Education

Every day we face choices about what we should or should not do. We have to consider what tools and techniques enable leaders and their team members to always do the right thing.

In the United States of America, September 17, 1787 is etched in the memory of its citizens as the day that 38 delegates signed a new ‘Constitution’ that would bring into existence the United States of America with a central, federal government. Through the echoes of history, such an event stands as a great achievement and the words of Stephen. R. Covey ring true. If the founding fathers were not focused, consciously committed to the task of creating a new ‘Constitution’, they would have, according to Covey, been committed to something else less important and thus history may well have taken a different course.

There are several insights anyone can gain from an effective, genuine leader. As a genuine leader, you should be bold about your values and about the behaviors you must demonstrate to live your values. Share them. Ask your staff to help you live them. Connect to each of your team members. Learn and support their plans, hopes, and dreams. Let people know you care – and they will care right back. Demonstrate your skills in the workplace and help others build their skills. Be bold about the skills you DON’T have, yet, and ask for coaching from players who do have those skills. Commit time, talent, and treasure to personal and company philanthropy. Share what you have with those less fortunate, not just during the holidays, but all year long.

Let us turn now to the question, how much are you worth to your Government agency? Assuming the job you do has been well designed and that you interact with members of the public on a regular basis (thus have a professional relationship with the public), or that you support those that do, then you are immensely valuable to your Government agency.

Bullying causes immense personal grief as well as inhibiting employee work performance and work passion. Even so, it is all too common that bullying is ignored in organizations. Bullying often takes the form of subtle behaviors over time as opposed to bold actions – so, it can be difficult to gauge if a particular boss or employee is bullying.

They will be coming to an end soon but I am enjoying my 50’s. A stage of your life, better than any other, when everything comes together. You are old enough, but you are still young enough too.

Often whenever a change is introduced, especially when there is a strong following involved, there is going to be resistance. A recent study revealed that the well-known target of 10,000 steps a day will boost our health is a complete fallacy. Science wasn’t the foundation for that daily target. Lead researcher and Harvard professor I-Min Lee noted, "It likely derives from the trade name of a pedometer sold in 1965 by Yamasa Clock and Instrument Company in Japan called Manpo-kei, which translates to '10 000 steps meter' in Japanese."

July in the United States of America is best thought of as the month in which Independence Day is celebrated. Independence for the United States of America was born out of conflict. By its very nature, that conflict was won and independence declared because of a strategy based on solid information and knowledge of the area in which the conflict was being fought and an equally good working knowledge of the capacity and capabilities of the soldiers involved. However, George Washington would not have proven himself to be the great military leader and indeed the great President of the United States that he was, if he were not also ‘attuned’ to the culture within the military he led and as President, within the newly formed union of the United States of America.

If you have been in one of my audiences as I spoke, read one of my books, or watched one of my videos, you may have heard one of my leadership philosophies: “We don’t lead out of our position; we lead out of our lives…”

It makes sense that when an organization such as a Government agency is looking to create a ‘wonderful’ workplace, it needs more than just a ‘political’ restructure to make it happen. Some may even suggest that the notion of a Government agency being the most ‘wonderful’ place on earth to work, is the antithesis of the reality of working in a Government organization.