Doing, differently

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Monday!

Your world has been turned upside down in the past two months, categorically.
Your future plans are on hold and uncertain at best and many have been cancelled without chance of recovery; graduations, birthdays, lost hug opportunities.
Your sleep cycle is off as you worry about your job, your company, and your loved ones.
I think these comments are pretty universal right now and, as a nation, we are doing OK, coping the best we know how.  We are still anxious, we are still hopeful and we are still “swimming”.
Life keeps moving forward regardless of whether you have been considered essential or not by some agency.  We are all critically important.  Note: I have two sisters in the healthcare industry who deserve extra attention right now but have always been essential to the patients they serve.
Let’s take some time to reflect on what your day looks like and what you are doing with the additional time you’ve been gifted with. Yes, I said gifted.  Can you remember a time when you were stressed and you thought to yourself, I wish things would slow down a little, if only briefly?  Here you go!  Lights, camera, ACTION!
So what have you done to prepare yourself for behaving differently as opposed to waiting for the world to return to 2019 normal?
•Exercise?
•Eat better?
•Read?
•Write?
•Clean out your closets, garage, or files?
A couple of things to consider as you do differently from now forward
-Helping others takes your mind off of your concerns and right now there are a lot of areas of need.  A couple top of mind:
•Working parents supporting their kids as they distance learn
•Restaurants are serving curbside to try to keep operations going
What if you put the two real concerns above together?  Patronize a vendor and order extra for your friend or neighbor so they don’t have to cook tonight but can spend an extra hour teaching their kids?
-Resolving to put aside differences between a former friend or neglected family member:
•If ever there was a time to acknowledge life is precious and there are no guarantees in this world, now would be such a time
Have a blessed week!
Adapt, adjust, endure and excel.

Let’s make a plan

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!

I was watching some financial news channel during lunch yesterday and the phrase (title for today) popped up as part of some company’s advertising.  The context seemed far too narrow and my mind started racing as to what that phrase means to others right now and how I might interpret it (strategic plan, vacation plan, succession plan, retirement logistics plan, post COVID-19 recovery plan).
What’s your next plan?
•To reconnect with friends and family?
•To visit your favorite restaurant?
•To finish your must do list before this blessing-in-disguise-of-a-lifetime slow down lifts and you didn’t get done what you should have been able to get done?
Dr. Elvin Isgrig was one of my professors in college and as he stated, if he had created a To Do list at an earlier age, he felt he would have been far more successful.  The To Do list is really nothing more than a daily plan.
Ben Franklin said “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
You’ve likely read a previous post of mine about how Andrew Carnegie commissioned a consultant who told him the best way to focus his leadership was to generate a prioritized list (plan) of the five most important things needed to be done the next day and stay on point thus minimizing distractions and accomplishing far more than he would otherwise.
So…
*Let’s make a plan to be the best leader we can be
-The best version of ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually
-To be kind and tolerant and humble and honest
-To share our feelings regularly with our loved ones instead of waiting for hard times or regretful moments
*Let’s make a plan for our children to be set up for a higher quality of life and deeper relationships than we experienced
*Lets make a plan to be kind to ourselves, forgive ourselves for being … human, disappointing ourselves for some obscure thing that no one else knows of or could possibly care about
Be deliberate in your planning but don’t be consumed by it.  Read that again because I’ve failed at this continually.
The passage that speaks to me and gives me pause is Proverbs 16:9 NIV
“In their hearts, people plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”
Have a blessed weekend!

An embarrassment of riches

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!

{What does that term mean?}
It starts with the basic understanding of what you have … then being self aware enough to realize you’ve been blessed with so much more than you can use that you can’t help but be … embarrassed.
If you asked any one of the people fighting for their lives right now, whether due to a virus, cancer, heart disease or a myriad maladies that rob the stricken of the quality of life we aspire to, health is their riches.
If you visited a prison filled with people who made poor decisions, whether accidental or malicious, crime of passion or convenience, good hearted, cold hearted … and offered freedom, absolution would be their riches.
If you are well traveled, you have likely seen how so much of the rest of the world lives on so much less than we do in the USA; scavenging through dump sites for articles others have thrown away, sleeping without shelter and going days without food…they would say that we live in an embarrassment of riches.
{How am I supposed to react to this?}
How about starting with something as basic as food.
I watched a news story tonight as milk producers in nearby Wisconsin donated milk, that would have otherwise been dumped, to produce 20,000 pounds of cheese, then donated to local metro food pantries.
{That’s nice…but how does this affect me?}
You’ll get up tomorrow morning from a comfortable bed and clean sheets, take a hot shower, eat a nutritious breakfast, jump in your late model car to your essential job or get on your computer with a fast enough network to work remotely.
Perhaps you can find a few minutes during the day to reflect on the embarrassment of your riches and pass on some of those through a donation to a charitable organization, take your pick.  I like Second Harvest.  None will turn away help.
It’s important to count your blessings but it’s even better when you share them.
Peace.

