I read a recent post that explained how to take your career from good to great by Rick Smith, author of a book I’m reading called The Leap! This book was originally shared with me a few months ago by Jodee Bock who got the book in early form, and said “Phil, you have to read this book!”
So what did I do?
I forgot about the book. Until I got a copy in the mail. :)
And then I remembered the conversation with Jodee from a few months back…and I decided to check out the author’s site before I dove …read more

One of the most effective ways to look at your team and yourself is by doing a SWOT analysis.
It’s important to understand all 4 quadrants or you run the risk of missing a key to unlocking your team’s success. What follows are some helpful definitions when you’re looking to do a SWOT analysis.

Strengths: attributes of the person or company that are helpful to achieving the objective.
Weaknesses: attributes of the person or company that are harmful to achieving the objective.
Opportunities: external conditions that are helpful to achieving the objective.
Threats: external conditions which could do damage to the business’s …read more

It’s mid-year, so instead of focusing on your team, like we’ve been doing, let’s focus on YOU.
Manager: What are YOUR Goals?
My goals fall into 3 buckets this year: Learning, Succession Planning and Projects.

All of my goals are due on/before November 15th, 2009.
The goals I set have 2 key parts:

Measurability
Timeframe

After that, my goals update format is very simple:

Goal name
Status
Next Steps

I’ll step through my 3 buckets. This is helpful for me and for you, as now I am sharing my goals with you, so I am now accountable to you for my results. I will report back on/about November 15th, 2009.
Learning goal

Read …read more