Tagged With "Tolerable and Bad"
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Your Leadership & Culture
These days we don't have to look far for articles on how to positively affect workplace culture. The founder of Southwest Airlines, Herb Kelleher, was once asked by an employee if they could serve sandwiches on their flights. He responded by asking if that would help them become THE low-cost airlines in the industry? It didn't so they don't! Every great leader believes their leadership can make a difference in their organization & helps keep everyone focused on their vision of what that...
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GLOBAL LEADER
Do you consider yourself a leader? Comfortable calling yourself a leader? Why not? Think maybe someday you'll be worthy? If leadership is simply influence then we're all leading in our own way every day. Our actions spread like ripples in the water. Here's the effect they can have... In our lifetimes (about 30,000 days or 80 years), we'll have the chance to know about 1,000 people. If those 1,000 people each know 1,000 then we're up to 1,000,000. If those 1,000,000 people each know 1,000...
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ICYMI: Healthy Eating, Social Media, & Lower Income Communities – A Research Review
Yesterday, we hosted a webinar led by Jessica Larson - Public Affairs Specialist, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, U.S. Department of Agriculture. She provided a research review that offered insights on how various SNAP-eligible audiences use social media channels, particularly when it comes to health and healthy eating. Participants had a chance to find out which platforms are preferred by different lower income populations to more effectively communicate healthy eating messages...
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Is It YOUR Story To Tell?
In a meeting a few years ago we were discussing the aspects of what we did that might be interesting to the general public. Pretty quickly it was suggested that we have a "rumor mill" button on our website. A little "behind the curtain" of what was going on. While this would probably peak visitors curiosity, the message it would send about our organization could be damaging. Is it your story to tell? Gossiping is one of, if not the most destructive actions anyone can take on another person.
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6 Thoughts
We always show up for what we believe in. Life is a journey & we're always on the way. Are you headed in the direction you want? In reflection... Are you showing up for others in line with your values? Are you worrying about things you can't change but aren't willing to put effort into changing them? Are you caring, collaborating, coaching? What behaviors do you tolerate? We all get what we tolerate. Who have you helped recently? 6 Thoughts from Marshall Goldsmith 1. How smart or right...
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Role Model Mindset
We all endure difficulties in life. The thing we can lose sight of is that people are watching. People are being influenced by the way we show up to deal with challenges. They're curious about...How we stay centered? How we keep perspective? Do we remain kind to others on the journey? Adopting a role model mindset changes our behaviors because we want to be proud of how we got through the difficulties. This requires intention of how we want deal with the chaos. Are we getting better or just...
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Good Soil!
The people we surround ourselves with are more valuable than words can often express. Recently, an old friend popped into my mind so I reached out to catch up. He was amazing, generous & supportive as always. We spoke about many things but the most prevalent & surprising was workplace culture. He spent some 27 years in the newspaper business only to be unceremoniously let go in the name of “progress”. Their loss was another’s gain. His one-of-a-kind voice & magnetic temperament...
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Acquiescence or Agreement
Nobody goes into meetings thinking... Let's make some bad decisions today! Collaboration is a must to move any enterprise forward. Decisions on how & what to do are largely made in meetings. Whether deciding on innovation or the stability of continuity, the input of everyone is essential. Acquiescence is a silent or passive assent or submission. Agreement is an understanding between entities to follow a specific course of conduct. Silence from the team is acquiescence . This leads to the...
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2 Types of Leadership
The most simple definition of leadership is...leadership is influence. Everyone has it. Do you know why you're using it? If your why is off then the how won't matter. Patrick Lencioni consistently delivers & his latest book is no exception! In "The Motive" he shifts his focus on helping us understand the importance of why we're leading in the first place. He presents... There are 2 reasons people want to become a leader: to do whatever is needed to serve the people OR for rewards like...
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Celebrating (or at least dealing with) Failure
Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Fail- Shoot - I said it so much that it lost it's meaning. And I think I'll keep it that way. Join me and Bob Bertsch for our first episode of SEASON TWO of Practicing Connection in a Complex World . In this episode, we discuss the idea of “celebrating failure.” While we know a healthy attitude towards failure can make us more innovative, failing still feels bad. How can we deal with those feelings and develop a practice helps us deal with failure? Listen...
