One of the hardest gravitation pulls to overcome is that of getting out of our office chair and walking around.  For whatever reason, the simple act of getting out of our chair is hard.  Sometimes it’s because we think have important things to do, sometimes its because we don’t want to miss the one important email… but usually, if we are honest with ourselves, we get lazy.

However, if we want to understand what is happening in our organization, we have to leave the office and walk around.  When we walk around, we see things that escape our notice when we are heads down buried in our work, or running from meeting to meeting.

The three things I’ve learned from walking around are:

1 – You are able to communicate what is important to you.  For example:  You’re watching a maintenance crew perform a “jack and cycle” on an aircraft.  Every time the gear comes down, the speed brake comes down also.  Since there is no air resistance, the hydraulic pressure is causing undue stress on the speed break.  You know this can’t be good in the long run.  So you confirm that you only need to test the speed brake once.  Once confirmed, you change the procedure for how the test is done.  This communicates that safe, efficient processes are important to you – and encourages them to come up with more ideas.

2 – You inject yourself at the point of friction.  For example, when walking around one day, you notice your expeditor in Maintenance Control is having trouble securing a part.  This part is needed ASAP.  You also know exactly who to call.  Done.

3 – You can solve a problem.  For example: Your Operations team is stuck on what to do on next week’s training plan.  You ask them their thoughts, toss a few ideas back and forth, and give them your input.  Problem solved.  If you had stayed in your office, you wouldn’t have known about the problem until it was late into the planning cycle.

There’s no better way to get a realistic idea of how your organization is doing than by walking around.  So what are you waiting for?  Go for a walk!

Here’s a couple of things I’ve learned this week:

I am fascinated with what causes some people to be more resilient than others.  Here is a great article on what may drive the difference.

Looking to make stress your superpower?  Check out the SH//FT Team

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We all make mistakes, right?  From the way we coach our kids to the way we launch a product, the process rarely goes as planned.  The good news is, we CAN learn from our mistakes – we just need a simple framework to do so.

First, we simply acknowledge that we fell short in a certain area.  And, I know, this is not natural.  We tend to defend ourselves and hide where we fell short.  But if we do that, we’ll never learn from our mistakes.  So, name it!  Acknowledge where you fell short.

Second, critically look at what caused us to make the mistake.  Was it an oversight?  Did I not have the correct knowledge or skill set?  Could I have planned better?  Take a moment to think about what led to mistake.

Finally, once you have determined what led to the mistake, take a moment to think about a “fix” that could be applied to the mistake.  In other words, what can we do next time that will prevent the error?  I’ve found that it helps to write this down…otherwise I sometimes end up repeating the same mistakes!

Mistakes are ok, and I would even go so far as to say good, as long as we learn from them.  So don’t be afraid of mistakes, simply acknowledge the error, determine the cause, and then think of a fix that will prevent the same mistake next time.

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Have you ever set goals for the organization you lead, only to find them vague, unachievable, and ultimately un-inspiring?  I’m sure we all have – I know I have.  Every leader can set goals for their team that are measurable and achievable.  We can do this by following three simple rules.

1 – Goals should be challenging and inspiring.  For example, say you have an aircraft that hasn’t flown in 30 days due to a part being on order.  The part arrives, and after installing it and flying a successful check flight, squadron readiness will move above 80%.  The challenge is correctly installing and then successfully flying the check flight; the inspiration is achieving a readiness level greater than 80%

2 – Goals should have an end date.  When do we want to achieve our goal?  In our example, setting a goal for Friday by 1:00 PM is reasonable.  This time frame gives us all week to work on the aircraft, allows for weather issues during the check flight, and even potentially allows for additional troubleshooting.

3 – Achieving goals should be rewarded.  The key here is releasing endorphins!  Achieving a win should be celebrated!  Again, using our example, we could reward the achievement with ending the Friday afternoon shift early and allowing everyone to start their weekend a few hours earlier.

Goals are important benchmarks for “moving the ball down the field.”  When we set goals, we need to ensure they are challenging and inspiring, have an end date, and when achieved, are rewarded.

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I have learned three truths that enable me to kick the bad habits and maintain or begin good habits.

1 – Habits can be seasonal. If we were to take an analytical look at our year, we would see that there are natural annual rhythms we abide by. For example, I have a habit of strength training and running. As a resident of the desert southwest, in the summer, I have to maintain this habit early in the morning. During the winter, I can maintain the habit in the middle of the day or afternoon, which frees up my mornings for other habits or work. Don’t force a habit into a time of day when it doesn’t necessarily need to go there.

2 – If you are building a new habit, tie the new habit to an action that “moves the ball down the field” –  Ensure your habit helps you accomplish a goal. For example, if you have a goal of healthy teeth, it will help motivate you to develop the habit of flossing each day.

3 – Use the power of Dopamine to build habits. Use a streak tracker to log habit accomplishments – every time you floss, check a box in your journal or notebook. This simple action releases a shot of Dopamine in your system, releasing a sense of accomplishment which assists in ensuring the new habit sticks. Check out my favorite, the Full Focus Planner for an example of a daily streak tracker.

Habits are powerful tools we can use to accomplish our goals. If we follow these three truths, habit development and accomplishment will become a matter of course. Happy accomplishing!

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One of the most important aspects of team culture, and also one of the most overlooked, is that of properly saying goodbye to a departing team member. Properly sending off a team member is often just one of those things we don’t think about.

Here’s why we should. When a team member leaves, a valuable part of the culture leaves with them. And while we, as the team lead, may not always recognize the gap formed by the loss, the unique relationships formed around this individual certainly will.

