leadership
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“No One Ever Told Me”
I make a mean apple crisp. I’m locally famous for it. My daughter, the pickiest of picky eaters, would never even try it, asking for vanilla ice cream instead. Then finally, one Thanksgiving while she was home from college, she accepted her helping of apple crisp with delight. I asked what changed, and she replied with a straight face, “No one ever told me how good it was!” Oops, guess I missed that lesson in Parenting, 101. It got me thinking about the value of lived experience to expand one's perspective. I have seen many “No one ever told me” examples during my career that point to the importance of…
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We thrive on validation
Dictionary.com defines validate as: "to make valid; substantiate; confirm." In our various "selves" we are always seeking it. We hope people will recognize our talents and say things like: "You're such a good Mom (or Dad)." "What an incredible athlete you are!" "How did you learn to draw like that?" We REALLY, REALLY seek validation on social media. Those likes and hearts and shares all serve to validate us, don't they? It's true at work, too. Everyone wants their ideas to be recognized as brilliant, or at least as solid. But when the boss fails to appreciate workers, they become demoralized, disengaged, and sometimes even disgruntled. On more than one occasion…
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Three Commitments for 2020
Let's be honest. New Year Resolutions are overrated. First, they rarely last, and second, they usually try to fix something about the past rather than focusing on strengthening the future. Image by skeeze from Pixabay What if instead of resolving to"do better" we commit to "add value" to our careers and our organizations? Let's not call them resolutions either. Commitment is a much better description, don't you think? These three commitments are a great start for a better 2020. Commit to developing stronger relationships in 2020. Most of us really hate networking and avoid it when we can. Just admit that you hate it, but commit do it anyway -…
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Slaying Dragons
Leaders are constantly grappling with one challenge or another. Today it is a personnel issue; tomorrow a budget crisis; next week a government decision that will affect our business. Leaders must regularly and routinely slay such dragons or face the consequences. In a way, slaying dragons is invigorating. The adrenaline flows and the creativity ramps up. You become the hero of the moment. How rewarding! But. Sometimes the dragons we must slay are not dragons at all. They're mice. That's right, those tiny little creatures that live among us. Mice - not dragons - are really our largest threat over the long run. My personal experience with a mouse bears…
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What kind of board member will you be?
In my previous posts on governance, I covered the essence of board service and then the bad behaviors seen in many nonprofit boards. Today’s post will focus on the types of behaviors that all board members should strive toward. If you are lucky enough to serve on a board full of these board members, count your blessings. And if you aren't, then now is a good time to start working on that. Facilitator: This is the board member who likes to hear all view points while keeping the discussion moving. They make excellent Chairs but if carried out to a fault, can result in meetings that drag on and on.…
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Don’t be like these board members!
Today's post includes those board behaviors that I hope you never have to witness. By exploring these behaviors before you experience them, you will be better equipped to address them when they occur. In Part One of this series on Governance, we talked about board service in general including the basic responsibilities of board members. Before reading part two of the series, I encourage you to start with the Board service basics. Board member characteristics I hope you never encounter: Absentee: This is the member who is using the role as a resume builder or status symbol or who is serving because of their professional role, but who really isn't interested…
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Workplace Bullies
Bullying in the workplace is a serious problem that doesn't get enough attention. Having experienced workplace bullying, I can attest that it makes work life unbearable. It affects workers, productivity, and culture in significant ways, but is too often ignored. In our consulting work at Leadership Bridges we often (but certainly not always) find that organizations experiencing dysfunction also have a history of harassment and bullying. Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik, Gary Namie, and Ruth Namie, in their article Workplace Bullying: Causes, Consequences, and Corrections, define workplace bullying as "repeated, health-harming mistreatment that takes one or more of the following forms: verbal abuse; offensive conduct and behaviors that are threatening, humiliating or intimidating;…
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The tainted star
We’ve all met them. Many of us have worked with them. And sometimes we have had to fire them. The “them” I am talking about are those star performers who also have issues relating to those around them. If you give this star an assignment they can perform independently, they excel. But once you pair them with others, the trouble begins. You often don’t recognize the signs quickly either. In my experience, these stars tend to be self-starters. they have great skills in project management, research, and follow through. On the one hand, you appreciate how well they perform the tasks and projects you assign them. But conversely they tend…
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Five Lessons on Leadership
I served as the executive director of a fine nonprofit organization for 13 years and recently retired. (See my bio here.) I put my heart and my soul into the work. It became my identity, my quest, and my passion. I believe (ok, I know!) we did some pretty good things in those 13 years. But that is not the point of this post. The point is the many good things that happened in the last month as I said goodbye that provide important lessons for leadership. So many people sent me inspiring notes or said nice things about me and to me during this time. They said what I…
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The more you know
“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.” – Bertrand Russell Have you ever known someone who was so very uninformed, did very dumb things, acted just plain stupid, but yet THOUGHT they were super smart? Come to find out, and my experience bears this out, the dumber someone is, the smarter they think they are. Conversely, the smarter one is, the less confidence they have in their intelligence. They’ve even done some scientific studies that prove the point. and it has a name: The Dunning-Kruger Effect. Sufferers have what has been called illusory superiority, where people overestimate their positive qualities and…