Are You Ready to Take a Chance?

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As businesses across the globe begin to ponder their choices for reopening in a post-COVID-19 world, people will be faced with choices. While governmental restrictions dictate some of those choices, it appears all other choices will be left up to the owner/manager. Are you ready to take a chance?

The choices will involve taking chances. How are you set for taking a chance? Here are just a few of the situations I am seeing among the businesses I serve.

Leader making choices

Social distancing is still going to be a ‘rule of the road’. Large companies with grand office footprints are talking about limiting on-site presence, at least for the near future. Ideas like allowing only those employees with enclosed offices to return to work first. Cubicle workers will stay home a bit longer.

Restaurants are looking at separating tables by six feet, reducing seating areas. Stores may keep the Plexiglas panels they have installed at checkout stands.

As an executive, leader or manager making these choices, you create a risk for taking the chance to do something one way or the other. How will you handle that?

The Basis for Decision

Responding to the post-crisis world will be testing your leadership resolve. Do you have the ‘metal’ to stand firm in your convictions about the right thing to do? Clearly acting too soon to deploy large numbers of employees, patrons, or traffic in your facility may tag you an outlier. Are you ready to accept that risk?

The process to make these choices will demonstrate what you have been made of all along. As John Maxwell says:

“Experiences make us, but crisis reveals us.”

How will you be revealed in the face of the crisis around you? As the world finds its new normal, will your leadership character be strong or weak?

Core and Edge Thinking

There is a good explanation for dealing with taking chances as a leader. It has to do with the agility you have in moving from your core out to the edge. Let me explain.

Your Core is the center of your leadership framework. It is made up of all your beliefs, values, and relational experiences. The core includes your technical training and experience too. Likely you have worked hard to develop your leadership core. Just like working on your body’s core at the gym, having a strong leadership core makes you a better leader.

Diagram of core-edge-agility

Your core provides the foundation of who and what you may be as a leader. It inspires your own sense of right and wrong, weak and strong.

However, your core can become your comfort zone too. You might be one who finds safety in staying very close to the core. This can be the downside of relying too much on core strengths.

Then There’s the Edge

For every one of us, there is an edge out there. The edge is the horizon of opportunity and challenge. The edge is where new growth happens. It is often an unknown situation or circumstance.

This is why taking a chance is a good example of being on the edge. The risk that is associated with going out to the edge is what makes leadership challenges so significant.

Explorers love the edge challenge. Finding new horizons.

That is why your willingness to go out to the edge is as much an indicator of your leadership prowess as is your core strength.

Agility

The third dimension of this model is called agility. Agility is a leader’s ability to move smoothly from core thinking to the edge and back again.

On one hand, being willing to freely go out to the edge is good, but if you get stuck there, you’re in trouble. You have to be able to get back to your center, your foundation. Think about Apollo 13.

taking a chance with core, edge and agility

Agility is the beauty of good leadership. Keeping your values high yet exploring new opportunities to grow and prosper your team, your work, and your business. By gracefully going to the edge while maintaining clear visibility of core strengths, you become a trusted leader.

Back to the New Chances

The new normal we are looking to establish represents the edge for all of us. The way we define the edge may be different, but it is an edge nonetheless. If your core cries out for certain values and expectations, but the edge is not clear, you are dealing with taking a big chance.

Your agility will be the factor that determines your success. Ask yourself what it will take to move forward.

Will an old habit of decision making fail you in this new crisis? Will you be afraid to take chances?

Or can you effectively, maybe even boldly, make the right decision to choose next steps for your business? By exercising your agility you can go out to the new edges, do what you have to do, then know you can always return to your core for strength.

Note: Core, Edge, and Agility concepts courtesy of Lee Hecht Harrison

Certain graphics courtesy of 123rf.com and unsplash.com

How About Aligning Your New Normal with Personal Purpose?

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gratitude smile

New normal. Have you heard that phrase lately? All of us are trying to establish our ‘new normals’ as we continue in the stay-home world of COVID-19.

While many are still heading to work duties such as medial staff, first responders, essential services and government leaders, the rest of us struggle with finding a “normal”.

My question for you today is, “What are you doing to align your personal purpose with any possible change in your new normal?”

A Story

Muffet McGraw, the legendary ladies basketball coach at Notre Dame recently announced her new normal. She’s retiring after 33 years at the head of a highly successful program.

