RESOURCES
WORKSHOPS:
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Articles, Blog Posts, and Workbooks:
How to Give Clear, Concise, Meaningful, and Effective Feedback. The “Feedback sandwich” of build, burn, build tastes like crap. Here are some alternative ways to give feedback that your people can swallow.
Who are your allies and advocates? The USA didn’t go it alone during World War II. It took allies to get the job done then, and you need allies to get the job done now.
The Formula for Beating Burnout. Running at 100% capacity (or more) 100% of the time is not sustainable. Here is a better way to stay productive for the long haul.
Books:
Full Focus Planner. While not a “book,” (because YOU fill in the words), I’ve found this planner to be remarkably helpful for annual goal setting, and week-by-week quarterly planning and review.
The Author vs. Editor Dilemma: The Leadership Secret to Unlocking Your Team, Your Time, and Your Impact. Written by Bradon Smith, AKA “The Workplace Therapist,” this book will help you reduce an overwhelming workload by “authoring up” to your boss and “editing down” for your direct reports. That way you can spend 80% of your time working “on” the business rather than “in” the business.
The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities. Sometimes leaders go into positions of authority because they want the perks rather than to do the work. This book by Patrick Lencioni will help you check your motives.
VIDEOS:
I can make a difference, but I can’t do it alone. This TED talk is from one of the co-authors of The Leadership Challenge.
Start with “Why” - How Great Leaders Inspire Action. This TED talk explains what made Apple so successful with products like the iPhone.
Win or learn. This 2 minute video helps you reframe “failure.”
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Travel Tools:
Books:
Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box. Sometimes we create our own conflict with people because we put ourselves “in the box.” This book will help you know when you are “in the box” and how to get out of it.
The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t. The title pretty much sums this one up. Highly recommended.
Blog Posts:
How to Give Clear, Concise, Meaningful, and Effective Feedback - This blog post describes different types of feedback and common struggles in giving feedback. Then it provides you with a step-by-step process for giving clear, concise, meaningful, and effective Feedback.
How to Create Team Norms. Get your new team off to a great start by defining your “norms.” This blog post will explain what norms are, why you need them, and how to implement them.
Two Sentences that Change Conflict into Collaboration - This blog post provides you with a two-sentence word track that helps ensure collaborative communication, and it includes practical tips that set you up for success.
Weekly Marriage Meetings for Success at Home - Influence Coaching is about your success both at work and home! This blog post provides a step-by-step process to proactively address the issues that create stress so you can enjoy the week ahead.
Who are Your Allies and Advocates? - Leadership is not a solo sport! This blog post helps you identify the two key types of relationships that every leader needs.
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STOP Confusing Pressure and Stress:
The Center for Creative Leadership has observed that stress and pressure are different.
Use belly breathing or focus on your immediate physical senses.
START Monitoring Your Boosters, Drainers, and Time Commitments:
Exercise may make you tired, but you feel better afterward. (and it doesn't require as much time as you might think!)
Finding meaning in your life
Celebrating your successes in life
Consistently living out your core values
Friends that encourage you
Being assertive
Work that you enjoy
Recognition
START Adjusting These Five Areas:
SLEEP - Don’t take sleep for granted. A consistent schedule helps here.
NUTRITION - Eating excessive amounts of processed foods, alcohol, and caffeine are like putting “bad gas” in your car. The Mediterranean Diet in particular has shown positive benefits for both physical and mental health.
EXERCISE (Movement) - Some people don’t like the word “exercise.” Fine, then let’s call it “movement.” The main idea is this - your body was made to move, so make sure you do so every day. Even small “movement” breaks can make a positive difference.
MINDSET - Perspective makes a difference. Ask yourself, “What is the gift or opportunity here?” when you have setbacks. You’ll be surprised by what you can find. Pay attention to your self-talk. If you wouldn’t treat a friend that way, don’t do it to yourself.
COMMUNITY - Even introverted people need relationships, just not as many as those who are more extroverted. Don’t confuse social media with genuine friendship.
CONTINUE Your Progress By Keeping a Sacred Pace:
Sacred Pace: Four Steps to Hearing God and Aligning Yourself With His Will
Connect with the Transcendent. When we connect with something bigger than ourselves, it puts our challenges in perspective. We recognize that very few of our challenges are permanent (meaning things will never change), pervasive (meaning everything is affected), or personal (meaning we are the only one experiencing this kind of setback).
Research your options. Beating burnout is not about just “going with the flow.” It’s about making intentional choices in how you use your time, energy, and other resources. When you know that you have options, you have the power to say “I choose.”
Online Articles:
Job Burnout: How to Spot it and Take Action
5 Things to Do When You Feel Overwhelmed by Your Workload
Books:
The Mayo Guide to Stress Free Living
Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
Podcasts and Audio Files:
BOOKS:
How To Beat Burnout for yourself, your family and your team
You work hard. You care deeply.
You give your all, all the time. And that sets you up for burnout. In How to Beat Burnout for Yourself, Your Family, and Your Team, leadership coach Dr. Stanley J. Ward shares "small experiments" that provide big results to help you prevent burnout. If you are wired to over-deliver, this book is your guide to creating a deeply fulfilling and less stressful work life and home life. Don't let burnout rob the world of your important contribution!
What Readers Say:
“Attention, Overachievers! How to Beat Burnout is a well-written guide, presenting useful information in bite-sized pieces and providing actionable steps to succeed without burning out.” - Phyllis S.
“OUTSTANDING tool on preventing burnout.” - Taylor C.
“Short, Sweet, and Oh So Practical!” - Cathy K.
“New must-read leadership book!” - Stephen W.
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
The world cries out for ethical leaders. We expect the best, but we are often left profoundly disappointed.
While leadership programs may feature ethics as part of their curriculum, the approach is often either simplistic or overly esoteric.
This university textbook addresses the scarcity of resources for training ethical leaders by providing a primer of several ethical frameworks accompanied by extended examples to help inform decision-making.
The text also presents a number of leadership models that claim an ethical component. By providing a consistent case analysis based on the Five Components of Leadership Model, readers benefit from a uniform approach to evaluating ethical leadership.
What Readers Say:
“This is a comprehensive and approachable introduction to ethical leadership. The main ethical theories are covered, there are many case studies and discussion questions, and the chapters are clearly written and informative.” – Wouter Kalf, Ethical Perspectives
”Some years ago, I taught ethics in a Masters program for future school administrators. If McManus’ text Ethical Leadership: A Primer had been available, I would have used it in a heartbeat! Topics herein include those around which I fashioned the course yet could find few readings framed within leadership studies. Contributors to this text have academic and applied backgrounds in leadership and organization studies, ethics, and philosophy. Once begun, it was hard to stop reading. Fitting for use with all levels of graduate students, and undergraduates, Ethical Leadership: A Primer provides a humanistic foundation for those who teach and practice leadership.”
– JoAnn Danelo Barbour, Gonzaga University, US
”As an ethicist, I'm always looking for new ways to help students make vivid and clear connections between ethical theories and the important decisions they will make in their lives and careers. In Ethical Leadership: A Primer, the authors take the incredibly useful five components model and use it to build a practical and approachable resource that will be indispensable for students, and for training the next generation of ethical leader.” – Ben Vilhauer, The City College of New York, US.