Delegation isn’t just a handoff so you can walk away and do something else. It is a critical leadership skill that you must master if you want to expand your reach, take control of your time and achieve the work-life harmony you’re seeking.
Learn the 8 Principles of Effective Delegation.
How often have you wondered why a project went wrong, or why someone never finished the task you were counting on them to finish?
How many times have you complained about projects that you’re managing … missing their deadlines, going over budget (not under budget very often, huh?) and not getting done as you expected?
How did you feel when you were called on the carpet by YOUR boss wanting to know why the project you’re handling is stalled?
When we’ve delegated some or all of a project to someone else, we’re embarrassed … and probably a little teed off … but we’re also too often thinking about the wrong things like …, “damn that John, he just can’t be counted on” … or, “she doesn’t get it” … or something like, “they can’t ever seem to follow through” as we tick off all the reasons why the people on our team have let us down.
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A brand anthem expresses to your customers the core values related your brand and products, much like a vision statement expresses the core values of your company.
I was sitting in an exceptionally beautiful church on Easter Sunday morning.
There were garlands of fresh daffodils and orchids draping the sanctuary.
Easter lilies were everywhere, consuming the floor of the chancel and the empty spaces on the altar rails. Small children were dressed in their Easter finery, sitting awkwardly in their new suits and dresses anxiously awaiting the Easter Egg hunt following the service.
Christians everywhere know that the hymn, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” also starts the Easter service and marks the procession of ministers and laity down the aisle to the altar.
It is unarguably the best known Easter hymn, a holiday staple like O’ Little Town of Bethlehem, Joy to the World and other holiday songs at Christmas.
I’ve pretty much know that Easter hymn by heart … sang it every year as a child … and can’t imagine an Easter service without it.
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On a recent morning, I headed to a favorite place just down the street to fetch a couple of lattes for my wife and me.
Our forebearers would have awakened in woolen underwear, stepped in the dark onto a cold dirt floor, and stumbled outside to chop some wood to start a fire in the cook stove balanced on the rocks outside.
They would have tossed some coffee grounds into a beat-up metal pot … grounds that had already been used for several days … filled the pot with water, boiled it … and at some point, would finally get that first bitter cup of java.
No coffee house down the road, no car to get there, certainly no latte or cappuccino. Eat what you kill, literally. If you ain’t got it, you ain’t gonna get it.
In many ways, we’re much less resourceful than our forefathers.
While we may have expanded the definition of community in many positive ways, using our physical and social media “mobility” to create unimagined connections, we’ve also become more dependent on external resources to get through our day.
In some ways it’s probably better that we’re co-dependent.
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Experienced leaders know that they are standing in the Spotlight of Leadership all the time. I’ll tell you about a video you should watch just below.
Have you read any of the news stories and interviews recently with General Stanley McChrystal, whose new book is coming out now, My Share of the Task?
You’ll recall he is the four-star general whose resignation was precipitated by a Rolling Stone article which disclosed some unsavory remarks about the President’s executive team.
The reporter was given broad access to McChrystal and his staff, with few conditions, to see how the general and his leadership team worked together.
You can read the candid response from General McChrystal about this incident here.
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Dad’s Christmas gift to me of an ornament he thought I’d like. The cow sings, too!
Among some of us dads, we often remark, “Dads never get any credit.” Dads teach their kids how to play ball, run, catch, dodge … but if they score a run, a touchdown or a basket … and the camera zooms in on them, don’t they always say, “Hi Mom!”
Have you ever heard the phrase, “… as good as Dad and apple pie?.” I doubt it. I never have. How about, “the father of all storms” … nope … I think you catch my point.
I’ve written several articles over the years, including a recent one about lessons I learned from my 94-year-old mom, but Dad deserves at least as much credit.
I lost my Dad on Nov. 16, 2001, and I still miss him every day. Perhaps my most striking memory is that he had the most unusual combination of careers of anyone I’ve ever known … a world-ranked professional boxer with a record of 82-5-0 who became a minister when he heeded the calling.
All his life, he loved boxing with great passion and practiced his ministry with great compassion.
He believed deeply that boxing’s demand for discipline, training and sacrifice was a way out for “street toughs,” a route through the gym and into a productive life that would be otherwise inaccessible.
He knew that every soul was worth saving and he never wavered from that commitment.
He had a great sense of humor, too, and it reflected his vision of life as a joyful journey. I’ve still got a copy of a parking ticket that I may have forgotten to pay while in college.
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Winston Churchill could have been an entrepreneur to have so eloquently dramatized the thrill associated with building a business.
Whether you own it yourself or share it with partners, it’s yours to build, to mold according to your dreams and values.
You may be building it from scratch or seeking new opportunities to jumpstart a mature company. In either case, I hope this will help you on your journey.
Why do you have your own business?
Independence, many will say, the chance to run my own show?
Be my own boss?
Do things my way – maybe because you’ve seen them done the wrong way and you can do better?
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I have been working with a young CEO who recently acceded to her company’s leadership.
She was the successor to a more authoritarian regime and found herself working overtime to establish a more collaborative and less hierarchical environment.
She wanted to bring people to the table, encourage a stronger cultural bond among her employees and build a more inclusive culture that valued the contribution of each individual.
People welcomed those changes with open arms, eager to embrace a culture they much preferred.
What emerged along with a more engaging and transparent culture, however, was a cadre of executives so eager to please their new leader, and to be a part of her leadership team, that they acquiesced to every idea and plan.
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One of the most popular words in the business lexicon these days is collaboration.
Everyone seems eager to flatten the organization, get rid of hierarchy, eliminate command-and-control structures and collaborate across broad multifunctional teams.
Wow! That’s quite an objective, isn’t it. But do we really understand collaboration and why it’s become such a ubiquitous battle cry?
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Everyone makes mistakes.
We know this for a fact, don’t we? It’s pretty clear —like crystal.
So, why do so many persist in their insistence that they did no wrong?
Despite the lessons that cover the waterfront — from Watergate to the Catholic Church — the cover-up is always worse than the crime.
What appeared to be minor tributaries turned into a rushing river of a failed presidency and international scandal, yet the stream of lies and denial from those who fail to heed these lessons continues unabated in both our public and private lives.
For some reason, we persist in believing that the truth will never come out.
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Welcome to Exkalibur. I’m Lary Kirchenbauer, President of Exkalibur Advisors, Inc. Please take advantage of our resources to help you build your business ... and let me know what more we can do to serve you.
Read my latest column from the NY Times affiliate, the North Bay Business Journal.
Not only do you get honesty and integrity from Lary but you also get creativity, maturity and deep business acumen. Lary is the diamond in the rough for middle market companies in need of corporate advisory services and transaction services.
Kelly O. Kay, Partner, Center for Corporate Innovation
