Below are 4 of a list of 10 items that were posted on Alan Weiss' blog. For me the one that stands out the most is "Never listen to advice from who have not done in quality and quantity what they are advising you about."
I find that since I started being a Team Building Consultant everyone and their friends have business ideas and input on what you "Should DO". Sometimes I take these ideas to heart and think, "should I be doing that", although also you find people who are very critical of your business, who have no business themselves counseling you on business!
These ideas Alan wrote of also apply to leadership within organizations (something that I have in quality and quantity consulting in :) )
Staring with what I call the "present perfect" state. Once you view others as damaged you treat them as damaged.
This reminds me of my work with teams, from their supervisors words "are really f-ed up!" The team is seen as defective by their boss so when their boss speaks to his boss he describes the team as "F-ed".
Soon the entire leadership team sees this team as "F-ed".
By the time I come in to facilitate some team building we quickly realize that these teams are behaving to fit the role that their supervisor is forcing them to fill "F-ed up". The perception you have of others is how you treat them.
How does one change their perception of a team?
Begin to view them as what they are. Once you begin to place trust within teams you will receive trusting behaviors.
When consulting with leadership groups much of my work begins with the supervisors view of the team. Also the teams' view of themselves!
Teams can quickly fall into the perception that we are a defective team, so everything we do is defective.
It takes time and work to shift existing paradigms of teams into "healthy as you and intent on improvement unless they demonstrate otherwise".
The main word in this concept is "Healthy as YOU" to be an effective leader you must believe that you are healthy, and intent on improvement.
1. Never assume the other party is damaged. Assume they are as healthy as you and intent on improvement unless they demonstrate otherwise.
6. If you can’t quickly cite the value you bring to people and who the most likely clients are, then you haven’t thought carefully about your business or its impact.
9. If you’re not failing, you’re not trying. If you’re afraid of failing, then you’re in the wrong business.
11. Never listen to advice from people who have not done in quality and quantity what they are advising you about.
|
-Michael Cardus is the founder of Create-Learning-Team Building, an experiential based training and development consulting organization, as well as a blogger for TeamBuilding NY. Mike specializes in team development and leadership development consulting and training, creating team-building programs that retain talented staff members, increase production and effectiveness of your team. He lives in Buffalo, NY, and travels to you to serve your team-building and leadership training needs, wherever and whenever fits your schedule.
