Virtually every week, I respond to a question submitted by a reader. I call the series Today’s Challenge. If you’re interested in past questions, and my responses, I’ve created a category on the sidebar to help you find these posts. Today’s question is: How do you make mentoring work?
Tag: Today’s Challenge
Have you ever been confused by a message you received from a leader? Have you ever received mixed messages from leaders in your organization? If your organization has at least two leaders, I’m confident the answer is “yes!’ Today’s Challenge: How do you avoid sending mixed messages throughout your organization?
How many times are you tempted to answer a question with a question? This is actually a good leadership practice. The more we help others think, the better for everyone involved. I want to answer today’s question, “How many people can I lead?” with a question, “What do you think leaders do?” Your answer to my question may help you answer yours.
Have you ever had the feeling that something in your head or heart was so clear you were convinced it must be clear to others? Only to realize you had deceived yourself, what was crystal clear to you was NOT clear to others. That is the context for today’s question: How do you achieve clarity with your team regarding what’s most important?
Most meetings are useless. I’m guessing the more meetings you attend the more you’ll agree with that statement. Think about the REAL value of the last five meetings you attended. How much action was initiated or change realized as a result? That’s the topic of Today’s Challenge: How can we generate more action as a result of our meetings?
Today’s question comes from a leader who is familiar with some of my past work, specifically, The Secret of Teams and Chess Not Checkers. If you are not, here’s a really quick overview: one is about the power of teams and the other is about the largely untapped potential resident in our organizations at large. The question from this leader: “How are the two ideas connected?”
Every leader I know is pursuing excellence in his or her arena. Consistent execution is the final hall pass on the path to greatness. Systems make excellence predictable. However, systems only work when we work them. Today’s question is from a leader who asked: “How do we make new systems stick?”
Have you ever felt like you were in quicksand as a leader? I’ve never been in real quicksand, but I’ve seen it on TV and in the movies. It looks awful! As I understand the way it works, when you’re in it, your attempts to free yourself plunge you deeper into its grip… and ultimately you die.
Today, I attended a Chess Not Checkers workshop with several hundred leaders. The content was strong, the communicator was phenomenal and the instructional design was engaging and highly interactive. At several points in the daylong program, the participants were asked to record questions that had come to mind during the previous sessions.
Every organization needs leadership – there are only two ways to meet the need: hire them or grow your own. The right answer for most organizations is a combination of these two approaches. Today’s Challenge is from a leader who asked, “How do you attract leaders?”