David Dye's Blog, page 123

5 Top Leadership Articles for the Week of December 27, 2015

Happy New Year – welcome to a new feature for 2016!

Each week I read a number of leadership articles from various online resources and share them across social media. Here are the five articles readers found most valuable last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think, too.

3 most important words between manager & employee? by Dan McCarthy

What are the most important three words for any relationship between a manager and employee?

No, it’s not “I love you”.

My Comment: Dan uncovers the foundation to accountability, results and team work with just three words.

Good news, mental toughness can be learned by LaRae Quy

As our world becomes more and more complex, mental toughness will become an essential mindset. Building mental toughness is a life-long task, but here is the good news, mental toughness can be learned!

My Comment:  LaRae shows us the way to learned mental toughness through four simple tips. These tips will help leaders get results, build confidence and better manage relationships.

Fix the problem – no more band-aids by John Hunter

Successfully shepherding change within an organization is often a challenge. Often times, change management strategies are about how to cope with a toxic culture but don’t explore how to change and manage a toxic culture.

My Comment:  In this article, Hunter demonstrates the importance of adaptability within organizational culture and lets us in on the secret to successful change management.

Your checklist for more Effective Meetings by Joel Garfinkle

Keeping meetings, tight, effective and on-track takes discipline. And meetings that waste time also squander energy, productivity, and money.

My Comment: Joel Garfinkle authors a helpful and quick article about how to create and manage more effective meetings that allow you to get results, create accountability and value your people’s time.

This Google Employee has a Brilliant Time Management Strategy by Jeremiah Dillon

Many of us struggle with the ability to effectively manage our time, this Google employee has got the right idea about staying on task and getting things done.

My Comment: In his article, Jeremiah does an excellent job of addressing the “infinite need; finite me” issue while at work; and does it in a way that’s easy to absorb.

 

David works with leaders to get results without losing their soul (or mind) in the process. Have David to speak at your next event or corporate training: Email today or call 303.898.7018!

The post 5 Top Leadership Articles for the Week of December 27, 2015 appeared first on Leadership Speaker David Dye.

Book David today for your event, workshop, or training: david@trailblazeinc.com or 1.800.972.582

45 Leadership Gifts You Give and Receive

“Thank you for leading well.”

If you’ve received a signed book from me, odds are, that’s what I wrote – and I mean it. We need as many people leading well as possible and I’m grateful for your commitment! You are a gift to the world.

Whether you’re leading a multinational company, a human-service nonprofit, a team of three engineers trying to solve a stubborn problem, are a parent, or a community volunteer, in your role as a leader you give and receive truly significant gifts nearly every day of the year.

I hope you will find some motivation, encouragement, and inspiration on this list of forty-five leadership gifts to both give and receive.

This list starts (as leadership should) focused on your team and what you give them. Items 33 – 44 are all about you! These are encouragement and gifts that leadership gives to you.

I hope that you will add your own item to the list and share something that can encourage and support another leader and their team.

Thank you for all you do!

Clarity
1. A Compelling “Why”

Why does your team or organization exist?

Why do your team members do the work they do?

What difference does it make?

2. A Meaningful Vision of the Future

What are you all working toward? What will be different tomorrow as a result of the work you do today?

3. An Active Mission

How will your team and organization make tomorrow a reality?

4. Real Values

How will the organization commit to doing business with one another and the outside world?

5. Consistency

Are you and other organizational leaders living out the values, making decisions based on what takes all of you toward that future vision, and modeling commitment to your compelling “why”?

Do you avoid chasing fads and shiny things that aren’t directly related to the organization’s purpose?

6. Clear Expectations

Does your team know what is expected of them on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis?

Have they helped craft these expectations?

Do you revisit them regularly to make sure expectations and reality still make sense?

7. Focus on Results

Does your team understand how its compelling ‘why’ translates into real-world outcomes? Does everyone know what those outcomes are and how to achieve them?

8. Retelling

Do you keep the mission, vision, values, and outcomes in front of your team and organization on a regular basis to remind everyone of what’s important and why?

9. Actual Decisions

Do you ensure that every decision concludes with everyone knowing who is doing what, by when, and how they will pass along the results?

Support
10. Skills

Does your team have the skills it needs to accomplish results? Are you providing training, education, or coaching to ensure people can succeed?

11. Equipment

Does your team have the tools they need to succeed?

