Archive for November, 2010
Effective leaders write thank you notes.
I’m surprisingly busy this week, which is great, but I haven’t composed a blog post. I do love this article though, and reminds me of a friend who decided that he was going to write a thank you note to every single person he never thanked enough. He limited himself to one per week, and it was a one and a half year project. Consider it.
This is a nice and timely article, and it’s consistent with other messages from the Group Dynamic blog, so dig it:
Motivational Articles & Stories – Harvey Mackay.
Thank YOU for reading and for your support.
How DiSC changed my life…
A major shift in my teaching effectiveness occurred after I absorbed and applied “The Leadership Challenge” by Kouzes and Posner. I especially embraced their concepts of “inspiring a shared vision” and “encouraging the heart” as ways to increase my own effectiveness at rallying students to stay attentive and hard-working. Being enthusiastic and affirming as a way of doing things, which is the opposite of what I had done before, was like changing the world from black and white to being in color. This shift marked a measurable difference in my engagement of students.
And yet, every once in a while, I would be frustrated Read the rest of this entry »
Positive leadership isn’t the same thing as “soft” leadership
Sometime, when people are urged to take a positive approach to leadership, there is some push-back. Some people seem to equate “positivity” with being super-nice, but being kind is much deeper than a spewing of empty compliments like “good job” or “nice work” or “super!”
You can’t be too kind. But, you can be too soft. That is the difference, and I’ll admit that I have had trouble sometimes helping folks understand the difference. I just read Good to Great and have taken quite a liking to Jim Collins’s phrase “rigorous, not ruthless.” This is the message for leaders who would like to be positive. In fact, participants in Group Dynamic workshops are often trained in the art of “behavior –> outcome” statements. (Covered in an earlier post). This focus on behavior, and the high standards of the organization, can be done in a way that is positive, not negative. In a way that is rigorous, not ruthless. Read the rest of this entry »
