FieldNotes
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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The Incredible Speed of Unpleasant Situations
Good outcomes and the processes they require take time, patience, and determination. Learning new ideas, establishing new habits, building relationships, creating a high-performance team and the like don’t occur overnight. They take energy, time, and commitment. Bad things, on the other hand, happen quickly, often by surprise. They unfold and raise their ugly heads with…
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Recovering From a Bad Decision.
Leaders inevitably make some bad calls. Sandwiched between a host of quality decisions, leaders land on a decision they often regret later. Not only does this decision result in negative consequences, but it often is hard to unwind or revoke. Recovering from a bad decision requires a unique strategy. Before acknowledging the bad call, good…
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What To Do If You’re Layered in an Organization
Being “layered” in an organization means reporting to someone who now sits between you and the leader you used to report to. While this is universally interpreted negatively by those who have been layered, this new reporting line has some distinct advantages as well as drawbacks. The key is to understand why you were layered,…
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Leaders as Mediators When Team Members Are in Conflict
Conflict between team members can upset the delicate balance of collaboration and goodwill on even the best teams. Team members in conflict often ask others to take sides and bring their personal war to nearly every team conversation. Ignoring this struggle or hoping it will resolve itself on its own is faulty thinking. When the…
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The Dangers of a Leader in Denial
The greatest lie leaders tell themselves is not a falsehood, but an insistence on looking the other way. They purposely choose to live in denial of what everyone knows and sees because it serves their self-interest to do so. Leaders in denial discard feedback, eschew contrary data, and ignore what is in front of their…
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Untangling a Bad Habit
Bad habits are very similar to good habits. Some are easy to change, while others are exceedingly difficult to eradicate. Finding the motivation to create or change them is the first step. But unlike creating good or healthy habits, an inability to conquer a bad habit can elicit feelings of shame, helplessness, and guilt. This
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If Not Me, Then Who?
In 2006, U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lieutenant Travis Manion began preparing for another tour to Iraq. When his brother-in-law expressed concern, Manion affirmed his commitment to duty, adding that if he didn’t go, someone less experienced would. Manion made the ultimate sacrifice when he was killed in action after protecting his troops from enemy fire.
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Asking a Team Member to Give Advice to a Peer on the Issue They Need to Work On
It is well-known that when people teach others, they achieve a personal clarity that informs their own thinking on the subject. Sharing what they know requires team members to distill their knowledge and explain it in a way that others can easily follow. Once they engage in teaching others, they often reflect on whether they
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Oh, But You Digress
Digressions in team discussions are frustrating and counterproductive. They can take teams off task, waste valuable time, and severely impede progress on the important issues the team needs to discuss. Once a major digression occurs, it is exceedingly hard to put the genie back in the bottle. As the team patiently endures the digression, what
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Great Leaders Share Their Talents and Skills Beyond the Workplace
If, as many philosophers believe, generosity is the key ingredient to becoming your best self, then how a leader gives to others exerts a powerful influence on how they develop and grow. There are a myriad of ways to give to others: time, money, creativity, connection, ideas, and opportunities. But for leaders, it is the generosity of