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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Framing Challenging Assignments Positively
Good leaders don’t wait for team members to be perfectly ready to tackle assignments beyond their comfort zone. They stretch team members with projects, initiatives, and assignments that will provide a great learning opportunity and a potential showcase of their skills and talents.
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Leaders Without Character and Strong Values Have No Enemies and Make Poor Decisions
To live comfortably into the future with that decision or choice requires a grounding in the values and principles that have stood the test of time and have been held dearly by you in the past. Anything less means submitting to the loudest voices who demand their views be agreed to and acted upon. True…
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Preparing Reports for the Entertainment of Management
Leaders are often unaware of the impact and mad scramble their requests for information have on those below them and behind the scenes. Unless the leader knows how they will use the information or data, they should probably avoid asking others to spend countless hours doing busy work or creating reports pejoratively known in many…
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Great Partnerships Defer to Expertise and Passion
Great relationships and partnerships are full of debate, humor, collaboration, and disagreement. Making decisions together requires working through complex issues and different points of view. Breaking the gridlock of disagreement when both parties feel strongly about an issue is critical for sustaining a robust partnership. Doing this, however, is not always easy and has the…
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Don’t Tell People They Are Wrong – Tell Them How Right You Are Instead
Don’t Tell People They Are Wrong – Tell Them How Right You Are Instead. Experienced leaders and smart thinkers can sometimes fall into a habit of telling people they are wrong before they give them what they consider a better answer or view. The idea of pointing out that others are wrong in their thinking,…
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Leading Team Members Who Don’t Want a Relationship and Want to Be Left Alone to Do Their Work
The world of leadership style has seen drastic changes over the last 50 years. We’ve gone from an exclusionary, top-down, command and control orientation to an inclusive, empowering, and consensus-oriented approach. Team members expect a very different style of leadership from those who hold the title.
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Where Do You Stand With Your Leader?
Leaders commonly expect team members to check in with them when engaging in important tasks and assignments. Some leaders insist on being asked for their views, while other leaders simply want to be kept up to speed on what has transpired. Looking at a composite of conversations leaders have with team members, we can generalize
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Gratefulness Is More About the Future Than the Past
Gratefulness Is More About the Future Than the Past. When we are truly grateful, those around us can sense the awe and optimism we have even with the future’s uncertainties. This energizes others and inspires the kind of hope they need to become more grateful, as well. As the old maxim goes, ”A grateful mind…
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Teaching Grit
The Hard Thing Rule is the daily practice of something outside your comfort zone. It is a practice that includes a bounty of feedback and requires a deep commitment to finish or achieve the end goal. Engaging against that daily challenge requires an individual to alter their normal tendencies, teaching them to develop more Grit.
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The Secret of Olympic Motivation
Good people want those they care about to be proud of them. The desire for that pride can sometimes be the push they need to overcome the obstacles preventing them from ultimate success. For Gregory, like so many other Olympians, the secret to motivation was to want his family to experience the thrill of victory…