Leader Selection Savvyness

As we have witnessed these last few weeks in national politics, who someone picks to lead has huge implications on the person who picked them, and if progress will truly be made.

So how do you pick and introduce the right person or people to lead a critical project or program so you don't hurt your credibility and set a positive stage for this new leader to make progress?

1. Already Proved to Walk the Talk
You can't risk bringing in someone to lead a critical project that doesn't have the right reputation for execution and follow thru across your company. If you bring in someone from outside your company this person will need to show they have done what you are looking to accomplish via another company.

2. Team Assimilation
Either promoting someone from within to lead a new role, or bringing someone from the outside in to make progress may ruffle some feathers. Especially if there are more senior staff who feel like they deserved the lead role. Have small retreats or meetings to bring the new into the fold of the existing team and if needed bring in an outside facilitator for this "assimilation" meeting.

3. Socializing The New Leader
You need to let your peers and other organizations within your company know about your new leader, why they are qualified to take on the leadership role at hand, and help the new leader make connections that will accelerate getting the job done.

Remember these aspects when you look to pick someone to lead your next big initiative.

Pay It Forward

The banker reached into the folds of his gown, pulled out a single credit note.

"But eat first — a full belly steadies the judgment. Do me the honor of accepting this as our welcome to the newcomer."

His pride said no; his stomach said YES! Don took it and said, "Uh, thanks! That's awfully kind of you. I'll pay it back, first chance."

"Instead, pay it forward to some other brother who needs it."

- in Between Planets by Robert A. Heinlein

Earlier this week I helped a friend with her MySpace page. Tomorrow I will be helping with an event's logistics. I am sure there is more to do. I get nothing in return (other than some wine).

When was the last time you did something for someone and expected nothing from it - no reward later on, no membership in an organization due to the "obligation" of volunteering - nothing.

Find something you can give this week and pay it forward. Need an idea? Here are a few I've either done or have seen others do:

1. Provide a Free Meal

Chief Viewzer (CEO) of Viewzi Brandon Cotter provides his team lunch every Friday. He even invites others he knows in the community to join him at these home cooked meals.

2. Find an Organization to Give Your Time

Find a group, homeless shelter, boys and girls club, anything else that you are doing just to give back, not to get somewhere else in society.

3. Find a Group to Donate Money To

Even though most organizations need people's time to help them accomplish their mission, many are in need of additional funds. $25 can go a long way. Google on something in society you wish was better and you will probably find an organization already trying to do so. Give to them.

4. Bring Someone at the Office Flowers

It will brighten their day.

5. Do You Really Need That?

Have books, clothing or other household goods collecting dust? Donate it now.

We all get stuck in a rut to show up at work and run family errands. Do something for yourself by giving relentlessly to someone else.

But remember, those you help have to now help 3 other people versus paying you back.

Disappointment

No matter how much a situation just ticked you off, don't try to get revenge.

No matter how upset you got over not being selected for something, shrug it off and find a bigger and better project to be involved in.

If there is an issue that is frustrating you, but you know you can do something about it, then go do something about it.

Every day we each face something that disappoints us. Those that can roll with the punches, stay positive and see the silver lining in these occurances will be leaps and bounds ahead of the naysayers.

What Makes You Want to Take Charge?

Some who have a "desire to lead" have this desire due to having a greed of wanting more in life. If that is what you want, is "leading" the way to get you more?

Others have a "desire to lead" to make change, solve a problem.

So what causes you to get to a point where you are tired of following someone else to solve the problem and want to take the helm?

Here are some things to think about the next time you are approached to take the "lead" on something new:

1. Are you skilled to solve the problem at hand?

2. Are you interested in the problem enough where you would do the work unpaid?

3. Do you "gel" with the people you would be working with and leading?

4. Do you have a vision to get from today to tomorrow?


What makes you want to take a lead on something? Drop me a comment!

Meetings That Matter

Do you often feel like you just lost an hour of your life when you enter a meeting that doesn't serve a purpose, bring an item to closure or help make progress for you or your organization?

What if you held a meeting like that, would people want to come to more of your meetings?

Here are some tips in getting through organizing what could not just be a tough meeting, but a tough meeting that could get you somewhere within your organization.

1. Publish an agenda
This includes purpose of meeting, goals and objectives. Make sure there are tangible things coming out of the meeting.

2. Take notes
Capture conversation, outstanding open items and action items. Determine when you are going to meet again and potential topics for the next meeting.