12. Belief

Do you believe your team can accomplish their mission? Do they know you believe in them?

13. Remove Barriers

Do you use your position and influence to remove needless obstructions and facilitate cooperation from other teams or departments? If it’s red tape, do you cut it?

14. Help With Thinking

Do you avoid thinking for your team?

Do you ask questions that help team members generate their own solutions?

Do you ask ‘what ifs’ to explore alternatives and consequences?

Do you ask “What will you do?” to cement next steps?

When someone says “I don’t know,” do you ask, “What would you do if you did know?”

15. Meaningful Encouragement

Do you know what motivates your individual team members? Have you asked? Do you give positive encouragement in ways that are meaningful to them?

16. Gratitude

Do you regularly thank your team members for choosing to be a part of your team and contributing their time, talent, and effort to this mission?

17. Invest In People

Do you build into your team, providing the training, coaching, opportunities, and delegation they need to grow?

Are your people better off for their time spent with you?

Do you share power and decision-making?

18. Safety

Do you make it safe to learn, to take risks, to try new things?

Do you provide clear criteria that must be met when risks are taken?

Do you avoid blame and focus on what the team learned to do next time?

19. Develop Strengths

Do you spend most of your development energy learning and cultivating your team member’s strengths?

A Human Leader
20. Health

Do you care for yourself and keep yourself physically, relationally, mentally, and emotionally healthy? (Not only are you more effective, but it makes it more likely your team will do the same.)

21. Heart

Does your team know what you stand for? Do they know what motivates you, what you value, and where you care?

22. Apology

When (not if…) you screw up, do you own it, apologize, and make it right?

23. Learning

Can your team observe you learning and growing in skill and competence?

24. Levity

Can you laugh at yourself and the other absurdities that certainly confront you and your team?

25. Humility

Do you act in concert with that old Italian proverb: “Once the game’s over, the king and the pawn go back into the same box.” Do you acknowledge your own dignity and worth along with your team members’?

26. The Right Problems

Are you choosing the right problems for yourself and your team (as opposed to trying to avoid problems altogether or focusing on the problems that don’t get you any closer to your mission).

27. A Good Example

Would your organization truly be better off if team members modeled their behavior towards each other, your clients, and customers on yours?

Accountability
28. Celebration

Do you acknowledge when things go well? As a team, do you take the opportunity to reinforce and remember what you’re all about?

29. Correction

When someone is negatively impacting the team, do you help them remedy the behavior?

30. Separation

When someone is clearly not aligned with the team, the organization, or the values, do you care about your team and that individual enough to help them move on?

31. Hear Criticism

When someone brings a concern, do you listen and thank them for having the courage and taking their time to share it with you?

32. Justice

Life isn’t always fair, but within your team and organization, do you hold yourself and the team accountable for just practices in employment, pay, time off, benefits, etc.?

Gifts Leadership Gives to You
33. Everything anyone does for you is a gift

This is a life-changing leadership truth when you fully comprehend it: Nearly everything people do is a choice.

Your team members don’t have to work with you. They don’t have to give their best effort. They don’t have to get work done when they’re feeling less than 100%.

They don’t have to. They choose to.

Even if they’re not aware they have a choice, as their leader you know they do.

When you show up for your team every day, with full awareness that each of them has chosen to be there, chosen to work alongside you, chosen to contribute their talents and time… it changes how you lead, how you serve, and how you draw the best out of every person.

34. You get to change the world

Whether you’re leading a nonprofit, your family, a community group, a sales team, a product development team, a distribution team, or are CEO of a multinational corporation, you are in the business of changing the world.

I can hear the objections now: “But I just make/sell/shuffle… whatever it is we do…”

Stay with me here — you don’t just do anything.

First, if you are working with people, you impact their lives. How you lead your team impacts how they go home every day and the energy they bring to their families and communities.

You impact their future far beyond the time they spend on your team. They will carry the motivation, skills, and leadership you provide into their careers and into the teams they lead.

(And that’s before we even talk about the product or service you provide!)

Second, your products and services do affect people’s lives. As a leader, you get to influence how this happens.

I once spoke to a group of sales professionals and there was a gentleman in attendance who had prototyped an innovative tip for caulking-guns. Something as relatively small and simple as a caulking gun tip can make life easier for people, reduce waste, and improve energy efficiency.

