Question 15:  What is the best way to handle the “politics” of a large organization?

This is number 14 of the series Answering Tough Questions. Including this post the last 14 posts are included in this series.

Question:  Lee, how do I develop “Career Traction”? 

Question:  As a leader, I would like to know how we can increase the trust that our team members have of us as leaders and also among our own team of leaders?

Question:  What is the greatest challenge facing most organizations as it relates to Diversity?

Question:  Areas that achieve success seem to be continually asked to “do more with less,” while areas that do not achieve success seem to be given an inequitable amount of incremental resources (labor, operating dollars).  Shouldn’t the successful areas be given more in order to achieve even greater success?

This is a contiuing series of How Do You Answer Tough Questions.

Question:  Are there any decisions you have made in your professional life that you have had second thoughts or regrets about or that you felt you could have done better?  If not, you must be an amazing person!  What guidelines do you follow to ensure great decision making?

 The last several posts have been on the subject of answering tough questions as a leader. Here is number 8 in this series.

Question:  How do you honor a seniority-based scheduling approach while at the same time consider the individual needs of  your fellow team members?

This is a good question and one that needs to be addressed in organizations that have a seniorty based scheduling system.

Question:  How Do You Work With Someone That You Don’t Like or Trust?

I think that the first part of my answer would be to tell you that you should just do your job . . . and do it well . . . and focus on what you can do and not what you can’t do.

Lee, this is a three-part question.

• What’s the harshest “developmental” feedback you’ve ever received?
• What did you say, and how did you react?
• What did you do as a result of the “constructive” feedback?

Question:  My mother used to say, “Protect your reputation; it’s the only one you have.” 

This is a continuation of the series on Answering Tough Questions

Question:  Why Isn’t My Leader Great . . . Like You Are Always Talking About?

A few posts ago  I told you I would try to answer Tough Questions that we all get asked from time to time in our leadership positions.

 The last questioned I answered was “Why Don’t You Pay More For My Position?”  This week’s question is:

 I just re-read the book Leading Out Loud. This book was published a few years ago and made quite an impact on me.  The message was clear, and I agree with it fully.

Remember when answering tough questions to: 

• Understand that everyone is not going to agree with your point of view,
• Tell the truth,
• Be cool, calm, and collected, 
• Don’t abuse your authority or position to make the person asking the questions feel insecure for asking it,
• Understand that sometimes you and the other person will just have to agree to disagree.
• Stay professional

We had a magical Christmas  – Sunshine my 90 year old mother in law, the young Cockerells, my son Daniel, his wife Valerie and our three grandchildren Jullian, Margot and Tristan and friends joined us for our traditional Christmas Eve feast.

 For a long time I have known there is an ailment out there that is doing a lot of damage to a lot of people, and for some reason they just won’t go for treatment. 

This post tells why I had a few problems in my career. I got fired once and passed over once because of my need to be different and to challenge the status quo.

 Having a good process and environment in place where you are continually encouraging your team members to tell you what they want so they can perform their role better . . . and so they can advance in the organization . . . is very important.