Best ideas must win. They must win irrespective of who brought them up and how long that person has been with your organization. Whether they are a CEO, a President, or another executive or a temporary employee who started last week, quality ideas must always be enabled to rise to the top. Diversity of opinions, experiences, backgrounds and education is …
Set clear expectations, you are not a puppet
As the (wo)man, the myth, the legend continues to grow and your capabilities, accomplishments and skills become known to a wider audience you will often begin receiving invitations to join projects and tasks outside your current core responsibilities. These are great opportunities to learn new things, meet new people and help others with what you know so please take advantage …
Spend company’s money as you would your own
Fiscal responsibility of a budget is exactly that, a responsibility, not a right. This privilege should not be treated lightly and should be approached with rationale, integrity and accountability. As you are making purchases focus on the needs of your team and those you work with and support. Once the needs are addressed and if budget permits, only then should …
Leaders speak last
You are a part of a brainstorming session or a project update meeting and folks are sharing their ideas, suggestions and plans. Last one to speak is the leader of that team. Well, last one to speak SHOULD be the leader of that team. The reason for this tactical decision lies in the desire to empower others to contribute and …
Is your team providing strategic value?
Every once in a while do a complete assessment of your and your team’s contributions to the overall mission, vision and purpose of the organization that you work for. During this process, ask yourself, are you providing strategic value? Are you contributing (directly or indirectly) to the main cause and main reason why all of you are there? If the …
Enable people to contribute
As you work with people from different departments, divisions, even different companies you may come to realize that their work may be based on varying levels of quality and expectations. Before getting upset or immediately escalating to their supervisors please try to understand the full picture as to what they may be dealing with. They could be severely understaffed, overworked …
Culture of evidence and collaboration
As you and your team go about your daily responsibilities it is important to create the culture of evidence and collaboration. Each team needs to be able to document their performance, progress, accomplishments and contributions. The value of such resource will continue to grow with time as it begins to serve as a knowledge management databases of source. This resource …
Capture ideas and make them a reality
Write your ideas down, think about them, follow through and make them a reality. Productive, valuable ideas come at random times and it is important to catch them before they escape your mind and your grasp. Even more importantly, put some time aside to think them through, do your feasibility research and follow through. Turning ideas into reality is what …
Helping people selflessly
How can I help you? When was the last time you have asked that question of people from another department, division or functional area? How often do you offer help selflessly without any expectation of receiving anything in return? These are some of many questions we should each ask ourselves as we go to work every day and try to …
Confidence and humbleness
Everything you do professionally and personally should be done with confidence and belief in your skills, knowledge and experience (unless you are wrong of course). You are in your current position because you are good at what you do and you want to be even better. One of the prerequisites to success is believing in yourself by displaying confidence (which …