And that’s just caulking tips! Whatever you’re doing has the potential to make the world a better place — if you lead in that direction.

35. Your influence can outlive you

Effective leaders invest in others and cultivate leadership in their team members.

That influence multiplies far into the future as the leaders you helped begin to help others and they in turn continue the chain.

Now that is lasting significance!

36. You get to see people succeed

There is little in life to compare with the look of confidence, serenity, and accomplishment that comes when someone you’ve been helping has that breakthrough moment and realizes they CAN.

A few of those moments will fuel you through many tough times.

37. You get to grow

It’s a leadership cliché — “leaders are learners.”

Some things are cliché because they express fundamental truths. This is one of those.

Every effective leader I’ve ever met communicates the same thing: they are amazed at how much smarter they are now compared to last month, last year, or last decade.

If you want to be good at it, leading others forces you to learn, to hear uncomfortable things, to challenge yourself, and to grow.

38. You get to leave fear behind

I spend a lot of time speaking about why fear is an ineffective leadership tool. When you use fear, you’re asking your team to give you their very minimum effort and not a sliver more.

You can easily spot fear-motivated teams: everyone is “tight,” there is little innovation or creativity (people are scared to take a risk), there’s not a lot of laughter or joy, and you don’t see “above and beyond” passion or effort.

So many leaders rely on fear because they are fearful themselves — of failure, of being exposed, of being a hypocrite.

And yet, effective leaders overcome those fears and stop relying on fear as a leadership tool. Consequently, they build engaged, motivated teams who take responsibility, problem solve, and innovate.

39. You get to help people

Many research studies have revealed the physical and emotional benefits we experience when we help others. These include feeling stronger, increased energy, a sense of calm, decreased depression, and reduced anxiety.

These are gifts you can give yourself when you practice servant leadership.

40. You get to experience team

There is little that compares to the transcendent feeling of being a part of something that is bigger than your self.

If you’ve ever worked in a high-functioning team, you experienced that sense of trust, commitment, and life where everyone makes everyone else that much better.

As a leader, you don’t just get to experience this — you get to build it!

41. You learn to be authentic

Many people go through life wearing masks. We adopt a persona to make our parents happy or to satisfy a romantic partner or to get friends. I’m not talking about learning decent social manners… I’m talking about a false exterior we think helps us.

At some point in your leadership journey, you’ll realize that this mask is preventing you from being effective. If you want your team to commit their hearts to the mission, you’ve got to reveal yours.

What do you believe in? What are you passionate about? What do you believe your team can do? Why are you doing what you’re doing?

Effective leadership drives you to authenticity — where you lead from a central core of very real values and passion.

42. You get to see innovation bloom

I love the spring when the fruit trees blossom. It’s a marvelous sight after months of dreary cold, these clouds of perfumed whites, reds, and pinks hovering above the city streets.

Watching creativity happen is a little like that — in the bleak winter of a problem it seems too complex, solutions evade your grasp, and you wonder if you’ll ever figure it out.

But then, you give the team the tools they need to innovate: you define the problem, you create criteria that must be satisfied, you make it safe to explore ideas, and look for ways things CAN happen, and…

Voila! Creativity and innovation burst into life.

(and you get to watch!)

43. You learn to appreciate strength

Most leaders start their journey by trying to correct weakness — in themselves and in others.

That is a dead-end path that only frustrates you and your team.

Effective leaders learn that only strength produces anything.

They learn to operate out of their own strengths, to nourish, encourage and make productive the strengths of others. No one less than Peter Drucker said that this is a leader’s fundamental work.

In a world where David Brock tells us that every year people receive only minutes of positive feedback compared with thousands of hours of negative feedback, it is a rare gift to be able to appreciate your own strengths and the strengths of others.

44. You release power

I received an email…It was from Greg, and accomplished professional with a wealth of experience, knowledge, and wisdom in his field. He has led many organizations and is a pleasure to work with. When he becomes available, people line up asking if he’ll come work for them.

Greg’s email said simply: “Thank you for believing in me.”

No matter how talented and amazing you or your people are, we all benefit from having someone believe in us.

Your belief in others unlocks their belief in themselves.

As a C.B.O. (Chief Belief Officer!) you release power.

And that’s worth celebrating, don’t you think?

Your Turn

Leave us a comment (or hit reply if you’re reading an email) and share:

As a leader, what are you most grateful for?

What vital leadership gifts do you give your team?

