Contagious Commentary by Monica Wofford

Archive for the ‘Contagious Leadership’ Category

Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:20 — 4.9MB)

Does getting promoted automatically mean you were prepared?

One of the areas of focus that we work on daily within Contagious Companies is to help develop managers who may have been promoted, but not prepared, learn to be more effective leaders. If you’ve been recently promoted, don’t you want to make sure you were not only promoted, but prepared to do the job well? Read the rest of this entry »

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 the rest of this entry »

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 the rest of this entry »

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 the rest of this entry »

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 the rest of this entry »

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 the rest of this entry »