The beginning of July often marks for many the official start of summer, with children being off from school for the summer break paired with the warmer weather and sunny skies that marks this time of the year. This is also typically the time of year where most of us would start making preparations to take advantage of the vacation time we’ve earned through the contributions and efforts we’ve made for our organization. Unfortunately, there’s a growing trend among both employees and leaders to forgo taking any breaks from work in order to deal with the growing demands filling their plates.

For many leaders, the idea of forgoing their vacation would appear to be ‘the right thing to do’ in order to show solidarity and understanding for the growing pressures/demands faced by those they lead. Indeed, the apparent rise in criticism being directed towards leaders – both in the public and private sectors – who do elect to take some time off work would appear to reinforce the thinking that it’s better to stay on the job and to keep pressing ahead until better times return once again.

While this might make all parties feel better through reinforcing the notion that we’re all in this together, the reality is that such decisions are actually more harmful than beneficial for your organization and your employees. If you’re thinking of skipping out on taking time off from work this summer, here are four reasons why should reconsider this in terms of how this decision might impact your team and their future effectiveness. Click here to continue reading »”4 Reasons Why Your Boss Should Take A Vacation”

A few days ago, my oldest daughter came home from school with a bit of a dilemma. She got back her latest math assignment and noticed that one of the problems she had solved correctly was marked as incorrect because her answer wasn’t rounded up to the second decimal point. As it wasn’t stated in the problem’s instructions that the correct answer needed to be rounded up to a given decimal point, my daughter was confused as to why her response was marked wrong and asked me if I could look it over to help her figure it out.

Looking over her assignment, I saw that my daughter not only solved the problem correctly, but she was right that the problem didn’t ask students to round up their answer. So, I told my daughter that all she had to do was point this mistake out to her teacher so that she could correct the grade she got on her assignment. However, my daughter felt uncomfortable with the idea of talking about this mistake with her teacher and asked me if I could bring it up instead.

Given how my daughter has a really good rapport with her teacher, I was a bit puzzled as to why she was so reluctant about discussing this with her. As we talked about it more, it became clear that her hesitation arose from feelings of discomfort over having to tell her teacher that she had made a mistake in marking her assignment.

Now one of the things my parents taught me was the importance of showing respect and appreciation for our teachers given how they help to build our knowledge and understanding of the world around us. Naturally, this is an attitude I want instill in my children as well. However, I also want them to feel comfortable with approaching authority figures to point out when errors are made.

To help encourage my daughter to deal with this herself, I made her this deal – that she try to talk to her teacher about this error and if she finds herself struggling, she can give her teacher a note I’ll write to explain what we discussed. Although not exactly thrilled, my daughter nonetheless accepted this approach to resolve her dilemma.

Of course, it’s not just children who can struggle with having to point out mistakes being made by others, especially when it’s an authority figure like a teacher or parent. Employees can also feel uncomfortable bringing to the attention of others problems or mistakes they see being made, particularly if those responsible for them serve higher up in their organization.

But this is where leaders can make a difference by providing Click here to continue reading »”5 Questions To Figure Out How Well You Manage Mistakes”

Being Canadian, I’m sure it comes as little surprise that I’m not much of a baseball fan (growing up, hockey, football and soccer were the sports I preferred playing). Of course, you don’t have to be a fan of baseball to enjoy or relate to the wonderful stories, both humorous and inspiring, which have become a part of this sport’s history. There’s one story in particular I’d like to share because of the lessons we can glean from it on how leaders can approach the challenges they face in today’s globally connected and engaged world.

When it comes to baseball heroes, few are as well-known and revered as Babe Ruth, or as he’s affectionately known by baseball fans “the Bambino”. While he certainly had a storied career in baseball, it was during his declining years that we get a real appreciation for both of his dedication and drive to honour the sport he loved.

In October 1932, Babe Ruth and his team the New York Yankees faced the Chicago Cubs in Game Three of the World Series at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. Although his team was performing well, winning the first two games in the series, Ruth himself was suffering from a batting slump. At the halfway mark of Game Three, Ruth was standing at home plate with two strikes against him when the crowd began to boo, adding to the heckling Ruth was already getting from his opponents in the Cubs dugout (a common behaviour among teams at this time in the sport’s history).

Faced with the natural decline in his physical abilities and this stream of negativity emanating all around him, the odds seemed to favour that the Bambino would strike out at bat. However, when the ball was pitched, Ruth not only hit the ball, but he hit it with such force that it ended up becoming one of longest home runs ever made at Wrigley Field.

After the game, a reporter went up to Babe Ruth and asked him what was going on in his mind at that moment. Ruth replied that he was thinking about what he always thinks about when he steps up to the plate – of “just hittin’ that ball”.

Ruth’s response is certainly a memorable and humble one, and I have no doubt that it’s moments like these in his career which transformed him from being viewed as a talented baseball player into a beloved sports legend. In addition to providing us with a glimpse at the man behind this legend, this story in its own way also helps to shed some light on three key attributes today’s leaders need to exemplify in order to be as successful as Babe Ruth when stepping up to the leadership plate. Click here to continue reading »”What Babe Ruth Can Teach Leaders About Facing Today’s Challenges”

Have you ever worked on a team project where you had concerns that the limited efforts being made by some team members was going to negatively impact the final outcome? It’s a situation my younger daughter found herself in a few weeks ago while rehearsing with her skating group for their end-of-season figure skating show. Watching how she ultimately chose to deal with this problem brought to mind an important point leaders should consider when trying to encourage their employees to aid their organization in reaching a specific goal.

Since last September, my daughters have been enrolled in a figure skating program at the end of which, the students were invited to perform in a figure skating exhibition show. For this performance, my younger daughter was placed in an intermediate group with other kids who were at the same level of skating proficiency as her.

At the beginning, most of the kids were having a hard time with the skating routine, both in trying to remember which manoeuvre came next as well as in how successful they were in performing a given move. However, after completing half of the practices before the show, it was becoming clear that while most of the kids were trying their best to get the routine down, there were some who were less than interested in paying attention and following the directions of the choreographer/coach.

While this was clearly frustrating for the choreographer, this lack of attention and focus among some of the kids was also having a negative impact on my daughter’s perception as well. Following each practice when I’d ask her how it went, instead of talking about the improvements she’d made since last time, my daughter complained about how these kids were delaying the group’s progress or made various mistakes which caused certain sections of the group to fall out of sync in their choreography.

Rather than simply telling her to just tough it out, my wife and I tried to encourage her to Click here to continue reading »”Helping Employees Reconnect With Their Sense of Purpose”