A Child of the Community

She referred to her son as a child of the community.

Participating in one of our community building workshops, the woman was responding to our question, “Where have you experienced community and why was it important?”

She went on to explain that the chronic, life threatening illness of her young son had meant that residents of her small, rural community had stepped up, and stepped in to their lives, by providing not only emotional support but also extensive, ongoing fundraising efforts to help with expenses. She said that she and her son were often stopped in… More Posted on 03-25-12

Are We Prepared to Manage Ourselves?

The disinterested look on her face and constant yawning made it apparent she was not with us by choice.

Unlike the others in the workshop who came across as being keen to learn more about our subject of community leadership, she was definitely not an engaged participant. I later heard she had been told to attend the training.

Clearly not a good choice for either her or the organization that sent her, it reinforced for me that it’s never a good idea to send people to courses they don’t want to go to.

Until an individual sees the… More Posted on 03-18-12

A Message from the Universe??

Last week as I was carefully stopped at a yield sign waiting for traffic to clear, I was rudely and forcefully rear-ended by a driver who clearly wasn’t paying attention. Ultimately it wasn’t a big deal as I wasn’t terribly hurt and the guy who hit me totally acknowledged that it was his fault. Additionally, the car just happened to be a van rented for a work-related road trip and since we had signed up for comprehensive insurance coverage there wasn’t even a deductible to pay. I simply drove back to the dealer and got a replacement van.

The… More Posted on 03-13-12

What Makes for Stellar Staff?

The truth is that I didn’t know it was Janet’s birthday. 

So who is Janet? While it may not matter to you that she’s part of our work team, it might matter that she personifies what it means to be a stellar employee.

While Janet may think I’m just saying that because I’m trying to make up for not remembering her birthday, the truth is it really did get me thinking. What exactly does it mean to be a stellar employee and what kind of impact does it have on a team?

For me, a stellar employee… More Posted on 03-05-12