Delegating

… Hunting, Fishing, Trawling

Every organization has hidden leaders.  They’re everywhere.  They consistently step up to deal with client problems, with intractable issues, with extra effort to meet an unusual request from a key client, etc.  We often don’t think of such individuals as leaders, after all they don’t have a positional title that would signify that they are a leader.  However, they are key to the success of the organization.

As leadership communities grow across our client organizations, we’ve witnessed several interesting approaches to leading leaders.  Here are a few noteworthy trends we see in letting leaders spread their wings.

… at this year’s commencement exercises

This year’s spring graduation season has come to an end.  About 4,700 degree granting public and private, two and four year institutions awarded some 2.8 million degrees at their commencement exercises.  And, every one of these gatherings had speakers that spoke of not giving into the darkness and despair of the day, of celebrating a major accomplishment, of being resilient, not fearing failure, listening, being generous, being ready, taking risks, focusing clearly, finding your own path, and a long list of

Mike Dewey is Director of Campus Services in the Office of Information Technology at Rice University.  He leads groups that provide desktop computing support and help desk services.  He is also interim director of the Teaching, Learning, and Scholarly Technologies group.

Stop Getting in Your Own Way

My big takeaway from our first set of meetings has to be to “get on the balcony.”  Related to getting on the balcony, I recognized through our reading and activities that I need to delegate more, give work back, and say no more.  Once I condition myself to make a habit of doing these things, I will have carved out the time for me to be on the balcony. 

A reflection shared by MOR Leaders alum, Jim Hall from UMN.

Today’s Tuesday Reading, “The Case for and Against Stressful Deadlines” comes to us from the pen of Laura Vanderkem and recently appeared at FastCompany.com.  Vanderkem is a well-known writer who questions the status quo and helps readers rediscover their true passions and beliefs in pursuit of more meaningful lives.

Today’s Tuesday Reading “If You’re Not Helping People Develop, You’re Not Management Material” <http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/if-youre-not-helping-people-develop-youre-not-management-material/>, first appeared in the HBR Blog Network.  The author is Monique Valcour, Professor of Management at EDHEC business school in France.  She focuses on helping companies and individuals craft high performance, meaningful jobs, careers, workplaces, and lives.

Today's Tuesday Reading is How to Ask Better Questions.  The essay's author is Judity Ross, a contributing writer and columnist for Talking Writing, an online literary magazine.