Leadership In Action » Uncategorized http://www.cmoe.com/blog a podcast & blog by CMOE consultants Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:49:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 en hourly 1 © cmoe@ioventuresinc.com () cmoe@ioventuresinc.com() 1440 a podcast amp; blog by CMOE consultants cmoe@ioventuresinc.com No no http://www.cmoe.com/images/blog/leadership-in-action-iTunes-144.jpg Leadership In Action http://www.cmoe.com/blog 144 144 Processionary Caterpillars – Are Your Eyes Wide Shut? http://www.cmoe.com/blog/processionary-caterpillars-%e2%80%93-are-your-eyes-wide-shut.htm http://www.cmoe.com/blog/processionary-caterpillars-%e2%80%93-are-your-eyes-wide-shut.htm#comments Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:47:55 +0000 Cherissa Newton http://www.cmoe.com/blog/?p=505 There is a type of caterpillar called a processionary caterpillar, so named because one will establish a direction and all the others will fall in very closely behind and move in the same path. As a matter of fact, the followers’ behaviors becomes so automatic that their eyes become half-closed as they shut out the world around them and let the leader do all the thinking and decision making about which direction to pursue. Their behavior is rote and automatic.

Thinking in advance, business preparation strategy, An experiment by the French naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre demonstrated the rigidity of the processionary caterpillars’ behavior when he enticed the leader to start circling the edge of the large flower pot. The other caterpillars followed suit in a tight process, forming a closed circle in which the distinctions between leader and follower became totally blurred, and the path had no beginning and no ending. Instead of soon getting bored with the nonproductive activity, the caterpillars kept up their mindless search for several days and nights until they dropped off the edge of the flowerpot from exhaustion and starvation. Relying totally on instinct, past experience, custom, and tradition, the caterpillars achieve nothing because they mistook activity for achievement.

I believe that employees can fall into the trap of blindly following their leader easily. Innovation and creativity, risk taking, and strategy is lost when they act like a drone rather than an individual leader of themselves and an example to others. While the business may not suffer if an individual contributor’s behaviors are automatic and without direction, the business may see drastic performance improvement if they have their “eyes wide open.”

If you find your employees are “circling the pot,” here are a few helpful tips for leaders to increase their motivation and hold them accountable for higher performance.

  • Delegate assignments that are especially interesting to an employee and empower them to take the lead and own the assignment.
  • Recognize and reward good displays of individual leadership (innovation and creativity, risk taking, strategy).
  • Teach team members about being accountable.  Help them understand what it means to be accountable and the power and freedom that comes from doing your best.
  • When a team member fails to act as an individual leader, debrief the experience and discuss better behaviors, attitudes, and actions for future situations.
  • Talk openly about the importance of fulfilling responsibilities, as well as exceeding expectations.
]]> http://www.cmoe.com/blog/processionary-caterpillars-%e2%80%93-are-your-eyes-wide-shut.htm/feed 0 Leading Your Team Through A Reactive Culture http://www.cmoe.com/blog/leading-your-team-through-a-reactive-culture.htm http://www.cmoe.com/blog/leading-your-team-through-a-reactive-culture.htm#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 12:16:26 +0000 Martha Rice http://www.cmoe.com/blog/?p=310 Recently, I was leaving a local arena with my family after attending a hockey game. Our local winter weather tears our roads apart and therefore created some necessary road work to be done that was in currently in progress. Therefore, instead of two lanes leading north out of the parking lot there was only one lane and it didn’t take very long until several cars including ours were boxed in.The car in front of us was crowded with young people eager to get going. In order to get out of the parking spot and into the traffic, a girl stepped out of the car to direct traffic. She stood in front of the next car in the exit line blocking the car. An act, we often see.

Leading in a stressful environmentHowever, the act infuriated the blocked car’s driver. With a smirk on drivers face and a “me first” attitude, the driver eased the car forward almost pinning the young girl between the two cars. While people in both cars were too impatient for the situation, the driver’s action was potentially dangerous. Had the driver accidentally pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake, the girl would have been badly injured if not killed. This driver’s “me first” attitude was noticed by several other drivers. In an unspoken group effort, the errant driver was deliberately boxed in for several extra minutes while others exited.

With the all the negative news on television, radio and newsprint, many people may demonstrate this “me first” mentality. We can understand their fear, as no one wants to lose their job, income, or current standard of living. Yet, this mentality harms not only harms team members and the organization, but that person’s competence and performance as well. When their intentions are to prove their personal importance, they tend to make less desirable decisions, sabotage other’s efforts, and in the end bring their fear to fruition.

