It was getting late. I was trekking with a group of police officers from Singapore, on a leadership training program with Outback Initiatives. We scrambled along a narrow path that dropped away to sharp cliff rocks, pounded by an especially vigorous surf. I kept glancing down, imagining how I’d be able to rescue someone should they survive the bone-breaking tumble and be taken by the furious drag of the sea. Outdoor leaders tend to consider the worst, to be prepared (or maybe it’s just my eerie sense of the macabre).
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Why speak the truth?
How confident are you in the future? Do you have a great sense of certainty about how the world will be in five years? in ten?
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Why Don’t We Speak Up?
“What do you think, Zoë?”
Holy crap. This was it. I had to say something.
My colleague had just thrown me a bone in a meeting. He knew I was peeved about the contract and was quietly stewing in frustration.
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Three Skills To Master For Effortless Composure
Let’s face it, keeping cool under pressure isn’t easy. When someone is criticising our work, or disagreeing strongly with our perspective, or doing something that is clearly unfair and unreasonable, who hasn’t felt the heat rising and the urge to snarl surge through the veins…
Blurting out something in frustration, or interrupting, or arguing are all signs we’ve dropped our bundle.
We may also be heading for disaster. There are three things at risk when we lose composure:
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Why smart people make dumb leadership decisions
Smart people who accomplish much in their chosen profession are often promoted to leadership roles under the assumption, ‘they are good at their job as a lawyer / accountant / engineer / doctor / academic, they’ll be great as team leader’. Sometimes that assumption is right. Often it is wrong.
Team management is an entirely different set of skills and awareness than what is required for execution of specific professional roles.
There are key mistakes that smart people make as leaders:
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3 mistakes in change management
“How do you convince people to change?”
This was a question from a participant in a workshop I led on Crucial Conversations. It’s a common challenge for leaders: how do you influence others to adopt your ideas?
Here are the mistakes many leaders make:
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How to create a synergystic team culture
Ray Garner said synergy was “when the creation of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Synergistic team cultures are the secret sauce of brilliant, results-producing teams.
![synergy[1]](http://innercompass.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/synergy1.jpg)
But what’s the secret sauce of the secret sauce? How do you actually build synergistic team cultures when the parts of the whole are more like a box of tools than a synchronised machine?
[Not that I, or you, would ever call your colleagues ‘tools’. Note to self: metaphor could go wrong here…]
The solution is elegant in its simplicity, and deep with impact.
Here it is:
Secrets to effective teams – Part 1
Attribution: Michael Heiss, flickr.com – creative commons
Ever been part of a fabulous team? Where the energy was electric, the engagement fun, the synergy terrific?
I’ve been in many teams that operated that way. In some cases, the camaraderie and relationships have lasted much longer than the team focus itself. As a case in point with my old Outward Bound buddies – we now use our effective team skills to plan great weekends away – instead of planning multi-day, multi-group leadership adventures for young people.
It’s not a haphazard thing. Great teams can be cultivated. In this series, we’ll look at some key strategies for you to implement to build a robust, dynamic team.
Where do you start?
Rapport.
Rapport is leadership currency.
When you have good rapport with your team members, you build trust. When trust flows, it creates a safe place for people to share ideas and build on these. This is what Tara Neven and Linda Ray call the “collective brain” in their article, “Ditching the boss: How the collective brain empowers organisations” on their blog, the Brainwaves for Leaders. When you feel safe, you feel confident that you can put an idea out to the group without being judged or ridiculed.
In this way teams have got each other’s back, instead of being at each other’s backs.
How’s your corporate culture? Tip: take a pulse check
“How’s the culture? How should I know what the staff think?”
You could see the frustration seething like a tortured snake in the inner workings of this CEO’s mind. You could almost hear the thought bubble, “Business would be so much easier if it weren’t for the people!”
Corporate culture need not be frustrating. Nor is it a mystery. It’s a real, tangible, and manageable energy system that can be directed and sculpted.
The first thing you need to know NOW is what are they thinking? Or more precisely, what are they feeling.
To get a sense of what’s going on in your culture, gather the troops. Start with your immediate direct reports. Ask them to share what they are feeling.
YES! I said FEELING.
How healthy is your corporate culture? A Checklist.
You know when you’re in good culture. You’re happy to go to work, you enjoy your day, and you go home satisfied.
You know when you’re in a bad culture too. Monday-itis creeps into Sunday. You walk around sour-faced all day. You fret and gnash teeth over perpetual work issues.
So what is the difference? What makes a good culture?
A good boss? Absolutely. Good management and visionary leadership sets a good tone. Is that the only thing? Certainly not.
Here is a checklist to help you craft a company culture worth crowing about: