Colleagues,
MVP: Focusing on what is important requires presence and intention. At this time of year, my garden can be overwhelming. We have had lots of rain. The warm weather plants are diseased and dying from blight. The soil is depleted, and many of the shrubs are about ready for a good pruning, as are the raspberries. The wood chip mulching of my garden that was supposed to be done in June is mocking me every time I walk outside. To make matters worse, a big windstorm took down some significant tree limbs and I never did finish the greenhouse. And fall greens need to be planted. 🥺 When I get overwhelmed, I have a bad habit of going out and just tearing into the first thing I see. I may spend a couple of hours bouncing around the garden, doing a bit of this and some of that. I can work very hard, and I usually get some good things done. But do I get the right things done? Usually not. Focusing on what is important requires presence and intention. The problem with being in urgent mode is that I stop being intentional and present. I just start doing stuff. Hoping that I can somehow get it all done. Here’s the thing – I can’t get it all done. I have 1 ½ acres and my kids are grown and mostly gone. I can’t do it all. We’ll be looking at urgency all week. If this resonates with you, consider signing up for my free webinar, Escaping the Black Hole of Urgency. You can learn more below this message, but VIP registration ends tonight! Cheers! Frederick
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Colleagues,
MVP: Positive vulnerability includes showing you are human, asking for help, and sharing dreams and goals. Being present, asking the right questions, and listening to the answers help us form relationships with others, but relationships are stronger when they are reciprocal. In reciprocal relationships, both people ask and listen. When a leader is vulnerable, it paves the way for a deeper relationship. But what does vulnerability look like?
And speaking of dreams… Do you remember why you got into leadership? Did you have a dream? Of achieving a purpose? Of growing people? Most importantly, do you feel like you are still on the journey you dreamt of, or have you been pulled off course? Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
MVP: The early steps of building a relationship are to be fully present, ask good questions, and listen. If building good relationships requires understanding other people’s stories, how do we do that? The prerequisite is to be fully present. When we are focused on the other person, not thinking about anything else, they can feel it. So why is this so hard to do? It’s because our attention, like our time, is too often pulled from us by a black hole of urgency. It’s hard to be with people because we are so busy, and even when we are with them, our minds are still busy and we miss the opportunity. And these missed opportunities pile up. And we realize that we aren’t on the leadership journey that we began. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
MVP: Three prerequisites to learning to care: get over yourself, appreciate other perspectives, and learn people’s stories. How do we build relationships? The prerequisite is to actually care. Don’t laugh. When I took my first admin job my superintendent told me to build relationships. I still remember trying to awkwardly ask a teacher about what she did that weekend. I didn’t know how to do it because I really didn’t care about her. I just wanted to do my job. Why did I have to do all this relationship stuff? Please don’t think ill of me, I was just pragmatic and work-focused. As I learned more about my own fallibility and weaknesses, I learned to appreciate other points of view and ways of working – and living. That appreciation led to caring. I know the relationships (caring) piece may come naturally to you, but it doesn’t to all of us. Three steps to caring:
Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
MVP: Collegial relationships are workplace relationships that have both social and professional components. This week we are digging into the R word – relationships. “It’s all about relationships” is both a cliché, and a truth. But what do we actually mean? What do good relationships look like between leaders and those they serve? Most importantly, how do we build those relationships? There are books on the subject, but we will try and keep things simple and actionable. Each email compliments the previous ones but is not dependent on them. Today we will set the stage for understanding relationships. Leading others is inherently ethical work and when we talk about relationships as a component of influencing people (that’s what leadership is – influence), then we have an obligation to keep them safe and help them grow. Relationships in the workplace take three basic forms:
The problem with congenial relationships is that while they make people happy, they don’t help us achieve the organizational purpose. The problem with pragmatic relationships is that they only work well for some people. Collegial relationships thus have two elements – professional and social. The ratios of each will vary, but both are present. Cheers! Frederick |
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