3. Know when to cut off conversation
Topics could get heated and dominate the conversation. Know when to "take something offline" so that you do not keep people beyond the time you set for the meeting.

4. Don't let a meeting run over
Stay to the schedule you proposed.

5. Recap action items/next steps before closing the meeting
Make sure everyone knows what is next.

Even though we think everyone knows how to properly organize and run a meeting, we don't.

Remember, only organize a meeting to make progress, not give status reports.

Calm Leadership

What type of leader attracts you more to follow:

1. The "in your face", bold, brash, reactive, the "sky is always falling leader", or
2. The cool, calm and collected leader who takes everything in stride?

A few of us reflected on this topic the other night as we replayed the "Clinton versus Obama" campaigns of weeks past, as we saw the more calm Obama keep a collected course through the elections. I think it is fairly obvious which side of the spectrum each presidential candidate leans (ok, maybe Hillary is somewhere in between, but I think you get the point).

Why are we attracted to calm leaders, and why more often then not female leaders in particular aren't as "cool, calm and collected" as their male counterparts? Is there something inherent to our chemical makeup or did we miss some sort of training along the way?

Our Attraction to the Calm?

Think about it - would you rather be led by someone who can hold their composure in tough situations or blow their top off?

Why Different?

This is due to nature at work - men and women have different chemicals and parts of the brain triggered in tough situations that come up as a leader.

So if you find you are more of an "on fire" passionate leader pushing the envelope maybe a bit too much, how do you go about calming your presence when your body wants to react differently? Here are some tips in calming your approach to leading:

1. Smile - Be Happy and Positive
2. Count to 10 - Calm Down Before Doing, or Saying, Anything
3. Think Before Reacting - Be Strategic Before Making a Tactical Move
4. Don't Jump to Conclusions - What Does Assume Do?
5. Keep the Fire Inside - Put That Energy Towards Your Next Project
6. Have a Coach/Mentor to Bounce Approaches/Ideas - They've Been There
7. Align Your Actions with Your Values - Consistency Re-enforces Your Leadership Message

No matter how well our intentions may be, peers and followers around us may not be ready for an "in your face" type of leader, at least, not today.

The Art, and Science, of the Jockey

As the democratic primaries come to a close, and a fun day of ensuring my team's hard work and thought leadership doesn't get stolen by others, I thought it was time to post on...

The Art, and Science, of the Jockey

No I'm not talking about becoming a sports athlete, but a business athlete.

What can help you stand out as a great business jockey of all time, versus just being one of the pack? Here are 10 tips to help you win at office politics.

The Art
1. Build Connections
You never know when someone in your company you meet can help position you and/or your team for great things. Or, you help them.

2. Establish Trust via Delivery
Harvest references.

3. Position "The Other" to Be Part of the Solution
Don't squash the other guy, instead, take the lead on collaborating with the other.

4. Determine Your Allies and Enemies
Nurture the Allies. Try to make the enemies your friends even if it hurts.

5. Guess the Counter Play from "The Other"
Good athletes compete. Great athletes second guess the upcoming moves of "The Other" to stay ahead.


The Science
6. Know Your Team's/Business Unit's Statistics
How has your business grown over the last year? What are you tactically doing to continue to grow?

7. Tout What Your Team Does
If you have truely done something before you say you have, prove it.

8. Calculate Your Next Move
How will you ensure your team stays ahead? What's the plan to stay the course?

9. Stay In Shape by Creating New Opportunities
Or what is known as "blue ocean strategies".

10. Don't Over Do It
You need to rest and jockey in moderation, otherwise you'll burn out and lose the art and science of it all.

Are you ready to play?

Do You Nurture Or Throw Into the Fire - Or Do You Even Know?

After chatting with one of my managers from a long week of trying to determine how we are going to staff all the work we have to accomplish this summer (which is a wonderful problem to have!), we embarked on a great conversation about "nurturing" new hires versus the proverbial "throw 'em into the fire".

If you are a manager, or an independant entrepreneur getting ready to hire contract workers, do you realize and know how you bring up to speed new people working for you?

Nurturers:

• Give new hires a plan from day one


• Meet with new hires regularly to ensure questions and needs are met


• Provide clear goals and objectives

Fire Throwers:

• Provide a few recommendations on how to get started


• Expect a new hire to come to them when needing help


• Has the new hire create their own plan and objectives

So are you more of a nurturer or fire thrower? Even if you are one versuses the other, there's a trick - it's not how you want to bring someone up to speed, but more so about how your new hire needs to be brought into your team's culture.

