Tag: Leadership Skills
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The Cost of “Nice”: When Holding Back Is a Mistake
Moving from passive compliance to genuine ownership only happens when leaders stop holding back. The feedback traps that damage trust—often stemming from just trying to be “nice”—are usually the exact things stalling continuous growth.
Analysis in the Age of AI
AI-driven over-planning. When generating reports becomes effortless, analysis paralysis can quietly stall your organizational momentum. Here’s why easy analysis might actually be slowing you down.
Decisive, Fast, Intense. At a cost.
You’re decisive, you move fast, and you don’t make random changes just to make someone feel better. That’s not aggression — that’s a builder’s mindset. It’s the same energy that makes you good at what you do. It means your driven. You’ve seen what doesn’t work, and you don’t like wasting time toying with what…
AI Decision Errors: The New Navigator’s Mindset
Small business owners should replace rigid business plans with a flexible compass for navigating the ever-changing market. Relying on average, public AI data leads to mediocre results. Instead, they should use unique, first-party data to accurately calibrate their direction, ensuring tailored strategies that reflect their specific business needs and market nuances.
The Drag of Over-Planning: When Your Map Anchors You
It’s a great feeling when things go as planned, isn’t it? The perfect roadmap, the seamless execution, the predictable outcome. The satisfaction of hitting the bullseye. And when things don’t go as planned? Well, it’s just not a bullseye. But what if the very act of meticulously planning is the force that prevents you from…
When Plans Don’t Matter: The Ultimate Constraint is Time
It’s a great feeling when things go as planned, isn’t it? The perfect roadmap, the seamless execution, the predictable outcome. The satisfaction of hitting the bullseye. And when things don’t go as planned? Well, it’s just not a bullseye. But what if none of it actually matters? See, a plan is only an idea of…
The Growth Canvas: Designing Your Next Breakthrough
Small Business Owner, you’ve done remarkable work. You’ve navigated the early days, built a team of 3 to 20 dedicated individuals, and scaled your small business to a significant milestone – perhaps hitting that $1 million mark, or even pushing towards $5 or $10 million.
Embracing the Flux: Lessons from Life at Sea
As creators, organizational leaders, or business owners, we often strive for stability and predictability in our businesses and personal lives. However, the reality is that change is the only constant. Living on land, it’s easy to get caught up in the idea that things are permanent and unchanging. We surround ourselves with structures that have…
When Holding Back is a Mistake
Sometimes it’s timidity, sometimes fear. Occasionally it’s lack of skill, and usually it’s just trying to be nice – trying to maintain relationships. Because relationships matter, as you well know. Real trust isn’t built by avoiding hard conversations—it’s built by navigating them together. That’s why Dr. TJ Vari and Dr. Joseph Jones are targeting 9…
How Cognitive Dissonance Helps and Hurts Your Change Efforts
Change is tough. We know that. Personal change, professional change, and organizational change can each be overwhelming. Especially when change is led by someone who doesn’t understand the five stages of change. In times like we’re experiencing now in Fall 2020, educational change includes all three areas of change (personal, professional, organizational). Here’s a quick…
5 Things That Plans Are Good For
Plans aren’t good for everything, and the complexity of a plan is inversely related to the success of its corresponding actions. Here are 5 things that plans are good for: Knowing what A/B test you’re running next. Having a foundation from which quick and decisive action can occur. Having a benchmark from which you make…
3 Lenses to Build Self-Awareness
Daniel Goleman, in his ground-breaking book*, showed us three lenses or perspectives to consider when increasing self-awareness: Emotional Self-Awareness: Labeling one’s own emotions and measuring their impact. Accurate Self-Assessment: Reflection is not enough. This is about reflecting accurately on our strengths and limitations. Self-Confidence: Understanding your worth and the value you’re able to bring to…
Increasing Empathy Skills in Conversation
Ever had that conversation that didn’t go as planned? Okay. That’s an easy question. Ever had that conversation where there was an underlying tension? The words were nice and correct, but the tension was present and unspoken. That is when empathy skills are needed. Empathy skills are techniques that pull out the underlying tension, and…
Management, Unlike Leadership
In yesterday’s episode, A Brief History of Management, I posed a series of questions without providing answers. I’d like to offer a few bullets to encourage you to embrace your managerial prowess without being shy about the shift. Management, unlike leadership, includes these important skill sets: Communication EfficiencyMeeting ManagementPersonnel CoordinationPlanning for RoadblocksMonitoring Strategic PlansFollow-UpResource AllocationEvent Organization Management might deal…
10 Obstacle Tackling Traits
In yesterday’s post, I shared 10 obstacles teachers face that limit their effectiveness and productivity. Here’s the list of 10 school leadership traits that take away or minimize those obstacles. Coaching Empowerment Inclusivity Visible Work Communication Mentorship Strategic Alignment Empathy Collaboration Decisiveness Listen to how to develop these 10 traits in Episodes 86 and 87…
