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A leader’s primary reason for being is to instill hope.
Think about it: Why would an employee want to work for you? Because they hope for a stable life and valuable work, with people who make it interesting.
Why would a customer want to buy from you? Because they hope you’ll fix their problem or address a need they have.
Read the rest of this entry »I don’t know about you, but most of the things I do I’m … barely competent at.
Not incompetent, mind you, but enough to get by. There are a few things that I’ve gotten quite good at, and during my life may have even excelled at something.
So I was heartened today by seeing a thoughtful quote that:
Read the rest of this entry »Goals are wonderful! It feels amazing to accomplish something important and to celebrate when that happens.
But you have to realize that 99% of the time is not spent AT the goal, but on the hard work to get there. And that can be a slog.
Your team can get worn down by all the hard work, and lose their inspiration.
Read the rest of this entry »We’ve all been there, and we’ve seen it happen to others.
You’re doing fine for a while, working super hard in a stressful environment, and then something inside you senses that you’ve hit a limit. It might be a feeling of crushing overwhelm, or a more general lack of energy and direction.
We’re human. We have limits.
Read the rest of this entry »Sometimes opportunities just pop up out of nowhere!
I’ve been teaching a class recently which talks about the idea of being open to opportunities.
“Luck favors the prepared mind.”
Louis Pasteur
I have to confess that I don’t favor using the word “luck” in this context, because it feels too random and out of control. The fact is that opportunities happen all the time, but most of the time we’re not prepared to do anything about them.
Read the rest of this entry »I always work with my clients with the objective of a healthy business. Why that word, as opposed to profitable or growing or whatever?
It’s because the word conveys a proper sense of balance and happiness. I’ve seen many cases where the pursuit of profit can result in unhappy employees, disloyal customers, and a burned-out owner.
But we all want health and happiness, right?
Read the rest of this entry »This has been a heady time for Small Fish. And I appreciate the honor, really.
But if the major incentive to recognize people is merely to make them feel good, there’s not going to be much lasting impact. We’ve seen that with round-robin “employee of the month” programs where folks get a reward for … something?
We need to have recognition that’s more focused than that.
Read the rest of this entry »The other day I was having a conversation with some of my coach friends, and the concept came up about having a “disputable goal.” I confess that I’d never heard the phrase before, so of course I found it fascinating.
The idea is that when you have a goal, it should be possible to disagree with it. But why is this useful?
Imagine that you’re building an organization, and you really care that the people get along with each other well. So your goal is to “handle conflicts professionally.” Sounds good, right? Who could possibly think this is a bad thing?
Read the rest of this entry »All organizations have goals, no matter what the size. Sometimes they’re clear, sometimes not.
But when the organization gets large, the employees rarely find the goals to be motivating. Instead, they often revert to the lowest common denominator: What do I have to do to keep my job?
This drives leaders nuts.
I started my career as an engineer, so I was ingrained with the concept of “good enough.” Not perfect, but practical and appropriate. Leave the perfectionism to those mathematicians and scientists who didn’t have to worry about being practical.
And yet, perfectionism can be valuable.
When it comes to your principles and values, it’s great to be shooting for the ideal. Yes, you’ll fall short, but each time you do it can inspire you to do better.
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The Values-Based Business 