Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Leadership Development

Beyond Leadership is Horizon Point’s line of resources for managers of people. Managing ourselves is a distinct set of behaviors from managers the work of others, and we are here to help. Read stories in this category if you are ready to take the next step in your own leadership development (or if you’re looking for resources for someone else).

  • A Look Back at 3 Things Leaders Don’t Do in Times of Crisis

    A Look Back at 3 Things Leaders Don’t Do in Times of Crisis

    As we continue to plan out this new year, we thought we would take a look back at the #1 post from 2020. You see, with this pandemic and political turmoil, we could all use a reminder of how to behave as leaders.

    Here are 3 Things Leaders Don’t Do  In Times of Crisis:

    We are still in the midst of an unprecedented time in our country and world, with so many unknowns related to COVID-19 and its impact on quite literally everything. Last week, I wrote about 4 things leaders do in times of crisis based on my observations of leaders in action.

    Well, we’ve been on this train of crisis for over a week now locally, and just like there are observations about how to behave as a leader, I’ve been exposed to how not to behave as a leader during times of distress.

    Through further observations, here are three things leaders don’t do in times like these:

    1. They don’t make the crisis about themselves. It has almost become laughable as one person has described to me how an appointed task force leader has responded to his newly appointed role as leader given the crisis. Every day, there is a new story about this leader being anything but a leader through his actions, all of which are tied to him making everything about himself.

    From the pronouns he uses (I, me, my) when he addresses a group or individual about the situation, to the fact that not even a week into the situation he said he had to “take some time off” because of the impact the situation was having on him (while everyone else on the task force and those he is leading remain at work 14-16 hours a day). I am constantly amazed at how some people have no perspective on the bigger picture of a crisis of this or any proportion. They instead choose for it to be an opportunity to draw attention to themselves and their position instead of modeling what it means to be a leader through their own behavior.

    In addition, organizations that are not on the forefront of fighting this epidemic don’t come out and act like the largest martyrs of this situation. Yes, this is going to hurt all businesses and peoples’ livelihoods and this is tragic. But when I get an email from a vineyard I’ve visited while traveling where I bought one bottle of wine and their email basically implies that the tragedy is theirs and theirs alone to bear, it makes me want to vomit (and never buy wine from them again). Kris Dunn has some similar thoughts in one of his recent posts. Check it out.

    To be a leader in a crisis, realize it’s all about everyone else, not you.

    2. They don’t neglect their own health. Having said that leaders realize it isn’t all about them may make this second point seem counterintuitive, however, you can’t lead if you are so sick or burnt out. Being sick or so exhausted you can’t function takes away from your ability to help others. When you can, sleep. When you can, exercise. When you can, eat right. And realize that doing all of this really happens before a crisis even hits. Instilling healthy habits when there isn’t a crisis helps to ensure they will continue even in times of crisis. This gives you the reserves to manage the crisis when you don’t have time for the things that you normally do to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

    In this situation given a pandemic, this also involves following the proper protocols to not contract and spread the illness.

    To be a leader in a crisis, you have to take care of yourself in good times and bad.

    3. They don’t check their humanity and the humanity of others at the door. Leading during a serious time calls for serious thoughts and actions. However, the things that make us uniquely human and make living worth living through difficult times are our ability to laugh and love. True leaders during these times don’t neglect the small points of holiness that are demonstrated through laughter and love.

    I’ve enjoyed more funny videos this week as people have sent them trying to lift others out of the anxiety this situation is creating, even if it is only for a few moments.

    Some of my favorites:

    I’ve taken more time to enjoy the sheer joy in our seven-month old’s giggles this week.  There really is nothing better than a baby laughing and smiling.  So I’ll leave you with a glimpse of that here:

    To be a leader in a crisis, you have to still live, laugh, and love. 

  • Are Your Employees SAD? How to Help Employees Who Struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder

    Are Your Employees SAD? How to Help Employees Who Struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder

    It’s that time of year. The weather is changing, the leaves are falling, and you’re SAD. But you’re not alone. Nearly 10 million Americans suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. While SAD is most prevalent in those ages 18 to 30, it can affect anyone, and the effects are different for everyone. 

    Symptoms of SAD include: 

    • Fatigue
    • Loss of concentration 
    • Insomnia/Inability to wake up
    • Mild to severe depression
    • Weight loss/gain

    Employers may see these symptoms in the form of attendance issues, decreased productivity, mistakes in work completed, or a lack of concentration in meetings. Your initial reaction may be to consider disciplinary action, but before you do, consider the behaviors you’re seeing. Are these recent changes to an otherwise well-performing employee? If so, did these changes occur around the change of the season? While SAD affects most people in the cold weather seasons, some individuals do suffer SAD in the warmer season as well. 

