Talking Story with Say Leadership Coaching

Let’s Talk Story: When business is not great, how do you spend your time?

2008-07-11T14:23:55-10:00

Had a coaching call this morning that was about my client’s need to refocus his business strategies right now; it’s a theme becoming more and more common in the short term given the U.S. economy (and how it specifically affects him/we in Hawai‘i), but when you really think about it, improving upon present business strategies is a timeless, recurring theme —or if not, it should be.

The call was all about him (also as it should be) and as we wrapped up he asked me, “What about you Rosa, what do you do when business is down for you?”

See Lost Business as Newfound Time

...and as new opportunity.

A lot of his specifics don’t apply to me, mostly in the area of employees and other business partners, for I now work solo, or with the assistance of other contractors I have certified in their niche areas of Managing with Aloha expertise. However most of the other things we’d talked about are generally the same, and my answer can be summed up by saying, “I take the half-full approach, and redirect.”

Life is rich. It offers us a wealth of variety.

When business isn’t good (i.e. cash flow is less than abundant) it means I have free time I didn’t have before, and it’s a matter of filling it up with stuff that will replace the lost abundance. The only question is, how good will I be with assessing and then pulling the take-action trigger on the different, and perhaps new options that are in front of me? What will I scoop up, and what will I pass by? What will be a direct route to a jackpot, and what is very likely a cleverly disguised rabbit hole?

My immediate reaction is actually “Oh great!” because of newly opened windows of time: There are on-the-list choices I can now work on and devote that time to, which previously were “2010 if I’m lucky.” Second, financial realities set in (as they do for all self-employed people) and I will look at those checklists I have for myself before getting pulled into a new project. Third, I tend to get a bit productivity obsessive, seeking my defined accomplishment versus getting lost in busy-ness.

Create Your Energy

I personally find that I must resist any and all urges to get lazy; for me that will normally mean getting into project mode, and redirecting my day-to-day efforts away from things that will drain my energies. I get schedule happy, and I design Strong Week Plans for myself, plans which impose deadlines on me —and reward me when I do well. Right now, my rewards are things like photo excursions and luana weekends.

Even when I take a break, playing with something like Flickr (my normal diversion of late), I will get more detail-oriented about it: My latest uploads there on Hāpu‘u pulu ‘i‘i (the Hawaiian Tree Fern) sent me on a research mission for which species are endemic versus indigenous, and to learn more about how the Hawaiians of old used the plant.

Is the Hāpu‘u pulu ‘i‘i going to replace any lost revenues for me? No, but ‘Ike loa and learning about it will boost my energies and not drain them: The detail work will reinforce my other project habits.

Let’s talk story: How about you?

What are your personal habit strategies for taking the “half-full” approach?
What do you find you will naturally do when business changes (or other day-to-day pressure levels shift) as your default? How must you redirect?
How do you keep yourself from slipping into excessive laziness and the doldrums? What are your energy boosters?
Where do you look when you need to take inventory of new options?
What types of activities are time sinks and procrastination traps, and which are those which help you be more productive in revenue-producing ways?

I think this is a great discussion for us to have as a Ho‘ohana Community, for we do have more in common than we realize. We can share ideas and help each other.

It’s also a good discussion to have at your next huddle or team meeting; chances are that this is not a time anyone should be on auto-pilot, and talking story about energy drains versus energy creators is always a great one to have.

Who’s doing the thinking right now, and what do they have to say?

2008-07-09T08:05:21-10:00

I have been reading a book manuscript which covers the basics of systems thinking, and the author has done a great job with a pretty dry subject. His book will be extremely useful, for it covers concepts all business organizations need to understand, and I will let you know when he is ready with his publication announcement.

Briefly, systems thinking is the premise that the work of all organizations can be broken down into inter-connected systems of inputs and outputs, and that everything is a system, not just the IT stuff. I first learned systems thinking as The Law of the Harvest, and still remember its core premise best that way: Ye shall reap what ye have sown —and don’t forget to water and fertilize.

Systems thinking can border academic and yawn-inducing for most people in a company, but it’s the stuff that project managers drool over, at least the great ones do. What I will usually concentrate on in my coaching, is giving those project managers some help in getting everyone else excited about their stuff too.

Macintosh User Manual - Chapter 1
by peterme, found on Flickr.

As I’ve read through the manuscript I find I am left with one thought over and over again: Until you get to the point that you automate them, effective systems require heaps of effective communication throughout the process. Then after that, you need even more communication when you trouble-shoot, audit and tweak through time. Even exceptionally outstanding thinking does very little good when it remains locked up in someone’s brain and is not shared with everyone else involved.

I was thrilled that the author got that; do you?

Great managers have this internal radar for people in their organization who are thinkers but not talkers. Those are the people that a great manager will seek to spend more time with, usually finding that once they can get them to talk story the floodgates open. It’s not just those squeaky wheels that should get the grease; all the wheels need some. When someone doesn’t say something, it doesn’t necessarily mean they haven’t seen something —and thought of a better way of approaching it.

So what’s keeping them from speaking up?

Well, that’s what great managers and great co-workers aim to find out. If that person is you, you can be the most valuable asset your company has.

Here’s some archive-tripping:

The 20 Benefits of Peer to Peer Coaching (and the MWA Way of doing it).

The Best, Yet Most Underutilized Tool for Communication There Is.

Start a WOW! Project at Work (Learn to Love Projects) and 10 Ways to Run a WOW! Campaign at Work.

