Any team you become a part of – and certainly any team you are asked to lead – will be starving for the opportunity to get to know and appreciate their teammates better. As you might have experienced, hunger can sometimes make people weak and unmotivated, or can even make them irritable and defensive… but […]
Every one of your teammates is fighting an invisible dragon. As a coach, it took me longer than I would like to admit to develop an awareness of the personal battles that each one of my players were struggling with once they left the court. Player strengths and personality types were not all I needed […]
I am honored to be co-hosting an upcoming Tweet Chat with Dan Forbes, steward of the Lead With Giants community and blog. The #LeadWithGiants Tweet Chat happens every Monday at 7:00 pm Eastern time. If you haven’t ever participated in a Tweet Chat before, here is a great introduction to tweetchats that you might find helpful. […]
Everyone has that person at their office or work location. The difficult teammate. The person who, if you were living in an episode of The Sopranos, you would just tell Paulie to “take out.” Sadly, we don’t live in that world. But you do still have options. You can take them out… to lunch. (and […]
Most team leaders spend their time thinking more about empowering people, considering what things they can give people instead of what they could selfishly take. In fact, I would argue that servant leadership is the most positive, powerful, effective, and inspiring example a manager or coach could provide their team. I’m sure you have heard […]
Change is constant. You can count on it. But you can’t always count on your people to accept it with enthusiasm… The saying goes that everyone wants progress, but very few embrace the change that makes it possible… and so it is likely the same with people on your team. The idea of seeing your […]
Years ago – as a very young teacher – I was in a meeting where our department head introduced a mandatory form each teacher would be required to fill out. She clearly felt it would be a good idea to have everyone commit to the weekly documentation. The form was to be included in what […]
The words leaders use have an incredibly powerful impact on their people. As an english teacher, I always emphasized the importance of vocabulary… but there is ONE word that leaders may over look that, when they use it well, can have a tremendous impact on team performance. “IF” is an incredibly powerful word for leaders. Leadership […]
Leaders have a tremendous impact on their organization, because the phrases they share with their teams can either produce distrust and apathy or ignite passion and commitment. And the reality is that everyone (including YOU) is a leader. What you say to the people that you work with will influence their work ethic and attitude. […]
There is a big difference between brick walls and speed bumps. And I shared this with my son, because I couldn’t teach him to be taller. At 12 years old, he worked passionately on improving his dribbling and shooting for hours out in our driveway. But each night he would pray to grow taller – […]