Articles for category: Leadership

January 11, 2017

Greg Thomas

Lead during the Tough Times

It’s easy to lead when times are good. When revenue and profit margins aren’t just hitting your targets but exceeding them by leaps and bounds. When everyone on your team comes into work with the best attitudes, everything perfect at home, zero baggage coming into the office and being ready to do whatever needs to be done to deliver. But it’s also boring. There is no challenge. There is no drive. No push for change. No pressure. But when you have to lead in tough times – when employee morale is low, profits are dwindling, the need for change is real

January 10, 2017

Greg Thomas

Why are they standing up?

Have you ever watched the final round of a Texas Hold’em Tournament when it’s down to 2 people playing Head to Head. Ever notice when they go All-In how they stand-up and go hang out by their family and friends in the stands, watching the cards from afar. At that point – the game is completely out of their hands. Now notice that when they win, the winner’s family and friends go crazy, cheering and clapping for them? At first glance you’d think they are cheering for the hand (largely out of their hands at that point) but they’re not,

January 9, 2017

Greg Thomas

I have to learn something new… again?

Yeah what a bummer – that whole growth thing has reared it’s ugly head again. There’s a new project with a new technology that you need to lead that you know zero about. There’s a new API that might solve the problem you’ve been having over the last year but you’ve never used it. Someone just did a demo on a new framework that you should be applying to EVERYTHING you do and you have 2 weeks to learn it. What a bummer that whole changing software industry. Good thing you are relentless when it comes to learning new technologies,

January 6, 2017

Greg Thomas

The Airplane Test

Imagine an airplane perfectly taking off, flying through the air, getting to cruising altitude, descending and making a perfect landing. Now take your current team – all facets – Business Analysts, Product Managers, Developers, Systems Integrators, Quality Assurance, Support, Trial Specialists, etc, etc – and imagine them all on one team, standing in an empty hangar. Now imagine what plane they are going to build. Are they able to create the plane you need in the initial scenario? If not, what do you need to do to get them there. PS – I wrote about this before – but it’s

January 5, 2017

Greg Thomas

Owning the Problem towards the Solution

A 5-minute owning up to the problem and what you should have done is much more productive than a 35-minute debate on what you did do in an attempt to prevent what went wrong. The former gets the ball rolling towards a solution, both parties focussed on moving forward, together. The latter stalls the solution process, strengthening walls, instead of breaking them down.

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