For example, more junior resources need to be nurtured where more senior can be let loose. Or, you have a particular project at hand you know how it needs to get done versus a new opportunity looking for someone new to look at tackling it from a different perspective.

It's important as you grow your team, and your self as a manager, that you learn how to manage and cultivate a diverse team of talent and experience, where you are capable of sensing which type of ramp up you need to deliver and then knowing how to deliver each method.

So when you look to bring on a new person remember to

1. Recognize what you need to have accomplished in the first 3-12 months


2. Understand the strengths and experiences of the new hire to tailor your ramp up style to him or her

Did Gaming Nurture My Leadership Style?

Though I'm not a millennial and did not grow up on MMORPGs (Massive Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games), I did however grow up on Atari, Nintendo and other gaming devices. As an only child and independent learner, these devices kept me entertained for hours on end, and out of trouble.

• Did gaming help me hone my strategic skills?
• Did gaming teach me how to be responsive, faster?

A few business professors recently studied this and began to forecast how the future business world may be more like a MMORG due to the environment being more dynamic and game like, requiring tomorrow's leaders to

• Have speed
• Be risk takers
• Accept leadership roles as temporary

I found the last comment interesting. It means title will no longer entitle you to always take the lead, or not take the lead. It means peers/employees of the company select who will be a leader for a project or initiative, but it's not permenant and others will have a chance to lead as well.

I believe that is already happening in many companies - for example where I am we have different types of governance and advisory councils for different types of projects and peers/others select "who" will take the lead either till the next year or when that project comes to completion.

This made me ponder on if we are just trying to morph corporate america into a world millennials could live in. What do you think?

• Should we be educating more junior colleagues on the ins and outs of the "corporate game" to help achieve what one wants to do and/or accomplish while in a career for one company?
• Is the "game" a new, more modern, acceptable term for what we know as today for "politics".

Now if only Zelda or Mario could lead corporate america...

Do Your Employees Know What is Expected of Them?

As a new manager, or someone jumping into a new role with direct reports, do those that now work for you know

• What to deliver to you to keep you up to date on what they are doing?
• When and how to raise issues to you?
• What they are measured on for performance feedback/raises/promotions?

Even if you have been leading your team for a long time, would each one of them be able to tell you that they know exactly what you expect of them? Probably not, and unfortunately, this is fairly common in business for a number of reasons, including:

• There is too much to do and you don't carve out time to set appropriate expectations
• The business goals or their role has changed, but expectations have not
• There aren't clear expectations at your level or higher that you can map back to your organization
• Annual performance reviews aren't the norm

To ensure your team is norming and performing in a direction you need to take them, setting expectations is key to getting the job done. Here are some tips to ensure you set clear, measurable expectations to make progress, versus, expectations to check off the to do list.

1. Have Report Take First Stab at Documenting Expectations
Let your team be in control of their destiny, and help you understand where your team is coming from, before laying down the goals you expect.

2. Map Corporate, Business Unit and Your Expectations to Your Reports
How do you plan to meet your expectations if your reports aren't in some form of alignment to help you meet your goals? Areas typically mapped include

• Quality
• Revenue/Amount Produced
• Cost Control
• Responsiveness

3. What Are Your Reports Expecting of You?
Make sure you know what they expect of you in case you need to change anything you do or convince them of something different.

4. Behaviour
Related to responsiveness, set expectations on returning emails and phone calls, being at meetings, and ettiquette on things like email.

5. Review Often
Sometimes once a year isn't enough if you are noticing issues early in the year. Have informal reviews when needed and "tweak" - expectations though a solid foundation for measuring a person's performance, can be modified through the year.

6. Set the Example
Do what you expect of your team. Otherwise you'll be the "pot calling the kettle black".

Does Character Mean More Than Experience in Obtaining a Leadership Role?

In sifting through my Google filter on leadership and public speaking postings today, a letter to the editor about our next great presidential race got me thinking

"What will help you reach a dream leadership role faster: your experience, or, your character?"

Having both helps to seal the deal. But, how do you get "there" when you don't have the experience?

For example, I've noticed that people hiring a new leader, say VP of some division, may not hire someone who was VP of that type of division at another company (maybe due to the price tag of hiring someone away from a great job), but instead a manager or director who is aspiring to be in that role and has the character to fill the VP shoes with a bit more elbow grease.

From this perspective, is your character at work and in your professional networks outside of the office positioning you for that next career move? Here are some things to think about to ensure your character glows so that you are ready to seize the next opportunity that comes by, so you don't miss it.

