“I really don’t care if they disagree with this new policy. This is my company, and I’m in charge of making sure we are profitable, secure, and growing. It’s my responsibility to make these decisions, and this is what I need them to do.” This is true. The owner and C-Suite execs are in charge of making sure the company …
Help Them Connect the Dots
They say there are two ways to motivate people: away from fear or toward desire. Fear could include losing a job, being embarrassed at the team meeting, or being passed over for a promotion. Desire could include getting a bonus or some other desirable incentive, receiving recognition, or earning a promotion. Many of us hope to lead by creating desire …
Supervision vs. Coaching
Supervision is an old, industrial-age, baby boomer model of leadership that is DOA in the workplace today. I can say that because I AM a boomer. I can also say it because I work with Gen X, Y, and Z professionals every day who confirm what the research overwhelmingly supports—they hate being supervised, corrected, and micromanaged. Supervision was important and …
On Election Day, Choose Wisely
This just might be the most important Monday Morning Stretch I have ever written. As you read this, within 24 hours, we will elect a new American president. Whatever the results, half of the country will be disappointed, if not downright angry, frightened, and despondent, except for (I hope!) our readers. I’m banking on the notion that if you’ve been …
The Intentional Feelings List
This is a confession of a recovering OCD professional. Sometimes, I guess to feel productive and complete, I write things down on my daily to-do list that I’ve already done just so I can cross them off. Ridiculous, I know, but painfully true. This week, as I began to succumb to this silly habit once again, I wondered why. Why …
Nurturing the Narrative
I have some really brilliant friends. Truly brilliant. Whenever I spend time with them, I’m reminded of how lucky I am to learn from them, grow with them, and have them in my life. One such friend, Deb Berecz, has been my bestie and a solid light in my life since 5th grade. Deb is an experienced collaborative family law …
Conflict Done Right
If we’re honest, most of us hate conflict. We either gear up for an uncomfortable fight, or we avoid it altogether. I think conflict gets a bad rap. I believe conflict feels uncomfortable to us because we’ve blindly adopted an old definition of it from parents, co-workers, friends, and society in general. We look at it through the frame we’ve …
Triggers
Triggers. Just like a firearm, they get pulled sometimes with even the slightest touch. Emotional triggers get pulled all around us every day. Someone puts an opinion on social media, and then someone with a different opinion lobs an insult. The first person is triggered and fires back. In a flash it has escalated into an adult game of “I …
Focus
I have decided that I am a big fan of focus, not because I’m always good at it but because I’m not. I have a lot of interests, a busy life, and, like all of us, I live in a fast-paced world. It’s easy to decide that constant distractions and operating in a consistently fragmented way and juggling multiple demands …
How Bad Do You Want It?
It’s Labor Day Monday so… most of you are reading this on Tuesday! And it’s good that you are. Labor Day celebrates all Americans who work to support themselves, their families, their communities, and pay their taxes thereby supporting their nation. It’s the one day of the year we set aside to celebrate the working man and woman and give …
