Contagious Commentary by Monica Wofford

How flexible are you in your willingness to learn to lead more effectively?

I would never have known it was him when I walked up to the desk to check in. Later I saw him bussing tables at the restaurant and the next day he was serving omelets in the breakfast buffet. It took my asking an employee who he was, merely on a hunch and she nearly beamed when she identified his actual title. Who are we talking about? Read Full Article »

You’ve shared the plan but what do you do if an employee doesn’t follow it?

When I was a child I learned to cook at about the age of six. My first dish was scrambled eggs and I was fascinated by how it all worked from the stove to the change in the eggs. Okay, so that’s a weird revelation, but often the lessons of employees are similar to what we learn as children and my first lesson in cooking was just how hot the stove really was. I was told and told, but had to see it for myself. In other words, Read Full Article »

This just in from our CIO who shared a great post from a Microsoft Researcher. The article is fascinating from a technical perspective and what he is working on, but that’s more for our CIO. The part I found fascinating was his take on leadership and on life. It shows up succinctly in the last paragraph, but you’ll see the leadership tenor throughout. The skills of those leaders he works with and the skills in leadership he has developed and uses… are truly contagious!

Here’s the link: http://blogs.technet.com/b/next/archive/2012/01/24/james-mickens-the-funniest-man-in-microsoft-research.aspx#comments

Go James at Microsoft!

Stay Contagious,
Monica

Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:00 — 4.6MB)

You know you should develop those employees, but do you know how?

We get promoted and then are put in charge of leading other people, yet often the directions on how to actually lead or develop those employees is nebulous at best. In your tenure as a leader, or even in your journey toward successful Contagious Leadership, you may have utilized more trial and error tactics to achieve employee development. If that is the case, Read Full Article »

Which of these tips do you use for making lists and getting things done?

This week has been much talk about list making and getting things done and how to keep from getting overwhelmed with all a leader does so that you don’t end up micromanaging others. Wow, that’s a mouthful! And the truth is leadership is not just about your list and if we stay focused on that LIST, we may find that the list you make starts leading you. Here are some key guidelines and one completely unique idea that may help. Read Full Article »

Which of these tips do you use for making lists and getting things done?

On this week’s Monday Moment we spoke about having too much to do and how that will impact how you lead others. Well, what if you had some tips for making your list from the beginning that would actually enhance your productivity? Voila peanut butter sandwiches… here are those tips! Read Full Article »

Podcast: Download (Duration: 6:00 — 5.5MB)

Do you ever wish you had more arms and more time to get it all done?

If you saw that title and immediately thought “Well, sign me UP!” then I suspect you have more than one or two things on your “Leaders List of Things To-Do”. Ha! How DO you manage it all and how do you manage your expectations of getting it all done? While it would be nice for science to work on finding a way to give us another arm or two or even more hours of the day, it’s likely not happening in our lifetime and without that as an option, let’s talk about Read Full Article »