    So how can you help an employee who may be suffering from SAD? 

    • Utilize your EAP. If your organization provides employees with an Employee Assistance Plan, now might be a good time to remind employees of this benefit. Send out a communication to all staff reminding them of the EAP benefit and the services it can provide to them. 
    • Up the lighting. Take a look around your facility at the lighting. Are all areas well lit or does your office exude that dim ambiance? While dim lights might be preferred in the summer months, you might want to turn up the lights in the cooler months. 
    • Encourage employees to get outside. If your office is in a great location for walks, encourage your employees to take advantage of that and get moving outdoors. Consider forming a walking team that meets daily to get outside and walk for 15-20 minutes. Think about setting up a basketball hoop, volleyball net, cornhole, or other outdoor activity to encourage employees to get outside during their breaks or lunch. 
    • Talk more. Check-in with your employees more often, just stop by to say hi and see how they’re doing. And be an active listener. If you listen, you may read between the lines that they aren’t as okay as they say they are. 
    • Offer flexibility. If possible, consider a more flexible work schedule. That may include shifting your hours and letting employees arrive a little later or it may mean allowing affected employees to work from home on their bad days. 
    • Offer up FMLA and/or ADA. Understand that while most people who suffer from SAD are able to struggle through, some aren’t. In some cases, SAD can be debilitating and lead to severe depression. In these cases, employees may need and qualify for FMLA and/or ADA accommodations. 
  • A Book Review of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

    A Book Review of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

    Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking is a must-read for introverts and extraverts alike. It explores the misconceptions of introverts and their many positive attributes.

    I have two children who are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to introversion and extraversion. This book resonated with me on so many levels. I also love that it has a Tips for Educators section at the end. 

    The back cover notes Quiet as The Book That Started The Quiet Revolution. It explains:

    At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society. 

    In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

    Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Quiet:

    “We don’t ask why God chose as his prophet a stutterer with a public speaking phobia. But we should. The book of Exodus is short on explication, but its stories suggest that introversion plays yin to the yang of extroversion; that the medium is not always the message; and that people followed Moses because his words were thoughtful, not because he spoke them well.”

    “Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.”

    “So stay true to your own nature. If you like to do things in a slow and steady way, don’t let others make you feel as if you have to race. If you enjoy depth, don’t force yourself to seek breadth. If you prefer single-tasking to multi-tasking, stick to your guns. Being relatively unmoved by rewards gives you the incalculable power to go your own way.”

    Regardless of your MBTI results, you will find value in this book. Unsure if you are naturally an introvert or extrovert? You can check out 16 Personalities to find out for free!

  • Birthing Babies & Businesses

    Birthing Babies & Businesses

    I seem to have a knack for birthing babies and businesses at the same time.  Blaming the hormones as a cause of a healthy dose of insanity, I launched my first business almost nine years ago when my now nine-year-old son was a newborn. 

    Our second child, a girl, came three years behind her brother. She was a well thought out and planned decision.  Her current personality actually reflects this truth. No businesses were birthed during her arrival but taking a leap to go beyond myself and out of the desire to integrate home and work in a way that was meaningful and purposeful for me, I hired my first employee when she was a newborn. 

    Fast-forward several years later, and my husband had convinced me we were done with babies.   We had two children, a boy and a girl, two thriving careers, a home, and a dog. What more could we need?  But, of course, my heart was telling me something, and after much prodding, my husband got on board as well.  I wrote about this decision in a blog post about Using Your Heart Not Your Head. 

    Our third child arrived almost to the minute of when our son started third grade and our daughter started kindergarten.  Not what I had planned. He was to stay in place until after I walked my ‘baby” who would no longer be the baby, into her first day of real school. 

    For the well planned out people we thought we were, this third child a boy, and the events so far of 2020, has proven to show us that sometimes planning is actually the worst thing you can do.  It impedes risks and can lead us to over rationalize, keeping us from making decisions and steps forward especially ones that come from the heart. 

    Of course, with this child being a boy, birthing a business had to come along with him. The new business was formally incorporated not a week after I found out I was pregnant with him, and we have spent much of 2020 albeit remotely, breathing life into the idea and goals of this new venture.  We would launch into a plan, then stop and change course more times than I can count in response to the ever-changing world and challenges around us. 

