Contagious Commentary by Monica Wofford

Archive for the ‘Contagious Conferences’ Category

How do you immediately boost your confidence?

As you might have read on Facebook or Twitter this week, today we are excited to be launching our Free Ticket Friday contest!

What will I win?

If you are the winner, you will receive one FREE ticket to our next conference which is called Balance: When You’re In Heels, In Charge, and Out of Time! and will be at the Kissimmee Civic Center in beautiful Kissimmee, Florida on Wednesday March 23rd.

How do I enter?

To enter, “leave a reply” below in response to this question:

How do you immediately boost your confidence?

Hurry, you have until Wednesday March 9th at noon Eastern time to enter and we will announce the winner right here on our blog in a post on Friday March 11th.  For more information about our conference, please visit: http://contagiousconferences.com/register.html.

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

Why put off today what you can do... squirrel!

There are 5 reasons we procrastinate things we know we SHOULD do:

1. It’s too BIG
2. It’s too COMPLICATED
3. It’s no FUN
4. You don’t KNOW HOW
5. You don’t WANNA DO IT

What are you putting off and/or procrastinating about? Feel free to leave a reply below

Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:55 — 3.6MB)

What is the power of three employees and what does it matter to your leadership?

Is there a magic number of direct reports at which your leadership style is altered? Maybe. Though your span of control will also affect how much one on one time you have with employees, as well as whether they’re called direct or indirect reports, one thing that is noticeable is what happens when you lead 3 or more people.

The Team Dynamics Change

Like it or not, those who work with you will likely talk about how you lead and how you operate. When you have 1 direct report there is no one at the office for them to really share things with about you. When you have two, one doesn’t know if you are closer with them or the other person, so talking or sharing might be squashed. When there are 3, bonds form between at least two and there is also potential for more brainstorming, more mutiny (yep!), and more accountability for your behavior from the team you have the privilege of leading.

They May End Up Being Right

There is an old saying that if someone calls you a horse’s “petutie”, you can dismiss it, but if TWO people call you that, you might begin looking for a tail and if THREE call you that, it’s time to go saddle shopping. Read the rest of this entry »

Papers are flying. Arms and legs are flailing in every direction and you’re not sure if you should stand back or offer to help. When your boss is “on fire”, what do you do?

Are you Amazing and On Fire or Burning Out?

I am often asked this question: What does your license plate mean? Then they’ll pronounce WOF like a dog barking, which is how people said it when I was a kid! But, au contraire mon frère-hehe – it stands for Amazing Woman On Fire and the friend who gave it to me actually had to convince the DMV it wasn’t in reference to something racy or explicit! Yep, you guessed, I am one of those bosses who’s occasionally “on fire”. Meaning, I can get in such a zone where I am doing so much at once that it can be hard to follow what task I’m on at the moment. Just ask anyone who works with me. ha! But, what do YOU do when your boss gets that way?

Offering Help is One Option

Sometimes you can offer to help a boss who is a “doer”. We call them Commanders with the use of our CORE® Profile and depending on what they’re doing, they might let go of an item or two and let you take some of the load so they don’t appear quite so stressed or they might not. Read the rest of this entry »

What makes employees think the leader's job is so easy?

Many times in leadership courses, middle managers or front line employees will tell me they think the job of being an Executive is exceptionally cushy, even easy. Here are 3 possible reasons for that label that I think may actually prove otherwise.

Executives Typically Work 24/7

They’re salaried, as opposed to hourly, so they don’t have to clock in or out or keep track of how much time they are spending away from their family or their life. They don’t ever have to turn their work mode on or turn it off. It just stays in the “on” position all the time. In fact, they’re given a multitude of electronic leashes, Blackberries, and buzzing devices to make sure that they never lose touch of the needs of those they report to or those they lead.

Executives Get to Tell Others What to Do

They get to tell people to do things for reasons like “because I said so” and those people just automatically listen. They get to give out orders and then deal only with the damage control that knocks on their door or calls them after five or emails the human resource department. They don’t have to compromise or modify their behavior or hold back their own stress induced emotions. They can just let it all hang out and tell whomever they wish at the water cooler that they’re having a rough day or wish they hadn’t fussed at someone or wish an employee would contribute more. They have multiple sounding boards to talk with in the office and can relax and honestly answer “How are you?” whenever they see a team member.

Executives Are Responsible for the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Being in charge also means being responsible and Executives get to the responsible for all of it. Read the rest of this entry »

Without people, there wouldn't be numbers to track.

Why do we assume that numbers and people must be mutually exclusive elements for leaders? This question was inspired by a participant in a Contagious Leadership class this week and it made me think. Aren’t numbers something leaders focus on and couldn’t it be argued that without people there would be no numbers to track? But without numbers, people wouldn’t get paid or stay employed?

The answer to both is yes, but that begs the question: How do you focus on both without making them activities that happen in two separate silos? Answer? Build windows and doors in your silos. Okay, seriously, a better answer: find a way to utilize both your left and right brain, focusing more development attention on the one that is not natural.

For the numbers task focused Leader, follow these steps:

Pay attention to people outside of seeing them as line items on the P and L or as Human Capital hash marks. The whole phrase Human Capital makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, but it was invented for those analytical or task focused leaders who need to be reminded of the people element and who candidly wish to track the costs associated with people issues and production. Read the rest of this entry »

As a leader in Corporate America, your job is not easy and is seemingly never “done”. You work with numbers, deal with people issues, track what’s working, put out fires (from things that clearly aren’t working), handle the high level customer needs, motivate team members, respond to “gotta sec” even when you don’t have one, respond to your boss’s urgent needs, and still manage to keep yourself on track, focused, and feeling some sense of accomplishment at the end of every day. Or do you?

If you would prefer to be a bit better at managing all you do, determining a strategy and sticking with it, and ensuring high performance from those you lead (both directly and indirectly), this is the training course that will do just that.

The Contagious Leadership Executive One Day Retreat takes place on November 17th, 2010 and here is why you want to mark this date on your calendar and make plans to attend.

• In one day, you’ll become a better boss…
• In one day, you’ll become a more promotable leader…
• In one day, you’ll learn how to tackle “adminis-trivia” effectively and efficiently… Read the rest of this entry »