Category: leadership

Not going to want to change

FabrizioLeave a comment

If you tell somebody they are stupid, they are not going to want to change.

If you make fun of their theories, point to their inconsistencies, denigrate their capacity for solid thinking, they are not going to want to change.

If all you give them is your version, for as much as sense as it makes, they are not going to want to change.

If you show them a world they cannot be part of, they are not going to want to change.

All of this can win a quick laugh and some superficial bond with those who think like you.

It’s not going to make things change, though.

Shared way

FabrizioLeave a comment

Doing work in a group also means acknowledging that different people have different ways to react to and express anxiety, stress, fear.

Most groups respond to the attitude of the person in power, and the person in power wants to get out of the unpleasant situation as soon as possible: more control, more direction, more drama. This often means everyone hides and looks for ways to stay afloat.

Successful groups manage to talk. To air their feelings and find a shared way forward. To take the differences and dig value from them. To step into the unknown together, at the same time.

Surveillance

FabrizioLeave a comment

When you set out to figure out how to control your employees more closely – checking how much time they spend in meetings, measuring how many breaks they take during the day, asking for what reasons they are taking time off -, you have problems that no surveillance system in the world can fix.

Trust leads engagement.

Structure and chaos

FabrizioLeave a comment

Structure is what gives predictability. You can expect certain things to happen because the script says so. Structure does not like free thinkers and innovators: somebody else already did all the thinking and the innovating, it is now time to march.

Chaos is the exact opposite. You have to figure out what is going to happen because there is no script. Chaos does not believe in bosses and managers: there is no past experience to replicate or resources to carefully allocate, it is time to connect the dots.

Design your habits and practice so that it is possible to move continuosly between structure and chaos.

That is a feat you will need.

I am sorry

Fabrizio4 Comments

As a leader, saying I am sorry is your responsibility. It helps healing and looking forward, it gives perspective, it makes you human.

It is also your responsibility to not make of I am sorry an empty sentence. If you find yourselves saying that too often, as a reaction to the same situations, it should be clear it is time for you for a change.