Leaders, does your right hand know what your left hand is doing?
Florin Lungu Have you heard the phrase, “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing”? It conjures quite a funny image to mind. I think of my left hand making a meal on the stove while my right hand tries to wash the pan that I’m using… what chaos it would cause to be so uncoordinated. But I supposed if it weren’t so ridiculous, it wouldn’t be so effective. “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing” – it shows us just how backward it is not to think about the bigger picture. After all, your right hand always knows what your left hand is doing because they both belong to the same body, and the brain talks to them both… And yet, there are still some teams who don’t communicate with each other. As an executive coach, I have seen it many times. The team is struggling – they are not hitting the team’s targets and are falling behind as a group, but their leader can’t see any clear signs of what the problem might be. They are all talented and driven team members...
An ingredient in the recipe for success
Florin Lungu Everybody’s searching for the recipe for success… Ambitious goal-getters. Entrepreneurs. Dreamers and doers. Certainly, corporate leaders are looking for what makes something work most effectively. So, as a leader in business… what do you think guarantees good results? Is it talented team members? Effective communication? Trust? Project lead time? Certainly, these things are crucial. Skill and experience are valuable tools. No collaboration happens without communication. Trust builds bridges that would otherwise burn, and lead time offers a runway they can all launch from. But they are not a recipe for success. Even a talented, trusting, time-conscious team that talks to each other can hit roadblocks… roadblocks that can only be helped by one thing. Say your team is working on a major project and making great progress – when they make progress. But that progress only comes in stops and starts. The deadline is approaching, and everyone is getting a little anxious. During...
This is a bad sign…
Florin Lungu Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar… At the start of the day, you sit down at your desk and take a look at your schedule. You’ve got a busy day ahead of you, and a lot of high-level items on the docket. It’s your busy season and a lot is coming at you and your team fast. Before you can get started, you’ve got a meeting to get to. But fortunately, it should be quick. It’s just a project update from your team. Most of the details were decided weeks ago. Today, you are just expecting to hear “all-clear” and then get back to work. But then, the meeting starts… “How are things going on the project?” you ask. “Oh, I meant to ask you about that,” says a member of your team, “I have some questions.” “Me too, actually – some things are still unclear,” says another. The whole team nods and murmurs in agreement. “None of us really have any answers.” What? you ask yourself, What am I even hearing right now? We talked about all this in that meeting last month. Everything was set...
Are you a “holiday host” leader?
Florin Lungu Happy December, my friends! It’s hard to believe it’s here already, but we’re nearing the conclusion of another full trip around the sun. We’re coming up on that time of year when people begin to congregate and celebrate – sing songs, bake treats, make memories, and come together with friends. As you enjoy the festivities, consider what you want to build with your next 365 days of leadership… What culture do you want to encourage? What kind of behaviors do you want to model for your team? What tone are you setting for them? Here’s an example. When you attend your parties, your host might ask you not to bring up certain topics. The world has been so divided over so many things – so many comments can lead to a social explosion. Many hosts find it simplest to just ask guests to leave certain subjects at the door to preserve the jovial atmosphere. And this works great for pleasant evenings. When certain talking points are off limits, you may find yourself relaxing and...
The Cost of Guarded Leadership: How Lack of Vulnerability Impacts Teams
Florin Lungu Meet Mike. Mike is a team leader at his organization. It is not always easy, but he loves it. He enjoys his work; he is committed to his role; and he is passionate about the organization’s mission. But his team is struggling, and he doesn’t know why. Mike’s idea of a leader is strong, distant – he remains stoic in the face of hardship. He believes a leader should not let his people see him deal with difficulty. He does not want them to doubt him. However, that is not how John sees it. John is a member of Mike’s team. The stone-faced demeanor that Mike sees as strong, John sees as guarded. John sees Mike keeping his distance and John is discouraged by the detachment. But the leader sets the tone. The leader defines reality for their team. So John does like he sees and stays guarded himself. He doesn’t see that Mike is dealing with issues, so he believes his leader “has it all together.” When he is confronted with problems or makes mistakes, he thinks he’s missing...
4 Keys to Effective Feedback
Florin Lungu Today I’d like to ask you a question… What is the best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten? Feedback is really perspective – and the right perspective can shift our approach to something in a life-changing way. What words shared marked a major turning point for you? Well, actually, I would be willing to bet that the words themselves were only doing some of the work. More than likely, you had a solid relationship with the person guiding you. You probably trusted them because of the role they played in your life. But also, they probably corrected you according to one or more of the 4 keys of effective feedback. In an earlier post, I shared the first two. They were… Offer timely feedback frequently. Keep it in the context of learning and establish common and consistent communication. Make feedback specific and objective. Mention behaviors that you want them to adjust, but separate those behaviors from the person. Follow this link to read the article in detail When and how...
Transform Your Feedback Game: The 4 Essential Steps for Driving Team Performance
Are you ready to take your leadership skills to the next level? Discover the 4 essential steps for delivering effective feedback to drive team performance! Learn how to offer feedback at the right time, make it specific and impersonal, and more. Don’t miss out on these tips!
Are you a director or a connector?
Florin Lungu I used to believe that leadership was all directing and demanding. I grew up in a household that had been molded by hardline communism. My mother was strict and uncompromising – her word was law. She ran a tight ship at the clothing production facility where she worked as a manager and she ran a tight ship at home, too, assigning my brother and me chores that were expected to be done on time without question. We called her “the boss.” Her father, my grandfather, also ran a tight ship. My brother and I would stay with him and our grandmother during our summers off school, and he would put us right to work. We would get up early and tend the garden and the farm as he instructed us to. I went on to work in factories with similar hardline processes and chains of command – production was black-and-white. There was little room for collaboration or innovation on an assembly line. These were the experiences that colored my idea of leadership. It wasn’t until I decided to become...
