Group Dynamic

I’m traveling this week, and will return to producing original content next Wednesday.

In the meantime, check out these two worthy blog efforts that I am proud to have been a part of last month:

Above the Line America

31 Tips for Des Moines

Check them both out; they are worthy of your attention for different reasons. And even if you’re not from Des Moines, those tips are worthwhile in your community, too.

When I read the (rightly) popular Good to Great, I found myself agreeing with nearly everything in principle, but thought that some concepts were a little too idealistic for a small- to mid-sized organization.  Massive businesses, like his examples, have more luxury to move people around, for example.

That’s why I had a touch of a problem with Read the rest of this entry »

In response to that article,

I wrote this:

The Governor was spot-on in Sunday’s Register when he points out that “passionate and self-motivated” teachers are best — research backs that up, too — and that those things are “not easy to measure or reward.”

It’s okay that Read the rest of this entry »

I blog for a couple of reasons — mostly to spread the word about positive leadership and its effectiveness to as many people as possible, and make it “real” by providing examples and tools.

Also, I do it to provide a “touchstone” for current and previous clients (although I truly consider “previous” clients to be lifelong clients, and therefore, “current.”)

And, I do it so that potential clients can get to know me – to see if we’d be a good match.

I committed to doing it once per week, on Wednesdays, and I’ve mostly stuck to it.

This week, Read the rest of this entry »

It is good to be efficient, and it’s also good to be comprehensive. Sometimes those two things don’t work very well together. Over the last 12 years or so, most of my work helping groups has been through 4 to 8 hour leadership workshops. However, there is a demand for leadership training that can be delivered in much shorter periods of time.

This has forced me to work with previous clients to find out which “nuggets” have made the biggest difference for them in terms of their leadership success.  These may not be the most important aspects of leadership, but they are the ones that made the most difference in the shortest amount of time.

There are three.  I have started referring to these as “The Big Three.”

Number One: The Four Levels of Maturity. Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone who has been following the rise and acceptance of Dwolla is aware of the T-shirts. Ben Milne and company have been giving away and asking folks to wear their T-shirt, and to take pictures of it being worn in interesting places. This has been fun for me for two reasons, which I will illustrate with two stories.

Story one: Read the rest of this entry »

Something that strikes most visitors to Walt Disney World is how “nice” of a place it is. It’s very clean. The employees are called “cast members” because they’re playing a role and they have a reputation for great service and friendliness. Everyone knows that.

But there’s another unique element present at Disney World that is seemingly beyond Read the rest of this entry »

Keeping it simple is something I like other people to do.  I, however, am not always so good at it.  That’s why I like simple equations – they help me focus, and help me explain things to others.

p=P-i

…where p is Read the rest of this entry »

As a guy obsessed with maxing out potential in groups and individuals – and one who believes the person at the top is the one most responsible for making it happen – I was pretty fired up about the concept of Undercover Boss.  In each episode, a CEO goes undercover, in disguise, to work next to front-line employees.

The format got tired quickly – boss leaves fancy home and doting family, stays in fleabag hotels, realizes he/she is totally inept at frontline tasks, discovers that employees are (gasp!) real people with real problems, cries (most episodes), promises to change, and gives lavish rewards to the episode’s featured employees.

What a great concept – and what a disappointment in a show.   Read the rest of this entry »

Still on vacation.  Something to share with you, though:

This woman has a fantastic blog that is great reading for anyone who cares about public education.  Check it out:

Expected freedoms.

The posts on this blog have been primarily about effective behaviors of good leadership. But leaders do not exist in a vacuum, and it’s important to remember that much of the work in a high-achieving organization is accomplished by the “followers.” The readings on this site focus on things leaders do to keep those followers engaged and motivated. Let’s take a moment to look at the big picture of follower engagement. I know that sounds like a buzzword, but you can call it whatever you like; keeping people happy, firing people up, making people feel loved, keeping them on your side, maintaining loyalty, whatever.

Read the rest of this entry »

So many believe that leaders are “visionary”.  It’s true – but a problem is this:

The concept of vision is “out there”, esoteric, hard to grasp.  Aren’t visionary leaders somehow “special” in that regard?  How can you “teach” vision?

(If you’ve been a part of a Group Dynamic leadership workshop, please forgive this content; this is an exercise that you’ve done.  It may be redundant for you, but feel free to pass this on to someone you think needs it!)

Let’s make this concept easier, more concrete, more actionable, and more “learnable”.

First, a working definition of “Vision” as it applies to leaders:

Read the rest of this entry »