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Old You...New You
The hardest aspect of leadership development is behavior change. Often, we lose momentum on creating new habits. Could it be because we don't think about all the great stuff we are choosing to keep? Let's unpack this in 3 parts... Old You What is it about the old you that you would like to maintain? Preserve? Protect? There's more in here than you think. Write them down. Feel good about them. Share them. Celebrate your decision. Stop Doing We spend a lot of time thinking about & deciding...
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Questions or Complaints?
“Only self-confidence makes freedom & dissent possible. An organization that brainwashes employees to think alike will only breed complacency & make itself unappealing to anyone who might inject some oxygen into it.” – Ricardo Semler Think about a time when you were offended by a complaint. Perhaps it was a question someone posed. Did it feel like it was directed at you in a meeting in front of others? Do you remember your response? Was it appropriate for the situation? Was it...
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Ugh...Bad drivers!
It happens every day... You're driving on the highway and inevitably there's someone driving crazy. Going faster than everyone. The cost of a ticket isn't a deterrent. Rules don't apply to them. They're dodging in & out of the lanes like it's the Indianapolis 500! This has a major effect on you and those around you. You put on the brakes. You change lanes. Your pulse goes up. You have passengers double check their seatbelts. You're on high alert! The dialogue in your head might look...
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Get better at anything!
Had the good fortune of carving out some time to finish a book that has made a quick impact on my life; " Triggers " by Marshall Goldsmith. The most powerful aspect of this book for me was self questioning . Heard about this technique from one of his social media posts & had been half-heartedly going through the motions of this technique. I needed some coaching on it for sure. He states that active questions make the most difference because of how they frame the responsibility. They...
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Re: Procrastinate now...don't put it off!
There is a term used in engineering called OBE. Overcome By Events. It refers to a decision or task that you were slated to make but before you were able to, something changed and the decision or task is no longer required. OBEs can be bad i.e. I had the winning lottery numbers but never got around to buying a ticket. They can also be good when some difficult decision or task is no longer required. When I run across a task or decision that I must do, I often evaluate the OBE index and act...
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Re: CRISES OF LEGITIMACY OF SCIENCE-WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Excellent blog post (although I am not sure that using French helps with the perceived arrogance of science and the academy😊). Anyway, here’s an editorial that was in the local Madison newspaper a couple of weeks ago that speaks to the challenge of communicating science (around COVID 19) that lays out some self-ownership that the science community needs in connecting with the public. Paul Fanlund | The Capital Times Even before vaccines became widely available, one could have predicted that...
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Healthy Questioning
My Great Uncle gave me a small plaque when I was in Junior High with a powerful quote. It hung in every place I lived until passing it along years later. "The important thing is not to stop questioning!" -Albert Einstein What my Great Uncle encouraged was a healthy curiosity. His wisdom has been & remains valuable to me to this day. In this spirit, let's discover how one question has led to just the right "thing" when it was needed most! "What would have happened if we didn't do what we...
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Reminders
You're smart. You don't need me going on about, well, anything really. Most of the time what we all need is just a reminder. Here goes... What we tolerate we condone. What is rewarded is repeated. Think about it...
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ICYMI: Shop Simple with MyPlate and More MyPlate Updates!
Last week, we were joined by the MyPlate team from the USDA Center of Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) for a preview of two MyPlate tools that will help Americans make healthy food choices. Big thanks to @Barbara Jirka from USDA-CNPP for helping to organize this! New to the USDA - Shop Simple with MyPlate , allows individuals to find cost-saving opportunities in their local area and discover new ways to prepare budget-friendly foods. The panelists presented the background on the...
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Thoughts from a former NFL coach
During my short college coaching time, had the pleasure of attending a clinic where some successful coaches shared their X’s & O’s & overall philosophies. Knowing why, how & what gets these guys out of bed in the morning is powerful knowledge. One of the speakers was Marty Schottenheimer; his passion for coaching resonated with all of us. An awesome opportunity to hear from a great NFL coach & man. Here are some of his thoughts... He is perhaps most famous for his pre-game...
