We all have blind spots. The trouble with blind spots is you don’t know you have them. You don’t know what you don’t know. There’s a clue you can use however. A hack that strong leaders make a habit. The trick is simply to be aware of what, and who…
146. Where’s the Mess?
It can be tempting to walk around something that’s not working. Especially if it’s not your something. A broken chair, a dirty bathroom, an argument between colleagues, a project thats late. The funny thing is that a single event, say a waiter drops a plate of food in a restaurant,…
140. What makes sense?
Some things just don’t go to plan, do they? Especially when you’re tracking progress honestly and not shifting the goal posts. Barriers and walls and delays come up – some external and outside your control, often inside the organization. Maybe some self-imposed. This is normal for effective teams, no pain…
136. Where is the truth?
Finding out what’s true is tricky, it takes effort. Our brains have a neat way of avoiding that effort. We just decide what’s true in advance. We store those “truths” away and grab them quickly when we need a quick answer. We take shortcuts, make assumptions, apply labels, follow brands.…
130. What do you take credit for?
There’s a key difference between team sports and individual sports. The individual gets the result and gets the trophy. A team that gets the result gets the trophy. The players, even the star players, share the credit. It’s not how many points you scored, or saved, but whether your team…
126. What needs sorting?
How do workers cope in our fast paced, complex and volatile world? One trick is easy to learn, and practice. Setting priorities. Anyone can do it in any workplace. You need to start in your own work. Don’t wait to be told. Don’t wait until you’re a leader. Practice a…
120. Where is Best?
You’re at work, and you want to be curious and creative. What could possibly go wrong? One thing that often goes wrong is called the Best Practice trap. The plausible yet dangerous assertion that performance will improve if you just find “Best Practice” and copy it. That conformity can replace…
116. What puts you to sleep?
Great leaders get bored. Any job can get boring and repetitive. Even very senior roles, or in large organizations where there’s a lag between thought, action and results, and lots of organizational process. There’s a thing that good business owners or senior leaders do that is open to you at…
110. What are you thinking?
Learning isn’t difficult. Your brain is programmed to learn. If you don’t stop it. Some say learning a new job is difficult, that’s not true. Learning a new job is easy because you want to learn. You think about it a lot so you learn it. At least until you…
106. Where are your boundaries?
Learning is easy. Once you set your mind on something. It’s impossible if you don’t. We talked last week about being open to new or different ideas. Now you’re at work, learning your job. Soon you discover that some things aren’t open to you. Maybe many things. What do you…