Posts by Jeffrey Boersma
Bring Your Friends to Work Day
Our youngest child finished high school this spring, and one of the West Michigan traditions that we observed was hosting a graduation open house. We actually observed a bunch of them since were invited to the open houses of all her friends! From Memorial Day weekend to the end of June we spent our Saturday and Sunday…
Read MoreLeaders Worth Following Are Leaders with Credibility
What gives leaders credibility? Make it personal—what do you believe gives you credibility with your team? How do you know when you have it? Why is it so vitally important? James Kouzes and Barry Posner did a study about ten years ago in which they asked business leaders what their most admired leaders did to gain respect, trust, and…
Read MoreThe Truth about Conflict
Let’s start today with a quick look at the “Leaning In To Healthy Conflict” model. Since this is such a key part of leadership, regularly reviewing this model is definitely in order. Before you keep reading, see if you can visually picture the process in your head. (If you need a refresher, I’ve included an image of…
Read MorePersonal Balcony Time
Great leaders make sure that they schedule what we call “balcony time.” So many things call for our attention at work every day that we can get completely caught up in the day-to-day business of business—what’s happening on the “dance floor.” Getting up in the balcony allows leaders to gain perspective and shape vision. Balcony time…
Read MoreEven the Greatest Leaders Struggle with Margins
This is a true story about a leader, his team, and the difficulties with establishing boundaries and margins. As is often the case, one of the things that made this leader great was that he could get things done that no one else could. Even though he had trained his team and delegated well, a lot still…
Read MoreChange that Sticks
I’m going to give you a series of short phrases. They all come from same book. See how soon you remember the name of the book: Direct The Rider Script The Critical Moves Motivate The Elephant Shrink The Change Shape The Path Tweak The Environment Build Helpful Habits Action Triggers Rally The Herd These nine phrases all come…
Read MoreGreat Onboarding
Part of building great teams is getting the right people on the bus. And getting the right people on the bus means having a great onboarding process. This is indispensable to helping them get started on the right foot.
Read MoreTake a Look, It’s in a Book
A man was once fired from his job. In the meeting where he was let go he said, “How can you fire me after I have worked twenty-six years for this company?” The answer his boss gave was, “No, you’ve only worked here one year, then repeated that twenty-five times.” While this story may seem extreme, it highlights how…
Read MoreEmotional Maturity: How do I get there?
Scenario 1: It’s Monday morning and you are feeling great. You took the time Sunday evening to really get yourself organized, and you planned out for the week in order to help things go smoothly. No sooner do you arrive at work and someone comes up to you with a pressing problem that is going to completely…
Read MoreThe Great Eight: Knowing Yourself and Others
If everyone were just more like me, the world would be a better place—or at least my organization would be—or at least my team would be. Besides being an entirely narcissistic statement, it would not be the case that if our teams simply had more uniformity, they would be better. But when are differences valuable? When are they…
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