Leadership Fitness in 5 Minutes with Gary Slyman

This week we took time to remember those that gave the ultimate sacrifice. I want you to think specifically about Gold star families? What do they need or want to help remember their family members? How can you support a Gold star family? Share your ideas below.

This Memorial Day Remember & Honor Someone You Are Connected With Memorial Day orginiated as Decoration Day to honor the fallen soldiers of the Civil War, but eventually was declared as Memorial Day in 1971.  How are you honoring those that gave the ultimate sacrifice?  You can start by looking around you, seeing how you might be connected.  You can start with even looking at the bridges and stree...

When was the last time you celebrated a success you had?  3 areas to consider in celebrating YOUR successes.     Celebrating yourself is celebrating others, you're celebrating your team Celebrations are a measure of growth. They shown how you've grown. Celebrate the smaller successes. Measure progress. You need a strategy. What is your strategy for celebrations for you.   Daily standup? Weekly mee...

How does your team describe you when it comes to celebrating their successes as a team? How do you want them to describe you? What has happened since January that could be celebrated? If you haven't, maybe you should. What gets celebrated? Who gets celebrated? And how?

Are your greatest leadership strengths actually derailing you?   Play to your strengths, work in your strength area, is that always the best advice?   Let's explore a scenario and think of yourself and someone you're developing or mentoring.    What are your top 3-4 leadership strengths?   How could that strength be making you less effective as a leader?   Hopefully exploring this will help you de...

How much of your executive presence is representing your authentic self?  How much should it?   Think about yourself and maybe a subordinate you're developing and their executive presence. Executive presence is what you are representing and presenting to others AND what they actually receive. What are you trying to put out?   How do you want them to see you?   Define that. Think about your organiz...

You need to be a good story teller if you are going to interview well.   Where are you in your career?  Where are you going next?  Chances are you are going to have to interview to make that change.  If you want to be an authentic, credible and memorable when you are interviewing you need to be a good story teller.  Here is a simple framework from "Signs of a Great Interview" by Scott Vedder 1! -...

How focused are you on personally and professionally on the destination of where you are going.  Let me help you build clarity on your destination.  Do you want to make sure you're going in the right direction?  or Wonder why am I doing this? Help get focus and clarity on your destination by thinking about the following celebrations:    1. Short-term career - you are headed to a new position and c...

Consistency! It's our 100th episode! Thank you to you my listeners and clients. Thank you to Freedom Makers Virtual Services for freeing up my time and allowing me to consistently produce this weekly video and podcast.  If you were more consistent in one area of your leadership what would be the impact?   Think of yourself and those you lead:   1. Identify what you need.  What do you need to be mo...

It's Spring!! That means Spring Cleaning time! What are you tossing out? What are you thinning out? What are you trying out? In January we start with goals…you are now through your first quarter. What are you doing to check yourself? Think about yourself professionally, your team, and the members on your team? Tossing out?: For you or your team? What needs to be thrown out? Find them get rid of th...

5 minutes to get your week off to a great start. Helping you become a more effective leader and love what you do. What's your purpose for networking? 1. Warm (familiar) to Cold (unfamiliar) 2. Learn don't teach 3. Give don't take. Think about the above and where you feel most comfortable. Set yourself up for success when building those networking relationships.

Ever been frustrated by the communication in your organization?  Let's discuss the Culture of Communication Spectrum: Direct, Clear Concise……….Context, Nuance, Emotions Where are you? Where is your team? Where are individuals on this? Where do you want to be? What do you want for your culture? How do you influence it? Listen for more.

You can not keep doing it all!! What needs to end for you to move forward and move forward well? Somethings are holding you back, let's explore how to decide.   1. What needs to end? Think about cutting dead branches off.   2. What's on the fence? Maybe something isn't quite ready to end, develop a threshold to determine if it should stay and how to move forward.   3. What is allowing you to thriv...

What do people think when you speak? 3 considerations to ensure that when you speak you are heard. Rate yourself; 1-10 for how good a speaker are you and how well are you heard? Know your purpose Know your audience Is your audience ready to listen?

How good of a culture fit are you with what you're planning next? You are thinking about what's next, you might be moving laterally or up or a totally new job.   How do you uncover if you are a culture fit for your next position or organization you are going to? We will revisit Schein's analysis of organizational culture:   Artifacts:   You know where you want to go? What are those things you see...

Do you know your organizational culture well enough to make a change? In Edgar Schein's book "Organizational Culture and Leadership" he proposed that organization culture can be analyzed on three levels. Artifacts - what do you physically see and feel when you check out an office space or business? Espoused values - what is the ideal mission, policy and expectation of behavior?  Underlying assumpt...

Emotions are contagious! As a leader what emotions are you sharing? Take note of how people are responding to you and those that lead them. Are their emotions are worth catching? How have you experienced this in your work place?

Do you want to build clarity in your career transition or progression? I revisit the concept of saying no in the following areas to help you gain clarity, specifically in the area of career progression. Learn to say NO in the following areas. 1. Time 2. Money 3. Location 4. Capacity Think about where you are now and where you want to be in your career? Whether it is a promotion or a complete chang...

Do you want to build clarity in your professional life? Then say no in these 4 areas. 1. Time Frame 2. Budget 3. Location 4. Capacity Think about a project you are working on and how you saying no in the above areas can give you and your team clarity. What are your thoughts?

  A Legacy of Service.   I share a little bit about who Martin Luther King was, his impact, how we have a MLK day and how that day has become a central focus of celebrating Dr. King's legacy of service.   Where are you on a scale of 0 to 10 in the area of service, specifically as a leader. How do you want to be a servant leader?

How can you build clarity on your way forward this year? Let's explore three areas: 1. What's driving you? Goals, resolution, a word, vision, etc... 2. What are your priorities? Have 2-3 priorities that are defined for your specific season of life. 3. What is the structure? Do you need some framework or a lot more specifics? Your calendar is a great place to start. These will help you get the clar...

4 Gifts to Give Those You Lead   Career Development Ability to Create Strong Relationships in the workplace Ability to Use their Strengths Daily Health & Wellness (Physical & Mental, Financial, Service)   These 4 areas are areas that will offer you a continual return on your investment. The statistics that support the importance of the above are remarkable. Have you seen the above be important? On...

Did you catch this morning's weekly standup?  Blind Spots: We all have them. Where to find them & how to overcome them.  Explore the following three areas:   Knowledge Behavior  Emotion Let's see if we can find yours. Think about yourself in the workplace and those you work with.  4 Things to Look for With Blind Spots 1. Know your assumptions 2. Test your assumptions,  3. Get more knowledge   4. G...

Trust. What is it and how do you build it? Who do you trust? Who trusts you?   What are the foundations to that trust?   Trust in the work place.   Think about one person you trust no matter what and also the other extreme of a person that you do not trust.   What are the foundations of trust or lack of trust with each individual?    Trust - being vulnerable at a time of risk or uncertainty

Did you catch the Monday morning standup? 3 Perspectives to Consider for Success 1. External Stakeholders 2. Team as a Whole 3. Individuals on the Team Think about who you are leading, what positive impact in the short term and long term do you want to have?