“Tomorrow is promised to no one,” McGraw said. “What is your life going to look like down the road? We wanted to continue to enjoy it. I’m excited about knowing that I can handle not having basketball in my life.”

The back story she tells is of taking timing during her quarantine to evaluate everything in her life. As much as she loved coaching basketball, she believed there were more important things she could do with her remaining years.

She’s been a long-time leader in the fight for equality on college athletics. Her voice is well respected in many circles.

Her new normal was birthed by the opportunity to sit quietly alone during the quarantine. No doubt with much discussion with her husband and family, she decided to walk away from the thing she loved so much, coaching at Notre Dame.

Yet she did so because of what she called her higher sense of purpose.

Purpose Driven Leadership

Leaders need to have that same sense of purpose. Where ever you may be in your journey, I hope you are doing your work and service with a sense of purpose.

In the fast-paced busy-ness of today’s work world, I am concerned for leaders who lose sight of their purpose. Too often I meet people who were promoted into positions of responsibility managing others, yet have no real personal purpose about them.

Yes, they have been successful so far, but two questions remain.

Will you be able to move further; will what got you here, get you there?

And will you be personally fulfilled when the day comes to ask was it worth it?

PPP To the Rescue

No I am not talking about the SBA economic recovery loans for small business payroll protection. I am talking about The Personal Purpose Process.

In my new book titled “STRIVE” I include a section on PPP, contributed by a friend and fellow Silver Fox Advisor, Monte Pendleton. MOnte was the first to introduce me to this powerful, life-changing process.

Your Personal Vision is your dream of what you would love to HAVE or HAVE ACCOMPLISHED by some specific future time, like in 5 years.   When you write down your individual, personal Vision, a special dream of what you want to accomplish in your life, it becomes quite simple to achieve.

You will now identify and write down precisely what your Vision is in each of the eight Key Areas.  A Vision that is not written is only a fleeting dream. Without a written Vision, you will be lucky if you achieve even half of what you are capable of.  Without a written Vision, dream, or long-range goal, you won’t really know which way to go, nor be satisfied that you have ever truly arrived.  

This process enables you to envision all eight key areas of your life together so that your Vision will be comprehensive and balanced, as well as supportive of who you are and where you want to go.  You don’t want to spend your life climbing to the top of the ladder only to find it leaning against the wrong wall.

Your Personal Vision provides a valuable yardstick to evaluate each of your Goals, or future action steps that you may consider.  You will be able to measure whether an action is adequate or necessary, or whether it will carry you to or away from your Vision. 

Clarifying and writing your Visions (have’s) naturally precedes your goal setting.  Any Goals (do’s) that you set without a clear Vision of where you are going, will automatically be, to some degree, off Purpose and un-empowered.  This Visioning process will also be interesting as a source of further self-discovery.  

Of equal importance, your eight Vision statements will enable you to accurately communicate where you are planning to go to your family, associates and mentors.  They will all be much better informed, and therefore much more helpful, supportive and understanding. 

Anything you would love to have, you can have.  Write it down now and then think about it.  Don’t make it up.  Listen to your heart.  You already know down deep what brings you both satisfaction and fulfillment, what you love.  

Be as expansive and grand as is true for you.  Know you will not fail.  Don’t neglect any area.  Remember this is your opportunity to design a complete, exciting future, one worth working for and living into. 

Don’t be like the person who said “I always wanted to be somebody when I grew up.  Now that I am grown, I wish I had been more specific.”

There’s more detail about this process and ways to make it real for you described in my book.

Where’s your new normal taking you?

Have You Found Your Edge?

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doug thorpe leadership coach

The global pandemic has caused everyone to rethink their normal. Finding a new normal has become a worldwide goal.

While there is talk of returning to some kind of old normal, I wanted to challenge you with a simple question.

Have you found your edge or are you standing at the edge?

Let’s tackle the dark side first. Standing at the edge describes a sense of being on the brink. For example, young parents of school-age kids are really expressing the sense of being on the edge. Confinement has been a bit too close for them.

Others have talked about the fatigue of living a groundhog day over and over.

I’ve had coaching clients, leaders in big organizations, admit they weren’t quite prepared for what remote working would do to them and their teams. And I’ve worked with small business owners who have made very tough decisions about releasing staff and cutting back or closing temporarily, if not permanently.

The pandemic has caused concern at many levels. Yet the word I hear most often is resilience. Staying resilient keeps us away from the edge.

