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The Best Ways To Acknowledge Your Shortcomings

17/12/2012 — 2 Comments

We may say we’re not but act like we are. Perfect, that is. The truth still stands; no one is perfect. Everyone generally accepts this for everybody else except when they feel violated by others. Worse, still, when it is a leader that has failed. Whether you’re a leader in particular context or a part of a team being led, you’re aware of the shortcomings of those you serve with and those whose supervision you serve under. In the context of relationships, outside of organizations, say friends and family, you’re aware of shortcomings those you share your life with.

The closer we get to people, the more aware of their shortcomings we are. On the same note, the closer people get to us the more aware they become of our flaws.The closer leaders are to us the more aware we are of their shortcomings. It is never an easy thing to have your shortcomings held up to you. Some people push back as they feel condemned and humiliated. Others simply view feedback on their shortcomings as opportunities of growth.

 

7464430946 79550ac7f9 z The Best Ways To Acknowledge Your Shortcomings

we all fall short somehow, acknowledging shortcomings does not take away from you but give you more credibility & creates growth opportunities || image by ingridtaylar | cc

Honest

 

The cornerstone of acknowledging any shortcomings is simply being honest about them. Credibility is often lost when we try to deny or cover up shortcomings. Denying our shortcomings is like Pinocchio denying that he just told a lie, while his nose grows in full view of himself and those around him.

The evidence of denying shortcomings is often an overcompensation in areas of shortcomings that make the shortcomings more obvious.

Those who get ruthlessly crucified are ones who deny them. Saying you don’t have some shortcomings does not mean you don’t them. Denying your shortcomings does not make them disappear. Not being honest about your shortcomings robs you opportunities of growth.

Responsibility

 

Honesty is only one of the best ways to acknowledge your shortcomings. Responsibility means not only being honest about your shortcomings, but addressing them.  Acknowledge your shortcomings by addressing them. This may include taking extra care in the particular areas. You could people who are stronger than you in the areas of your shortcomings to assist you.

Where restitution is necessary, make right.

Teams, leadership and other relationships fail not because of shortcomings in people but when they do not take any responsibility for them. Accountability and feedback systems are necessary to keep you in check as far as taking responsibility for shortcomings.

Up Front

 

Be open and up front about your shortcomings. This can help manage expectations on you. Not doing so can sow seeds of failure for you in the future. It also takes away the ‘sting’ and embarrassment of having those around you pointing them out. The truth is great, but sometimes painful.

Stating up front areas you are likely to fail tells those around you where they will need to step in and help.

Don’t be that guy. You know, the one who knows he has shortcomings and, when he fails expects everyone to have somehow miraculously have known that he had shortcomings in certain areas. If you’re a leader, or in a team, try to preempt areas you might be needed to deliver that are not areas of strength.

What advice would you give in helping me (and others) acknowledge their shortcomings?

 

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In Ideas, Life, Marriage, Ministry, Productivity, Self Leadership, Skills, Teamwork, Vision , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Slowing Down and Appreciating The Spectacular

19/10/2012 — 1 Comment

I saw this video from Dumt & Farligt, a Dansih TV show, where the footage was slowed down to 2,500 frames per second. Some of the subjects they chose were a little random but interesting to see at that speed. Check out the video and catch my thoughts after and please do share some of yours. Catch you after the video!

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Reflection(s): Slowing Down and Appreciating The Spectacular

Some of my thoughts while watching the video was, “these guys are insane! I wouldn’t mind working with them. How did they choose their subjects? Crazy!” Then I think the most significant thought was,

“what spectacular thing would i like to slow down. to savor seeing it unfold in the most captivating way?”

We run through life to get to the next thing. Leadership rushes to the next big thing. To the next lab for the next level of innovation etc. We are constantly driven to the next thing. How often do we actually slow things down to appreciate their beauty as they unfold. The video, for example, shows amazing patterns when the baseball bat meets the egg. We normally do not see the beauty in that when we look at it with our normal eyes. How often do we miss seeing the spectacular because we are not disciplined enough to slow down.

the spectacular is all around us. It is just that we don’t slow down, just enough to realize and appreciate it.

I’m not suggesting to abandon our resolve for the next innovation or moving on to, or deciding the next challenge. But that we do actually slow down, in a sense, enough to appreciate the spectacular. It is not that there are no spectacular things happening in our lives, leadership and enterprises, it is just that we never slow down, just that much slower to actually appreciate them enough.

What would you love to have seen in the video? What is the spectacular that you feel people never slow down, just enough to see and appreciate?

