“After all, who…

“After all, who would follow a leader who wasn’t well-rounded?”
-Andy Stanley

Read more here: http://network.leadercast.com/content/#!/you-are-doing-too-much/

Andy Stanley has been a favourite speaker of mine at Leadercast events. As someone who constantly takes on too much, this message really spoke to me when he talked about it a couple of years ago. It’s something I think about every now and then, when I get in over my head.
As a young leader in my community, I’m still working on figuring out where I should focus my efforts in each of the things I’m involved with. It’s definitely a struggle, as I want to learn so much more than time allows for, and fear that if I don’t do it all, nothing will get done. This was reiterated to me during a webinar with John C. Maxwell, who said almost exactly that. “If you do it all, when you’re gone… nothing gets done.” 

Because of this, and a recent discussion with SHIFT’s Nathan Lawrence (watch for his guest post soon!) I have decided to start implementing some structure into one of the organizations I’m heavily involved with. Around our meeting table, there is so much potential but not a whole lot of motivation. I’m excited to get the team amped up to do big things for the organization, as well as challenging them to create opportunity for personal growth by identifying their strengths.

So go forth, read Andy Stanley’s message and see how much time and energy you get out of these changes!

Inspired…. and the people in our organizations.

Hello, and WELCOME!

This is my first grown-up blogging venture (and really, my first blogging venture in general..)

I wanted to start this blog, because I’m SO into leadership, and I think in small communities like many of those in Northwestern Ontario where “it’s who you know”, effective leadership is sometimes undervalued.  In Kenora, there are several companies which experience high staff turnover rates, and it’s for a variety of reasons – seasonal employees, youth who don’t really want to be in the workforce, laziness, and why I believe in leadership, subpar management/supervisors. Growing up with no clear vision of where I wanted to take my life, I’m pretty sure I was all of the aforementioned employee types, with the opinion that many of my bosses weren’t doing it right. Looking back, I’m sure I was wrong in some cases, but I also believe that if I felt it, there must have been something that made me feel it. You can take that as ‘there’s always room for improvement.’

I’m nowhere near one of the worlds (or this community’s) greatest leaders; I’ve never been a manager or supervisor even. I don’t know that I have what it takes to manage a large staff, because I’ve never done so. What I do know, is that leading people and managing people are two very different things. I don’t want to ramble off a list of things that employee x has to get done to satisfy company policy. I want to motivate someone to enjoy their role within the organization and do the best they can with it. I want them to feel comfortable talking to their supervisor or boss about areas for improvement, recognition for great work, compensation, life in general!

I was in a branding workshop last night, which is where the idea for this blog stems from. One of the things the facilitator (a friend, and leader in my community who I have tremendous respect for) said was “people make that huge difference [in an organization].” And it’s true. If you’re a business owner, you are the face of your business. In good business practice, you live and breathe the essence of your business. You are your number one marketing tactic. If you have a staff who look after things while you’re not present, are they presenting that same image? Do they know that they should be doing so? These things are a whole other post, but I want you to think about that in your daily interactions with your staff, or people you work with. What level of communication are you at with your colleagues and/or staff. What can you do differently to take your work relationships and business reputation to the next level? They really do go hand-in-hand….

Until next time!