10 Obstacles Teachers Face
There are many obstacles and challenges to overcome. Here are 10 obstacles your teachers face. More importantly, these are 10 obstacles you can have a direct impact on. Lack of Coaching Mismanagement Trust Workload Clarity Upward Mobility Perceived Disconnect Support Sabotage Cynicism Tomorrow, I’ll share 10 leadership traits that address these obstacles. Listen to the…
Learning to Be Confident
For some of us, it’s probably the hardest thing. Yeah, sure we all have areas of strength where we’re confident. But confidence in decision-making, confidence in your judgment, and confidence with humility – these things take time to learn. It’s the start of another school year. The path ahead is not a sprint. Remember to:…
Inevitable Results
Many outcomes are inevitable. Many results just happen. Average, for example, just happens. It takes no leadership to get there. Average just occurs. Status quo. Status quo is another result that is easy to maintain. Some end results are inevitable without reflective leadership. __________ If you’re interested in building habits of reflective leadership, I recommend…
Team Entropy
Apart from physics, entropy is defined as a lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder. Entropy is a natural part of working as a team. Teams entropy occurs when work outpaces productivity. Team entropy occurs when teams move between the phases of problem-solving. The more movement, the more entropy. Movement doesn’t always equal…
Managing Up
In the recent Mafost Mashup episode (5 Ways to Jump Start Next School Year), I offered 5 strategies and 5 friends offered strategies to really level up over the summer break. One of these strategies was managing up, which is a crucial aspect of context switching (see link at the end). Not only does this…
August Amnesia
It’s coming to a school near you…hopefully, not yours. It’s the “what did we say we were going to do” syndrome. My gut says everyone in school leadership has experienced this, maybe even you. I know I have as a teacher and an administrator. August amnesia is another way of saying Organizational Memory Loss, which is…
Research on Empowerment
In a very thorough study, researchers (see link below) outlined the benefits of empowerment in the workplace. What I found interesting in the study was how the leadership strategy of empowerment was broken down into 5 concrete and operational terms. They are: Increased choice in work. Making the impact of the work visible. Working in…
When Groupthink Takes Hold
James Stoner conducted a study in 1961 about people in groups. It has been replicated hundreds of times since then. In the 1970s, Yale researcher Irving Janis continued the research. The term groupthink was born. How Does Groupthink Happen? What are the conditions for groupthink? A group is comprised of like-minded individuals A leader expresses…
Fear, Criticism, and the Real Monster
In a conversation about risk-taking, creativity, and failure, the question was asked, “Risk-takers have to be comfortable with failure as a potential consequence. How do leaders ‘get comfortable’ with failure?” I’d argue failure isn’t real. It’s criticism that’s real. That’s what we really fear. We all know failure is about learning and reiterating. Failure is…
Leaning Out, Risk Not Required
How can you be a risk-taker? How do you summon the courage to take risks? What if you fail? Worse, what if people find out you fail? Nonsense. What others view as risks, really may not be. When your roots are in best practice, but you lean out to the unknown and constantly seek feedback,…
Can You Control a Conversation?
You can control a speech. You can control a meeting. You can control how much toothpaste is on your toothbrush. But you can’t control a conversation…not if it is to actually be a dialogue. Entering a conversation with a predetermined outcome will result in controlling behaviors. If you seek to advance your agenda, you will…
Not A Laughing Matter
It’s not a laughing matter. Well, it really is. Outstanding leadership depends on it. What’s that, you say? Laughter. A study was published at Boston University (Laughter and Leadership by Fabio Sala). The researcher analyzed two years of longitudinal data from organizational leaders. Leaders were categorized as “outstanding” or “average”. The researcher found outstanding leaders used…
A Culture of Celebration
What happens when leaders model how to have fun at work? What happens when words of affirmation are given more often than not? What changes when high fives are more frequent than corrective emails? What shifts when innovation is celebrated, even when mistakes are made? It’s likely we find: More dedication. Willingness to try new…
Process of Coaching
The act of coaching a sport is quite straightforward. Present the plan. Time to practice. Feedback. Recognize. Repeat. The act of instructional coaching (here’s a great book on the topic) is quite complex – or it can be. But does it have to be? In addition to the act of coaching, what principles guide the…
What A Leader Feels
A leader only feels a fraction of what the team feels (but usually skewed to the negative). Whether you are a team leader, principal, or area superintendent, you feel a fraction of what your team feels. Why is this? Because the leader carries 100% of the passion, whereas the team only carries a portion, and…