Author Archives: orgstrat

Teacher of Teachers. Professional, Master Level Trainer for ECD in Texas. College instructor, Trainer, Constultant

Energize Employees — Because Helping Children Does Change the World

Treat people like tools – they act like zombies. Machines get things done, but people have heart. What are you really doing? Tee-ball: The tee-ball coach is teaching Freddie to hit the ball off a tee. The task is learning to hit. A skillful coach knows there’s more. “Freddie, why are you learning to hit […]

via 3 Ways to Energize Employees — Leadership Freak
Dan Rockwell give good, solid, and brief management advice. Today he talks about energizing employees by asking them questions that help them realize the bigger picture.
Most of my clients manage in early childhood –where few managers spend their time thinking about management. Instead, they think about child development. However, managing is adding service to children, yes? Directors teach many children by energizing teachers. Teachers touch the future by energizing children in their learning process. Many children are already energized and just need to be facilitated in doing that. That is why teaching small children is so fun, right?
So cleaning the table, and tidying the toys, and being sure no sand is flying through the air is all part of facilitating learning. And learning is facilitating the building of a life. And building a little life this year is facilitating the growth of a family, a community, our world. Right?  Isn’t that what you are doing?
Yes! I hope you feel energized today — to go and do it more.
 

The Power of Mentoring

I could use some help. I’m trying – without success – to create an acronym that captures the essence of mentoring. How would you use MENTOR or MENTORING as an acronym? What I have so far needs some work. M. Mission – what are we working to accomplish. Mentoring has focused outcomes. Mentors and proteges […]

via An Acronym That Explains Mentoring — Leadership Freak
Mentoring is often overlooked in the rush of day to day activities, especially in smaller businesses, but it can make for longevity of the business, easier life in the long run for the owner, and better retention of the best staff.  Larger businesses where many people call themselves managers place much more attention on training people to be leaders, managers, and mentors. In small businesses, by contrast, most managers are more interested in getting daily tasks accomplished. Often they came from the trade that the business offers, rather than seeing themselves as only managers. This is especially true in pink collar areas. Women often lack training in managerial skills. When they gain them, they often forget to mentor others.
Dan Rockwell offers great, brief reflections that help people be better managers. Whether you are a director of a preschool, a small business owner, or a pastor, you might enjoy and benefit from Dan’s insights. Please stay in touch here, with orgstrat, as I bring you a cross pollination of all things good.
BTW, I have a very few openings for trainings this fall, but only in Austin. I would like to do some more, but I am so busy preparing great things for you, this fall I can not travel.  If you are out of town, please do call for next year. Thanks, Sharon 512-NOSPAM249-7629.

How to Be Tough When You Need to Be

Stress increases when leaders can’t bring kind and tough together. Kind without tough makes you a pushover. Tough without kind makes you a jerk. Accountability is candy to some leaders. It’s easy for them to say, “No.” They have no problem holding people’s feet to the fire. But you aren’t one of them. Extremes: Some […]

via How to be Tough When You Prefer Being Kind — Leadership Freak
Often women leaders want to be kind but feel they need to be tough. This article helps by suggesting that both need to come together. Giving so many “second” chances that there are no boundaries is not good for the organization, the mission — or even the person wanting it. Inspiring people to work toward the mission is what a leader does. Requiring accountability is also what a leader does. Managing is the basic application work for leadership.
Being a pushover is not kind to the organization. If you let one employee get away with not doing the job, others have to do it. Or the work doesn’t get done, which is unkind to the customers. What about the employee? If they are getting away with something they shouldn’t, are they growing? Or are they cheated too? Haven’t you let them down, too?

Great Find for Educators!

Most of my clients are managers of preschools. Most such have little business and managerial background, so to fill that need, and the usual interest of most managers, I have been posting current management topics. However, most preschool educators care most about education and young children. So today, with all due respect to the typical manager, I am going to fill a need for those educators.
I HAVE A GREAT FIND FOR YOU!
Teachers and grandmothers alike have been telling me they just can’t find good books to buy for their children. One said she made a concerted search. Nothing at Scholastic Books, nothing in any of the bookstores in town, nothing anywhere was satisfactory.Then, when I joined Christian Educators Association, I was given a book, entitled, Character under attack. It told of one teacher/author’s frustration that stories with moral or didactic intent were disallowed. I know this is true. It has been true since the early 70s since I’ve tried to write. Well, this fellow just opened his own publishing house. He has written series of children stories, and young adult stories, and some curricula too. Check it out: www.advancepublishing.com
And sneak preview: type in “Great” as a promo code and get a 35% discount! You will have new, well bound, fun and useful books for your classroom, school library, — or even your grandchildren.
Best on your new school year.

