People, Process, Progress: Leadership from Critical Care to the Boardroom

Sharing 5 lessons learned from a family trip to Mt. Rogers, Virginia that can be applied to the professional world.

The benefits of getting into nature and disconnecting from work and technology for a bit are many. In this week’s episode I share my feedback on my opportunity to have done just that.

Our children, our fire engine crews and our project teams are filled with people that have various strengths. As leaders we have opportunity to leverage the best in each of these people and build cohesion amongst them.

Inspired by the movie “Glory”. Sometimes as parents and as project managers we need to let our people face a little bit of adversity so they can come out better on the other side.

We can follow a process and plan all day long, but we cannot control all the variables. So let's embrace the "Butterfly Effect" and lessen the impact of potential disaster in the later stages of a project.

Whether you are briefing a team to go into the field or a project team that’s deploying new software, let them know up front the reality of the situations they may face.

Using the 'Foundational Five' structure to share intent, objectives, organization, resources and communications to help brand new Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) intro students through BJJ White Belts on the cusp of earning their Blue Belt to survive.The principles:INTENT: Help White Belts from intro class to those on the cusp of Blue Belt to survive the initial BJJ stormOBJECTIVE: Try an intro class, arrive ahead of time, accept…ORGANIZATION: Professor, Instructors, BJJ belts of…RESOURCES: Athletic tape, mouthpiece…COMMUNICATION: Tap early and often, Let folks know…Get up. Go train. Keep showing up. Godspeed.

As leaders we should always be aware of the emotional health of our team. This will always be more important than data points and tasks.