Tired of Employees who Can’t Think on Their Feet?

With all the information out there on leadership and management skills, I think it’s interesting that we still keep asking ourselves “How do I get my people to actually think”. Knowing “it” and doing “it” seem to have very little in common these days. You can teach people what to do, but is it possible to teach them how to make good decisions? Our interviews with leaders around the world (no, it’s not just an American problem) indicate that we either have a bumper-crop of idiots taking over the globe or we have forgotten how to set effective examples. I think we get so busy and focused on doing more with less (I personally would prefer to do less with much more) that we forget to show our people how to think strategically, anticipate problems, prepare for change and prioritize. If you have the skills you want your people to possess make sure they see you using them. It’s more than leadership by example. It’s setting the pace and explaining your thinking along the way. However, if you totally suck at the skills your people need to have, you need a talented person to do it for you. You often hear “you don’t need superstars, you just need team players (that’s advice from people who may have lacked talent themselves)”. Get yourself some superstars and the rest of the team will get a lot better, fight their way to the middle or quit. A team full of people who don’t think well on their feet will often stumble (we did not need any research to come up with that one).

Leadership Keynotes and Programs