Leaders are the #1 Servers

#1. Forgetting who serves who. Leaders serve others so others can serve others. It’s easy to begin thinking the people around you are there to serve you. Repeat to yourself, “I’m here to bring out the best in others.” #2. Blaming rather than taking ownership. The first question real leaders ask when someone under-performs is, […]

via The 7 Biggest Blunders of The Experienced Leader — Leadership Freak
I had a client saying just today that organizational charts are written upside down. That leaders, bosses, managers, if they are good, serve their group. They take care of their people and see that the people have what they need. Only in this way will they have both the highest productivity and the loyalty from their group. I agree. Once again Dan Rockwell has said it well — and succinctly.

The Job of Every Leader is Coach

Jack Welch’s book, Winning, was hailed as the best management book ever. It is still thought provoking, even if his own legacy has been questioned.
One thing he says about leadership is that it is defined by coaching. Every interaction should  coach and build self confidence. Coaching is critiquing and guiding. Self confidence is built by pouring out encouragement, caring and recognition. So employees have to have opportunity to fail and not get canned for it. Indeed, he blew up a warehouse!  Wow! How different from my observations, where  doing what was agreed upon was negatively rewarded!
He says it is a rare boss who can get results without being a people person. He says we don’t celebrate enough — and not with company parties but with ticked for the families to Disney land!
Of course, none of this can happen without factual evaluation, without candor, and without a culture of differentiation.  With this, though, real trust and great results can be built.
Coaching that builds confidence. Thought provoking.

4 Ways to Throw Gas – not water – On Dreams — Leadership Freak

People are excited to do what they want to do, not what you want them to do. The sooner you embrace this idea, the more successful you’ll become. Control resources. Release people. Frustration: Leaders think: You could do …. You could become … You should … I’ve always seen the great things others could do. […]

via 4 Ways to Throw Gas – not water – On Dreams — Leadership Freak
Many who would lead are only covertly controlling. Many who would mentor are only distracting toward their own visions. Real help shows the way, knowing the alternative paths and the potholes.
Even within a company, employees can be allowed to dream as long as their dreams are a subset of the company’s vision and those dreams are achievable and measurable.  Apple, for instance, gives employees enough “head” to let them suggest what needs to be done, how it should be done, and what the measures should be used. It is for this reason that Apple is the vibrant, creative, competitive company that it is.

Fourth of July in "Children's Church"

Here are a few free resources to help you plan children’s church for Independence Day week-end. Have a great 4th of July holiday. Children’s Sermons

via Kidmin Independence Day Lessons — Revival Fire For Kids
Usually this blog carries something for managers of all kinds — whether in a school or in a business. But today, I’d like to do something more in the way of curricula for the church affiliated preschools that have traditionally made up the bulk of my clients. I hope they don’t feel neglected. Sometimes, when one is immersed in the world of the school, the world of the manager is easy to forget — and vice verse.
So, here is something from Becky Fischer’s team, giving some ideas for the 4th — or maybe “Independence Day” if you are from Canada. And changed visuals and other tweaks.
Everybody — go have fun with some kids. It is summer!
 

Discovering Your Power At Work

Susan Flower of the Blanchard Group reminds us that what we do does matter. We think we have no power, but we do. Read on:
 
An essential mindset for achieving your goals and contributing to the goals of others is recognizing and appreciating your power at work. I’ve witnessed many amazing transformations as individuals altered their mindset related to power, explored their points of power, and proactively created positive change. This transformation begins by recognizing an important truth about power: […]

via Don’t Underestimate Your Points of Power at Work—5 Places to Look — Blanchard LeaderChat

The Best Leaders Empower New Leaders; Non-Leaders Reward Yes-Men

In this episode of the Blanchard LeaderChat podcast, we interview Sydney Finkelstein, author of Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent. Drawing on some of the key points from his book, Finkelstein explores the different ways managers of all personality types bring out the best in people. He discusses the importance of seeing […]

via Sydney Finkelstein on Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent — Blanchard LeaderChat
This is a contribution that encourages us to bring out the best in others. We have all seen the controller who stomps out potential. We have all seen the leader who gathers a coterie of self-adulation. We have all seen wrong hires lead to eventual disaster. Few of us, however, have had enough good examples to be sure that we can always do or suggest the right thing at the right time. This book may fill in the gap. Hope it is helpful