The Upside

Finding your edge is a whole other story. The pandemic has birthed some great ideas and some creative solutions for sure.

Just look at the explosion of the Zoom platform. Many businesses large and small have resorted to using the zoom conference. Schools are relying on the video connection to keep teaching students. There are even parodies of zoom video chats gone wrong.

Some of the small businesses I work with have gotten very creative. One retailer who lost all access to her storefront due to a mall shutdown has resorted to home delivery of her products.

A restaurateur discovered a market for one specialty dish that can be prepared in a more commercial kitchen. They have plans to close their regular restaurant and rely solely on the pickup and delivery of the new dish. This results in almost a 5x margin gain by eliminating the rent for the sit-down restaurant. Plus gross sales have tripled.

My larger company clients are finding an interesting phenomenon. While people admit to missing the interpersonal contact an office setting provides, productivity has increased. The crush of meeting after meeting has settled into a focused format that is highly effective and productive.

Companies who formerly feared allowing staff to work from home are finding the reliability to be refreshing.

People are finding a new edge of efficiency, productivity, and profitability. How long will it last? Who knows? Right now the lessons learned by many are being translated into possibilities for a new normal.

Where are you?

Standing at the edge? Or on a new, more meaningful edge for competitive advantage, effectiveness and gain?

Leaders can make the difference.

Here are five ways to find the right edge.

Be open to change – there is no point in fighting the reality of where we are. Follow the guidelines and roll with the flow.

Over-communicate with your people – don’t let anyone on your team get truly isolated. Communicate even when you have nothing new to say. Tell them that.

Ask for ideas – let your team shine during this period. Open up the lines of exchange of ideas and solutions. Think outside the box. Heck just crush the old box.

Be fearless – don’t get afraid of new ideas that radically impact your work as you once knew it. The new alternative could increase your profitability, your brand, and your effectiveness.

Stay resilient – here’s that word again. Don’t let disappointment or frustration get the best of you. Be flexible and ready to respond.

Are You Focused Deep or Wide?

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If you start talking about leadership, you may get several different reactions; everything from eye-roll to serious looks. Regardless of the guru you follow or the school where you took leadership training, there is one key question that remains.

Will your leadership ability be deep or wide?

If you’re thinking about big organizations with high headcount and multiple lines of business, you are thinking about wide leadership influence. This includes large communities or tribes where your influence can be experienced.

However, if you think in terms of the immediate circle of your peers and direct reports, then you are thinking deep leadership.

There is not really a right or wrong to either of these two schools of thought.

Wide Leadership Thinking

As the name implies, wide leadership reaches far. The edges are way out there. You might be hoping to influence or impact a large population, whether that’s within your company or inside an industry.

Your idea of a vision has a really big scale to it. You are wanting to leave behind or accomplish making a big difference.

Ironically, a great leader with a wide vision isn’t necessarily thinking about numbers of followers. Instead, they focus on the need. Their heart centers on service.

The best picture is that of the pebble cast on a calm pool of water. The place where the stone hits the water causes ripple effects that have energy enough to reach the far edges of the pond or lake. If the pool was perfectly still, a single stone will create ripples that are seen the whole distance beyond the center of that circle.

Great leadership creates ripples of influence and impact in the hearts and minds of the ones who stand in the outer bands of the circle surrounding the leader.

The Deep End

Deep leadership is limited in numbers. It is a more personalized experience, dealing with a few.

In business, we think of it as our “direct reports”, those who are assigned directly to us with whom we have a day to day contact.

Mentoring someone is a deep leadership happening. The leader will be pouring wisdom, encouragement, and experience into the individual, one on one.

Deep leadership impact will be life changing for the recipient. Perhaps the influence will be limited to just a few nuggets of truth or learning, but the substance will be powerful. The person receiving the lesson will be forever changed.

The Best Do Both

The best leaders I have ever known or studied do both. I’ve tried being that kind of leader in what I do. I’ve tried teaching it to others.

When you take on a position of responsibility, you have to make the team work first. Your influence should be the deep kind. You must feed and nurture those assigned to you or hired by you. It is up to you to explain the vision and purpose.

You’ll be doing individual development of those around you.

As the team becomes productive, you can shift your focus to the wider perspective.

Your business may have many layers and your team is just a part of the bigger picture. Your influence as a leader can be felt by others outside your team. You do this by supporting other units or departments.

