Far too often I come across stories or direct examples of a leader who has surrounded herself with the same general characteristics and behaviours of the leader herself.
And not in a 'geez, this beer tastes great' way.
The trait I see that causes the most damage or stagnates a team and indirect teams into an endless pit of debate is the 'no' trait.
No, that will never work.
No, I don't think we should pursue that.
No, it's not something we would ever do.
These are lines a leader might say, but leaders are equally influenced by the team she is surrounded by and it's highly likely she might be fed the 'no' ingredient well in advance.
It's the 'no' seed planting approach. Some may call it sabotage.
A member of the team -- who reports directly into the leader -- is fully aware the leader is more apt to listen to the reasons why something shouldn't be done (ie. the 'no') and therefore begins a proactive campaign of 'no' to help solidify the decision that the project should not move forward. Stakeholders from outside the team are blindsided, hurt and confused. Those external members trying to partner on the project thought things were going smoothly until the 'no' seed planting took shape and the leader (inevitably you might say) decried the opportunity was wrong. "No, we won't proceed."
It's a knot of no's.
If a leader is aware of her own personal tendency to say 'no' more often than 'yes' or heaven forbid 'maybe', might she think about hiring a team (or at least a few) who can think in the spectrum of 'yes'?
I know, I know ...
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We are so proud to have had you at our event. Your talk was a big hit. It moved us. We can’t thank you enough.
Malin Björnell, Salesforce
Dan challenged us to have clarity of purpose, both as individuals and as an organization. He related inspiring stories drawing on his experience in business, technology and academia. As he said, ‘There is no ownership without belonging.’
Christian Pantel, D2L
Fantastic engaging talk for our global partner summit. Thank you so much, Dan!
Barb Kinnard, CEO Response Biomedical Corp
Dan not only brought his presentation to life with his charisma, but also content, style and presentation finesse. Our members were especially interested in his thought provoking and top of mind topic on the future of work and how we’re going to be leading the next generation of leaders.
Cheryl Goodwin, CPA
Dan is a conference organizer’s ideal speaker. Not only did he inspire and energize our group, but he also masterfully adapted his content so it resonated with the audience and our conference theme. As a bonus, Dan is able to nimbly navigate to adjust to a reduced time slot when other speakers went over time without sacrificing the impact of his session.
Director and General Counsel
Dan accomplished what we set out to do, which was not only to be inspirational, but also to leave everyone with tools and food for thought / self-reflection to improve their personal and professional lives.
Far too often I come across stories or direct examples of a leader who has surrounded herself with the same general characteristics and behaviours of the leader herself.
And not in a 'geez, this beer tastes great' way.
The trait I see that causes the most damage or stagnates a team and indirect teams into an endless pit of debate is the 'no' trait.
It's a knot of no's.
If a leader is aware of her own personal tendency to say 'no' more often than 'yes' or heaven forbid 'maybe', might she think about hiring a team (or at least a few) who can think in the spectrum of 'yes'?
I know, I know ...