And if you’re looking for a physical gift to give yourself or your team, you can do that while helping someone else:

45. Make a Difference Twice

If you want to give a gift to yourself or to leaders in your life, consider The Seven Things Your Team Needs to Hear You Say.

This month for every copy sold, I’ll donate one dollar to nonprofits that help people that need help the most – so you make twice the difference with this gift!

Be the leader you want your boss to be,

David

Want David to speak at your next event or corporate training?
Email David today or call 303.898.7018!

 

The post 45 Leadership Gifts You Give and Receive appeared first on Leadership Speaker David Dye.

Book David today for your event, workshop, or training: david@trailblazeinc.com or 1.800.972.582

Keys to Retaining Your Top Talent

I’m pleased to bring you a guest post today by Mike Figliuolo, co-author of Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results (you can get your copy by clicking here). You can learn more about Mike and the book at the end of the post. Here’s Mike:

Erin joined your team about a year ago. She came in with many other candidates for a job opening and she impressed you in the interview. She was far and away the best candidate. You knew you would be lucky to get her to join your team.

Since her first day of work, she has lived up to the high expectations she set in her interviews. She took over ownership for an important process on your team, and has not only mastered it quickly but she’s demonstrated the initiative to improve it. She reduced the time it takes to deliver her service while improving her output’s quality. Since she reduced the time she needs to complete the main job you hired her to do, she’s been identifying new projects she can take on to help the team.

Erin is the first to offer to fill in when someone else is out of the office, as she views that as a great opportunity to learn about other business areas. You feed off of her enthusiasm and enjoy working with her. If everyone on your team was like Erin, you would have the most amazing team in the company.

Erin is a joy to lead, but she presents you with a big leadership challenge. Her talent makes you realize she could move on to bigger roles. In fact, Erin has made a good impression with your colleagues. You’ve heard several of your peers have tried to recruit her away from your team. “Rising Stars” like Erin are fantastic team members – while you have them.

Approaches for Leading a Rising Star

For Rising Stars, follow an approach where you “Promote Internally.” The word “promote” has two meanings in this situation. No matter how much a Rising Star likes their current role on your team, you have to realize they aren’t likely to remain in it for long. They’re going to be looking for their next big opportunity soon – if they’re not doing so already.

It’s a huge mistake to be selfish and stifle a Rising Star’s aspirations to keep them on your team. One of your roles is being a career coach for these team members. Ask Rising Stars what their career goals are and advise them on what it will take to get there. Prepare them for their next move by helping them acquire the new skills they’ll need at the next level. Set a personal goal to get them promoted to a larger role that will take the greatest advantage of their potential for advancing their careers.

You owe it to your organization to find roles for Rising Stars that meet their career growth needs. Those roles should be within your organization. This is where the word “promote” takes on another meaning. You must not only be willing to let a Rising Star go to a new area in your organization – encourage them to do so and facilitate the move.

If you tend to hoard talent, talented people, especially Rising Stars, will seek new employment elsewhere. Your efforts toward moving them on to bigger roles are not only good for your organization – they can pay dividends for you personally too. Being a Rising Star’s mentor can be a good thing for your own career and doing so can help you build a talented team.

Educate Rising Stars about positions available across your organization and get a sense for what types of roles interest them. Advertise your Rising Stars as people who should be candidates for big roles other leaders are looking to fill.

Since talent attracts talent, ask Rising Stars to recruit their potential replacements. You can benefit from this approach of finding great new roles for Rising Stars. Talented people are often looking for their next great development opportunity.

If you build a reputation for helping talented people come into your organization, grow, and then move on to bigger roles, other high potential people will notice. Before you know it you’ll have a steady stream of high performers knocking on your door asking if you have any open roles on your team. They’ll do this because they’ll know they can come to your team for developmental opportunities. Not only will you not hold them back but you’ll guide them to their next great role after your team.

This dynamic will make it much easier for you to fill open roles on your team and reduce the amount of effort you expend recruiting. You’ll have a more talented candidate pool to choose from because the high performers and Rising Stars from other organizations will be the ones looking to fill the open roles on your team.

Once they do join your team, you’ll have productive team members delivering great results which, in turn, makes your results look fantastic. While in the short term it hurts to lose a Rising Star to a new role, long term it’s a great method for building a high-performing team.

