Coach Dan's Blog

  📖 "You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." – Jane Goodall   The daily leadership calendar hits just right again!   Every single day we make an impact on those around us. Everything from the questions we ask, to the tone of our voice makes an impact on another person's day. What we believe in... what we value - comes shining through in the way that we show up to our colleagues, teams, partners, friends and families.   What kind of impact are you having today?   ❔ Are you leading with curiosity? Asking questions to grow and challenge, and then empowering to follow through can help a team member learn a new skill, or gain confidence in skills that are developing.   ❔ Are you balancing results with growth? Getting the job done is important, and when you balance getting results with learning new skills, ...

📖 “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.”  ―  Plutarch Today is a great day to kindle the fire of curiosity in your mind. 🔥 Ask questions. 🔥 Listen to understand. 🔥 Encourage others to share different perspectives and ideas. 🔥 Show enthusiasm for finding answers. 🔥 Read or follow someone new. If you don't make time for curiosity, you run the risk of snuffing that fire out completely! What's stopping you? We all win together!

"I want my team to be more accountable." "I wish my team took initiative more often." "It would be great if my team thought more 'out of the box.'" Teach your team HOW to think, instead of WHAT to think. Teams follow your lead, so if you're looking for improvements in them... why not start looking at how you're leading? Start by turning the statements into questions. ❔ How can I make my team more accountable? 💡 Give them a stake in solving problems. Encourage them to design AND build solutions. People tend to feel more ownership when they have a hand in designing what's being built. For example: -- Conduct brainstorming sessions around solving a specific problem. -- Gamify problem solving ( such as rewards for the most creative solution to a sticky problem.)   ❔ What am I doing to keep my team from taking initiative? 💡 Be clear about the results you are looking for, and reward your team for identifying ways t...

  “Do not give them a candle to light the way, teach them how to make fire instead. That is the meaning of enlightenment.” ― Kamand Kojouri   It's a fine line- balancing between helping your partners achieve a goal, and teaching them the skills (and building the experience) necessary to achieve their goals over and over and over again.   ⛔ "Just tell us what to do, and we will do it." ⛔ "Provide us the steps or the checklist." ⛔ "How do you want us to do this?"   This language is common, and it suggests to me that the team (regardless of level) has been conditioned to not take risks. To me it means they have learned through experience that their safest course of action is to have someone else solve the problem and instead just do as told.     In other words, they are doing exactly what they have been trained (and incen ted) to do.   Sure- some problems need to be solved right now! There can be an immediate benefit ...

  Teams follow the cues of their leader. They will often mirror the leaders mindset, values and behaviors. Observing your teams in action followed by some reflection is a great way to learn about yourself. Ask yourself: ❔ What did you see in your teams that you were proud of? ❔ What did you see in your teams behavors that surprised you? ❔ What are you doing to reinforce the behaviors you observed? ❔ What would you like to see your teams do differently? What are you doing to reinforce (or model) that behavior? Much can be learned by observing your team - it's a bit like looking at your leadership in a mirror. Why not look into your mirror today? We all win together!

  I received a "leadership quote of the day" calendar over the holidays - today's quote from the late Jimmy Carter seems to hit just right. In an ever-evolving work landscape, what matters are the values and principles that drive the way we work together to create valuable things for customers and stakeholders. The Agile Manifesto (circa 2001) still resonates with me today... (to the purists - please forgive my creative license - I believe the values apply to so much more than the creation of software!) ✔️ Individuals and interactions OVER process and tools ✔️ Working solutions OVER comprehensive documentation ✔️ Customer-focused collaboration OVER silos and hierarchy ✔️ Responding to change OVER following the plan ✔️ Relentless improvement OVER settling for status quo If you (and your) teams can find ways to live these values with every decision made - regardless of the framework applied, your customers, partners, users and stakeholders will all benefit in the long ru...

“Misinformation is powerful, not because it changes minds, but because it allows people to maintain their beliefs in light of growing evidence to the contrary.” -Charlie Warzel and Mike Caulfield The Internet Is Worse Than a Brainwashing Machine  

  💡 Quick challenge for today - Assess how you listen. We all know that it's better to "listen to understand" rather than "listen to respond." I would suspect that most of us also think that we do a good job of listening to understand. But do we? Assess yourself today - Set your alarm and schedule yourself 5 minutes today, and actively reflect... ❔ Did I listen to understand today? ❔ Was I quick to respond, or did I pause to reflect before I answered questions? ❔ Did I repeat back what I heard to validate I understood what the sender intended? ❔ In reviewing every meeting on my calendar, what new thing did I learn with each interaction? Changing our habits can be hard. What are you doing today to become a better listener?