expecting. Your first job is to make them happy.
Consider the bigger picture on what will be required to make it work beyond the minimum requirements.
How can I serve in the best way? How can I make it smooth for my boss, customers, clients, and teammates?
Will this impact others or other organizations? Should I coordinate with them to make sure they are on board?
What problems or issues might come up that we had not thought about?
Are there any unintended consequences that might arise?
Be intentional to cover every angle to make sure it goes well.
Our hosts at the VRBO apartments where we stayed and at the air base had thought of every detail and it made a difference.
Commit your heart to the task of exceeding expectations. Go above and beyond to make sure things are done the right way. Most often, it’s fulfilled as having a positive, servant-oriented attitude. This was what so many Italian locals and our military hosts from Aviano did for us and it made a difference. We felt like we were treated special and that made us feel special toward them.
Confirm your Professional Standards
There is no guarantee that taking ownership and exceeding expectations will guarantee your advancement, but it does position you in the best possible way. You’ve established your standard of excellence and you have given your boss the ammunition he or she will need to lobby for your promotion. And, you have laid the personal foundation for being a person of excellence—someone who cares about their work and is “all in” and fully engaged.
What’s the outcome? It garners the attention of others, you’re admired, and you’re not easily forgotten. That’s the way we feel about our hosts, Italian and American, that we encountered on our trip.
Pause and reflect on your leadership and work behaviors—are you taking ownership and striving to exceed expectations as an honorable leader? Have you taken ownership to serve others in all directions—those above you, your direct reports, your peers, and your outside customers? If yes, what has been the payoff? If not, what’s holding you back?
LE
Take Lee on your Travels this Summer
[image error]In the Leading with Honor audio book, Lee personally narrates this unabridged version of his award-winning book. Listen to him share his stories from the Vietnam POW camps as the leadership principles that he learned there for 5 1/2 years.
Purchase in the Store
Purchase on Amazon.com
The post Exceeding Expectations as a Leadership Success Strategy – Monthly Article appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
June 5, 2019
Coaching Video Clip – Exceeding Expectations
In this new Leading with Honor Coaching segment, Lee coaches us on why taking ownership and exceeding expectations is so important in leadership. With just a little more authentic attention to the details, it’s amazing the result and impact that it can have on others.
Please watch below, and interact with other viewers in this new social collaboration environment – thank you
Sign up to receive Leading with Honor Coaching in your inbox every month
The post Coaching Video Clip – Exceeding Expectations appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
June 4, 2019
An FAQ on Leadership Self-Awareness
A Frequently Asked Question from Leading with Honor –
“In recent interviews, you highlighted the importance of self-awareness and the capacity to overcome obstacles as a basis for personal development. Please explain why.”
Lee’s Answer –
“True self-awareness requires an honest, personal evaluation of one’s natural strengths and struggles. What are my natural gifts and abilities, and what are my areas where I need help from others?
Then to go even deeper in self-awareness, we must also evaluate the problem of human nature—the potential for good and evil are both in our DNA. Sitting in the shivering cells of the Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn concluded that the line separating good and evil runs not through states or political parties, but through the heart of every human being. Another famous prisoner, Victor Frankl, Viennese psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor and author of the classic book, Man’s Search for Meaning, gave us very clear advice on how to handle this issue saying, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
To make the choice between good and evil takes courage. Evil is deceptive and can be very appealing to shallow, short-sighted desires. Doing good and making the right choice often means choosing the hard road to oppose the temptations of pride, fear, laziness, and negativity. But the honor that comes from doing one’s duty, or serving others in need, is a long-term view that is only possible through the combination of honor and its guardian companion accountability, required for good self-governance and healthy leadership. This is the key to overcoming obstacles and growing as an honorable leader.”
You can read more FAQs on the Leading with Honor website.
The post An FAQ on Leadership Self-Awareness appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