 

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In Ideas, Leadership, Life, Marriage, Ministry, Parenting, Passion, Productivity, Random, Self Leadership, Teamwork, Vision , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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The Relevance of Information

17/09/2012 — 5 Comments

Information is necessary for leadership in decision-making. Leading without relevant information is like fighting in the dark. Sometimes leaders have enough information to make decisions, though, most of the time leaders feel like they never have enough information to make decisions or take necessary steps in moving their enterprise forward. As a result, measures and systems are out in place to gather information. Feedback is prioritized especially during times of notable change. Wise leaders know that information is valuable.

information The Relevance of Information

leading without relevant information is like fighting in the dark || (image by heathbrandon | cc

In fact, what gives leaders and organizations an edge is often in what they know that others do not. Information is a valuable commodity. Most people know this about information. They have made sure they gather as much as they can. This presents other challenges. The first thing is determining which information is relevant. Information is only as good as its relevance to you. How do you determine the relevance of the information to you? Something simple to consider:

Advance

If particular information causes you to advance your cause, then it is relevant. Be weary of collecting information that does not advance your cause. Pore information, however it comes to you, for the value it has for the moving you forward.

The value of information is in its relevance. The more relevant it is, the more valuable it will be.

Continuing to focus on information that does not advance you is like beating a dead horse. Information that is relevant can be information that helps you better processes and products. It can be information that does not necessarily answer all your questions but enables you to ask the right questions to move you forward.

Investing

You and your team could be wasting time arguing about the accuracy of information that has not relevance. Information being accurate does not necessarily make it relevant. Before committing resources to determining accuracy of information first determine whether the information, in its accurate state can advance you significantly.

Meaning

All this means you must gather as much information as possible. But remember, not all the information you can collect is worth collecting. Determine what information you gather is of value. Do not waste time analysing information unless it the analysis will advance your cause. Be clear what information you are going to gather and why you will gather it before you do.

Your thoughts? 

In Ideas, Leadership, Productivity, Teamwork, Vision , , , , , , , , , , ,
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More Than 5 Reasons Your Team Is Frustrated With Your Leadership

08/11/2011 — 9 Comments

A leader often has to deal with numerous dynamics in managing her team. It could be apathy. (Which I have written about in the past here.)   Another challenge a leader may have to deal with is a frustrated team. Leadership can be the cause of frustration for their team, hence the importance of identifying possible reasons why your team is frustrated with your leadership. Here are some of the reasons why teams get frustrated:

  • Undermined: your team is frustrated because of being undermined. One of the ways to undermine your team is entrusting them with tasks that aren’t challenging enough. Undermining can be blatant or subtle. Are you constantly telling your team they cannot measure up? In word or deed?
  • Huh?: Your team doesn’t understand where they are going or supposed to be going. As leader you (should) see the vision more vividly than anyone on your team. It may be that your vision is only that clear to you. Does your team get the vision and how they fit in as clearly as you do? If your team doesn’t see the vision clearly as you do they are not going to be as passionate about it as you are!
frustration More Than 5 Reasons Your Team Is Frustrated With Your Leadership.
  • Goal posts: Your team is frustrated because you keep moving the goal posts without giving any reasons. Also, teams will be frustrated when they do not have any participation in setting goals whatsoever. Allowing your team to be part of setting goals in one way or another will help them own them. Also the team doesn’t know when they have scored. To help combat frustration and other challenges with the team, help them know what scoring is for them.
  • Model: in another post I stated that leadership development programs are sometimes overrated at the expense of leaders being the epitome of leadership for the teams and other leaders they lead. Your team is frustrated because you have higher standards for them than you have for yourself! Nothing is as upsetting for followers than a leader whom fundamental rules do not apply. One of the best ways to teach the leaders on your team to lead is by being the example
  • Ka Ching!: as leader you haven’t followed through with past promises & are making more. Never make new promises before fulfilling your old ones! This is often a foundation of distrust. Do not make promises that you cannot keep. When you are going to fail in keeping your promises communicating this with your team will guard trust.
  • They Really Cannot: your team is frustrated because they’ve been given responsibilities that are really out of their league. It is the leader’s responsibility to understand what his team can handle. Challenge your team in a way that will stretch them for growth, not discourage them.
  • Droids?: in all the goal chasing you do never forget you’re working with people. In another post I wrote about the relationship between people & programs. You can read it here. Your team. Could be frustrated because you have pursued goals / vision at their expense. Instances where the whole team or part if the team needs to put in extra will always arise. However, the leader must not just care about the welfare of the vision but if the work force that makes it happen! Team maintenance is a must! The best leaders know how to love & care for their people. Team leader, there must be a balance between work & care for the workers! Your team is the most valuable resource you have.
  • Standards: It is always prudent to embrace the importance of context. However, there cases where the same context and events will reoccur. For such it will be of great advantage for the leader to have standards set. Another reason why your team is frustrated is differential treatment. This can be in how you handle disciplinary measures to them being rewarded or scolded for the exact thing under the same circumstance. Do you reward the same action and under the exact circumstance punish it tomorrow? Be very clear about what you reward and how you handle the aforementioned occurrences.  You team is frustrated because you are not consistent! Say what you mean and mean what you say!
  • Hammer, No Nails: your team is frustrated because they have hammers & no nails. Giving your team an assignment without the adequate means to make it happen is guaranteed to frustrate them. Always ensure that you have aptly equipped your team to fulfil the tasks handed to them. It is irresponsible leadership to give tasks & not means to fulfil them! Empower your team!
What have you observed as frustration for teams?
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 illustration: David Chartier, flickr (cc)
In Leadership, Teamwork, Vision , , , , , , , , ,
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My Lessons From Last Week – Week #2

