The Fire Within

We all know time is precious and it is the only resource we can't make more of. Yet we continue to waste it and continue to forget how precious our time is. In any activity there is the task, or what we want to get done. Around it are additional factors that determine the outcome of the task. There is quality, the tools we have, the money invested and the time it takes to get the task done.  Over the summer I built a retaining wall. It was one of the most time intensive projects I've ever done. It required more time to have a finished product I could be proud of. Taking the time to do it right ensured I won't have headaches later on of things shifting and becoming uneven. That would cause it to look terrible and possibly require me to redo it which would not be fun. I could have spent less time on it but it wouldn't have turned out as nice. I could have spent more money on it and hired a professional to build it for me.  In any project people will sacrifice something ba...

Expectations have been on my mind lately so I started doing some searching looking for quotes. I was amazed, most of the quotes coming up first had a very similar tone: No expectations, no disappointments. The secret of happiness is low expectations. When you have expectations you are setting yourself up for disappointment. It made me sad. I get I can't expect to play for the winning Super Bowl team next year. But to have expectations so low, basically expecting nothing good is going to happen will almost guarantee nothing good will happen. I believe what you expect is likely what will happen. Realistic expectations are always good, but if you expect that people will disappoint you, that is likely what you will see, all of the areas they disappoint you. If you expect people to do great things, to surprise you, to exceed your expectations, you will see all the ways they do. The definition of expectation is a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the ...

Are you clear about what your role is? I'm not talking about your job or position, because that should be pretty clear. But your role can change project-to-project or game-to-game. I'll use a sports analogy because it is pretty clear, if you are a wide receiver, that is your job. But your role can change depending on the game, the opponent, the score and the play called. If it is a running play your role as a wide receiver is to block down field. If you run a route on a running play trying to get open to catch a pass it doesn't help your team at all. Everywhere else is it is the same. My job is a project manager, but at times I have to be a business analyst, systems architect, tester, trainer, etc. It changes by project and by what is needed in the moment. The clarity that is needed is by being on the same page with the other people on the team. At the start of the project if roles are defined you don't just decide to change unless the whole team is clear with the c...

We are working on a project now at work that has taken much longer than we at first estimated. It is a terrible feeling to miss the mark the way we have, but the number one reason we are taking longer is because we are trying to build something beyond a one time fix, something with real lasting power that will work for lots of similar situations down the road. There is always a trade-off, the more people you involve, the more scenarios you try to fix with your solution, the longer it will take. Hopefully those extra meetings and the extra time has a benefit of something far greater created for the long run. You have to know what your goal is, and as a leader be okay with making a sacrifice because you can't have it all. Is your goal to be first in a hundred meter sprint or do you need a relay like the Pony Express to get something over a great distance? Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too, no one ever has.

Actions speak louder than words. A famous quote that everyone has probably heard. Yes, it means don't talk about what you are going to do, actually do it. It also means, in another cliched saying, if you are going to talk the talk you better be ready to walk the walk. If you are going to have policies, values, mission statements, handbooks and core beliefs, you better be ready to actually hold them to be true. If you don't, the people you lead will quickly see through you and begin taking the things you say as empty promises. It will be hard for them to believe anything you say. What is the truth and what is just another story you tell them? You can't use your policies as a reason to fire the employee that doesn't contribute, yet ignore them and make an exception for your superstar. There is no quicker way to lose the respect of those around you. Once you've lost their respect it is hard to get the best effort from them and sooner or later you start losing team me...

One of the coolest things to watch is someone achieve something more than what they were expected to. To break through a plateau that they have reached. There are countless stories of someone getting counted out, put into a box or having everyone around them deciding who they were and what they were capable of. But I love the perseverance and determination in people to shatter expectations. Where their only limits are those that they put on themselves. Each of us have dreams and goals that we want to achieve. We have aspirations of the team we want to make or the job we want to get. To attain what you desire I promise you that you will struggle. Everyone will go through The Dip as Seth Godin calls it. But if you push through and overcome those obstacles, you will be amazed at what is possible. So often in life the one that holds us back the most is the person in the mirror. We believe what others say and we set the bar lower for ourselves so we feel good about reaching average rather...

Some people believe that at the basic level all types of leadership can be summarized by two concepts, the carrot and the stick. Do you operate under the notion that people respond best to being rewarded when they do things right or that they need to be punished when they do things wrong? You see this manifested so often in the world, those leaders that think nothing motivates more than a good old fashioned butt chewing. I think that it is rarely effective, certainly in the long run. At the same time you can't be happy about everything, accepting when mistakes are made. Jon Gordon tweeted recently and he worded beautifully how to find the right balance, "Positive leaders are demanding without being demeaning." You can be demanding, expecting better things and higher levels of performance without yelling at someone where they feel humiliated, embarrassed or ashamed. Life is hard enough to be doing that to each other. Most people already know they made a mistake and hav...

It is always hard when someone doesn't meet your expectations. You feel disappointed, annoyed, and angry, along with some other emotions I'm sure. It is always easy to blame the person that is falling short but I am finding as good a job as I think I'm doing communicating what my expectations are I probably wasn't as clear as I thought. When someone isn't meeting your expectations, here is a quick process to go through to have a better result the next time. Don't make them guess. If there is something you want but you never tell them, you can't expect them to just know. Did you actually say what your expectations are? Before you talk to them, make sure you know what it is you want for sure. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Ask the person why they aren't doing what you expect. Maybe there are some valid reasons that you haven't considered that is making it more difficult. Giving them a chance to express their view is important also, e...