1. What Do You Mean By "Character"?
What is meant here are the characteristics you display to others that make who you are you from the perspective of leading others. You most likely have a number of wonderful characteristics and a few, you or others may perceive, as negative traits that make up your overall character.

Many have written about "what characteristics make up a great leader" and I boil these down to the following:

• Honesty
• Passion
• Discipline
• Courage
• Competence
• Creativity
• Visionary
• Inspriational

2. Are You In Touch With Your Positive and Negative Leadership Traits?
Out of the above set of leadership characteristics, which do you feel you are great at, and, which do you believe others see you being great at?

3. Are You Wearing Your Traits On Your Sleeve?
Even though you believe you are great at say 6 leadership characteristics, what if your colleagues only see you flex your muscle at 3 of them? Find opportunities to show how you glow in all areas - how others perceive you are as a leader is only via how they observe you.

4. Turn A Negative Into a Positive
Is there a trait you believe you are weak at? Find 2-3 things you could over the next month to improve that trait and show others you are good in that area. Weave it into your routine somewhere such that you get to show that trait to others once a month.

5. Keep A List of Leadership Traits With You At All Times
Many of us have little tools to remind us of things we should weave into our day - why not post a leadership character list next to your computer at the office as a conscienous reminder that your peers and team are always looking up to you?

Engineer to Leader Series: Does It Make Financial Sense?

In the last week I've had a number of people ask "who do you want to meet", and, in all honesty, I was very flattered to have others helping me in connecting with others I believe I can help in achieving their dreams. Of course that got me to think, out of a plethora of people reading my blog and know me, who is my target audience?

Engineers, who else! But not engineers who want to just be an engineer any more - those that strive to lead a group of engineers, or build the next Microsoft.

Hence, I introduce the "Engineer to Leader" series, which will soon be followed with a few offerings to coach and guide an engineer's first time being a manager or entrepreneur. Think of it as having an outside confidant you can go to when you don't know what to do, yet don't want those that work with you not know what you don't know.

So what do I mean by "does it make financial sense?" I've noticed with new managers who think they have the next best idea since sliced bread and jump into building the idea, or believe they should send the whole team to cutting edge training in Europe - did they think through their budget, priorities and business case before jumping in?

As a manager, here are the top 5 financial things you need to do or get access to to help you make better decisions for the people you lead in spending that next dollar or investing that next minute:

1. What's your spend budget for the year (outside of salary/benies for your team) and do you have to ask/justify using it to your boss before spending?

2. Are you a cost or profit center?

3. What are your financial goals for the year? (both your division's all the way up to corporate)

4. Is your budget restricted in any way - i.e. up to x% or $y can be used for overhead travel?

5. For opportunities to build a new product or gain a new skill, what is the business case for this investment (i.e. I spend X today but will generate Y revenue in 1,3,5 years?)

We'll talk more about determining what to "invest" in (because it is more than just spending money) in a future post.

So, are you on target to stay on budget for 2008?

Leadership Program Examples from the World

After reading an article this morning on a wonderful leadership initiative in Namibia, Africa, I thought I'd do a quick review of some exiciting leadership programs and initiatives from around the world.

Namibia Provides Leadership Training to School Principals
It's a train the trainer program on vision, empowering and building strong teams with ways to build and improve the skills of teachers involved.

South Eastern Europe EU Leadership Programme
A "boot camp" of sorts to engage young professionals in being leaders in the South Eastern Europe region.

Asia Young Leaders in Governance Initiative
What I found interesting with this program is that it not only has a focus on building "leadership skills" (systems of thinking for transformational change, conflict resolution, negotiation, team building, cross-cultural communication), but also "leadership values" (gender, anti-corruption, people's rights).

Central America Leadership Initiative
Yet another great initiative, and again, with a focus on "value based leadership" in terms of how one would define a "good society" to live within. What is exciting about this program is that fellows leave with a project to tangibly impact the Central American region.

I hope these inspire you to think globally, create opportunities to build great leaders and to continue to look around the world for ideas.

Any concepts from these inspirational world examples you could apply to impact your ocean?

Manager versus Leader Part Duo

Previously I blogged about the traits of a manager versus a leader. Today I was reminded of another comparison from The Source of Leadership.