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Digital Gratitude
We've talked about this "gratitude" thing before in this post... Get More Gratitude . This year, instead of awkward silence, when it comes around to you to say what you're thankful for you'll be ready! If you're like us and are feeling bad about not being able to be together with everyone you'd like, here are some ways to let you friends & family know you're thinking about them. Embrace some technology to share your gratitude for the special people in your life. Share a memory from your...
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Teamwork Part 3: We're always seeking clarity!
There’s a software development company in Ann Arbor, Michigan called Menlo Innovations . One of the ways they provide structure & clarity in their company is with their project managers and developers. To encourage developers to provide real-time information, good or bad, they instituted a very simple predictable process. When the developer needs to communicate anything to the project managers, the project managers have been asked to simply smile & say “thank you”. This encourages...
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Excellence and You!
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Will Durant Behavior change is hard. Starting something new means stopping something that's not adding value to your life. What if you thought about leadership development as a habit? Then you wouldn't have to worry about the "right" time to start. Choose wisely and align your saying with your doing. Influence is always happening. Bad driver. Happy bank teller. Slightly pleasant flight attendant. These reflect a...
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The "Doctor" is in!
Sport provides such fertile ground for life lessons. There is immediate feedback constantly. You made the shot or missed it. You completed the pass or it was incomplete. You won or lost. The scoreboard is just the start to all the statistics. AND... Since we can't participate and evaluate at the same time, there's always a coach. One of my favorite coaches is Glenn "Doc" Rivers in the NBA. In a Netflix series called " The Playbook " he and 4 other amazing coaches give us their take on " A...
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What I learned from a 5-day challenge...
These days it seems everyone is doing some kind of "challenge". Truthfully, these make me pretty skeptical and after they try to sell something to you for the first 20-minutes I'm out. This time I stuck with it! Just finished reading " Soundtracks " by Jon Acuff and was curious to learn more about his work. BAM! His Overcoming Overthinking Challenge appeared on his feed and I signed up. Here are the nuggets from each session... Opening The 2 most powerful word in the English language are "me...
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Human Factors
It's December 28, 1978, in New York City. United Airlines Flight 173 has just taken off for Portland, Oregon. Unknown to the passengers, a warning light has come on stealing the Captain's attention. Not long after, the Co-Pilot realizes they won't have enough fuel to reach their intended destination and will need to land at a different airport. With his mind focused on the warning light, the Captain is unable to focus on what is really important. They're going to run out of gas. The plane...
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Summer Self-Care Webinar Series
The Community Seminar Series: Summer Self-Care What topics are covered in the series? Summer is busy, and it's easy to forget to take care of ourselves while we try to juggle what everyone else needs. Researchers from University of Illinois can help guide your summer health choices. Find a session that's perfect for you, or participate in all of them. Summer Self-Care is a collaboration between University of Illinois Extension and the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute as part of...
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TRUST
Our biological need to trust is strong. We approach situations with an almost automatic seeking of a transaction to occur. Knowing how we approach our daily interactions is important for creating moments of clarity that fit with our values. Naive & Distrust Some of us approach awarding our trust from a place of distrust making it hard for others to convince us we should place our trust in them. Some of us approach from a more naive place that can make it hard for us when trust is fragile...
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Tips to Cope with Market Volatility
With respect to investments, the word “volatility” refers to sharp up and down movements in prices. Read on for several tips for Extension educators to share with clients to help them cope with market volatility.
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Six Tips for Building Wealth
Extension Educators can change their clients’ lives dramatically by sharing information and tools to build wealth. One of the most valuable financial resources is time for compound interest to work its magic on regular savings deposits such as Roth IRA contributions.
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Practicing Gratitude and Building Better Thoughts
For service providers and clients alike, life is a winding road of good things here and bad things there. Actively working toward wiring your brain to acknowledge the good and appreciating those good things can help individuals shape personal strengths and build protections. Creating protective factors which can help cultivate positive mental health and generate an asset-based outlook that reaches all aspects of life. November is National Gratitude Month Gratitude is the practice of being...
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More Leadership Theories
The practice of leadership has been going on as far back as we can observe. In a previous offering " 10 Leadership Theories " we looked at where we've come in the recent past regarding thinking and approach to leadership. In one post we can't possibly hit everything related to leadership, so it's a reality we left out a ton of stuff. We're going to continue this journey by looking at a few more influencers in the leadership area from centuries and millennia ago to today. Hang on! Lao Tzu -...
