Our daily Field Notes email is just the kind of jumpstart you need. A fast read. Maybe less than a minute. Because sometimes it just takes one insight to change the trajectory of the day.
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Leaders Bring the Weather
Through their actions, leaders set the tone and climate of the team. Leaders who get this are highly aware of how they interact and engage with others, including their peers. They understand that team climate is unlike the weather in one important way. The weather changes tomorrow. Climate is experienced every day.
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Sometimes a Team Just Needs a Win
When a team faces stiff headwinds for a prolonged period, good leaders find a way for the group to succeed and win. This means looking to alternative sources of competition where the team can achieve a hard-fought outcome and remember what it feels like to win. Nothing feels better to a team that hasn’t had…
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Revoke a Bad Decision Publically
When a bad decision needs to be rescinded, good leaders don’t miss the opportunity to project their true character and competence. Revoking a poor decision publicly is a ticket to win the hearts and minds of the team.
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Smart Versus Wise
For leaders, it’s always better to be wise than to be smart. Of course, it takes wisdom to know that. Smart leaders know things. Wise leaders know what to do with that knowledge. We say some people are wise beyond their years. There is no similar expression for smart. At best, we say some people…
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The Inescapable Metaphor of Baseball
Of the many metaphors that have found their way into the lexicon of organizational life, perhaps none is more pervasive than baseball. The idioms of baseball have traveled the globe and seeped into conversations between people who know little or nothing of the game. Fully integrated into our thinking and speaking, baseball metaphors help to galvanize…
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Problems That Arise Gradually or How to Boil a Frog
Problems generally don’t age well. Over time, the underlying issues associated with them often get worse, sometimes reaching catastrophic proportions. Yet, many problems go unaddressed by leaders until just before the volcano is ready to blow. By that time, there is little to do but control for the damages and limit the casualties. As a…
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Managing a Prima Donna
Some colleagues think so highly of themselves that it’s a wonder their feet stay on the ground. In extreme cases, a colleague who has an obsession with their own self-worth will quickly get rejected by the team and depart thinking everyone was blind to their greatness. In more mild versions, a team member with an…
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You Don’t Work For Me
The best leaders push an important point downward. You work with me, not for me. Even leaders who excel at holding others accountable understand the importance of this distinction in how team members engage. When people have it in their mind that they work for a leader, they operate differently. They wait for instructions, seek approval to make decisions,…
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When Teams Are Not Really Teams
When Teams Are Not Really Teams. Some groups just can’t operate as a team. Instead of forcing them to, the best leaders accept that reality and treat everyone as leaders. Sometimes unity exists in the conversation and not in a common goal.
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Don’t Call It a Pilot Program
Don’t Call It a Pilot Program. Call any initiative, introduction, or untested program anything but a pilot. Descriptors like introductory, exploratory, and preliminary don’t carry the same expectations for how participants should orient to the activity. Some descriptors and labels seem socially charged. Pilot is one of them.