If you own your own business, you have to get it up and running smoothly (deep leadership) before you reach too far outside into the community to make yourself known (wide leadership).

A Pivot

I could go on about this and maybe will in another installment later. But I need to interject something.

I had this article in my writing queue for some time. My calendar was clicking by and my process to go to press was running normally. Then it was time to polish this one off and prep it for release on Sunday, April 12.

It hit me.

That Date is Easter.

Then it hit me again. What better an example of deep and wide influence than the story we know about Jesus’s life.

I intentionally do not force my faith and beliefs on you my reader. Nor will I start now. But please allow me a moment to reflect on this, a very significant holy date for many.

The story of Jesus began with him assembling a small group, twelve to be exact. His intent was to go deep with teaching, mentoring and messaging. He attempted to dispel many teachings of the day and bring better clarity on the subject of God and Heaven.

The disciples as this group later would be called, didn’t always get it at first. It took many tries to explain and demonstrate the principles to them. They eventually did get it.

Then focus turned to a wider audience. A gathering in a town square, a following on a hillside. The pebble was thrown into the lake and ripple it did.

The twelve are gone. Yet, the legacy created 2000 years ago remains.

I don’t judge your beliefs. None of this is an attempt to sway you otherwise. Yet for those who do believe this story and these teachings, the model is perfect.

Leadership delivered deeply to a few had impact far and wide on many. Today, we as leaders can do much the same.

OK most of you will not start a movement or create a global cause. But you can be the leader your team and your community need right now.

I encourage you to reflect in this Easter season.

Where does your leadership stand right now? Deep, wide or both?

Job Search Support

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Join me and my close friend, Rick Gillis, as we open the mic to talk job search. We’re hosting a live ZOOM call Monday April 13 (next Monday) 6:00PM CT. https://dougthorpe.us/39QfLS7

Rick and I both worked together during the last financial crisis in 2008-2010. We helped over 4,500 job seekers with powerful ways to create a better job search plan.

About Rick

Being in the forefront of the online employment movement, Rick began speaking on search, promotion and advancement across the US, as well as on terrestrial radio and in online interviews in Australia, Panama, the Caribbean, Canada, and the UK. Rick has been featured on NPR, PBS, Business Insider; in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Inc., the Houston Chronicle, CIO, Huffington Post, and more. Rick has also produced and hosted both radio and TV shows in Houston.

Rick has written four books on job search and a fifth book, PROMOTE, written for those professionals who aren’t comfortable promoting themselves on the job, is the little book that ‘begat’ The Quotient where, rather than write about equal pay for equal work, Rick advocates for the proper pay for the best performance.

My Role

I was the Founder and Director of Jobs Ministry Southwest (JMS), a non-denominational, faith-based 501c (3) jobs ministry which was featured in Fortune magazine. Since its establishment in 2008, the ministry has delivered over 35,000 training and career coaching hours.

While working with JMS, I created a program called STRIVE to help people with organizing a better and more meaningful job search process. That is now my latest book “STRIVE for Job Search Success.”

strive job search

On Monday, Rick and I will be opening the vault on ideas, tips, tricks and tools to help you find the right job.

Register here. No selling. No fees. Just sharing and caring.

Come Home Before Dark

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welcome sign

Lately, I’ve been reminded of a saying I once used to guide my kids. The phrase was ‘come home before dark’.

When I was younger, we’d play outside seemingly forever. When we asked to go outside, our parents always said: “Come home before dark.”

That was a literal meaning. Once it was dark, if we weren’t home we were in big trouble.

As I grew into adulthood and began having children of my own, an old preacher taught me something new about this phrase.

The words home and dark have a deeper meaning to explore.

Come Home

Coming home is about returning to safety. It’s a center of being. As a kid, it was the place I lived. There was love and warmth at home.

I could reconnect with who I was at home. The world around me could be throwing flaming arrows, but the home was a fortress.

Home was where values were formed. At home we could have honest, loving talks about the things that I worried about.

Dark

When something gets dark, there is trouble brewing. Bad things happen in the darkness.

Dark journey

You hear people talk about others and say ‘they just went dark.” Lights out, no response.

The Instruction

I wanted my kids to know that they could always come home before dark. My wife and I would be waiting to take them in, give them security, and talk through whatever we needed to talk about.

One night our doorbell rang about 2:00 a.m. We stumbled out of bed to find our middle son (family of 5 kids). He was in his early 20’s, already graduated and living in town with a roommate.

