9 Ways To Positively Impact Leadership Team Meetings

From Dysfunction to Impact and Influence in Leadership Teams One thing that continues to surprise me with senior leaders is how many do not contribute to senior leadership meetings. Having worked with thousands of team leaders, I notice typical behaviours and one of these behaviours is to remain silent in meetings. Of course, there are many reasons for their silence. Kate, one of the leaders I spoke to, let me know what affects her: Without meeting protocols, others talk frequently...

Leadership is Similar to Sudoku

I love doing sudoku, particularly the tough ones. I love seeing the patterns of numbers emerge from nothing, and logic slowly dawning. Sudoku has simple rules; the numbers 1-9 in each of the 9 boxes, numbers 1-9, horizontally, vertically, and at times, diagonally. Every few months, tougher sudoku become possible as I learn new patterns of thought and analysis. I love the experience of being completely absorbed in the puzzle. I don’t emphasize my failure to resolve a particular puzzle....

5 Keys for Leaders to Accelerate Staff Engagement

BM is a senior leader I am working with. BM is talented, experienced, wise, and thoughtful. She is also shy, and reserved. So far, she has refused to share these insights with her colleagues. She thinks these insights lack value. With her permission, I am sharing these with you, so BM might gain a sense that her experience and wisdom is valuable to others. One of her organisation’s strategic goals is to dramatically improve staff engagement. BM quietly told me...

Maintain your Mojo to be an Effective Leader

Maintaining your mojo means giving yourself time to rest so that you can continue to be the most effective leader for your team. I’ve met too many executives who continue to work ten-hour days and seven-day weeks. Why is this? Mostly, they don’t want to be judged by their boss or peers as weak or not resilient. The thrill of being on top of something new, making rapid decisions and innovating brings rushes of adrenalin. As inevitable complaints and criticisms...

A Moment of Calm

It is time to take stock – to note what is truly important to each of us. Let’s take a deep breath together. Former Aotearoa, NZ poet laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh interviewed Joy Hiljo, US poet Laureate during Readers and Writers Week. This was an absolute highlight for me. As I stood in line to go, I began talking with the woman next in line with me. She was a community activist from Detroit. She gave me a copy of...

Three Tips for Personal Care in a Crisis

Being resilient means getting enough sleep each night, eating well and remaining hydrated. When you are under pressure, it is easy to forget to eat lunch, or to pause and think, breathe and drink water. However, self care must not slide by the wayside. Ensuring your brain has plenty of oxygen enables you to think clearly. Keep a supply of low carb high protein energy bars keeps hunger at bay. Have fresh fruit like mandarins, bananas available each day as...

Leading Exceptional Online Meetings

“How do you stop meetings from being boring?” This question dominated my recent free zoom session on leading exceptional online meetings. I had asked participants to submit their top two questions, and everyone had asked that question, or a version of it. It is a great question, and too few leaders recognise their meetings are boring or irrelevant to participants. If your own meetings don’t excite you, and you aren’t looking forward to getting together with those in the meeting,...

Great Leaders Imagine What Is Possible

Leaders who focus on creating better futures for others face just as many roadblocks as the rest of us. What helps leaders navigate these roadblocks, rather than give up and be defeated? The answers lies in creating effective goals. Effective goals are outcome statements describing the future state as if it were current. In my workshops, I am constantly inspired by the goals participants set. Each participant has a vision for themselves and their organisation beyond what they are doing...

Taking People With You

Come From Away was one of the Broadway shows David and I chose on our recent visit to New York. An unlikely and poignant musical based on the 39 planes which were diverted to a small Newfoundland town for a week during the 9/11 disaster. The story centred on the interactions with a town of 7000 people accepting an equal number of bewildered stranded travellers desperate to be with their work colleagues or families. The awkwardness, delights, and setbacks which...

Summer Reads

I am a voracious reader of business books and articles, biographies and autobiographies, detective stories written by women, and contemporary fiction. I become a fan of particular authors and read all they have written. Within those moments, I am transported out of my own life and into others lives. I’m lucky to know a number of business authors; I love reading their books and discovering what they are thinking, or how they work. Two great books I have read recently...