Teams are capable of achieving great things. They are also capable of getting horribly lost. As individuals we all have blind-spots, but when a whole team has the same blind spot they are likely heading for danger. Teams who adhere to a view, or an objective, and ignore anything that…
131. How do you treat Trends?
Great teams are honest with themselves. They know what’s important and what’s not, and they don’t pretend to do things. Honesty and clarity cut through the confusion and indecision that slows down lower performers. It allows focus. Honesty is a super power. How a team deals with trends is a…
127. How do I read your mind?
One reason we humans work well in groups is because we “know” what others in the group think. It maybe we know their views on important topics, or just how they will react in certain circumstances. We might be guessing or know with confidence, but teams simply don’t work without…
121. How do you Improve?
Great organizations don’t pretend to be innovative, or delegate it to specialists. Great organizations don’t put their Communications teams in charge of “Continuous Improvement” or create separate departments. In Great Organizations, every team drives improvement, and every team member in those teams has a part to play in improvement. Some…
117. How do you treat Mistakes?
Great teams make mistakes. Lots of them. What makes teams great isn’t their mistakes but how they treat them. Great teams don’t punish mistakes, or hide mistakes, they use them. Not because they like making mistakes but because they don’t. Teams who punish mistakes make a really basic error. Their…
111. Are they thinking ahead?
Leadership isn’t a game – it has real impact on real people doing real jobs. How your people think will shape how your team performs. How you think shapes how your team thinks. We’re still talking about the game between Survival and Mission. Set your personal mission, choose your missions…
107. Do you choose Learning?
Learning is easy. It can be slow. It’s also easy to stop if you choose to. In a complex world you win when you control outcomes rather than they control you As a smart leader you control outcomes by giving your team control, not by controlling the team. You do…
104. Are you just a Leader?
I worked with someone, many years ago, who was promoted because he was great at solving technical problems but turned out to be a poor leader. Byron (not his real name) had some very serious personal flaws including his relationship with alcohol. Byron’s career was cut short in the end…