Freeze?!

It's winter - let's talk about the FREEZE!
Does your boss do this?  Freeze?
When it's time to make a decision, do they just walk away and not decide?
When they hear the President is coming to visit, do they just stop and not know what to do next?
When they are confronted with a problem or by a customer, do they just abdicate to someone else?
I call this the freeze.
Unlike the polar bear, this boss/leader does not like the lonely cold, even though they signed up for it when they started out in the world of work.
It can happen at any level...the situation will not go away unless you deal with it to resolution.  You can not run from it or ignore it...fixing the problem, handling the customer, making a decision is the only way to move forward.
Like the polar bear in the picture, you may need to tread lightly and be very careful about where you are going, but you can get there...just try.
Stay warm.

A Box of Chocolates Eases the Pain

Here is a story that I heard a few years ago.
There was an organization that had been in the area for many years. They were purchased by an out-of-country company and so needed to develop new habits, assimilate to a new corporate culture and the people inside the organization actually had the opportunity to become better and different leaders than they had been in the past.

One guiding principle for the new organization was that each open job needed to be posted and interviews conducted with all qualified applicants. At the end of the interview process, all candidates would be personally told if they had been selected and provided with goals to work on in order to be successful with the next job posting.

Sounded pretty simple....until in this specific location, the leader decided that they would pre-select candidates to apply for the position based on relationship to the leader, the family of the leader, and even common interests (if they both liked baseball) - qualifications were never considered.  These candidates would be told to apply for the position and others would apply as well - qualified individuals who had been in position or had similar experience in other companies.  Needless to say, the leader would then hold 5 minute interviews or even no interviews at all and announce the new position-holder, without providing any follow up to the other candidates.

This activity and lack of fairness caused unrest in the organization.  The leader decided that to appease the disgruntled candidates, he would buy them each a box of chocolates.  Not only did this not appease anyone, it made the leader look like the unfair fool he was and pushed the employees to form groups that eventually led to a great deal of labor unrest. 

If the leader would have taken the extra 60 minutes to complete the interviews and follow up, and if he had actually been fair with the selection process, this could have saved the organization years of strife.

Power vs. Responsibility

Spiderman said "With great power comes great responsibility". 

Many leaders believe that because they have a title they have great power and forget about the great responsibility.  These leaders do not realize that the power they have lies completely within their responsibility.
Leaders have a responsiblity to develop, teach, grow, build, decide, ask, listen, empower, move forward, look ahead, plan, prepare and even do.  By living their responsibility everyday, the great leader attracts power through the people around them.

Consider the leader you are today?  Do you carry your great responsibility proudly and earn the power your responsibility gives you everyday?