Leader Growth

2 Types of Workplace Change You Should Be Prepared For

Several years ago a mentor of mine said to me, To accomplish vision, change must occur in the organizational culture.

I’ve since learned that there are 2 types of change – only 2!

Change is at the core of leadership – if there is no change, there is no leadership.

Click To Tweet

I’ve been asked many times, How do you handle change? Since change is a constant in growing teams and organizations, I’ve found that change is best approached as an intriguing and energizing part of my work.

Effective leaders lead their teams to adopt the perspective that everything is an experiment. Many of our “experiments” work – some work wonderfully. Others that don’t succeed initially are tweaked and improved until we maximize the return-on-investment.

Leader Profile | Jeff Goins

I recently sat down for coffee with Jeff Goins at Meridees Cafe’ in Franklin, Tennessee. Jeff’s profile includes being an author, speaker, and creative coach as well as the Director of Communications for Adventure in Missions.

I first became acquainted with Jeff about a year ago when I read one of his guest posts on Michael Hyatt’s blog.

At first glance, Jeff comes off as a relatively passive, easy-going person. Yet Jeff’s passion and energy for writing and for serving others is anything but passive.

To be honest, as I have become more acquainted with him and his blog, Jeff’s pointed rhetoric about pursuing one’s passion has provided a much needed kick in the rear.

Gifts – 26 Reasons I Am Loved, What Are Yours?

Nearly two weeks ago small gifts started appearing at various places around our home – on my pillow, my bathroom vanity, my desk, in my closet, my briefcase.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that Sarah (my lovely wife) was celebrating the 12 days of Christmas by presenting me with a gift each day.

So I began looking forward to the gifts – expecting them. The only problem was – the gifts didn’t arrive at the same time each day. Some days I found a well-placed gift early in the morning – other days, just before bed.

Her gifts were not expensive – one gift included 7 apples, another a heartfelt note. Yet they were incredibly personal and creative – even the number of items increased each day to match the corresponding day!

The most treasured gift arrived on Day 12 – which is the way it should be, right?

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a note which read…

Three Characteristics of Leaders Who Care

I don’t have to tell you that if you are going to effectively influence people you must care for them and they must know that you care.

I generally struggle demonstrating my care for others. It’s not that I don’t care about people – in fact, I’m a deeply compassionate person. I simply don’t always communicate in a way that adequately expresses my love and care.

I recently observed three key characteristics of leaders who genuinely care for their teams. Here they are:

6 Ways Structure Will Help Your Team Grow

For much of my life, rules annoyed me. Regulation and policies were “inconvenient” and slowed progress. My perspective was, “Rules were made to be broken”. Some may refer to my viewpoint as visionary or creative. However, many other perceived my actions as it maverick, disrespectful, even rebellious. Whatever you call it, I have since learned to appreciate and place high value on structure (some might say that I appreciate it a little too much now).

Communication and Structure

Growing leaders and organizations realize that communication and structure are both critical components of teamwork. Each of the four organizations I worked with over the past 20 years experienced significant growth by addressing one or both of these areas. Some needed to give more attention to communication while others needed to address deficiencies in structure.