When I was in the fourth grade, I was the new kid (again!), and this time it was close to the end of the year, so I wasn't going to bother making new friends. Well, to my surprise, my parents bought me a 64 pack of Crayola Crayons! This made me an instant hit in the classroom, and one girl, Esther, always wanted to borrow my crayons. The problem was, she kept breaking them! One day, with palm sweating and [...]
I love the old adage "What you focus on grows". It speaks to investing our time and attention to the things that matter. And in return, you'll get dividends. Most times, people intend to focus on the important relationships, tasks, and projects in their lives, but it can be difficult. There are so many things vying for our attention, competing for our energy and focus. This can be especially frustrating when we talk about goals. Making goals is important, but sticking to [...]
As a project manager, I have found delegation to be one of the most valuable tools in my toolbox, but it is one that I have seen often misused. Why is it misused? Well, quite simply because often times people don't understand the difference between true delegation and just telling someone to do something. Anyone can tell someone to do something, especially the "bossy" people, but can you properly delegate a task to someone? We'll take a pen for instance, [...]
Can you imagine life without the rainbow? Can you imagine having the rain but not being able to look forward to the beauty of the rainbow? We look forward to that beauty not only because it is beautiful, but because God sent that as a promise to Noah. To let us know that he will never again destroy the Earth from floods. At that moment, the rainbow took a very special place in our hearts and in our lives and [...]
The first project I was assigned as a young engineer was intended to bring about a massive amount of change to an industry that didn't particularly like change. I recall being mentored by engineers who kept their best information in a "tally book" in their back pocket. That would be the equivalent of Google docs today! The undertaking I was embarking on was going to digitize and standardize invoicing for the entire company...but first, people had to be taught how [...]
A couple of months ago, I attended a book launch and I won the door prize which included a T-shirt that said: “I’m booked”. That clever play on words has stuck with me, and with summer upon us, has given me something to ponder. If you have children, chances are you signed them up for a summer reading program to keep their minds engaged. I have done this for years with my kids and enjoyed watching them dive into A [...]
If you're anything like me, you like things done right, on time and under budget. I can still hear my dearly departed father-in-law saying "well, ok, Ms. Engineer" as I attempted to get Thanksgiving dinner in perfect order. Operating in excellence is something to be proud of and something that's needed in our workplaces, families, and communities. But as I grew as a servant leader and as a mom, I came to appreciate the oxymoron of being an imperfect perfectionist. I [...]
We know that we are all part of an eco-system – whether that is an organization, a family, a team or community. We all have a role to play in a bigger organism. But do you know your role? And do you truly value it? Do those around you know it and value it? There are lots of different ways we can categorize ourselves (ethnicity, gender, personality, gifts, talents), but one of the most useful is our behavior style. [...]
Growing up, my aunt would ask my cousins and me "Are you part of the problem, or are you part of the solution?" Have you ever been asked this question? Even as a child, I knew that if the answer to this wasn't "SOLUTION", then I was in trouble. We all knew what was next: the statement of the problem and how WE could solve it. This method of questioning was a long-standing family secret (and my aunt will tell [...]
We’ve learned that effective communication should come from the heart, and I wholeheartedly believe that (no pun intended). When trying to motivate, inspire or even just relay a simple message, speaking with compassion is usually the best way to go. I still remember how profound it was when I heard a conference speaker say that our EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient) is just as important as our IQ (Intelligence Quotient), and some thought leaders say it’s even more important. It wasn’t [...]