Our job as leaders is to validate the loss and celebrate the accomplishments achieved by the individual during their time on the team. Here are some ideas:

• Go around the room and let each person tell what they enjoyed most about the team member.

• You, as the lead, speak to their accomplishments and gifts.

• Let the departing team member say a public goodbye and offer her remarks.

• Present the outgoing team member with a memo – this could be a plaque, a certificate, or my favorite, a book.

I believe this is important regardless of why a team member leaves. All of our team members are valuable and play an important role in the culture of the organization. Let’s recognize and celebrate them.

This time of year I turn my thoughts to evaluating my life plan and annual goals – to this end I highly recommend Micheal Hyatt and Donald Miller – these men can help you make sense of the journey you are on.

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I spent this past week updating an instructional techniques class I give at the Weapons and Tactics Instructors Course.  One of the things I hope to convey to our students during this class are tangible skills they can use to more effectively instruct and communicate.

During the segment on communication skills, I give them what I call the “secret sauce.”  I define the secret sauce as knowing your audience, developing an effective presentation, and communicating clearly.

Knowing your audience: Who are you talking to?  Is your audience a room full of experienced people?  Or, are they just beginning to learn the skill?  Figure out who they are and what they need to know.  This way you won’t waste their time…or yours.

Developing an effective presentation:  In my line of work, PowerPoint is the go to medium for presentations.  I teach my students to stick to no more than three bullet points per slide and to use more pictures and less words.  Be an expert on your subject, use a story or narrative to get your point across.

Communicate clearly:  Be aware of the language you are using.  Articulate and enunciate your words.  Stand in a manner that is calm and natural – hands at your sides.  Only use your hands to accentuate a point or drive home a thought.  Connect with your audience via natural eye contact and movement.

The secret sauce can be applied to any venue.  Whether you are talking to a boardroom, presenting a class, or selling a product, using the secret sauce is a tried and true way to get your point across.

For more resources on creating a winning presentation, check these out:

Carmine Gallo: Talk Like TED

Timothy Koegel: The Excellent Presenter

Ken Davis:  Secrets of Dynamic Communication 

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We’ve all experienced it a thousand times.  The person who comes to the meeting and drops the proverbial “bomb” of a problem.  Frankly, we’re lucky if this comes during a meeting.  Usually it comes in email form.

There’s not much more that upsets a boss and the rest of the staff than simply dropping a bomb and not having a proposed solution to the problem.

So how do we elevate our game and become the solution to the problem rather than just the bearer of bad news?  We can do three things:

1 – Acknowledge the problem and assess what it affects.

2 – Take a few moments and develop possible solutions to the problem.  Pro tip – enlist the help of other members of your team.  This creates buy-in and fosters creativity.

3 – Set up a meeting with your boss to present the problem with your proposed solutions.  Describe the issue and then present a few options, three is ideal.  This gives your boss a menu of ideas to choose from.  Pro tip – email the presentation to her prior to the meeting in order to give her a chance to digest the ideas.

By not just identifying a problem, but also providing possible solutions to the problem, we become an invaluable member of the team and the go to person for problem solving.

Below are three things I learned this week:

1 – For ideas on police reform and how to handle riots and mobs, check out this article on Clifford Stott. I believe this is the direction we need to go.

2 – How exactly do you catch COVID? – excellent, apolitical, non-dramatic article from the WSJ.

3 – Ian Cron interviewed Michael Hyatt on his new book, The Vision Driven Leader – it is a must listen!

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Leadership is about ownership.  The buck stops with us, and it is vital that we signify that on a daily basis.

Then-General Dwight D. Eisenhower, just prior to the D-Day Invasion at Normandy, penned a press release in the case of failure: “My decision to attack at this time was born upon the best information available. The troops, the air, and the Navy did all that devotion to duty could do.  If any blame or fault attends to the attempt, it is mine alone.”

Wow.  That is ownership.  As leaders, when we step into the breach we immediately assume the ownership of the organization.  There is no time for blame or excuses.

The next time your team fails to meet the mark and you are tempted to blame the failure on a lack of resources, time, or energy; accept the failure.  Take ownership of it.  Then gather your staff, learn from your mistakes, and move on.  Your team will thank you.

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In talking with a friend of mine this past week, he described how a series of inspections in his department did not go as well as expected.  This surprised him, as it should have.  The pre-inspection audits he had conducted uncovered a few discrepancies, which he expected his team to then correct prior to the inspection.  While his team made the on the spot corrections, they did not put a process into place to prevent the same error from happening again.  And of course, when inspection time came, the same errors were uncovered.

A process is a methodology put into place to ensure a job is done correctly.  Without a process, corrections to errors are made, but are soon forgotten in the stress and activity of day to day operations.

When you find an error, correct it, but also acknowledge what caused the error.  Ask yourself, “what can I do to ensure the same error is not made again?”  The action you do to prevent the error from happening again is a process.  Capture the process, publish and broadcast the process, and then make the process a part of your culture.

I believe the only tragic errors are errors we don’t learn from.  By noting the error and then capturing the process that will prevent the error in future, we set ourselves and our teams up for success.

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Instead, our assumption should be that the individual who has been given a task possess both the ability and the resources to carry out the task.  As leaders, we should strive to provide the trust and freedom for our team to accomplish the task. To do this takes trust and faith. To not do this creates a perception that we do not have trust and faith in our team members.

How do we do this?  In short, let them finish the task we gave them.  Provide your expectations at the beginning, ask for a follow up at the end, and ensure they know they can ask for updated guidance as they go along – without judgement.

Trust and faith in our team go a long way towards cultivating a healthy culture.  Trust your team to accomplish the task. In the long term, we’ll be happier with the results.

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