Farmgirl Sensibilities

Leading Through The Snow

The Sensible Farmgirl — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:26:31 +0000

In the Midwest we are waking up to another round of winter today. I recall as a young girl living on an Oklahoma farm how if snow fell on the level we seldom missed school and Dad always managed to keep the cattle fed and the numerous chores of a farmer done.

Life on the farm rapidly changed if the wind began blowing with the snowfall. Our road would drift shut in a hurry and caring for the cattle became not a chore but a true challenge. I vividly recall my father making three trips from the barnyard to our enclosed porch that ran the length of one side of the farmhouse, each time carrying a baby calf in his arms. Mom moved swiftly into action to dry off the little ones and get them warm and dry using a space heater, no less. My brothers and I were tasked with bottle feeding the calves that day.

Leading our teams can feel like this some days. We must remain vigilant to storms coming our way and plan for them to the best of our ability. Storms will come and just like my Mom and Dad did on the farm, we must be ready to move swiftly into action when we identify a problem, calling on other team members to jump in and do his/her part.

What storms are you anticipating?

Structured Procrastination

The Sensible Farmgirl — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:56:48 +0000

Check out the link below I picked up from the Twitter feed of Chick-fil-A Leadercast. Do you have difficulty getting moving on projects you know that you need to do? Structured procrastination can be at play here. I, too, have had days when I keep my mind over-analyzing the bigger strategic projects that are most important. When the biggest project has a flexible deadline, I tend to put it off instead of getting it done based on priority need to achieve the best results.

How can each of us make the decision today to focus on the important tasks that may not be pleasant but are critical to our long-term growth and success?

http://99u.com/tips/7286/The-Power-of-Structured-Procrastination

Co-workers Who Weigh The Team Down

The Sensible Farmgirl — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 20:18:18 +0000

Reblogged from Practical Practice Management:

One of the most difficult types of co-workers to have is one that does not carry his or her portion of the workload in the office. We all have days when we move a bit slower, but this type of co-worker is like this on a regular basis.

For example: they wait for someone else to answer the phone first so they do not have to.

Expectations and Accountability

The Sensible Farmgirl — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:29:44 +0000

Talking with a colleague recently on the topic of how our team was doing, our conversation turned toward leaders and, in particular, new leaders. If one truly believes in leadership, as I do, we should be vigilant on how to lift up new leaders around us. As we progress through our own careers, realize that leadership is not about us. Leadership is about them.

In his most relaxed tone, my colleague shared how leadership really isn’t that hard. Leadership is about two things – expectations and accountability. Seems pretty simple. How can we expect anyone on our team to exceed expectations, let alone meet them, if we don’t let them know what our expectations are? Think about your most recent hire or the person who most recently moved into a new leadership role. Does he or she know what the expectations are for the position?

Then comes accountability. I face challenges in holding people accountable for what is expected. I would bet at some point in time you have faced this same challenge, either professionally or personally, or both.

“Are you dealing with things going wrong or setting the condition for things to go right? Be deliberate.” Shawn Upchurch.

In some ways, leadership can really be this simple. Think of someone in your arena that TODAY needs to know what your expectations are. Who needs to be held accountable TODAY? Go do that.

Caught In The Day

The Sensible Farmgirl — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 21:32:29 +0000

As we prepare to face another Monday tomorrow, I wanted to share this link to a podcast by my friend, Matt Davis. Matt is Chief Strategist for the consulting firm, Third Strategy. Who hasn’t been “caught in the day”? Whether in your personal or professional life we have all faced a day that shapes up to be that “perfect storm” as Matt so vividly describes. Matt talks from personal experience and from his heart. Enjoy!
www.thirdstrategy.com/blog/caught-in-the-day/

When Leaders Get Out of the Way

The Sensible Farmgirl — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 11:03:03 +0000

Reblogged from elumn8:

Sometimes leaders get in the way. When they do...bad things happen.

They bottleneck decisions - people get frustrated
They fail to communicate - people become cynical
They put process before progress - people disengage
They put their ego first - people become self-centered
They fail to honor their word - people become passive aggressive

When they get out-of-the-way. Beautiful things happen.

Finishing a race well!

The Sensible Farmgirl — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 12:32:57 +0000

Reblogged from horizondwellers:

Each of us make journeys that are life changing. Each of us find these journeys have a finishing point.These finishing points can be as important as the journey itself. Finishing well has so many ramifications. How we finish impacts our lessons from the journey... How we finish impacts how we begin the next journey...
What then are the keys to finishing well?

Credibility

The Sensible Farmgirl — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 01:51:49 +0000

There are many things a leader can do to get people to commit to following you and “enter the room” where you are and be willing to go where the leader seeks to go. To move your team and organization toward a goal the leader needs to be and do more. As a leader we can show great emotion and rally our teams similar to how a politician can get people rallied behind him or her or a sports team can get their fans “all fired up”. How a successful leader accomplishes long term success is by being credible. This type of leadership and motivation for your team isn’t all about the fire and brimstone words of a preacher but the quiet, servant attitude of a leader who is credible.

Most of us have worked with excellent leaders we admired as well as some that were less than stellar. I have been blessed with one boss that I can honestly say has been one of the most credible men I have ever met. This leader says what he means and means what he says. He has possessed the ability to instill the belief in me to keep pushing toward our goals even when that means two steps forward and one step back.

Dr. John Maxwell, whom I deeply admire, talks about this is a recent “Minute with Maxwell”. Check it out at Credibility

Give me a credible leader any time, any day, anywhere.

Orange Barrels in Leadership

The Sensible Farmgirl — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:46:10 +0000

Reblogged from Courageous Leadership:

Orange barrels. I am pretty confident that all I have to do is mention orange barrels and everyone who reads this will understand what I mean. Road blocks. Traffic snarling confusion. Sit and go nowhere road construction. In America the orange barrel is the symbol for barriers and roadblocks, in the name of progress. A few years ago motorists in Ohio joked that the orange barrel was the State flower.

Love is the killer app

The Sensible Farmgirl — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:35:00 +0000

When I woke up today, my thoughts immediately went to how crazy busy the last few weeks have been and I don’t see an immediate relief in sight. “Here we go again” came to mind and I realized even after a good night’s sleep that I am a bit weary. My team and I like to be busy with new projects and new opportunities for growth, but how on earth does the team keeping working hard and moving forward when we are mentally tired? How does the leader keep leading when he or she is feeling out of control and exhausted?

The answer is love. Tim Sanders wrote about this concept in his book “Love is the Killer App”. This morning I grabbed my coffee and I dusted off the cover of what was one of my favorite reads a decade ago.

Here is what I know. Love is putting someone else’s need above your own. Love is what makes you get an early start on your Friday when you already have 60 hours in for the week. Love is what pushes you to seek to add value to your team and your employer.

Love is what makes the farmer get up in the middle of the night, even during a snowstorm, to check on a cow about to give birth. Love is what keeps a parent half-awake all night when a child has a fever. Love is what makes the leader keep going when the tasks seem daunting. Love is the killer application that makes you different. Be a “lovecat”.

“Love is the selfless promotion of the growth of the other” according to Tim Sanders. When we start a project or a new job, we take on the responsibility to create more value than what we are paid. Tim goes on to talk about how if we don’t add value, we are “value vampires”.

The value with you inside a situation should be greater than the value without you. Love is what keeps me going. The love I have for our team and the love for what we are doing……what we are building. The love the leader promotes and the love the team shares for each other that is what being a “lovecat” is about. Find a way to do what you love and you’ll always love what you do (even on those days when you feel like you need to call a taxi just to get out of bed).