Career – Page 2 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

How much has your organization’s strategy shifted in the last 12 months?

April 15, 2021/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How much has your organization’s strategy shifted in the last 12 months?

Significantly: We’re going in a brand new direction. 20.8%
Somewhat: We’ve got a few major shifts but are staying on course. 34.4%
Not very: We’re generally headed in the same direction with a couple of adjustments. 36.2%
Not at all: We’re full speed ahead on our current path. 8.6%

Balancing consistency with agility. Unless there are large shifts in the market or in your organization, your strategy should remain consistent (assuming it’s working). Most of you report that you’re staying the course. For those who are undergoing major shifts, be sure you understand what is driving those changes. Change for the sake of change can doom a good strategy. If you’re not changing at all, take a moment to assess the market around you to ensure you’re not missing any big trends or risks that could affect your business down the road. Shifting during times of calm is much easier to do than when you’ve been caught unaware by a big change in the market.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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What is your greatest fear when giving team members a task they’ve not done before?

April 8, 2021/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: What is your greatest fear when giving team members a task they’ve not done before?

They’ll mess it up and I’ll have to fix it. 20.4%
They’ll need too much of my time and guidance. 21.3%
They’ll get frustrated and morale will drop. 12.2%
They’ll be wildly successful and outshine me. 3.8%
I am fearless. This is how they learn. 42.2%

Fear versus no fear. You folks are pretty evenly split as to whether you’re afraid of your team members making mistakes and either having to fix them or invest too much time in helping them versus having no fear at all. For the former group, this is how your people learn. Start with giving less risky projects and tasks. Build extra time into timelines to allow for slower work. Focus on the fact that you’re building their skills instead of focusing too much on task perfection. For those of you with no fear, ask if you’re pushing your team members enough. Maybe the reason you’re not afraid is you’re not stretching them enough and actually taking a risk on their development. To find out if that’s the case, ask them what they’re prepared to take on. If their request makes you a little uneasy, then you know you’re operating in growth territory.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

When you find yourself with extra time on your hands, do you have a list of nonurgent projects you can immediately turn to?

April 1, 2021/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: When you find yourself with extra time on your hands, do you have a list of nonurgent projects you can immediately turn to?

Yes. I know exactly what I’ll do with the newfound free time. 64.22%
Kind of. I have a general sense of projects in waiting. 32.42%
No. I have no idea what I’d do with free time. 3.36%

Ready for free time. The vast majority of you have a plan for when you have that “found” free time. Bravo! There’s no time wasted wondering what to start working on when you have a free t0 minutes, hour, day, or week. There’s no need to spend time prioritizing either. You can just get to work. If you’re in the 32% who are a little less rigorous on maintaining such a list, give it a try. Call it your back-burner projects. Break it into groups of things you can do in an hour, a day, or a week. List items in priority order. When the time frees up, jump to your list and dig in! Many folks are realizing right now how valuable such a list can be when they suddenly have a lot more time on their hands.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

What’s harder: working from the office or working from home?

March 25, 2021/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: What’s harder: working from the office or working from home?

Office: lots of distractions. I focus better at home and doing things on my own. 41.4%
Home: lots of distractions and temptations. I need the structure and social aspects of an office. 58.6%

Working from home is hard. Many of you reported being challenged working from home. It seems like a great opportunity until you actually try it. Distractions, lack of structure, and lack of coworker contact are all huge challenges. Having worked from home for 15+ years, I’d suggest a few things. 1. Set and maintain a schedule. Hit your desk at the same time every day. Finish work at the same time. 2. Manage family expectations. Tell them if your door is closed, you’re not there or available. 3. Have a hard break away from work at the end of the day to signal you’re “home” again. Work out. Take a walk. Make it a consistent routine. 4. Make time to socialize. Call or video chat with at least two coworkers per day. Carve out the time to do it. 10 to 15 minutes is all it takes. The more structure and routine you can build around working from home, the easier it is to avoid temptations and deal with distractions.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How do you react when you receive unsolicited and unexpected negative feedback?

March 18, 2021/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How do you react when you receive unsolicited and unexpected negative feedback?

I ignore it. I didn’t ask for it in the first place. 2.3%
I get defensive. I explain why the feedback is invalid. 8.7%
I sit with it for a while. I have to stew on it before responding or acting. 77.7%
I embrace it. I love all kinds of feedback whenever it’s provided. 11.3%

Feedback is a gift that must be considered. When receiving unsolicited negative feedback, the overwhelming majority of you try to pause and sit with it before reacting. That’s a wise approach. It gives you time to get out of instinctive and emotional reactive mode. Many times we’ll feel attached when we receive such feedback and it triggers fight or flight mechanisms. By pausing, you get out of the reptilian brain reactions and instead can consider the feedback in a more measured way. That gives you the benefit of being able to parse which portions of the feedback are fair and valid and which ones you’ll choose not to accept. No one likes being surprised with negative feedback. One implication of all this for you as leaders is to be sure you don’t put team members or other colleagues in this fight or flight moment and, when you do provide constructive feedback, give them the courtesy of time to sit back and reflect on it as well.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How do you deal with procrastinators on your team?

March 11, 2021/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How do you deal with procrastinators on your team?

I give them artificial deadlines to create a buffer so things aren’t last minute. 26%
I break tasks down for them and set smaller interim milestones. 34%
I allocate time-sensitive work to other team members to avoid issues with this person.6%
I give them the deadline and step back. It’s up to them whether they hit it or not. 28%
I fuel the last-minute frenzy because I’m also a procrastinator. 6%

Soon! I promise… Procrastination kills quality, increases stress, and generally can make work much less enjoyable. If you have procrastinators on your team, it seems the preferred approach is to either set artificial deadlines to force actions sooner or break tasks down into smaller chunks with interim milestones. While the former approach can work, it only works for a while until the procrastinator gets wise to your game. Once they know the deadline isn’t a real deadline, you’re back in the same jam. Consider setting smaller interim milestones. Coach them on how to break down their own work. Try to get to the root of the issue and coach them on it. Is it that they overestimate their capabilities? Underestimate a task’s complexity? Fail to account for common roadblocks? Lack the ability to break big projects into small tasks? Once you understand the root of their issues, you can help them improve their skills in that area. So what are you waiting for? Go help your procrastinators deal with their challenges. Now.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!