Your value as a leader is often defined by the people on your team. Building the right team goes beyond finding a group of people with the right mix of professional skills; it is about developing a sense of teamwork and commitment to the organization’s vision.
The process can begin with a decision to value your team’s members as individuals. You want your team to function as one unit but with many unique perspectives. You build a healthy team environment when individuals of diverse backgrounds and strengths are equally respected for their ability to contribute toward your common goal.
When you establish the safe space required for your team to thrive, communication becomes a necessity. As much as possible, keep your team aware of highs and lows within the organization and how they can be managed. Consistently ask: Are my colleagues happy with my work? What can I improve on? If they sense you’re frustrated, without proper communication, it can lead to...
What does it mean to be a world-class leader? How do you excel in your leadership? I have shared that leadership is a journey with ups and downs and challenges and rewards. So how do we get the most out of this journey?
This May, we highlight strategies for becoming the best leader you can be. This means mapping out an effective leadership strategy that can help you get ahead of problems before they become problems. Because leadership is often dependent on you and a host of other people, establishing quality systems to help manage crises is vital. This begins with checking your value systems, starting with how you value people.
The best leaders are those who can build and nurture genuine relationships with a diverse group of people; women and men who can laugh and learn from mistakes and who welcome all good ideas no matter who they come from.
Valuing others can be as simple as making eye contact, remembering a person’s name, and giving them your undivided attention....
We were not created to navigate life on our own. Especially as leaders, we miss opportunities to develop relationships when we try to do this alone. You cannot nurture people, come up with ideas, and implement them without the camaraderie of community. In our quest to be part of a community, we must be intentional about connecting ourselves to people who nurture our mission, vision, and purpose.
Surrounding yourself with motivation, whether you need it immediately or not, is a meaningful way to cultivate a healthy culture of growth that can improve how you handle your leadership responsibilities. When you surround yourself with positivity, you adopt healthy beliefs and see life as happening for you instead of to you. It is important to remember that inspiration and motivation can come from all types of people!
Look for certain characteristics you want to have on your side:
If life has taught me anything, I have learned things seldom go according to plan. Big Rocks will seem to take forever, people don’t always come through, and our goals may seem to elude us. At times discouragement will use the times of waiting, realignment, and revision to attack our joy and peace as leaders. We will have our moments when we question our ability and even our leadership purpose, but the key is to take action that keeps us from remaining in the valley of questioning.
All leaders go through these periods but what defines successful leaders and gets them back on the mountain is what they do while they are in the valley:
As we approach the Easter holiday and the feeling of Spring is all around, I am excited about the new things that are coming alive! You may not have accomplished all you planned, but you’ve made a valiant start, and you have months ahead to see more progress. Leading and leading well requires us to see the best in ourselves and others. Leading successfully means celebrating the good things and bouncing back from the not-so-good things!
Decide right now to stay motivated even when there are days that challenge your commitment to lead well and lead with joy. Cultivating motivation often begins with knowing when to step back from the struggle and celebrate the great things you’ve been a part of. Establishing a healthy balance between your analysis of your weaknesses and your celebration of your victories is a skill you must master.
I often wonder how Jesus managed to stay motivated, knowing He was on His way to a hideous death on the cross. Somehow, He managed to remain...
One-fourth of the year has already elapsed, and nine months remain to complete our plans for 2022. How well have we done so far in walking in purpose, remaining accountable to our Big Rocks, and encouraging others in their plans and goals?
In the classic book on leadership, The Leadership Challenge by Barry Posner and James Kouzes, they highlight five attributes of all exemplary leaders. These traits provide a comprehensive benchmark for us all as we process our own leadership journey. The study proposes that all great leaders will
When you look at these first three months of the 2022 journey, how well have you functioned as an exemplary leader? You see, leadership is not just...
Can you believe that in just a few days, you will start 2022? It’s amazing to me!
What’s even more amazing is how we get another chance every 12 months to clean the slate and start again. We get to leave behind the failures and falls of the last year and move ahead into the next. On top of that, we get to take all the gains from one year and use them as strength and guidance in the new year.
What went poorly in 2021? Now let it go! What went well in 2021? How can we build off that and leverage it in 2022?
Here’s how we start: Stop focusing on things you can’t change. What’s done is done, and the energy we use to look back could be used for new dreams and opportunities.
Start thinking about the potential in front of you in 2022, movements to lead, people to add value to, opportunities to capitalize on.
Write down your plans! Don’t just dream about it, be about it! Set your course. Set your...
We are in the last days of 2021. I am grateful for you and your commitment to growing with CLN throughout this year, and I look forward to 2022 and many years to come. We have grown together, and there is more to come on the other side of this current season.
By now, you have probably mapped out the strategy for 2022, and it’s exciting to see what happens next on your leadership journey.
As you review your Big Rocks for 2022, my encouragement is to be grateful for another opportunity to fulfill your purpose.
I’m also very grateful for the people in my life who help me stay on point, and please look for the same help in your life. It can be a coach/mentor, friend, or even a group of people with similar goals who are working to become their very best.
Above all, be accountable to yourself. Achieving your Big Rocks will require continual growth, encouragement, and a touch of discipline. So wake up daily...
If you are reading this, you should be getting close to giving yourself the best Christmas gift, a plan for approaching the Big Rocks of 2022. We are just a few days away from what could be one of the best years of your life if you approach it with a successful strategy.
When we hear the word strategy, we often think it is only applicable to organizations and businesses, but we need a strategy for our personal lives. The Oxford Dictionary defines strategy “as a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.” Your Big Rocks are your major goals for the coming year, and charting an achievable plan to complete them is your strategy.
My first thought for creating a strategy is setting realistic action steps and due dates. When setting a due date for Big Rocks, we take into consideration that things often don’t go as unplanned, especially if that rock is also dependent on other people. This helps us to set a date that...
We are coming down to the end of the year, and our focus is turning to 2022 and all the potential it holds for our lives. Over this past year, we have discovered the power of pivoting from what we may have originally planned to a contingency plan that helped us make progress on our leadership journey. It seems that the barriers often become stepping stones or even launching pads for success!
This year as you begin to write out the Big Rocks of your goals and dreams, don’t be afraid to consider the potential barriers and hindrances. Begin to think about ways to navigate past those expected “unexpected hiccups” along the way. Your ability to be resilient and recover from setbacks, surprises, and stress will be the real determining factor in 2022.
Remember that what seems surprising to you is no surprise to the God who created you and marked your life for a distinct purpose. As a matter of fact, He can take what seems overwhelmingly negative and produce...
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