23/08/2010 — Leave a comment


On the Road

Lately, this seems to be one area that I witness and sometimes learn some interesting things (to say the least). Besides occasionally having someone just cut in front of you without signalling, I’ve seen other ‘phenomena’ such as people holding up two lanes for about two kilometres because they were texting, some people reading novels when traffic is crawling, ‘Facebooking’ on mobiles and the one that is on number one at the moment (drum roll) playing an alto saxophone while driving at least 80km/h!

rearviewmirror My Lessons From Last Week – Week #2

you will be amazed how much wisdom you have if you took the time to reflect

Let me get to the lessons… On one of the days I left the office about 15-20 minutes later than than I normally do, and it took me an extra 50minutes longer to get home!  I then concluded that 15 minutes actually is a lot of time. Sometimes taking a little time to do something could save us much more time ‘down the road’. I then starting thinking about areas where we lose time e.g.:

  • Snooze! When the alarm goes off in the morning. Other ‘snooze buttons’ that I think affect productivity can be. Imagine what you could do with the extra 10-20 minutes. Perhaps plan your day, helping you feel less rushed as you get into work mode. Perhaps use the time to interact with your spouse or children or catch the news update and find out what happened in the world while you slept, there may be something there that affects you. Or spend some time in prayer and meditation, setting the platform for your approach and mind-set for the day ahead or a little cardiovascular exercise… I think the first minutes when we get out of bed determine greatly how our day is going to be. Be very careful and intentional about what you do with the first few minutes when you wake.
  • Small talk that goes on for too long. I think it is important to connect with your teammates / colleagues but watch your time. At the office we have set days and times for us to interact / connect i.e. is outside of meeting etc. You may want to consider something similar. This has actually helped us reduce the amount of small talk that steals from productivity as well as help team building. Our team has grown even closer… Strong teams are not only built on sound clear strategy or vision but also by the strength and depth of relationship of its members!
  • Choice of battle. Sometimes we expend way too much energy on useless arguments. Useless in the sense that we don’t really achieve much by winning them. Okay, you were right that the new guy drives a pink and not an orange car… So what?! Cheesy example but am sure you get what I mean. You’ve just wasted 10 minutes on something that hardly adds value and will not matter at the end of the day!

  • Tweeting, Facebooking, ‘LinkedIning’ etc You are never going to exhaust everything on the internet. Worrying that you may miss something is not valid enough to spend too much time on these platforms. They can help productivity but be a good time and energy waster too if not managed properly.You don’t really need to see every video posted on Facebook or YouTube.  Resist the urge to follow every link that pops up on your Tweetdeck (great app by the way) etc

  • Doesn’t Matter How Much You  Think About It you will still need to get it done. Sometimes we spend too much time thinking about whether we feel like it. After half an hour debating with ourselves we decide to go ahead and do it. Stop checking how you feel about doing something and just do it. Thinking about whether you feel like it or not isn’t going to change the fact that it needs to be done! Nike – “Just do it”!

My Loss

Guess what, I lost my squash league match last week. Yeah losing did sting! I had a sore neck and part of my left shoulder was a little sore. I learnt that I shouldn’t aggravate pain unless to heal. Playing in that condition did not help much except the pain. My movement on the court was terrible to say the least as it was hard to turn especially to my left. I learnt to listen to my body and not try pushing it to do things it is not ‘ready’ to do. I guess this applies all round. Don’t try to make your team do things that it is not ready for, it may hurt them. This may cause them to not want to go down the same road again when they are ready. When ‘hit’ take time to recover. Not doing so will only make things worse. Take a chill pill, get back in the  game another day.  You are no good injured!

A friend of my asked me how my game was and I told him, “I played a rubbish game”. He responded with a truth that stung a little, “Then you deserved to lose!” How true! I learnt to own failures and not make excuses for them. If my input was bad then the only thing I should expect is an output that is bad. Made me think, “Have I downplayed the fact that in some cases I have been the enabler of my own demise?” If your team has failed because of some wrong / bad calls as the leader own them and chart some solutions! Don’t waste time looking for a scape goat. Contrary to what most people think, you’re more likely to gain their respect and confidence. Besides, that is leading by example. I’m sure you  like those on your team to own their role in in not getting the target. As leader this is one of the areas you must not make any exceptions when it comes to you.  I love the varsity of life!

Don’t just let life happen to you, learn something and grow! Have a great week!

…Quit ye like men, be strong – Apostle Paul

Where have you been losing time? Any stories of how you ‘enabled’ your own demise?

In Ideas, Leadership, Life, My Lessons From Last Week, Productivity, Social Media, Teamwork , , , , , , , ,
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