As spring is taking shape here in Calgary, it’s great to see so many parents out riding their bike with their kids. The one thing that isn’t so nice and drives me crazy is seeing the kids wearing helmets but the parents’ riding next to them not wearing a helmet. I wonder what they say when their child asks them why they are not wearing a helmet. Are You A Role Model? In a workshop of senior managers I conducted a few weeks ago, I asked them to write down the people they feel they are role models for. Most wrote the names of their younger family members and a few employees. They were not long lists. Then I asked them to write down the role models they have had in their life. The lists were much larger this time. I asked them how many people on your list of role models do not know they are a role model for you? This was an a-ha moment for many of the participants. You see, more people look up to you than you imagine. The quicker you realize this, the sooner you start holding yourself up to a higher standard and start making yourself more accountable for your actions. As a workplace leader, project manager, volunteer, and/or parent, you are a role model for more people than you realize. People look up to you and are watching your every move. They watch how you communicate to them and others verbally, in emails, and in social media, etc. Have you ever been asked for advice on a topic that has caught...
Next week I will be running my second Boston Marathon, in lite of which I thought I would address the question I often get: why do you run? (Related – 2013 Boston Marathon Race Report) One of the most emotional moments I have ever had in achieving a goal was completing my second marathon. No it wasn’t finishing my first Ironman or the Boston Marathon with thousands of people cheering me on at the finish line. In fact, it was completing the St. John’s Marathon with a dozen or so spectators at the finish. The reason for my emotion was that I had achieved a long time goal of mine, i.e. running a marathon under 3 hours. I didn’t hoot and holler at the finish. No one around would have known the enormity of the moment for me as I choked up and that was just fine. I achieved a massive personal goal that I had worked my ass off for years, that only I cared about, and that is the joy of it. For me, running is a personal goal I have direct control over. A run is completed by only me and for the most part the success and failure I achieve is directly from my actions, not anyone else’s. Many of the other goals in my life revolve around other people, namely business and family goals. Sure, I can have a significant impact in these areas but the results also hinge on the desires and actions of other people. I have sales goals and audience growth goals for my business but at the end of the day, I can’t directly control if someone buys from me or signs...
The older I get, the more I realize how little I know. Between my wife and me, we have 5 coaches in our life right now, focusing on areas of personal and professional development and that’s just the ones we pay. On the surface, it may sound like we are people whose lives are a mess and need a lot of help. Fortunately, it’s the contrary. We have coaches because we are driven people who want to be the best person we possibly can in getting the most out of our careers, talents and passions. Perhaps your life, business, career, and relationships, are already good, but you want it to be much, much better. Coaching isn’t a crisis intervention. Nor is it a substitute for psychotherapy, or advice from a professional, such as an attorney, accountant, or physician. If things are basically good, but you know they could be a lot better and you are ready for that to happen, it’s a great time for you to hire a coach. For example, I am a good runner and can run a respectable marathon time running my own plan but I don’t believe I will reach my full potential without the guidance of an experienced coach. To be the best me, I need a little help and you may as well. There are many types of coaches. There are traditional athletic coaches, executive coaches, life coaches, gardening coaches, nutrition coaches, and dating coaches, the list is endless. There are coaches for just about every aspect of life and hobby in the world. The one thing they have in common is...
A few years ago Google set up a research team to find out the elements that create high performing teams. What they found and the length of time it took to find it surprised them. For several years they studied over 150 teams working within Google. Many of the senior executives in the company believed that the best teams developed when the best people were put together on a project. After gathering an enormous amount of data, the researcher found it was almost impossible to find meaningful patterns. In an article recently published in the New York Times’ Google’s lead researcher on the project Abeer Dubey stated, ‘‘At Google, we are good at finding patterns. But there weren’t strong patterns here.’’ The people comprising the team didn’t seem to matter. This finding didn’t surprise me. Leading wilderness expeditions for years with new teams, people would often ask me “what do you do if you get a bad team and you are stuck with them for a month in the mountains”. Strangely enough, that was never a concern of mine. As I gained experience leading, I came to realize that leaders play a more significant role in creating effective teams than the people who make up the team. Frustrated with the lack of patterns in the data they collected, the researchers delved further into reviewing past academic studies on how teams work. In the literature, they discovered that psychological and sociological research kept using the term “group norms” when describing successful groups. Norms are the traditions, behavioral standards and unwritten rules that govern how we function when we gather. It...
“When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, ‘We did it ourselves’.” Lao Tzu I had reached my limit with a team member. I had tried everything to integrate him into the team and become a productive team player. His disruptive behaviour had gone on for weeks and was threatening to derail the expedition. I decided the only option left was to remove him from the team but I had no authority to do so. Chatting with many project managers and team leaders, I am often asked the question “how do you lead with little or no authority”. The quick and easy answer to this potential complex question is “the same way you would lead with authority”. If leadership is performed correctly, little authority should be needed. Increasingly today, projects and events are undertaken in environments where the leader had little formal authority. Significant portions of project work are done by contributors who work for other managers, often for a different company. Project and event managers have high expectations placed on them, demanding a high level of leadership. They are looked to as the go to person to see a project from beginning to end and have all the right processes, metrics and people in place that will allow for successful completion. There are many ways to lead when you have little or no authority, here are 3 of them: (RELATED – Why Teams Truly Succeed or Fail One Relationship at a Time) 1. Metrics: “If you don’t measure something, you can’t change it. The process of leadership is one of painting a vision, then saying how...
When pride is present at work, it inspires individuals and teams to achieve more, communicate better, and build upon each other’s strengths. When it’s not present, it can get ugly, really ugly. Most successful teams carry a high level of pride to the work they do and whom they do it with. But as a leader, how do you create pride within a team. Surely it is not a given any time a team forms to take on a significant goal. Pride for a team or organization has to deliberately be developed and massaged by the leadership. It comes from a conscious effort and genuine love of the team and its purpose. Pride helps people enthusiastically do their job and get through hard times. I always saw that developing pride within an expedition team was an integral part of my role as an expedition leader. During the extended backcountry expeditions I led, I would be getting my clients and students to regularly push their comfort zone mentally and physically while challenging their tolerance for adversity and uncertainty. No, these moments didn’t happen every day but when they did come about I needed the team members to feel the pride in what they were trying to accomplish and who they were doing it with to launch themselves into challenging situations. It could have been have a 4am wake up to accomplish a long sea kayak day before the winds picked up at noon. Or packing up wet tents in near freezing temperatures and hiking late into the night so we could reach the lake in time to meet the floatplane...
