strategic planning

10 Minutes Can Re-Energize Your Team

We were recently in a meeting with two top executives. They were describing an incredibly challenging time when their leadership team was running at full speed. That afternoon, the team asked to skip a leadership team meeting so they could use that time to focus on several “revenue critical” efforts that were underway. These executives needed to make a decision that would move their agenda forward, create success for the organization, and manage their staff’s need for some control over…

Read More

A Simple Trick To Create A Great Leadership Team

We’re currently working with a number of organizations with relatively new leadership teams. As is often the case, the people on these teams have made their way up the organizational ladder because they have succeeded in their department or in a specific area of expertise. While it makes sense that they would move up in leadership as their skills grow, the transition to higher levels of leadership requires a major shift in their approach and mindset.  In particular, they need to…

Read More

Effective Delegation Is Not Micromanaging

This is the follow-up to the 3 Steps to Delegate Effectively which we re-shared last week; we thought this follow-up should be re-shared as well. We heard from several of you that you were concerned that if you used our 3 Steps to Delegate Effectively, it would be experienced by others as micromanaging. Delegation is about providing Context, Content, and Connection so that the individual who is assigned the activity can organize their thinking and their tactics to accomplish the delegated task. When…

Read More

Starting Your Small Steps

In last week’s post, Take Small Steps, we invited you to take a few minutes to reflect on your vision for your life – what it would look like at a 10 – and how that vision compares with your actual life. We’ve heard from many of you that you found the exercise helpful yet are concerned that, despite the best of intentions, you won’t make the time to take the small steps that will lead you to a life…

Read More

Take Small Steps

Those of you who know us, know that we believe deeply that change occurs in small steps made consistently over time.  As much as we all wish we could make one big leap into a new life, greater success, more money, etc., for most of us, true change is about taking small steps consistently over time toward creating a life and work that matters to you. Today we are celebrating 6 years of the Monday Morning Business Coach! That’s three…

Read More

30,000 Feet

We’ve been contacted by many of you over the years saying that you’re unhappy or worn down by your work and are considering a change. You feel like your company isn’t the same place anymore and you’re unmotivated or frustrated. You’re looking to update your resume and cover letter and see what’s out there that will be better than what you currently have. At first glance, this makes a lot of sense and yet it’s often the wrong first step.…

Read More
Brand You

Brand: You

  Good morning, instead of a narrative today, we have a hot seat moment for you: What is your brand? Your “brand” is a combination of your values, your contributions, your attributes, and it is the essence of what you offer to the world. In the next 30 seconds, write down the 3-5 things that best describe Brand You. Do you like what you wrote? Do you feel proud of your brand?  Now, identify 2 people who know you and…

Read More

We All Work

As the title of this week’s post says, we all work. Some for money, some as a volunteer, and some in the home, but it’s fair to say that in general, we all work.   Because working is such a norm in our lives, we don’t often take time to think (see last week’s post Take Time to Think) about what we actually want from work and prepare to move forward in a way that gets us where we want…

Read More
Creating an effective charter

Creating an Effective Charter

Last week in Two Powerful Tools from One Powerful Leader, we described how visionary leader Kathy Broadwater utilized virtual departments to get work done at the Maryland Port Authority. This week, we’re sharing her approach to solidifying those virtual departments by creating a specific charter or compact to ensure that everyone is clear about the goals and deliverables, how the work will be done and who will do it, and to formalize the commitment to being a part of this…

Read More
road to success

The Road to Nowhere…

One of the key aspects of being a good leader is determining the road forward and figuring out how to stay on that road despite the sometimes unfavorable conditions. We often meet individuals who turn off the road to success for what appears to be an immediate gain without considering how this short-term diversion will impact their long-term goal. Each of these distractions puts them on the road to nowhere. We’ve been working with a lot of organizations of late…

Read More
Subscribe to the Monday Morning Business Coach

A weekly leadership email delivered right to your inbox.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with leaders, teams, and individuals who are passionate about growing in their leadership and in their ability to create cultures of psychological safety and engagement.

We’d love to hear from you!

(503) 274-9447

letschat@carpentersmith.com