In the recent note, David references the 12 distinctions between a manager and a leader Warren Bennis published almost 20 years ago:

• Managers administer, leaders innovate
• Managers ask how and when, leaders ask what and why
• Managers focus on systems, leaders focus on people
• Managers do things right, leaders do the right things
• Managers maintain, leaders develop
• Managers rely on control, leaders inspire trust
• Managers have a short-term perspective, leaders have a longer-term perspective
• Managers accept the status-quo, leaders challenge the status-quo
• Managers have an eye on the bottom line, leaders have an eye on the horizon
• Managers imitate, leaders originate
• Managers emulate the classic good soldier, leaders are their own person
• Managers copy, leaders show originality

So, are you a leader or a manager today? What are ways you can evolve yourself into displaying leadership characteristics if you do not already? Can you be both a leader and a manager simultaneously, and do you need to to be successful?

Stay tuned for more on this topic.

Manager versus Leader

I read a "what do you think" blog post on the Center for Leader Development blog today about the fine difference between "leader" and "leadership". That got me thinking about the fine difference between "manager" and "leader" and how it relates to effective leadership (and I'll converse more on leader versus leadership on later posts, stay tuned).

People who work with me know that I hate being called, or calling my leaders, managers. Yes, it is probably in the HR book that they have to be called managers because they have subordinates, but, I want people to feel like they are enablers of others that follow them in executing to reach common goals and objectives.

Hence, I avoid using the word "manager" at all costs when I talk about my team and instead use "leader". Wouldn't you rather work with someone known as a leader versus a manager?

So here's the catch on being known as either - to become known for leading the pack and managing the ship operations to get desired results, you need to be good at both leading and managing, no matter what title you have.

Are you a manager or a leader? Or both? Do you see things differently?

I've linked below some more sites and commentary on manager vs. leader to help you further develop your point of view on the difference, if any.

• Mulhauser Consulting on Management versus Leadership Skills


• Changing Minds Leadership versus Management (great table comparison referenced below)

PS - You do not have to be a manager to be a leader. And, I'd love to see all managers be good leaders, but that doesn't always happen.

Is Your Glass Half Full, or, Half Empty?

I don't know about you, but there are days where everything seems to be half empty, or more like, everything I respond to I react with a "half empty" response vs. a "half full" response, like:

"Why did you do this?"
"What were you thinking?"
"Do you not appreciate what I do?"

There could be other matters at hand causing you to not be yourself (bad situation at home, lack of sleep, biological factors). So, how do you get yourself out of the "Half Empty" response mode so to focus on always being "Half Full" (if not completely full!):

1. Run away. Literally. Stop looking at your email, or the office desk, and run out of the office. Go ON a run - at the gym, around the block - do something. If you are at an office where face time is precious, then go run to a coffee break or do something to get your mind off of work for 10-15 minutes.

2. Don't react to anything for the rest of the day. Most like you need to sleep on how you should decide on some issues. You potentially woke up on the wrong side of the bed and just need to give it another day of rest before reacting. Don't let others know the bed gotchya.

3. Do something productive to check a task off your list. Accomplish something to make you feel good for the rest of the day.

4. Run away from others that get "fired up" like you do. A snow ball is waiting to happen - avoid it at all costs.

And remember...

"You have to be positive every single day. You have to put effort into it daily, because no one else is going to do it for you." Donald Trump

Concept MEL

No, MEL is not an ode to one of my great friends of all time (sorry if you are reading Mel, but this isn't about you), but MEL is a simple concept I instilled in my team 8 months ago, in that, no matter what role you play on a team - from individual contributor to manager to executive, that you need to live and do MEL every day to make waves.

So, what is MEL?

Managing the Business
Empowering for Excellence
Leading for Growth

Let's look at each aspect a bit further and how it applies to you no matter where you fit in your organization:

1. Managing the Business
Why are you making that investment? What are the goals you need to manage to achieve over the next 12 months?

• Executives: Have you defined the vision for the next year and communicated the goals you want to set to achieve the vision? How are you tracking to your goals and what tools/dashboards do you provide your team, and yourself, to measure goal attainment so to proactively respond to red flags in achieving the goals.


• Managers: Are you making decisions based on the goals in front of you for the year? Have you broken the higher level goals into your team's action plan? You are the guiding light for your individual contributors - continuously make sure they know what you want out of them.


• Individuals: Do you know what you need to do to help your team achieve the goals for the year? Do you know what you need to know to deliver, and thus, continuously learn? When was the last time you asked your manager "how can I help you achieve our goals"?

2. Empowering for Excellence
Are you carving for yourself or your team ways to deliver excellence? Getting rid of obstacles preventing your team from being excellent? Are you an "excellent" role model?

You need to start by defining what "excellence" means to you and/or your team and live it, no matter where you fit in the organization.