Another leadership approach to use with Rising Stars is to acknowledge their reliable performance and reduce your time supervising them. This has two big benefits:

– First, it frees up “leadership capital” you can invest in other team members who require more attention.

– Second, by giving Rising Stars more autonomy, you’ll give them more room to build their skills. They’ll likely appreciate the increased freedom and trust you’re demonstrating you have in them.

The best way you can develop a Rising Star’s skills is to give them the space to run on their own to learn by doing. Who knows – they might teach you a thing or two.

Do you have a Rising Star on your team?  How do you approach leading them? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.  If you want insights into how your behaviors drive your team members’ behaviors and how to lead them more effectively, take our Lead Inside the Box Assessment ! It’s free and it’ll give you great insights into how to improve your team’s performance!

– Mike Figliuolo is the co-author of Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results and the author of One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership. He’s the managing director of thoughtLEADERS, LLC – a leadership development training firm. An Honor Graduate from West Point, he served in the U.S. Army as a combat arms officer. Before founding his own company, he was an assistant professor at Duke University, a consultant at McKinsey & Co., and an executive at Capital One and Scotts Miracle-Gro. He regularly writes about leadership on the thoughtLEADERS Blog.

 

 

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Book David today for your event, workshop, or training: david@trailblazeinc.com or 1.800.972.582

That’s Not Leadership – That’s Stupid

I can’t believe what I just read…

It was a marketing message for managers and team leaders. In brief it said:

Being a supervisor is a fight against human nature.

I just about hit the roof.

Seriously? I know there are still managers out there who think this way, but I was shocked to see it in leadership-training materials.

More than shocked though, it’s disappointing. Supervisors and managers who approach their people with this mindset and “training” are guaranteed to struggle and hate their work.

Let me explain:

Leaders don’t fight against human nature.

Slave-owners fight against human nature.

Leaders understand and work with human nature.

Leaders unleash the energy, creativity, and motivation people naturally have within them. In fact, leaders understand that there is not one single “human nature,” but that different people enjoy different kinds of work.

Look around – unless you’re sitting on a stone in the middle of the wilderness, you’ll see the products of “human nature” – ingenuity, creativity, and problem-solving. You’ll see activity. You’ll see people making a living serving one another and our common needs for food, shelter, entertainment, safety, and more. These are all “human nature.”

But if you’re trying to force a strong sales-person to manage a database all day…or a shy detail-loving database manager to spend most of their time making sales calls…that’s not leadership. That’s not even management.

That’s stupid.

Leaders look at a person’s strengths and align those strengths with the work.

You and your team are capable of amazing achievements – but I can guarantee you’ll never get there if you think of yourself in a fight with the very people whose energy, innovation, and productivity you rely on.

Work with your team, not against them!

Be the leader you want your boss to be,

David

Creative Commons Photo by striatic

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Book David today for your event, workshop, or training: david@trailblazeinc.com or 1.800.972.582

Announcing…

Hey there,

I’ve got a cool announcement, but first, I want to tell you something that I share with training audience and it’s been way too long since you heard it from me:

You’re awesome – your commitment to keep people and purpose at the center of your leadership makes the world a better place. It’s not easy, but you keep at it.

You’re important – you make a difference. Your influence goes way beyond the people you see every day or the work you do. Every day, you impact people you will never know.

I appreciate you – you want to lead, you’ve committed to grow, to ask great questions, and you help spread the word (the world needs more people like you!)

And it’s because of you that I can share this cool announcement: Arianna Huffington invited me to blog for the Huffington Post!

Will you check out You Lead Volunteers – Whether You Like It Or Not and leave a comment?

More ways you can help:

Click the link, then…
Share the article in your social media channels
Email it to a colleague who could use the help
Become a fan – right next to my name above the article you’ll see a little heart and ‘become a fan’

Thanks again and keep an eye on your inbox for leadership tools, gifts for you, and another very cool opportunity coming in 2015 (I’m super excited, but it’s still too early to share any details so for now just know I’m thinking about more ways to help you grow!)

With appreciation,

David Dye

Want to build teams that care & get more done?
Email David today or call 303.898.7018!

The post Announcing… appeared first on Leadership Speaker David Dye.

Book David today for your event, workshop, or training: david@trailblazeinc.com or 1.800.972.582

Hard Work Isn’t Enough

I hate it.

That feeling that creeps over you and you try to shake off.

The realization that you can’t keep going like this…

The pace.

