During this leadership development course one of the instructors quoted one of his previous mentors saying that leaders should have stories ready about:
mission, discipline, loyalty, and safety
This is in line with what one of my former mentors told me more briefly, “you need stories”. Ok - I thought, but stories about what? I have stories… I can tell a story… Typically I’m coming up with something appropriate on the spot. There are pros and cons to that approach.
… Read more »It will be a continuing struggle to stay on top of how the Air Force is changing in the feedback system, and the systems they add over the years.
Here’s a new one I need to stay on top of - a new additional feedback form. It looks fantastic - the “Airmen Leadership Qualities”.
During the Leadership Development Course communication section, the Chief said:
Great leaders help people understand their “now”, then help people understand the future
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This is an interesting article shared as part of this leadership class I’m in right now: Dear White Colonel … we must address our blind spots around race
What I liked about this article is that by describing instances where the topic got steered wrong, and the author’s feedback about what got missed when that happened, the article provides a roadmap to steer conversations back in the right direction. I feel like these examples really resonate with me - as if I’ve been a part of conversations like this.
… Read more »I’m finding this course pretty interesting.
They asked us to reflect on some of our results from a personality quiz - the one at 16personalities.com. I got an INFJ, but normally I’m INTJ and think I probably still am, really.
How will we apply what we know about our personalities to our interactions with our teams?
I’ll try to be more conscious about how I react to “perceiving” teammates. They may wait a while and not set a plan - that can be ok. It often feels wrong to me, though, in large part because it’s not how I’ve learned to work. As reflected by my personality.
… Read more »This video discusses organizational culture - I don’t love it because it’s too cheesy-motivational to me.
One think I do like about the video is that it provides some solid ways to change organizational culture. By providing a solid definition (even if it’s not the one I’d choose), the video is able to specify how to move the needle against that decision:
Determine what behaviors will be rewarded or corrected in your organization, and clarify that to the entire team. Embody those behaviors and live up to them. As someone in my group said with the embody piece, “you get what you tolerate”, so correct or reward the right things. Find the right things to celebrate and do.
… Read more »I’m sitting in the Leader Development Course from Air University - distance learning. One of the stories I heard this morning has the crux - the commander needs to walk a line between being too involved and not being involved. The story involved the former commander trying to show he cared by being there when new members arrived, by sitting with folks as they did work, and by visiting them when they were out in the field. Later he learned that folks felt like he was checking up on them, making sure they were doing what they were supposed to.
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