We could tell he had been drinking, but his first words were “You said come home before dark.”

We said “Sure, glad you did. What’s going on?”

He proceeded to tell us about a party that was going on in his apartment. Suffice it to say it had gotten out of control. The roommate was a college friend. They had invited other college buddies to join.

Plenty of drinking followed. Behaviors got wilder and wilder.

My son said he had tried to calm things down. He had left his fraternity lifestyle behind the day he walked across stage to get his diploma. Clearly, these others had not.

He sensed the night was not going to end well. Even with his own influence of alcohol, he remembered the words ‘come home before dark.’ And that he did.

As it turned out, later that night, neighbors in the apartments called police. Some arrests were made, but my son was home safe, out of the darkness.

So What

Why do I share this story with you in a blog about leadership? It’s because I believe leaders guide people home before dark.

A leader establishes a home base; somewhere people want to be. Yes, they may venture out on their own to explore new opportunities, new tasks, new direction. But when they sense the darkness, home is where they should turn.

Is your team environment a safe home to shield your employees from their darkness?

Have you communicated to them your desire that they consider your place a home?

I realize some will read this and say “You have no idea what my home life was like. It was darkness all its own.” To those I say, I am sorry to hear that. Why don’t you create a new home? Surely you will have people around you who need that safety and shelter.

I’m not going to lie when I say this article was prompted by the world we’re in right now, the corona virus scare. It is scary.

We need leaders who will stand firm in their conviction for choosing the next right step toward creating calm, creating safety, and helping others through the storm.

Will you be that leader, right where you are?

Help others come home before dark.

For anyone who feels in darkness over a job loss, I’ve just released my book on job search called “STRIVE“. It’s a practical guide to effective job search, even in tough times. This program was born in the crash of 2008 when we had double-digit unemployment. STRIVE helped thousands, yes, thousands of job seekers reconnect with their sense of personal purpose so they could find the right job. Share this info with your friends.

strive job search

Leaders Helping Leaders

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Friday, April 3, at 10:30 AM CT I’m inviting you to join me for a community discussion about our response to COVID-19.

I’ve been talking with dozens of small business owners who are up against the wall. We need to pull together to help each other.

This session will have NO SALES pitches, no products being sold. It’s my idea to allow people together online to talk about what they’re doing to get through this crisis.

You must register though because zoom seats are limited. You can register on my website at DougThorpe.com or click this link now.

https://dougthorpe.us/2xGtWMk

What Do You Do with a 3-2 Count?

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baseball batter aand catcher on 3-2

In baseball, there is something known as the 3-2 count (three-two). It means three balls and two strikes. It means the person who is up to bat has only the next pitch to get something done.

Three strikes and you’re out. If the pitcher misses the strike zone and the batter waits to swing, it will be called a “ball” and the batter gets to walk to first base.

While all pitches in baseball count for something, there is nothing like the three-two moment to feel the pressure rise.

In Business

The same is true in business. Managers and leaders have to make decisions all the time, but only some of those are real “3-2 decisions”.

What do you do when you realize the situation is a 3-2 moment? Some managers freeze. They ask for more data. Or they try to stall in some other way.

Other leaders are quick and confident to jump in and make the call.

What makes it so much different?

According to John Maxwell, the 3-2 count results in something he calls “PGE results.”

Pain, gain, and experience. The outcome of the decision you make in a 2-3 moment results in PGE.

Pain – the results might be painful. The results can be painful to you, your team, the company, and even the community you serve.

During Hurricane Harvey in the Texas Gulf Coast area, a tough 3-2 decision had to be made by the Corps of Engineers. Two large dams northwest of the greater Houston area were about to burst from being overfilled by 52″ of rainwater.

A 3-2 decision was made to intentionally release water from the flood gates, pouring into thousands of homes downstream. Billions of dollars of damage happened.

Yet, had they NOT opened the gates, the entire structures could have burst, flooding out most of the entire Houston area, some 6 million inhabitants.

It was a very painful result for some, but it saved so many others.

baseball batter aand catcher on 3-2

Gain – the results will be rewarding. Good decisions can result in a miraculous gain. Once I was flying some friends in a small single-engine airplane, a Piper Arrow.

The weather had changed from good to bad as we approached our destination. Plus the winds had picked up and shifted to crosswind conditions.

