How do you lead your people during crisis?

I continue to read articles about the economy and it has made me wonder: Are you leading or are you standing still and waiting to see what happens?

Sure, we are in challenging times, but you are leading a team; they look to you for inspiration and guidance.

Are you providing your people with the tools they need to succeed, regardless of what is happening outside the walls of your organization? Sometimes our instincts get in the way of making decisions that are in the best interest of our company, especially where human capital is concerned. It is impossible to do our best as leaders when all we do is react.

The following is a simple list of things you can do right now to make a difference in tough times.

1. Leverage strengths and weaknesses for the betterment and growth of the organization.

2. Inspire leadership in others.

3. Continue training and development programs. (You can’t afford not to!)

4. Treat your human capital as the heart of your business.

5. Empower people to do their best.

6. Remember, attitude is contagious.

Excellence

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

We are wondering how you are achieving excellence in your work. Post your thoughts and ideas about excellence.

Your Vision

Given the changes in our economic landscape today, leaders have to make tough decisions and revise the overall organizational strategic plan, let good employees go, restructure, and even stop the development of innovative products and services. With all of these changes, leaders can drive performance by having and communicating a clear vision of what’s next.

People will follow leaders who inspire them. A leader with a vision and passion can achieve great things. A good vision offers a compelling, motivating picture of the future and serves several important purposes. Consider the following as you craft your vision:

• Provide the direction and purpose of your organization
• Inspire loyalty and motivate employees to take steps in the right direction
• Reflect the strengths, culture, values, and direction of your organization
• Encourage belief, commitment, and excitement from your employees
• Help employees believe that they are a part of something bigger
• Challenge people to outdo themselves, to stretch, and reach
• Coordinate the action of people quickly and efficiently
• Provide an opportunity to present changes your organization is facing and what’s next

Fresh Start

I discovered yesterday that my internet provider changed my email account without any notification. You can imagine my irritation; we have had the same personal email address for nine years! Once we got over our initial anger and our tantrums had been thrown, we went into problem-solving mode.

First, my husband spent two hours on the phone with tech support and got our new email set up. While he did that, I created a list of what I need to do in order to communicate the change. The list entails things like getting my address book updated and alerting my bill pay accounts.

In the midst of my frustration, I had a moment of panic, what if people can’t find me? Then clarity hit, what if the marketers, viruses and spam can’t find me? It occurred to me that sometimes you get a fresh start, such as on a birthday or a new year, and after nine years and some pretty random emails, I get to start fresh. I have the opportunity to think more critically about which newsletters and blogs I sign up for and who gets my email address.

We all struggle to create simplicity in what we do, especially where technology is concerned. Instead of complaining, maybe I should just send my provider a thank-you note.

Focus

I read an interesting article the other day about focus, something I am regularly striving to maintain. It stated that there is evidence that individuals who are better able to focus on one thing and filter out distractions tend to be less creative. That not only made me think, but it made me a little sad. I want to be ultra-focused AND extremely creative.

This brought me back to the concept of balance, something else I am always trying to maintain. Is there a perfect balance that we can all achieve that keeps us focused and creative? I do not know the answer; I’m just throwing it out to the abyss. Feel free to comment if you have insight.

Interruptions are the biggest enemy of focus. Research shows that the process to get back to the point of focus from before the interruption takes 25 minutes. That same research shows that in a corporate environment, most of us may spend up to a third of our workday recovering from interruptions. This is an astonishing statistic, but it makes me wonder if focus is distracting us from the real issue: Defining our values and spending our efforts on what we value most.

Focus for the sake of focus does not accomplish anything. What we need to do is focus our efforts on accomplishing what is important.

Fortune Cookies - Part 2

In my last blog, I left off with my husband, Vern, at a Chinese restaurant, hearing knocking sounds coming from the men’s room.

Vern finally realized that all the knocking sounds were because his friend wasn’t able to get out! The men’s room door was stuck and his friend had been loudly knocking on the door from the inside to get someone’s attention. Vern tracked down the manager, told him the situation, and they proceeded to work on getting the poor guy out.

When the friend was released, he and Vern had a good laugh. The friend asked, “Didn’t you hear me knocking?” and Vern explained that with all the other ambient noise, it took him quite awhile to hear the knocking.

They went back to the table, where the waiter offered the requisite fortune cookies. Believe it or not, here’s what Vern’s fortune said:

“Opportunity will soon knock. When it does, answer the door!”

Isn't that a fun and funny way to receive a serious message?

Things change. Just when we think nothing is going our way, Opportunity comes knocking. It may be a personal challenge or a professional one, something as simple as a minor new skill to be learned or a project that nobody else wants. Or even lunch with an old friend.

When Opportunity knocks on your door, will you answer?

Fortune Cookies - Part 1

As with so many others, this has been a tough year for me and my family. We’re going through a lot of changes, personally and professionally. It can be hard to maintain equilibrium. However, something happened recently that has given me with a whole new perspective on change and opportunity.

Recently my husband, Vern, had lunch with a friend. They ended up at a small Chinese restaurant and enjoyed a decent meal and good conversation. Near the end of the meal, the friend excused himself to go to the men’s room.

A few minutes passed. Then a few more. And more. Still, no reappearance.

Vern idly considered that perhaps the meal had not agreed with his friend and hoped he was feeling okay. All around were the noises of the restaurant: customers chattering, dishes clattering, the general bustle of food and commerce, including some tapping sounds that Vern ignored completely.

More time passed and by then Vern was a little worried about his friend.

Eventually, some of the noises penetrated Vern’s consciousness. It was the sound of knocking. And knocking. And more knocking. All coming from the direction of the men’s room!

I’ll let you know what happened in my next blog...