Choices

It's hard enough for a woman to have children and leave them 5 days a week to go to work - but it's even harder to go to work and experience misery. Let's face it...EVERYONE has a bad day here and there. I have found through my own experiences that most people have discontent with their boss over any other issue. And it's not just their boss...it's the lack of leadership that boss or manager provides. It would be wonderful if getting up and leaving a job we no longer enjoy was as easy as 1, 2, 3....but it's not. I decided a while back to wake up everyday and remind myself that I ALWAYS have choices. I can wake up and choose to be miserable or I can choose to be happy. I can choose to dwell in what isn't working well or I can choose to focus on all the blessings in my life. It isn't always an easy choice - but it's an important one.

One of the choices I have made to assist me in my quest for growth in my professional career (not to mention insight on how to deal with weak leadership) is to follow an amazing blog titled http://www.leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/.

Here is an excerpt from a recent post that I truly appreciated. Take a moment and read more when you can...

Getting Smart at Being Wrong
By Dan Rockwell

Whoever said, “Fail often, fail fast, fail cheap,” has my respect.

One challenge, however, is organizational expectations. Some within your organization have a low tolerance for failure. They choke creativity, stall innovation, and paralyze people. Why?
Mistakes cost:

1. Decline in morale.
2. Lost confidence.
3. Opportunities lost.
4. Underutilized resources.
5. Misallocated resources.

On a positive note, learning is mistake-making.

Three grandchildren are spending a couple days with us. Occasionally, one of them will dig out two short pieces of soft rope and tie things up. They inevitably ask to tie me up and then I return the favor.
Last night I tied Asher tight enough that his only chance for escape was untying the knot. It took him several minutes but he succeeded.

“The only time you don’t fail is the last time you try anything and it works,” William Strong.
All leaders are problem solvers. Problem solving is mistake making with a goal.
Smart mistake-making:

1. Watch for paralyzing frustration. As long as Asher kept trying I didn’t help.
2. Is their progress. Eventually, Asher stopped using brute force and started using his head.
3. Enjoy their new self-confidence and enthusiasm. Complaining that it took too long saps their enthusiasm. Brag that they kept with it for a long time. If it’s taking too long, step in. If it isn’t, stop complaining and start encouraging.
4. Spend more time learning from mistakes and less time preventing them. What are we learning?
5. Correct foolish mistake-making caused by neglect or misplaced urgency.
6. Risk mistake-making on repeated activities; there’s less ROI on once and done events. Leaders determine when mistakes are investments.
7. When possible, make mistakes on low profile activities.
8. Repeated mistakes are unacceptable.
9. Don’t tell clients you’re making mistakes; say you’re perfecting.

Bonus: Make your best mistake-makers lead people. The fearful seldom exceed average.