Crosswinds are the worst kind of wind to land a plane. It means the wind is blowing across the runway, causing a force that pushes the plane sideways while you are trying to follow a straight line to land.

I took in all of the information I needed from the tower about landing that day. I set up my final approach and begin a severe crab angle to land. Crabbing involves turning the plane at as much as a 45-degree angle to the straight line of the runway.

With the angle, you fight the crosswind until the last possible moment when the plane has to be turned into alignment with the center stripe of the runway. I won’t go into all the details, but we experienced a textbook crosswind landing that day.

My pilot training had prepared me to do that landing in a definite 3-2 situation. My passengers appreciated the fact we got home safely without incident despite the bad weather that day.

Experience – Working through a 3-2 decision gives you added experience. Experience alone is not a good teacher. Informed experience, studied and analyzed gives you better instruction.

Whatever the outcome, the experience from making a 3-2 decision needs to be evaluated and reviewed. What you learn, once properly vetted, can be applied to future decisions.

In the baseball story, if the batter strikes out on 3-2, he will review the video replay of that at-bat. Anything he can find about his stance, his swing or his posture, will help to improve the odds of making the next 3-2 situation have a better outcome.

Managers and leaders have to stay sharp for 3-2 conditions. As I write this, I’m hearing leaders expressing concerns for their people, businesses and families. Rightfully so. There is so much uncertainty.

This is one giant 3-2 situation. Use your informed experience to muster the training and resolve you need to make good decisions for your team, your family, and your community.

Be strong, stay well.

Are You Managing Your World or Is Your World Managing You?

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managing world

With so many of us confined to limited movement during the coronavirus pandemic, I’ve been touching base (OK touching is a bad word) with colleagues, clients and close friends. The gist of the discussions have to do with “what do we do now?”

An old title from my archives came to mind. I thought I’d dust it off and share. I hope this thought will be helpful to you as you figure out your “new normal.”

Here it is from  the vault.

We all suffer the daily grind. Some days are better than others. For anyone in management or leadership, you need to take a pause to make some critical assessments. I like to call it recalibration. This is a key leadership quality.

Let’s face it, the demands on your time and your life can get overwhelming. In today’s tumultuous market, we really never know from day to day what next may come.

A Story

In my consulting days, I was project manager of a very large engagement with over 600 consultants working for me. It was a coast to coast assignment with teams scattered across 7 job sites. I had nine different work streams running concurrently, with cross-over dependencies between teams.

The hours were long and the travel compounded the pressure. The client was a large national banking institution and the mission was to help the bank respond to a critical regulatory mandate. To say the least, the stakes were great. It could have been easy to get overwhelmed with the scope of the situation. I confess, at times I did feel consumed.

Fortunately, my many years of prior training, both military and civilian, had prepared me for just such a mission. I was a long time practitioner of the principle I am about to share

If you let these pressures mount without routinely asking yourselves some essential questions, you run the risk of spinning off into some other orbit that you never intended.

I suggest that one of the most essential questions to ask yourself is :

Are you managing your world or is your world managing you?

The Frog

There is an old story of the frog in the pot. The story says that if you drop a frog in boiling water he immediately jumps out. But if you set him in cool water and slowly add the heat, he’ll boil to death. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to be like the frog.

boiling-frog

You have to gauge the temperature on a regular basis. Are you getting comfortable with the heat rising?

You have to pay attention to the circumstances around you. There needs to be the routine recalibration of your own role in the middle of the work demands going on around you.

React or Respond?

Here’s another point. If a doctor prescribes medication and I have a reaction to it, that is NOT GOOD. Yet if I respond to it, I am going to get over the condition. Just like with the medicine, being reactive to the things in our world really will not help the situation. Of course there are things that may happen that are totally unexpected. We have to deal with that.

At the core of this idea is the challenge between being proactive or reactive. The point here is that we should not let everything that happens become a topic of reaction. Truly we should be able to do some things to be proactive with what may come. Proactive people are better positioned to respond to the situation and manage their world. However, being reactive allows the events of the day to manage YOU.

So where do you stand? Are you more inclined to be in control of the things happening around you or have you started just reacting?

People Can Mess Things Up

people mess things up

You may think you have developed the best plan in the world to attack the next chapter of your life (ok, maybe just the next few hours). Then, what do you know, the very first person who walks into the office seems to blow the whole plan out of the water. What do you do?