This Easter

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Good morning, Friends, Family and Faithful readers!  It’s Sunday!

This Easter is different, much different.
•No sunrise service
•No shaking hands with your fellow parishioners
•No driving across town to sit in a swanky restaurant to be waited on while you overeat before going home for a mid-day nap
•No driving any distance to sit down with relatives for a meal, some stories, laughter and perhaps some games or sharing music
Instead,
We will be thinking and praying for:
•the 17M+ recently unemployed
•those who have been directly impacted health wise by the virus
We will connect in other ways today.  Phone, email, text, videoconference, a chat in separate cars or a talk without the hug.  We will share more time with fewer people and a chance to have deeper conversations.
Let’s realize that we can overcome just as Jesus overcame death.  The reason for this season is that our Savior rose from the dead.  He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!
One thought I’d like to leave here…
While we are blessed as a nation there are many more unfortunate souls today than there were just two months ago.  Our government is doing what it can today but I’d like you to consider what else YOU can do for the less fortunate.
If you are saving for a rainy day…it’s pouring outside.
If you are looking for a cause…the needs are abundant:
-Your church
-The homeless
-The addicted
-The unemployed
-Those who are immobile
You can give, you can patronize, you can be flexible enough to sacrifice something, you can be kind, you can be loving, you can drop off a small gift on the stoop, you can pick up groceries, you can make some masks instead of quilts, you can call someone up for 2 minutes just to check in on them, you can … replace the “you can” in the list above with “I will”.
Have a blessed Easter Day and remember this day when your freedoms have been restored and may your appreciation become action going forward.

Now is not the time

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Good Friday!!

Pandemic ramifications don’t have to include silence.
I changed my cadence at the beginning of the year for a variety of reasons but over the past few weeks, I’ve struggled with whether I should stick to the once a month leadership descriptors or if I should jump into the fray of an unprecedented virus reaction and the ensuing humanity.
Is this a conspiracy started by [name your favorite enemy]?
Is this divine intervention?
Is this politically motivated?
Is it good?
Is it bad?
Frankly, who cares?!
Will you spend your limited energy trying to understand why this happened…or will you focus on how you are going to adapt and adjust to the spread of a virus that has ravaged our way of life?
I am guilty of watching 3 or more hours of news between early morning and late at night when I am not working remotely.  Beyond building awareness and reminding me several times a day to wash my hands and to stop touching my face…it just makes me sad for all of the unemployed, the sick, the anxious, the scared and the angry.
Now is not the time to…
•Complain
•Give in
•Give up
Here are two examples of what leadership looks like during this pandemic:

National Institute of Health Director of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci

 

Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson

They speak the truth with candor and vulnerability, vision and an unwavering determination to be part of the solution.  There are countless more examples to be found if you know where to look.  I’m going to suggest you start this morning by looking in your mirror.
Have a very blessed Easter weekend.  Stay healthy, be safe, adapt and adjust to your new surroundings and be the leader you were designed to be.

