The position of the kicker on a football team has always intrigued me. Here is a player that for most of the time is practically anonymous. Many of the rival fans and neutrals watching won’t even know his name. He runs on, unannounced and unnoticed, a few times in the game just to kick the ball between the posts, and then disappears again, whilst everybody is generally consumed with the much higher profile players and the more dramatic plays.
As the New Year begins and our work life starts to move into first gear, we can be tempted to think back to yesteryear and ponder the ‘if only...?’ question. Not that reflection is a bad thing mind you, indeed, done purposefully it can be positive. That said, there is a lot of wisdom in what Walt Disney had to say. Curiosity is what impels us to move forward.
As a leader, your credibility is maintained, day by day, when you do what you say you will do. For example, if you announce that, from this point forward, every team member will be expected to demonstrate our team’s valued behaviors, you have set a standard. Educating team members about desired valued behaviors is important, but, without accountability, those valued behaviors are just one more set of expectations that your employees can ignore.
If you’re like most managers we work with you just don’t have enough time. Your open door has become a revolving door of employees bringing you problems that need solving. So how do you turn these problem-bringers into problem solvers?
People don’t hate meetings. They hate bad meetings. And there’s a long list of reasons why so many meetings are bad: there’s no decision to be made (it should have been an email; there’s no agenda and the meeting goes in circles; no one clarifies the action items and nothing gets done; you invited the wrong people and everyone’s multi-tasking; the list goes on an on.
Every December brings with it a certain amount of joy, exuberance, and happiness. Every New Year brings with it a renewed sense of optimism, hopefulness and most likely a heightened sense of prosperity for the year ahead.
Every business needs a captain, a person that sets the stage for all actions and all relationships that take place within the work environment. If you, as a leader, do not set the stage by defining and aligning practices to clear performance standards and values expectations, people will be left to “figure it out on their own.” This leads to widely varying practices – not aligned, proven practices. That lack of clarity and alignment erodes consistent performance, service, and results.
Since joining a dog-fostering organization about a year ago, we’ve fostered and helped bring many dogs to a successful new start with a loving family. The dogs have all moved on to a wide variety of new settings, too. Some immediately become the presence in the home that adds a wonderful new companionship and sense of security.
Why do we still remember the fallen and all who served, 100 years after the guns fell silent? Indeed, why celebrate Independence Day on 4 July or even Martin Luther King Day? The answer is simple. All of these events are comprised of people who have left a legacy for us to honor and remember. We value those who fought to defend our freedom and indeed fought for our independence. We value the people who have contributed so much to our world, that we are still the beneficiary today. Simply put, they left a legacy!
If you have never experienced successful culture change personally, as a team member in general or as a leader, you may not be prepared or know how to proactively manage your team’s culture. The culture of your team (or department or division or plant or region or whole company) is the engine that drives your team’s success – or its lack of success.
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