Starting with the End (in Mind)

Goal-setting. How many of us really enjoy do this? If we didn’t have supervisors or managers reminding us for our “yearly goals” we probably wouldn’t do it on our own. Entrepreneurs by default do it on their own since their business would have no bearing without goals. So many of us start the year with “Near Year resolutions” that are almost like goals, but do we really take them seriously? One of the problems is, we don’t take the time to imagine, or visualize them and how we are going to obtain those goals. OK, so – how should we approach goal-setting so that it is attainable?
The 2nd Habit of “Highly Effective People” is “Begin with the end in mind”.

Are you “Proactive”?

Not to be confused with a popular acne medication… being proactive is a mindset we are all capable of (and most of us already have). Unfortunately, some of our upbringings steered us away – more toward being “reactive”. I know that for a good chunk of my life, I was reactive in every sense of the word. Not only did I always “go with the flow” – I waited and waited to be told what to do and what was going on. I was always being acted upon… and I was “ok” with it. Living with my family was the way to go - as long as I got what I wanted: toys, video games, food, I didn’t complain. However, when we are children, don’t we all want to grow up to “be” something? I doubt any of us daydreamed of letting everyone tell us what to do – it’s not in our nature. We all have dreams, the inner light of taking initiative, of wanting to BE someone – and ultimately being in control of our lives.

Habit #1 of the “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is exactly that: to Be Proactive. The word “Be” has a large part to do with it. Beyond reacting to stimuli, we need to realize that we have a choice in every aspect of our lives.

Delegating 101 – who should handle what? Why?

Greetings to all. Welcome to another topic I would like to explore with everyone: Delegating. My experience may be limited… I never had any direct reports, nor have I had the opportunity to be a manager (yet). However, as a team member / leader, I have had the opportunity to delegate tasks based on things that needed to get done and “those at my disposal”. In some occasions, those team members whom I assigned tasks to where overseas, and I had no prior knowledge of their work ethic. I simply had to trust them. In other cases, team members comprised of colleagues whom I dealt with on a daily basis and knew exactly what to expect. Whenever you know the team and their strengths, it can almost be intuitive to delegate tasks. However, what if you don’t know your team? What if the set of tasks do not fit into line with your team’s existing areas of expertise? What if you are not familiar with the team and there is urgency in getting the job done?

Leadership and Management - Love and Marriage – ETC.

Like the song goes: “you can’t have one without the other”. The “Father of modern management” , Peter Drucker would’ve definitely agreed [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Drucker]. Some of us may disagree. Over the course of 5 months there was an overwhelming 891 posts on the topic of “Differences between leadership and management” found in the Leadership Think Tank Group in LinkedIn [http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&gid=39683&discussionID=8821024&sik=1269570930525&split_page=46&goback=%2Eana_39683_1269570930525_3_3]. Of course many will make a point that leadership and management can be done separately, and that we do it all the time. They may be correct as well. It may be very well in the “eye of the beholder”. Allow me to go into my inner geek and elaborate on two great phrases that ring true to this type of conundrum.

Priorities... where do I start?

This is a great topic – in fact, I really would like some input on this. I’ve read a couple of leadership books, but I haven’t found much on how to prioritize. Naturally, as a leader we are supposed to make decisions made in the best interest of the group or the team. Is prioritizing tasks the same deal?

When working in corporate settings, usually the manager helps us prioritize projects based on decisions made by “upper management” and/or the board directors, etc. But when you are completely on your own, or asked to make those types of decisions– how do you know what to do first?