Teacher

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Good afternoon, Team!  It’s Saturday!   I know, I know…breaking stride as I navigate the once a month, end of the month, COVID-19 and everything else.
As I explore the “what roles describe a leader” series, it is only fitting that we interrupt the norm during this pandemic as everyone’s world has shifted and (I will predict we are not half way there).
I saw a sign at a service station in White Bear Lake, MN the other day that said “Will change oil for TP”
By now, we all know that teachers have been asked to work remotely and become proficient in e-learning.  My 8 year old grandson and his adoration for the iPad sees little shift as he goes from YouTube for recreation to YouTube for education.  Perhaps we should take a page from his book as he seems ready to adapt.  The need for education, regardless of venue, is obvious.  The need to provide continuity, whether educational, nutritional, or social, is also an imperative and we are, as a nation, figuring that out.
Do we think that need disappears when we reach the age of 18 or 22 or 26 … and graduate?  While we might be ready for something new like on-the-job training or learning in a different manner, the need to learn and the need for teachers is a life-long endeavor.  Enter the leader who understands this and makes it part of their responsibility.
Can you imagine if it was assumed by leadership that a new employee comes fully equipped with everything they need to be successful and no time, energy or resources were committed to their continued development?  The wise leader/teacher recognizes he has the beginnings of what could be a future company asset.
A level five leader recognizes that they have  both the opportunity and the obligation to help said new employee as well as the five, ten, twenty and thirty year veterans…reach their full potential.  In so many arenas; software, hardware, fiscal, social, physical, political…identifying where they are, where you need them to be and where they ultimately want to be.
Teachers are a bit like farmers.  The student is the soil and developing into fertile ground, a willingness to accept the nurturing, maybe breaking through hard pan, maybe irrigating dry patches, maybe fertilizing deficient soil, maybe planting seeds multiple times and weeding out thoughts and ideas that don’t serve the needs of the organization you’re developing them for.  The picture in my head of a farmer is someone who dutifully plugs along each day performing the chores necessary to work with the seasons, having faith in the weather and the one who controls it, to prep and plant and prevent and harvest and store and bring the fruits of their labor to market.  Then start the process all over again, and again, and again.
Every single one of us has memories of teachers in our lives.  Each teacher committed to make our lives better that we can be prepared, we can understand more, we can develop into teachers and leaders ourselves.
Embrace the reality that as leaders, we teach by simply modeling the way and if you aren’t modeling what you expect out of your students, adjust immediately.  They are watching, they are learning and they are looking for you to chart the course or they will be looking for someone who can.
Have a blessed month ahead!  There will be extraordinary challenges and you will need to adapt to simply survive.  Make good, thoughtful choices and invest your time wisely.

Captain

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!

…the last Friday of the month and the second in my new series at a different cadence.

What is a leader?  What names do we assign and how does it make us feel when we hear it? When it’s directed at us or someone else?

The label I chose for this month is Captain.  Who wouldn’t think of a ship, at the helm, traditional wooden steering wheel or the seat with a large window/screen where James T Kirk sat?

The figure I want to focus on today is Ernest Shackleton.  He was a famous explorer who participated in three expeditions but led his last one to Antarctica.  His ship froze in the sea of ice and could have resulted in tragedy.  Instead, Shackleton, like any great leader, focused on the people.  In the face of adversity, anxiety, horrific weather and the fear of impending death, he kept his calm, brought with him and kept close the most caustic personalities to keep them in check and returned to his stranded men to return all safely home.

I don’t know whether he controlled the rudder of his ship at all times, but I know he was the Captain of that expedition.

How do you see yourself as a leader?  Are you focused on the competition or the competitors within your organization?  Is your responsibility to influence your people and develop other leaders eclipsed by your personal desire to win at all costs?

Shackleton wasn’t always heralded for his achievements.  On the surface he looked like a failure.  Fortunately, leadership scholars took a closer look at what he did accomplish.  Today, in an evolved way of thinking, we no longer tolerate the aspirations of a few to drive behavior at any cost.  We expect leadership to prioritize safety first, people second, the mission of the organization and serving clients next and to generate a market-leading profit margin as well.

These are all achievable.  Its easy to get the order mixed up if you allow it.  Stay focused.

Have a blessed month!

Keep your eyes on the horizon.

 

 

Coach

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Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!!

Before I start, I promised something different in 2020. This is what I’m offering:

•A different cadence – once, monthly

•A keen focus on leadership

•A renewed commitment to share lessons revealed and learned

Now,

Over the past month, I’ve paid particular attention to interactions with multiple examples of the leadership role titled Coach.

I typically spend a day and an hour with my executive coach, had a beer with my old presentation coach, and was asked to be a career development coach by a colleague.

I had breakfast with a long time friend and spiritual coach who started a church (after denying his technical career aspirations). I’m welcomed to a men’s bible study when my schedule allows and the spirit moves me to be coached by a group.

I’ve seen a number of sports related coaches interviewed recently as we mourn the loss of a premier athlete and prepare to celebrate the football extravaganza this weekend. It is their job to help promising and professional athletes reach their athletic potential.

During the last month, I spoke with a wide array of individuals who could benefit from a coaching relationship, if they were aware … and willing to seek their potential and impact the quality of their life.