The frustration.

And the panic that sneaks in if you entertain the thought

…that you can’t work hard enough to get through this.

I get it (and it stinks!)

What more can anyone ask of you than to work hard?

After all, your hard work, all the times you give it your best, your commitment to excellence – all of that got you where you are, right?

But as a leader, hard work isn’t enough.

You’ve probably heard that “practice makes perfect”, but what if you practice the wrong skill?

You’ll get better – at going nowhere!

This is where many frontline and middle level managers – and even executives, get trapped!

You’re smart. You worked hard to get where you are and when you’ve had challenges, you rolled up your sleeves and worked even harder.

But sometimes hard work isn’t the answer.

When your team doesn’t ‘get it’, when your colleagues don’t take you seriously, and when you’re running faster and faster just to stay in the same place…

You need new skills, new solutions, new answers.

When hard work isn’t enough, where do you get the answers you need?

If you’re in Denver on October 1st we’ve got the skills, solutions, and answers that will transform your career…your leadership…and your life.

Check out the Level Up Leader Lab for more information (space is limited and the early bird rate is gone after Aug 31).

“But David, what about me – I’m not in Denver?”

I hear you…and I’ve put together a fantastic resource just for you. Learn more about Obstacles to Opportunities

No matter how you do it, be careful about using hard work as the answer to every problem. You’ll end up stressed, burned out, anxious and you certainly won’t serve your team.

Take care,

David

The post Hard Work Isn’t Enough appeared first on Leadership Speaker David Dye.

Book David today for your event, workshop, or training: david@trailblazeinc.com or 1.800.972.582

Be the Leader You Want Your Boss to Be

One year from now, would you like to be three times the leader you are today?

What if the tools to get there didn’t cost you one cent?

What if they were available in both audio and pdf?

I’m excited to share a new resource I’ve put together that will help you:

Double (or more) your team’s productivity
Have more time to enjoy your work and your life
Be a leader others respect and want to follow

When you sign up, you’ll get a practical leadership tip delivered straight to your inbox each week for a full year.

Here’s a quick sample…just a few of the tips you’ll receive:

Reclaim Your Time: 11 Tips That Will Get You Home In Time for Dinner
Three keys to sustain your team’s energy and motivation.
Mastering meetings: 3 keys to leading meetings people want to attend
How to solve 90% of your management frustrations in minutes each month.
Two words that demolish roadblocks and inspire your team.
Simple strategies to address poor performance in less time with better results.

You’ll receive each 3-5 minute tip in both audio and pdf – so whether you prefer to listen or read you’ll be able to consume each tip in way that works for you!

These tips are completely free. They are my gift to you.

Ready to triple your leadership by this time next year?

Head over to 52 Be the Leader Tips and enter your name and email. You’ll receive your first tip and be on your way in a matter of minutes.

Take care,

David Dye

Be the Leader You Want Your Boss to Be

PS: The only way to get these tips is to follow the link and specifically sign up for them.

The post Be the Leader You Want Your Boss to Be appeared first on Leadership Speaker David Dye.

Book David today for your event, workshop, or training: david@trailblazeinc.com or 1.800.972.582

Calling All Leaders!

I Don’t Care

I’m sure it’s happened to you.

It happens to all of us…you hear the words coming out of your mouth and before you finish the sentence, you realize you’re saying something an adult told you when you were a child. Something you haven’t uttered in decades.

When I was eight-years-old, I joined a youth soccer team. When the coach asked me what position I wanted to play, I said, “Goalie.”

My reasoning was that the goal-keeper didn’t have to run. It’s probably not a surprise that I didn’t last very long in that position.

The next year, Coach Tom moved me to defender. I had to anticipate where the ball was going and run to cut off the next pass or shot.

After a game where I failed to get myself in position, Coach Tom pulled me aside.

“David, you need to see where the ball is going and -”

“I know, Coach!” I interrupted, “You gotta see the angle and block it off.”

Coach Tom looked at me, took a deep breath, and said, “David, I don’t care what…”  [Read More and Join the Conversation at the Lead Change Group]

Take care,

David

The post Calling All Leaders! appeared first on Leadership Speaker David Dye.

Book David today for your event, workshop, or training: david@trailblazeinc.com or 1.800.972.582

Reality Check – Leadership Communication

 

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend time with Craig Price, host of the excellent Reality Check Podcast. Craig is an expert in real-world thinking and we had a good conversation.

