Colonel Candid

Trust is essential in many aspects of life. A century ago, a person’s trust relied on their handshake and their given work. Today more often, legal documents, sent via certified mail, ensure a written trail goes along with the establishment of an agreed upon action. For successful relationships and business interactions, trust remains one of the top requirements. Unfortunately, as you make your way through the ranks, you may experience a break in trust with your co-workers, leaders, and the organization. Let’s learn the importance of indicators of when you’re about to do a trust fall and no one is there to catch you. As an individual, you can recognize when you’re being ghosted, ignored, belittled or minimized. All these examples demonstrate a lack of trust with the person you’re dealing with. This happened to me in the past when I’d requested to meet with a supervisor to discuss my future employment opportunities. A gate keeper to the decision maker kept taking my call, even m...

Off to the races. You’re launched, you’ve started, and change is underway. But wow, it’s more difficult than expected. All the sudden things aren’t moving as fast as expected and you’re like an engine about to stall. Colonel Candid here with some mentoring on how to get you back up front, leading like a boss (because you are a boss) and working to create real and lasting change. 1.        Embrace the Suck. Did you consider a pilot of the change to learn what’s needed to support the change? Probably not, pilots take work and you just dove in. Well, let’s reconsider that notion and work to create one. It will help you anticipate bumps in the road and clear a path for your change. 2.    And the “Biggest Winner” is. Recognize and award the achievements when change is underway. Look for constant and positive reinforcements. Why? This increases our ability to perform. 3.        Intentionality. Don’t let your goa...

Colonel Candid here in one of my most candid writings. Sometimes as much as I want to build you up, I’m also going to need you to self-reflect and find those areas where you are weakest. Let’s apply some serious elbow grease and get rid of these bad habits before they make you the leader who sucks. The reason you’re ineffective at leading could be one of several issues stemming from communication, trust, integrity, or planning. The impacts of these failures ripple across your team or organization. 1.        You talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. Please, we appreciate your lofty attempts at coaching, speeches, and the numerous vision statements you’ve posted around. Unfortunately, your inaction is evident every single day. The paper-thin goals you’ve put up aren’t working because you don’t provide us with the intent. Clear communication is key and we want to understand what you want of us. 2.        You could care less...

Time to dig in and start lifting. When we are looking at a new leadership opportunity it’s incredibly exciting. As you scan the new faces of those you’re about to lead you’ll want to kick it all off in a big way. You’re already thinking of some kind of endeavor to motivate those under your charge or account. Please, heed some advice from Colonel Candid about how you start this journey of motivation before diving in. The problem you’ll soon realize is that people are motivated by vastly different measures. This means you’ve got to roll up your sleeves and get to know those you lead. Not everyone reacts to your attempt to get them fired up the same way. Here are a couple of things you can think of when individuating your endeavor: -           TRUST THEM. There’s nothing like a boss who has your back. It’s so awesome to know when you have the full faith and confidence of your leader. So if warranted, do the same because your trust is a re...