A good question… every leader should consider
Florin Lungu I find that a good question can challenge, inspire, and prompt all at the same time. And today’s powerful query is, What are you doing to equip your people? As a leader, this question moves me… it refocuses my efforts, reminds me of what’s important, and redirects me to something bigger than myself. But that’s not the only reason why. You see, for the first few years of my career, I was pursuing a technical trade. I spent my days in workshops tending to vehicle systems. This is how I expected to spend the rest of my working years – I had planned to become a technical expert. That changed when our department head, Eric, promoted me. I was shocked! Leadership was a completely new direction for me – one that didn’t make sense to me at all. But Eric saw something in me that I didn’t see. He told me that he noticed I was good with the team – not just in my role but in helping them collaborate and communicate and excel – and that I could go beyond just the technical parts that...
Do you see what is, or what it could be?
On October 9th, 1903, the New York Times read as follows… “The ridiculous fiasco which attended the attempt at aerial navigation in the Langley flying machine was not unexpected.” This segment was in response to a failed aeronautics experiment by Samuel Langley. He had attempted the first sustained, manned flight. The U.S. army saw the potential in his endeavors but the media was merciless. The New York Times predicted, “If it requires, say, a thousand years to fit for easy flight a bird which started with rudimentary wings…it might be assumed that the flying machine which will really fly might be evolved by the combined and continuous efforts of mathematicians and mechanicians in from one million to ten million years.” But, funny enough, the history buffs reading this may recognize the year 1903. That was the same year that brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright oversaw the first manned flight – an innovation that proved the concept and birthed the aero industry. In fact, not only did...
How people-pleasing and fear of rejection hurt my leadership and 5 tips to avoid making the same costly mistakes
As a young leader, all I wanted was my team’s “buy-in.” I was so eager to be in my first leadership role! All I wanted was for each member of my team to get on board with my vision. I put all of my energy into getting their approval. Whatever was in my power to do for them, I would do. I went as far above and beyond for them as I could – I bent over backward so that they would let me lead them. If someone on my team was unhappy, I saw it as a personal failure. I would get anxious and wonder, What am I not doing for them that I could be? Now let me be clear – asking what is in your power to do for someone else is not a bad mindset to have. But I was truly desperate… and not just for them to be better, but for them to like me – for them to buy into my vision. Or rather, I was desperate for them not to reject me. Back then, I did not know that there are different kinds of leaders, and that I was a people-oriented leader. I didn’t know that many people-oriented leaders can fall into...
Leaders must be willing to pay the price of leadership
At a party one night, a man sat at the piano entertaining the guests. He played splendidly – he had a talent for the keys like no one had ever heard before. He filled the room with joyous sounds. One partygoer was so enchanted by his playing that he approached the piano to listen for several minutes. He marveled at the graceful movements of the man’s fingers and the beautiful music they made. As the pianist finished one song, the man listening said to him – a bit jealously – “I would give anything to play like you do.” The pianist just laughed. “You could have.” “What do you mean?” asked the partygoer, puzzled. The pianist began playing again as he said, “Well, I gave a lot of time to practice.” _________________________________________ What is the one reason we don’t have everything we want? Price. It is the only consideration we have when making any decision. To get the benefit, what do I have to give up? What must I trade for the better thing? And leadership is no different. When...
How to improve everything in your life (yes, really)
Improving our lives is something we could safely say everyone wants to do. Do you know anyone who would turn down a better life if you offered it to them? (If you do… please make sure they’re okay!) In order to improve our entire lives, first we must answer one question: what is the one thing that everything in your life has in common? Among all your primary relationships, your family, your hobbies, your errands and appointments, your spirituality… …your team members, your professional results, your title, your projects, your meetings, your organization… …what’s the one thing that connects them all? …Did you see the pattern? It’s you! The only common factor among all the things in your life and your leadership role is you. That means, if you want to improve your life, a good place to start would be improving yourself. You see, there are things that add value, and there are things that multiply value. Giving a man a fish is adding value. Teaching a man to fish is multiplying value....
How Leaders Get Exponential Returns
American author and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once said, “You can get everything you want in life if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Goal achievement is oddly paradoxical in this way. In order to achieve our goals, we must become wholeheartedly and unselfishly invested in others’ development! I learned this not long after I began my leadership career. I had little influence among my team, but once I began leveraging my new title to solve their problems, I became indispensable. It was only then I realized that if I wanted to advance in leadership, I would have to become dispensable again! I spent the following years focusing on the empowerment of my team. I saw how they could do things beyond their scope; I saw their potential and equipped them to fulfill it. And over time, I thought less and less of what I was getting out of it and more and more of how incredible my team was. We were able to increase our results exponentially. As a result, I could...
5 Questions Every Leader Should Ask Themselves
In his book Leadershift, leadership expert Dr. John Maxwell wrote, “You cannot be the same, think the same, and act the same if you hope to be successful in a world that does not remain the same.” Leadershift was released on February 5, 2019, and offered to outline “the 11 essential changes every leader must embrace.” Few could have known just how appropriate this book was for our day and age until one year later. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic – and drastic change began coming at us faster than it had in many of our lifetimes. Over the following months we had to adjust almost everything about our lives. Many of us held onto the idea that this was temporary, that things would go back to normal. Many of us are still holding onto that idea. But then came the war, and the recession. These global events have had irreversible consequences. At what point do we stop asking, “When will things go back to normal?” and start...
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