3. Leading for Growth
This comes down to everyone, no matter the level, contributing towards two things

• Continuous business improvement (becoming more efficient)
• Harvesting new opportunities (innovation)

You need to make sure mechanisms are in place to become more efficient and to identity and build on new opportunities.

As you embark on embracing MEL, there is one more think to remember - keep it simple, silly. For example, those above me set 2 goals, yes only 2 goals, for my team to achieve this year - a revenue goal and utilization goal. That's it - bottom line goals.

So what are you waiting for - Manage, Empower and Lead today to achieve your goals for 2008! 2 months are already past you.

Define Your Leadership Style

I've realized that the leadership traits I brush up against that I like in working with colleagues and others rub off on me. This is how we build and evolve our own leadership style over time to lead your peers and organizations to make the impact you are looking to make.

How do you know you are evolving your leadership style so to become, and continue to be, a great leader?

Here are 5 questions to ask yourself to stay on top of your leadership game:

1. What are your leadership traits today?
You have to start by knowing where you are today, yes? Document what you believe defines your leadership style. Some of mine are as follows:

• Physical - Not concerned about being overworked
• Emotional - Self awareness, ambition
• Social - Listener, Takes initiative
• Intellectual - Knows how to delegate, explore new ways of doing things
• Communication - Communicates passion to others
• Experience - Give responsibility to followers
• Trustworthy - Caring

Not sure what traits make up your leadership style? Check out the American Library Association's leadership traits page for food for thought.

2. Where do you want to improve?

Is there an area you are lacking in leadership wise that you feel is important to the style of leader you want to exude in front of others?

For me right now it's about being more positive and encouraging to those I lead, both up and down, along with displaying more professional verbal and non-verbal traits that I'd like others that I lead to emmulate.

3. Are the people you surround yourself with great leaders?

If they are, pick out leadership habits you'd like to try on for yourself. If you are not, you need to find new colleagues to work with!

There are a number of people both on the job and off that I work with who I admire for their leadership skills - being able to articulate vision to a wide audience and being positive influencers are what I surround myself with daily because those are areas I am working to further develop.

4. Do you have opportunities to practice developing leadership traits?

Is there an organization you volunteer with where you can try something new out vs. on the job? Are there small projects you can try something out at?

For me, I did this some years ago as the president of a local chapter of Junior Chamber International. Even though I was not in the mind set to "figure out what I wanted to practice" I just did - found ways to show volunteer appreciation and lead the team to have high quality and well run programs through the year.

5. How well did you lead today?

Reflect on situations where you applied your leadership skills today. What went great and what can use further refining?

For me today I reacted to quickly to a few situations I probably should have sat on longer (or should have slept first before responding). Email is a dangerous tool for leading remote colleagues. So, less email, more phone calls.

If you are not making the impact you believe you should be making ask the above questions and evolve.

If you need assistance putting an action plan together to define and improve your leadership style, drop me an email.

Showing, and Feeling, Appreciation

As many of us either move up the ranks or go out on our own, we forget what it is like to be appreciated because instead of us getting the "at a boys" from managers as an individual contributor, we get the "now look what you did" from clients.

So, how do you coupe and make sure you and/or your teams feel great about what they are doing beyond material compensation (that is a starting point, by the way)?

Giving Appreciation

1. When you are out on vacation and have others manage the helm, send them a snail mail card when you return thanking them for keeping things afloat while away (I highlight snail mail because email is overrated for this type of activity)
2. At unexpected times tell colleagues to leave early
3. Take the team out for lunch or happy hour
4. Compliment colleague in front of peers or other leaders within the company
5. Promote promote promote (I don't mean promote by levels, I mean promote with peers the quality and capabilities of someone that deserves recognition)

Feeling Appreciated

1. Tell someone how much you appreciate them ('nuff said)!

So, who have you appreciated today?

What Can I Do for You Today?

When was the last time you asked someone "What Can I Do for You Today?" Or any of the following:

"How Can I Better Serve You?"

"How Can I Help?"

"What Could I Do Differently for You?"

These are questions you should ask frequently to friends (yes your friends will love you!), colleagues, those you manage, and those that manage you. This is a great way, inadvertently, to coach, and to be coached as well.

This is also good to do when you are feeling down or not making any progress on anything. Helping someone else make progress will make help you out of a rut because you are making progress, just on something different. And remember the connecting conversation from yesterday? This is a bit of an excuse to re-connect with someone.

Of course, once you ask that question be ready to commit and do what you say you are going to do.

Now who are you going to ask today?