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Flip Your Script
Oh, the things we tell ourselves. Sounds a bit like Dr. Seuss; sadly it's not. You have to wait until the end of the post for some of his wisdom! We're talking about how our personal narratives become aspects of things we believe about who we are. Here's one that's been in my arsenal forever: "I'm horrible at math." Big deal you say. Maybe you're not good at math. You have other things you're good at. What's the problem? Telling myself this has made an agreement that has limited my openness...
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"No" isn't negative
"No! Don't touch the hot stove." "No! Don't text and drive." In these examples, "no" is actually positive to alert us from burning ourselves and not driving while distracted. In other situations, primarily in our professional lives, we perceive saying "no" will be viewed as negative. This leads to saying "yes" to much more than we can accomplish and the mistaken idea that if we're busy it means we're valued more. Does always being busy with more equal accomplishing more? Here's a scenario...
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Be Aware!
Leadership is influence. Influence is felt by others in our behaviors. These behaviors provide evidence of our intentions. Be aware: It's our intentions we betray first followed by our behavior. When tolerated, these bad behaviors have devastating effects on those we spend the most time with; our professional colleagues. There are many studies that chronicle the impact of poor leadership, the resulting toxic environment it creates, and the negative effects on our health. Just guessing it's...
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Future You
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, which is why we call it the present." -Bill Keane Ok, a little bit of a cheesy way to start. Seriously though, tomorrow isn't promised to any of us. Our challenge is to make the most out of every day because each one is an opportunity to move closer to the person we want to be. The journey is the destination. Here's a big thing that gets in the way... Damaging Self Talk When we describe ourselves (to ourselves and others) in...
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Facing Organization Changes with Monkeys, Marathons & Popcorn!
Recently we held a workshop on change where the participants mentioned something they were hearing in their organizations. "That's how we do things around here." This phrase is often used to explain a cultural behavior or process. It seems to provide plausible deniability and deflect blame for the current situation. Healthy organizations know they must deal with the challenges of change versus the status quo. No change and you become obsolete. Change for change's sake means chaos rules and...
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The #1 clue of dysfunction
In some leadership sessions recently we asked the participants what they were experiencing that might be holding back their teams. Without much hesitation, they said there was something keeping them stuck. Keeping them from collaborating the way they hoped. It's probably not what you expect. They said it was not asking for help . Seriously? Yes! This one thing reveals a number of things that work against effective collaboration. Here are two... Fear exists Poor psychological safety Fear is...
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How to be a leadership "boss"
My first real job where there was a paycheck was at 13 years old at a local pizza joint. It was "the" pizza joint in town run by a graduate of the college where my parents both taught. This meant it was okay to work there as they trusted him. Most of the kids in Branson, MO worked over the summer because it was (and still is) a huge tourist destination. Despite being busy with camps and sports we found a few hours to earn a little money each summer. If you could do it someplace that taught...
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Discrimination Financial Assistance Program
A $2.2 billion-dollar fund has been set aside for Native American and Minority farmers who applied for a farming loan of any kind before 2021 and were wrongfully denied or received bad loan terms, may be entitled to significant compensation. Wrongful loan denial or rejection Lower loan amount than expected Higher loan rates than other local farmers Less favorable loan terms Special funding requirements Frequent check-ins and required reporting Some Native American farmers may receive up to...
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Emotional Spending 101
Unlike impulsive buying, emotional spending is frequently heightened by stress, grief, or moments of happiness or sadness. Regardless of these triggers, they can impact your finances negatively. For example, you shop to make yourself feel better after a bad day at work. As a result, compulsive shopping and spending stems from an impulse disorder habit that can be addictive for many. The relationship between money and happiness is now seen as complete. Aknin, Wiwad, and Hannibal (2018)...
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Everybody "digs"...
A little slang every once in a while won't hurt anything. It keeps us on our toes. Growing up with parents who were musicians, there was a lot. The ones that stuck with me were from the jazz genre'. Here are some you can adopt if you want to be a "cool cat" like some of the greatest musicians of all time! Axe - your instrument Bad - meaning something really good Chops - level of skill or mastery Dig - you like or understand something Groove - the rhythmic feeling of the music Gig - your job...