As a leader you can do many things to help avert this “me first” behavior. Consider the following as you choose your course of action

  1. Remain positive in your speech and actions. Your team will reflect your attitude; if you are positive, team members will feel more secure.
  2. Keep communication lines open with everyone. Don’t keep secrets. Secrets have a way of being shared and peoples trust in you can be lost.
  3. Give constant and honest feedback. Don’t lie; people recognize a lie very quickly. Lies generate fear.
  4. Encourage innovation and creativity. Ask them to look for processes that can streamline, boost efficiency, or increase savings. Make them a part of the solution.
  5. Impress on individuals that through team effort the organization can survive a negative environment. There is power in numbers if corrective action is taken.
  6. Encourage employee development through training. Training increases the feeling of security (If the organization values me enough to train me, then I am important).

If you remain optimistic, the members will respond in a like manner. Your team will not continue to perform proficiently but serve as a model of teamwork to others in the organization.

]]> http://www.cmoe.com/blog/leading-your-team-through-a-reactive-culture.htm/feed 0 And The Winners Are….. http://www.cmoe.com/blog/and-the-winners-are.htm http://www.cmoe.com/blog/and-the-winners-are.htm#comments Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:40:25 +0000 Christopher Stowell http://www.cmoe.com/blog/and-the-winners-are.htm We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to participate, it was fun to watch this contest grow. We are excited for the opportunity to do more contests in the future, we’ll keep you posted on what we plan to do next.Without any further delay these are the 3 contestants, of all the entries we received, that Random.org pulled as our winners.

Third Place (receiving a set of CMOE books): Ruby!!! With the comment:

“Very cool. Please enter me into the contest.“

Second Place (receiving a set of CMOE Books and a $25 gift card to Amazon.com): BBx with the comment:

“Great contest! I’d love to win!”

First Place! (receiving a set of CMOE Books and a $50 gift card to Amazon.com): Jackeline!!! With the comment:

“wow! This is so great I’d love to win those books!“

If you are one of the above winners we need a shipping address where we can send your prizes, simply email that to contest@cmoe.com

Thank you to everyone who participated and we can’t wait to do another contest again soon.

]]> http://www.cmoe.com/blog/and-the-winners-are.htm/feed 2 The Contest is Closed, Winners Announced Wednesday September 17th http://www.cmoe.com/blog/the-contest-is-closed-winners-announced-wednesday-september-17th.htm http://www.cmoe.com/blog/the-contest-is-closed-winners-announced-wednesday-september-17th.htm#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:37:19 +0000 Christopher Stowell http://www.cmoe.com/blog/the-contest-is-closed-winners-announced-wednesday-september-17th.htm The Contest ended last night at midnight. We are taking the time today to evaluate and verify information before we announce the winners. The prize winners will be announced tomorrow, Wednesday September 17th. We apologize for the delay.

]]> http://www.cmoe.com/blog/the-contest-is-closed-winners-announced-wednesday-september-17th.htm/feed 0 3 Days of Contest Left http://www.cmoe.com/blog/3-days-of-contest-left.htm http://www.cmoe.com/blog/3-days-of-contest-left.htm#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:10:28 +0000 Christopher Stowell http://www.cmoe.com/blog/3-days-of-contest-left.htm Our CMOE Contest Giveaway is still going for a few more days. There is still time to win some great prizes. It closes at midnight on Monday the 15th. If you haven’t entered yet click here and find out how.

Prizes

Grand Prize: $50 gift card to Amazon.com and set of CMOE books
Second Prize: $25 gift card to Amazon.com and set of CMOE books
Third Prize: Set of CMOE books

CMOE Books
Ahead of the Curve
Leading Groups to Solutions
Tell Me How I’m Doing
The Coach
The Team Approach
Win-Win Partnerships

http://www.cmoe.com/blog/cmoe-contest-giveaway.htm

]]> http://www.cmoe.com/blog/3-days-of-contest-left.htm/feed 0 CMOE Contest Giveaway – STARTS TODAY! http://www.cmoe.com/blog/cmoe-contest-giveaway.htm http://www.cmoe.com/blog/cmoe-contest-giveaway.htm#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:03:13 +0000 Christopher Stowell http://www.cmoe.com/blog/cmoe-contest-giveaway.htm Prizes

Grand Prize: $50 gift card to Amazon.com and set of CMOE books
Second Prize: $25 gift card to Amazon.com and set of CMOE books
Third Prize: Set of CMOE books

CMOE Books
Ahead of the Curve
Leading Groups to Solutions
Tell Me How I’m Doing
The Coach
The Team Approach
Win-Win Partnerships

Click here to read about each book

Blog Giveaway Guidelines

1. You have 8 days to enter this blog giveaway, until midnight PST on Monday, September 15th.
2. You must make a single comment on this post to enter. To learn how to earn additional entries for each contest, click here.
3. Anonymous comments will be ignored/removed.
4. One entry per person via commenting, please.
5. The winner will be randomly picked and announced in a new post on Tuesday, September 16th.

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