There are numerous types of coaches, depending on what you seek. It is critical to recognize that we all need one, at least one. In my case, many. Friend, mentor, brother…pastor, chair, supervisor…father, servant, teacher.

They require trust to create a relationship.

They require vulnerability to assess your appetite.

They require cooperation to develop momentum.

They require commitment to dig deep and not quit when it gets hard, and it will.

They require communication as they are not mind readers.

They require active listening on your part to take guidance to heart.

There is not one coach in my life as you can see. I’ve leaned on several brilliant, persistent, and caring people on my journey. We all need the trusted advisor to get us through tough situations that allow us to grow and heal and learn…and eventually teach.

A few guidance statements that I’ve heard, processed and conveyed include:

•Inquiry versus advocacy

•Assume noble intent

•What we don’t transform, we transmit

Find your coaches. Mine the nuggets of wisdom. Practice until permanent then go model the way.

Have a blessed month!

Homecoming

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!
Wearing the nicest pair of work boots I’ve ever owned, I show up like the kid whose parents took him shopping for the first day of school the night before; stark white tennis shoes, fold creases in the shirt and pants, and the tag still hanging off of the new backpack.
I’m still at home in the dirt with a bunch of calloused handed, hairy faced, dirty jacket, ball cap wearing, field tested folks.  The environment has changed from what I recall, in a good way.  Safety is paramount, respect for clients and coworkers is obvious and deliberate, language is clean, desire to do well is shared by all.  This is an impressive culture!
To be clear, I’m an office guy who hasn’t been in the field … for a very long time.  My new hard hat is pristine white (and might be forever).  I’m not turning wrenches or operating equipment and I’m not a foreman, manager or director.  I have been hired as a leader to get things done through others … which isn’t simple or easy and garners little respect from many who do use their hands to earn their pay.  My gray beard, bald head, and clean shirt give me a head start but the legitimacy starts when I open my mouth and … seek to understand and support … instead of barking about things I may lack undeniable expertise in.
It always helps to understand how you and your Team and their actions influence others within and outside of an organization.  What is our part in the product and service delivery to our customers?  Sometimes you have to see it, immerse yourself in it and recognize how things really work.
I feel blessed to be where I am.  I’ve been trusted to optimize critical internal functions for a company building renewable energy generation.  It’s a worthwhile effort impacting hundreds of millions of people.  I have purpose and peace.
Have a blessed weekend!
Note to readers:  I’m taking some time off of the weekly cadence.
I wish each of you the best of the holiday season ahead.  God bless you!

Where you are

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!
My new role has required me to be away from home … again.  Besides the strange bed, feather pillows (I’m allergic to), dry air, strange noises, questionable breakfast meat and powdered eggs in the breakfast buffet, I am finding ways to focus on work, communicate with loved ones, exercise again and be present with less support and daily reinforcement than I’ve grown accustom to.
One of my new responsibility leaders shared some of his stories about sacrifices made on the home front as he switched from one job to the next.  Married for two months then off to South Africa … for two years!
Another leader in my group has relocated to a region far enough away that being in the office is nowhere near as frequent as it has been.  His spouse had an opportunity that required she be in the city they now live and our company is progressive enough that he was allowed to relocate.
Leading where you are still requires the fundamental communication, collaboration, encouraging the heart, completing the tasks necessary and accomplishing things through others.  The distance away from the office or the distance away from loved ones makes it more challenging but certainly not impossible.
The business environment is changing.  The workforce majority is made up of sharp, progressive, motivated, enthusiastic and talented people who fully intend for themselves and their respective organizations to be successful.
•This requires flexibility, to the point of being fluid.
•This requires honesty with ourselves and the organization of what is expected, what is critical and what is optional.
•This requires leveraging technology to communicate whenever, wherever, however to meet the needs of both work and home.
How does this translate?
Let’s take the smart phone.  I used to walk by someone who was on their phone at work and assume they were slacking.  Maybe texting a friend about grabbing a drink or sharing some cat-themed meme about a current event.  Now, I walk on by because it might as easily be someone in a meeting 20 feet away who doesn’t want to disturb the presenter but needs something from their coworker.
Assume noble intent behind your Teams actions.  Judge based on results without trying to prescribe means and methods.  Stay nimble when it comes to how we get work done today.  Lead from where you are, not the way you grew up but the way you wish you had been treated.
Have a blessed weekend!