Tag Archives: professional growth

Be the Better Person

“Or, I could be the better person…”  –  My daughter, Amanda Wright

These were the seven words my daughter said to me, words that immediately stopped the conversation and left all of the adults in the car in a shameful silence – literally!!!  Not a single one of us had a good response to these prophetic words.

My daughter’s comments came following advice we parents had given her about ‘getting even’ and ‘setting things straight’.  You see, my daughter had been the victim of hurtful behavior from one of her friends.  The type of behavior and comments you know aren’t true.  Meant only to make someone else look better or to manipulate the situation.  It was the behavior that so often occurs with teenagers.

As parents, it’s easy to get caught up in the motion of a situation like this.  Your first reaction is to come to the side of your child – to defend them – to set things straight.  “Do the same thing to her,” we suggested.  “Let her know how it feels.”

“Or, I could be the better person…”, she replied.

If only we had the wisdom of a child.  The perspective they can bring to such a situation.  The ability to put aside our feelings and draw upon the principles and values we were taught at such a young age.  I marvel at the clarity in which they can often bring to such events. Continue reading →

Development is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

performance review“Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.” – Chinese Proverb

“The man who moved a mountain was the one who began carrying away small stones.” – Chinese Proverb

It’s that time of the year again, the time in which managers sit down with their team members and provide feedback on their respective performance over the prior year.  And while these reviews should merely be a confirmation of performance feedback that management provides throughout the year, they are an opportunity for a deeper discussion on the impact of that performance and the trajectory it foretells for us as individual contributors.

Understanding one’s performance in the recent past is always helpful.  But what I’ve found to be more important in these reviews are the discussions around professional development – the opportunity it provides for each individual to establish a formal development plan and improve their performance as a member of the team while positioning them for future growth as an individual.  Continue reading →

The ‘Softer’ Skills are Just as Important…Maybe Even More

“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think” – Albert Einstein

“No great improvements in the lot of mankind are possible until a great change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought.” – John Stuart Mil

As I write this week’s leadership message, I sit 30,000 feet above the ground on a flight to Washington D.C.  I’ve been invited to participate in a series of workshops tomorrow with The Hope Street Group, an initiative chaired by the U.S. Department of Education that strives to bring together the right institutions towards the common goal of developing tools and solutions at the complex intersection of workforce supply and demand.  In other words, The Hope Street Group wants to develop a better way for our country to both understand the specific skills needs of our employers while bridging the gap for the development of the proper skills of potential job candidates in our communities. Continue reading →

Why Does a Tree Grow?

Trees

“The power to learn is present in everyone’s soul, and the instrument with which each learns is like an eye that cannot be turned around from darkness to light without turning the whole body.” – Plato

“To know that light falls and fills, often without our knowing, as an opaque vase fills to the brim from quick pouring, fills and trembles at the edge yet does not flow over, still holding and feeding the stem of the contained flower.” – Will Rogers

“If you want to be truly successful, invest in yourself to get the knowledge you need to find your unique factor. When you find it and focus on it and persevere your success will blossom.” – Sidney Madwed Continue reading →

Challenging the Status Quo

“Group and organizational dynamics tend to pull organizations toward average or below average performance.  Psychological inertia tends to make innovation unlikely.”

“The status quo tends to defeat meaningful change because people are constrained by their basic nature and the “rules” of the environment they work in – Said another way, people don’t like change because it upsets their world and causes chaos.  Every system strives hard to maintain itself and resist change.”

[Chaun Mikuleza]

This past week I was in Milwaukee for a series of senior leadership meetings.  A key topic of our meetings was around the continued transformation of the business to one that can operate as a “fast and agile company”.  This week’s quotes are from a presentation one of my colleagues gave in those meetings around the importance of developing a “culture of change”.  They struck me as worth sharing with you, as I have always embraced the concept of change.

Change is never an easy thing.  And yes, there must be a balance to how much change you push.  But in truth, change is necessary.  Innovation cannot occur without change…without challenging the status quo.  Without it, organizations are doomed to gravitate toward mediocrity.

I can recall past resistance to change in many of the organizations I’ve worked for and with – be it technology, new processes, or simply changes to the organizational structure.  “Stop changing things and let us catch our breath”, and “why would we need to do that…we already have a good process” were two of the many responses I recall.  But looking back, there is no question those changes were beneficial to those organizations.

If an organization is to truly become a market leader in its industry, it must evolve.  It must change.  And it must create a “culture of change.”

Be Part of the Solution

“Why is it that every time a smart person needs help to solve a problem, they look everywhere except their own mind?”

[Quote from a 1957 Manpower operating manual]

This is a particularly telling quote one of my colleagues at ManpowerGroup found and highlighted to me last week.  It’s a particularly telling quote, as it really highlights the responsibility we all have as team members and leaders to contribute to the solution, not the problem.  Note the timeless nature of the quote – from an operations manual back in 1957!

This reminds me of a funny story one of my former colleagues told me that is worth repeating.  He was telling me about a boss he once had [we’ll call her Suzy to protect the innocent] who drove home the message of leadership and responsibility, particularly around offering potential solutions to problems and not relying on others to solve those problems.  The story goes like this:

“I remember when I first started working for Suzy.  The first time I had an issue arise, I called Suzy and said, ‘Suzy, I have this problem, what should I do?’ Suzy then responded, ‘well, what options have you considered?’  ‘None’, I said, ‘that’s why I called you.’  To which Suzy offered two or three solutions.

The next time I brought a problem to Suzy I got the same thing.  ‘Well, what options have you considered?’, said Suzy.  ‘None’, I said again, ‘that’s why I called you.’  To which Suzy sighed and again offered a few solutions.

The third time I brought a problem to Suzy, she again asked, ‘Well, what options have you considered?’, to which I again replied, ‘none, that’s why I called you.’  The phone immediately went dead.  So I called Suzy back and said, ‘we must have been cut off.’  ‘No’, Suzy replied.  ‘I hung up on you’.  ‘Why?’, I asked.  ‘Well, if you aren’t going to bring some options to solve the issues you raise, I don’t need you as a leader.’”.

A bit of a harsh lesson, to be fair.  But the story does highlight an important point.  Leadership isn’t about always having the right answer, but it is about taking the time to explore potential answers and not just highlight problems.

Every day you will be faced with challenges.  Your job in supporting your customers inherently requires you to face such challenges and issues on almost a daily basis.  So ask yourself this simple question – Are you acting as a leader and part of the solution, or looking to everyone else for the answer?

Gauge Your Impact

“Isn’t it interesting the effect we have on people, even when we don’t know it.”  – [Bart Starr]

Recently I was in a discussion with one of my leadership team members remarking on how some of our staff were working unreasonable hours trying to keep up with competing priorities.  So I asked the question…”when did I make that a priority”?  His response:  “The team presumes EVERYTHING you ask them to do is top priority, unless you tell them otherwise”.  Wow!  That response literally slapped me in the face!

This week’s quote goes miles to crystalize this dilemma.  It isn’t always in the words we say, but many times it’s in our actions, both past and present, that often impact others.  Are you aware of the effect you have on your team members, your clients, and your suppliers?  Stop and think about it a minute…and make sure the effect you have on others (even when you don’t know it) isn’t creating unintended consequences.