Don’t react! Force yourself to pause and process the matter according to your plan. This is how you manage things rather than let things manage you.

Is it easy? Of course not! That’s why we so often feel overwhelmed at the end of the day.

Even if you are successful at maintaining the focus on your plan, it likely will take lots of energy and effort. But people who have been able to adopt a discipline for doing this find it becomes easier to do. If your outward aura is true to this inner control, the people around you will start to get the picture. Their demands will become less intrusive, plus they will learn they cannot get “the reaction” out you they used to be able to do.

LIFE IS A SELF-HELP JOURNEY

Managers getting it right

Maybe self-help books are not as popular as they once were. The truth is, this journey we call life is full of self-help moments. Rather than waiting on others to pitch in or hoping that circumstances may change, you need to take control of your own destiny.

Personal and professional growth only happens when you choose to make it happen.

At each and every step of the way, keep asking yourself if you are managing your world or does your world manage you? Take the time to recalibrate. Get back on plan.

Question: When was the last time you were able to stand back and realize your world was managing you? How did you regain control?

Leadership in Times of Crisis – Finding the CALM

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calm lake, leadership

It would be surprising if anyone on the planet with access to any form of communication (old or new) didn’t know about the coronavirus. We have news of it popping up every few seconds as messages unfold about closures, cancellations, and other alerts regarding the spread.

I respect the need to be cautious, proactive and vigilant. Many of the gatherings and events I was scheduled to attend have been suspended, postponed or canceled outright. There have even been moments where I was part of the decision to cancel something. I get it.

However, I am not convinced I’ve seen perfect examples of leadership demonstrated in every announcement or bulletin. I’ve seen supposed leaders take a podium and simply spread fear and concern.

In the face of a global pandemic, as it is now called, leaders in both public and private sectors need to stay calm. Calm is a tricky proposition for a leader.

On one hand, you should have your own personal concerns about what is going on. If you are high enough in an organization, you might be leading a major project team. Having a totally external force like COVID-19 interrupt your plans is frustrating at best. Again, I don’t want to sound irresponsible or insensitive but hang with me a bit.

When a leader begins to gain momentum, the last thing you want to have happen is for something to break the cycle. Especially something that comes from outside your organization.

calm business man

We Need Calm

Calm needs to be the focus. Here are four key principles to think about during a crisis.

C is for Clarity. Simplify your messages. Speak clearly and intentionally, thoughtfully. Immediately respond to those who seem unclear after you communicated.

People will need clear communication about your new expectations under new and perhaps stressful situations.

A is for Action. You still need to act. If your decision has not been formed, say so. But don’t wait too long. This virus situation is a fast-moving event. Be ready to respond as information changes.

L is for Leadership. Perhaps it should be obvious, but some may get busy and not be intentional about their leadership wheelhouse.

Dig deep in your leadership tool kit to make ready the best tools you have to guide, direct, inspire, and influence during troubling times. People need us now.

M is for mean it. Be sincere. Don’t rely on cliche and platitude. Stay connected with your people. I mean emotionally connected. Up-level your empathetic listening. Hear people out.

Be relevant and relatable so that people maintain (or increase) their trust in your leadership.

Forget About It

We also need to forget some things. A client from long ago posted these wonderful reminders. He’s a very accomplished CEO and leader in the mortgage finance industry. His name is Bill Dallas. Here are his thoughts.

1. Forget About Yourself; Focus on Others. You will become a source of confidence (and calm) for everyone else.

2. Forget About Your Commodity; Focus on Your Relationships. Every time you strengthen a relationship, the viability of you are selling will increase.

3. Forget About the Sale; Focus on Creating Value. Most people don’t like being sold at the best of times.

4. Forget About Your Losses; Focus on Your Opportunities.

5. Forget About Your Difficulties; Focus on Your Progress.

6. Forget About the “Future”; Focus on Today.

7. Forget About Who You Were; Focus on Who You Can Be.

8. Forget About Events; Focus on Your Responses.

9. Forget About What’s Missing; Focus on What’s Available.

10. Forget About Your Complaints; Focus on Your Gratitude.

The Leadership Premium

In times of crisis and concern, leadership value rises to a premium. You, as a leader, must be the one to help others survive. Encourage those around you.

staying calm in times of stress

Stay calm.

No need to argue the merits of a decision someone else has made. Yet if your people are beginning to act in extremes, encourage them to reconsider. Lead toward calm.