collaboration Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Carpenter Smith Consulting, LLC

Provide Powerful Input

January 8, 2018

There is a big difference between sharing your opinion and giving credible input and knowing that difference can have a powerful impact on your success. Giving relevant, useful input is an important skill that requires practice and thoughtfulness. Without a framework for giving input on a question or issue, many of us get anxious and then resort to giving our opinion. Yet, when decision-makers look to you for your expertise, they generally don’t want your opinion—they want useful input.…

DONE!

August 28, 2017

Monday Morning Business Coach

As you may know, at Carpenter Smith Consulting, we believe that leadership is the willingness to influence your world and the willingness to be influenced by your world. Recently, we had someone write and ask us this: “You talk a lot about influence. I’m just not sure it’s all that important. What’s made it so central to your model of leadership? What about power and authority?” We love these questions! We know that people often believe that leadership is about…

Creating an Effective Charter

August 14, 2017

Monday Morning Business Coach

Last week in Two Powerful Tools from One Powerful Leader, we described how visionary leader Kathy Broadwater utilized virtual departments to get work done at the Maryland Port Authority. This week, we’re sharing her approach to solidifying those virtual departments by creating a specific charter or compact to ensure that everyone is clear about the goals and deliverables, how the work will be done and who will do it, and to formalize the commitment to being a part of this…

Two Powerful Tools From One Powerful Leader (Part 1)

August 7, 2017

Monday Morning Business Coach

On June 14, 2017, Linda had the privilege of presenting to the American Association of Port Authorities on Promoting and Celebrating Internal Communications – or what we describe as creating cultures of leadership and engagement. For the presentation, Linda was on a panel with Kathy Broadwater, a Principal at EcoLogix Group, Inc., in Parkton, Maryland. Kathy had spent 16 years as the Deputy Executive Director at the Maryland Port Administration and shared two tools she found powerfully effective in…

Two professionals conversing, influencing one another

Your Leadership is Needed

July 17, 2017

Monday Morning Business Coach

As some of you know, at Carpenter Smith Consulting we define leadership in this way: Leadership is the willingness to influence your world and be influenced by your world, regardless of role or title. We’ve brought this definition to leaders of large organizations, leaders in school, leaders in communities, and leaders in life… and based on their positive feedback, we’re more dedicated to this definition than ever. This definition represents a powerful shift in your behavior and supports…

Insight or Incite

June 26, 2017

Monday Morning Business Coach

These are challenging times for our country and our planet. Daily we’re reminded of the differences that exist in the world, and to feel safer we seek out our allies. Seeking comfort from people who are aligned with you is a very human thing to do; yet it can further polarize our families, workplaces, and worlds. Unfortunately, polarization breaks down connections and communities. It’s not bad for us to have differences; it’s bad to start to believe those differences automatically…

Getting the Right People on Your Team

October 3, 2016

Monday Morning Business Coach

As you may have noticed, we love helping people succeed! While we often help people succeed at the intersection of their life and their work, we believe these skills are of value to anyone trying to choose happiness and overcome overwhelm. And, we know you’ll get closer to happiness and more effectively be able to manage all that’s on your plate if you get the right people on your team. For some of you, your team is the group of…

People Matter

September 19, 2016

Monday Morning Business Coach

You may look at the title of today’s post and think to yourself, “Of course people matter! Why would they write about that?” And, while we know that you know that people matter, it’s not often we see evidence of it in a compelling way. So when we saw this snippet of video from the Olympics, we thought to ourselves: This is what it means to say people matter. As you will see when you watch the video, a pack…

Collaboration or Engagement?

December 9, 2013

Monday Morning Business Coach

We were recently talking with a colleague who was saying that her organization was putting energy and resources into creating collaboration among various departments. We asked if the organization was also talking about and putting resources toward engagement. She thought for a moment then asked us to explain the difference. When we use the word collaboration, typically we are describing an action or a culture in which people work together on major efforts and initiatives to create innovative approaches to…

Wisdom from Africa

December 2, 2013

Monday Morning Business Coach

Today, we want to offer you a powerful African proverb: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. You will notice that this proverb doesn’t say that one or the other is right. Instead it suggests that the more you can make a conscious choice about how you move in the world, the more likely you are to get where you want to go. There are thousands of books released each year…