Colleagues, September 8, 2021 MVP: Where do you find community and connection? It feels like time for a picture. I shared this one on some of my social media posts last week. Right now, pause, close your eyes and reflect on the photo for 10 seconds. What did you think about? I’m anticipating that the photo resonated with you. It did with me. Leadership can be lonely. Sometimes we can feel trapped, or unable to see beyond our current condition.
So, what do we do about that? Maybe connection is a neglected aspect of self-care. I don’t have the answers for this one. Maybe you could help me. How do you break down isolation? How do you get the box off your head? Where do you find community? I’d love to hear your answers and you can email me by either clicking here or replying to this email. Cheers! Frederick Photo by Ryanniel Masucol from Pexels
0 Comments
Colleagues,
MVP: Leaders are responsible for protecting their people AND their organization's purpose. I left off Wednesday by stating that people were often right in resisting Big Change initiatives. Let me clarify:
I’d like to hear what you think. I imagine some of you will disagree with me and I would like to receive some push-back on this. Maybe I have become too cynical but driving mandates from the state or district level to make big changes, especially now, does not make sense to me. What do you think? Am I being realistic and wise, or do I need to adjust my attitude? You can email me your thoughts here. Have a great weekend! Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
MVP: Don’t make assumptions about why people aren’t executing. Invest time with them and let them tell you why. So, what’s the big leadership takeaway from the past two weeks?
There’s one more thing, which we will focus on tomorrow. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
MVP: Sometimes people are right to resist change. Today, the last of the reasons people may not do what we want them too! Maybe they know something we don’t! Consider previous Big Change initiatives. They all make big promises, but how many actually deliver? What is the impact of the Big Change we implemented five years ago? Three years ago? Last year? “This too shall pass.” Veterans in an organization learn to recognize the cycle of change and become adept at protecting themselves from it. And rightfully so. Our penchant for Big Change is mind-boggling given the lack of lasting results from most of these initiatives. Experienced people have seen this. Some of them conform and continue to do as we ask and others drag their heels, resist, or sabotage, and I can’t condemn them for this. They are acting rationally based on prior experiences. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
MVP: Events in people’s lives, and in the world, impact their work. I think we have learned this lesson during the past two years. I hope we have learned this lesson. In my younger years I believed that work and life should be separated and that when life was challenging, we just had to put our personal lives in a box, suck it up, and soldier on. That was a flawed, unrealistic, and unhealthy approach. Having challenging things happen in life is not an excuse to not perform at work, but what is happening at home does impact the capacity we have to perform, especially when we are considering implementing new things. In June when my mom had emergency back surgery, any plans I had to do new things or make changes in my business were put on hold. In addition, let’s be honest about the state of the world right now. We are being confronted with the effects of climate change almost daily, Putin is talking about nukes, the divisiveness and ugliness of politics creates tension and angst among family and friends, the economy is bizarre, and the disparity of opportunity based on race, language, and other factors is being exacerbated by all these things. It is a lot to absorb, and to carry. Are all of these external forces an excuse to not do our job? Of course not. However, is carrying the weight of these things going to impact my capacity to learn, grow, and excel? Yes, it is. Be graceful and give grace. Cheers! Frederick |
Categories
All
Archives
May 2024
|