We cover a lot of ground including: Fear as a poor yet popular tactic that usually only gets the least amount of effort from your team, Craig getting robbed at gunpoint, and why leaders need to humanize themselves instead of setting themselves above their employees.

Bonus: near the end of the interview, Craig contemplates renaming his show!

Check out the interview

And if you like Craig’s podcast and want more interviews with bonus features, check out the apps:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reality-check-craig-price/id850534520

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.realitycheckpodcast.android.realitycheckpodcast

http://www.amazon.com/Wizzard-Media-Reality-Check/dp/B00JBNI2DY/

PS: In the coming weeks, watch for a new series I’m making available that has the potential to triple (or more) your team’s productivity, save you time, and earn the respect of your peers. Stay tuned…

PPS: (Wow – I haven’t used a Post-Post-Script in decades) Did you catch this month’s Engage! newsletter? I received so many positive responses to Eric’s story. If you missed it, check out the newsletter and the Leadership Question I Couldn’t Answer.

Take care,

David

If this post was helpful, check out my award-winning book The Seven Things Your Team Needs to Hear You Say.I provide leaders with practical tools to build engaged, energized, and innovative teams. Get your copy today on Amazon.com. 

David expertly nets it out for busy leaders (and is there any other kind these days?), sharing practical, actionable advice that will immediately transform leaders and improve team results.  -Julie Winkle Giulioni, Co-Author of Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go

Make a difference twice: for every copy sold I donate one dollar to nonprofits that help people who need help the most.

You also might like:

Can’t Keep Up? Get More Time for Your Work and Work from Your Team
9 Ways to Motivate Employees When You Don’t Set the Goals
But I Thought We Were Friends – How to Lead Peers
18 Truths You Really Can’t Avoid If You Want to Stay Relevant, Effective, and Connected
How to Get Clarity, Accountability, and Results in 5 Minutes


Want to get more done & build teams that care?
Email David today or call 303.898.7018!

The post Reality Check – Leadership Communication appeared first on Leadership Speaker David Dye.

Book David today for your event, workshop, or training: david@trailblazeinc.com or 1.800.972.582

Your Bad Boss Didn’t Intend to Be Bad (and How You Can Avoid the Same Fate)

Do You Know This Person?

Have you ever met an aspiring leader who says, “I want to be a horrible boss.”

No?

Me neither.

I’m not saying there isn’t a random psychopath or two out there, but for the most part, if you have a lousy leader in your life:

Your bad boss didn’t intend to be bad.

Think about that for a moment.

Let it sink in; it’s important.

They might have taken the position for many reasons, but their goal was never to be a jerk, to fail, or to make life miserable for their team.

If you’ve ever had a bad boss, those awful outcomes are byproducts, never goals.

Why It Matters

“So what,” you might say. “That doesn’t excuse their behavior.”

No, it certainly doesn’t.

But it should serve as a warning.

If you’re an aspiring leader or in a leadership role now, you certainly don’t intend to be a bad boss.

Neither did they!

How is it that so many managers, leaders, and supervisors get it so wrong?

The answer to this question is… [Read more of this post at the Lead Change Group]

Take care,

David



If this post was helpful, check out my award-winning book The Seven Things Your Team Needs to Hear You Say. I provide leaders with practical tools to build engaged, energized, and innovative teams. Get your copy today on Amazon.com. 

David expertly nets it out for busy leaders (and is there any other kind these days?), sharing practical, actionable advice that will immediately transform leaders and improve team results.  -Julie Winkle Giulioni, Co-Author of Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go

Make a difference twice: for every copy sold I donate one dollar to nonprofits that help people who need help the most.

You also might like:

Can’t Keep Up? Get More Time for Your Work and Work from Your Team
9 Ways to Motivate Employees When You Don’t Set the Goals
But I Thought We Were Friends – How to Lead Peers
18 Truths You Really Can’t Avoid If You Want to Stay Relevant, Effective, and Connected
How to Get Clarity, Accountability, and Results in 5 Minutes


Want to get more done & build teams that care?
Email David today or call 303.898.7018!

The post Your Bad Boss Didn’t Intend to Be Bad (and How You Can Avoid the Same Fate) appeared first on Leadership Speaker David Dye.

Book David today for your event, workshop, or training: david@trailblazeinc.com or 1.800.972.582