    Our new “baby”, MatchFIT, takes me down a different path than the first one.  This one requires even more risks than the first to be able to capitalize on the need to scale and scale quickly and to bring a team together at a faster pace than one every two to three years.  Just like the third child brings about more challenges than just the one. We are playing zone defense now, not man to man.  Of course, the business launch has hit a time when our product, a hiring tool, seems to be unnecessary when most businesses aren’t hiring.  

    Should we just quit? I’ve thought that more times than I can count. But our heart has told us to keep moving forward because we are passionate about our purpose. 

    Our need for moving forward sent us down a path of applying for Alabama Launchpad for seed funding. We made it to the finals last week and pitched our idea to the judges and then live through a social media streamed event.  It was a risk, and we lost.  

    As my husband said, we literally lost to sh*t, as the winner was a compost company.  The people running the venture we lost to were far from sh*t, though.  They seemed to be genuinely nice guys with a passion and heart for their business idea.  It was almost impossible not to be happy for them. 

    At the heart of this business and its start-up are the core values of innovation and creativity. We help organizations and job seekers also define their core values and find opportunities and relationships that allow for workplace engagement to take shape. 

    I find myself engaging in the best of myself when I live out innovation and creativity, even though it forces more risk-taking, especially because it requires more risk-taking.  And with risk-taking also comes the risk of embarrassment –  of literally losing to sh*t, live and publicly. 

    Just like the decision to have our third child, applying for Launchpad and pursuing a business venture amidst a global pandemic and global unrest seems to be a huge risk. 

    But what often seems counterintuitive from the outside looking in is usually an active process that is occurring from the inside out. One that is a step out in faith. One governed by living out the values that make us and businesses unique and allow us each to thrive. 

    More often than not, these steps out in faith lead to more joy than each of us can possibly contain.  The joy our third son brings to our lives is contagious, and the joy I felt despite the loss via Launchpad, in innovating and creating in a collaborative way with my business partner and the team at MatchFIT is full of joy in the journey. 

    I told the team we’d lick our wounds of loss over the weekend and then rise this week having learned and grown, thankful for the experience and exposure Alabama Launchpad has given us.  But most especially, for the opportunity to live out our workplace values in the process, and to be a business that helps others discover workplace relationships that do the same. 

     

    Do your organization and your life decisions allow you to live out your values?

  • DWYSYWD- Lessons from the Elementary School Guidance Counselor

    DWYSYWD- Lessons from the Elementary School Guidance Counselor

    One of the first things we teach in our personal leadership course is the concept of DWYSYWD- Do What You Say You Will Do.   It involves committing to what you can do, or as Covey would put it, committing to your circle of influence and focusing on being accountable with what you can do instead of worrying about things that you cannot do something about.  For example, I cannot do anything about whether or not a stay at home order is extended or relaxed this week in my state, but I can wash my hands, not touch my face, and wear a mask when appropriate to help stop the spread of the virus. 

    As Covey states, this then allows us to be better leaders by helping our circle of influence grow. If my kids watch me wash my hands regularly, then maybe they will too.  If we can’t influence our own behavior, then how can we expect to influence the behavior of others? 

    During times of uncertainty like we are in now, it is easy to de-commit to anything and to not hold ourselves and others accountable.  

    I’m thankful for the staff at my son’s school for creating routines in their work and for guidance counselors like Jan Mendenhall who send out notes of encouragement, linking the current situation to leadership lessons for my children.  This helps them (and me) stay committed during uncertain times. 

    Here’s her note to the students from last week.  I hope it brings you the perspective and motivation to DWYSYWD this week to better lead yourself and others.  And to hit the reset button if you need to. 

     

     

    Wednesday, April 22, 20/20

    Week 3 of Virtual Leon

    Do you all remember way, way, way back in August when we were actually all in the school building together and were able to have conversations in person? We talked about goals and accountability, which means we should do what we say we’re going to do. I’ll be honest with you all: Last week I did better with my attitude, and it helped to daily write down three positive things. I tried to complete my daily to-do list, but I was beyond pathetic with my physical fitness goals. I didn’t do what I said I was going to do. Guess what? I hit the reset button Monday and have been much better about walking, exercising, and riding my bike – even when I’d rather lounge around, play Spider Solitaire, and eat donuts! What do you need to do better on? Be accountable to yourself, and ask someone at your house to hold you to it. One of my favorite authors is coming out with a new book next week, and that – not a donut! – is going to be my reward IF I DO WHAT I SAID I WAS GOING TO DO! Stay tuned for next week’s email because there may be a really cool prize involved! Until then, take care. Wash your hands. Be safe. Be well. Choose kind. Love you!

     

    What is one thing this week you can do to follow through on DWYSYWD?