Name It, Claim It, Aim It

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Richard

I conducted a workshop on Leadership Development this week with my colleague Michael Couch at the Bayer Center here in Pittsburgh. At the opening of the session I asked the participants how many of them considered themselves leaders. About 30% of the participants immediately raised their hands with another 25% tentatively raising their hands and the remaining 45% keeping their hands down. This is a pretty typical response I get when I ask that question. However, 100% of the participants were or had been leaders sometime in their career. Even the woman who was a volunteer at the Bayer Center had been head of an HR department earlier in her career. And the person who was head of a very Read More

Take the Bored Out of Your Board Meeting

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Richard

A not-so-quiet change in happening in non-profit organizations across the country. Due to government funding cutbacks, increasing needs of clients in our communities and a need for organizations to adapt to new business models, these non-profits have to look at changes across all levels of their organizations. Among the most important change that can be enacted is how the Boards of Directors conduct business, engage in the success of the organization and support the administration in creating a successful workplace. In the past, Boards of Directors primary job was oversee their fiduciary responsibility, hire the Executive Director and perhaps help fundraise. They would attend an annual strategic planning sessions where they would conduct a SWOT analysis (identifying the strengths, weaknesses, Read More

Tiny Habits

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Richard

I’ve enrolled in a new program this week called Tiny Habits (www.tinyhabits.com). Started by a Stanford psychologist named BJ Fogg. He is promoting the idea that by taking small steps and setting up certain cues, we can modify our habits to do more of the things we want to do. From a resilience point of view, improving our habits is critical since habits create efficiencies that create less stress in our lives and give us more time for joy. The experiment for the week is to identify 3 behaviors we want to improve and to be something we can do in 30 seconds. BJ’s prime example is that if you want to start flossing your teeth, just begin by flossing Read More