Listening with an Open, Positive Mindset.

See me when the “ing” stuff is over.

July Tuesdays: Learning in the MWA way

2008-07-08T11:35:25-10:00

I am feeling great about the way that our Tuesday Coaching essays have come together this month on Managing with Aloha Coaching, and I hope you will check them out.

Our value for the month is ‘Ike loa, the Hawaiian value of learning, and given what a huge topic learning is, the month’s essays do concentrate specifically on learning “in the Managing with Aloha way.” The series came to be with questions I had received from different people in the Ho‘ohana Community, which could be summed up as, “how do you frame learning strictly within the workplace philosophies of Managing with Aloha?”

This is the way it came together:

7/8 = Tuesday 1
Learning as a process: Beginning, Middle, and End

7/15 = Tuesday 2
The Learning Process of MWA

7/22 = Tuesday 3
Learning from other People (will include the Daily 5 Minutes)

7/29 = Tuesday 4
Explorations in Tertiary Learning: Developing your ‘Ike loa Habit

In today’s essay, I...

define tertiary learning and why it is so important,
suggest the role that employers play with tertiary learning in the workplace,
talk about the MWA assertion that work is personal (and how that connects to learning),
share my feelings on where workplace training generally falters and misses the mark,
define the key deliverables of the MWA learning process,
offer a note-taking exercise where you can test your next training in the framework of those MWA key deliverables, and finally, as the essay title had promised,
give a contextual workplace definition for learning as a process with a beginning, middle, and end.

All in just over 2000 words, and including a homework assignment for those who want to seize the moment, and make that reading count for their learning today, here and now (Kēia Manawa!)

Please comment for me there if you’re one of the Talking Story readers who dig into it, okay? Mahalo nui.

How’s this for some great tertiary learning in the MWA way?
8:30am Paddleboard Calisthenics in Uleweuweu Bay

We are Learning from Pictures

2008-07-07T08:38:11-10:00

We have had a tremendous start to the month of July over at Joyful Jubilant Learning, and I encourage you to click over there for a visit if you have not done so already. Here is the line-up you will find waiting for you there:

7/01 (Link) – Learn about the JJL Theme for July, and How to Participate
7/02 (Link) – A JJL Mini Lesson on Creative Commons, and on Publishing Photos Online
7/03 (Link) – A JJL Learning-Project for the month: Learning with Flickr (Confident Writing coach Joanna Young is taking the lead on this for us)
7/04 through 24 – Community-Authored Postings To Theme: Learning from Pictures.

I was able to lead off with my Blue Chair Learning:

What might you be taking for granted every day?

Blue Chair Learning on Ka‘ūpūlehu Beach by Rosa Say

These blue chairs are on Ka‘ūpūlehu Beach at Hualalai, just north of Kumukea Point. In most Hawai‘i hotel resorts, the people who work at them would look at chairs like these and think “those are for the guests; they aren’t for me.” In fact, because they’ve fallen off their “for me too” radar, they probably wouldn’t notice them at all, much less sit in them and enjoy the morning, the sun, the beach, the view.

For me however, they represent just the opposite: Click over to JJL to read how. There are terrific comments there from Ulla, David, Joanna, Dave, Kirsten, Karen and Tim too.

A good amount of my past week was spent outdoors, and so over the weekend (my Luana Weekend) I stayed in (for the most part... I have to get outside every day even if just to take my run and spend a few minutes sitting on my porch or weeding my garden.) Did some writing (very happy with the MWAC Tuesday essay which will post tomorrow) and did quite a bit of uploading to Flickr: I took well over 500 photos last week! If you are going to get addicted to a new hobby, learn it big... It’s another ‘Ike loa concept!

So as your week unfolds, if you’d like to take a short break and “walk outside” with me at some point, come visit my new photo set of the Kūki‘o Shoreline... You can think of it as your “blue chair learning” with Talking Story!

Learn about Luana this Weekend: I know you have it in you!

2008-07-04T00:15:00-10:00

Luana (loo ah na) is a short, easy to pronounce Hawaiian word good to know for any day of the week, and in particular, it can be a fantastic weekend mantra:

luana. vi. To be at leisure, enjoy pleasant surroundings and associates, live in comfort and ease, enjoy oneself, relax, be content.

He aha kō ‘oukou e hana nei? E luana wale ana nō.

What are you all doing? Just enjoying ourselves.

---from the Hawaiian Dictionary by Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert

This weekend: Ho‘oluana--- Cause your luana feelings to happen intentionally; don’t leave them to chance! Be purposeful--- even with fun and play.

Life is short, so Kēia Manawa (seize your moments!) It will be a three day weekend for many of us, so take advantage of it! (Happy Birthday and 4th of July America:) The rewards I reaped from my last weekend was a mere 3-hours investment within the whole: Weekend Warrior (Mine was a Wiliwili tree)

Let’s talk story: Tell us what you will be doing this weekend, and give others some inspiration.

"One of my favorite places to go is Balboa Park here in San Diego with all the art museums."
---shared by Maria Palma

"I was off down in the far south west of Scotland, staying at a wee fishing harbour - which proved great for a few shots of nets, crates and boats - then up for a walk in the moorland.

It looks bleak from a distance but rich with vegetation when you get out and explore. The moorland flowers are tiny but exquisite - made me want to learn so much more about their names and how to take better photos of them!"
---Joanna Young last weekend (Visit Confident Writing to read about how Joanna deals with her inner critic.)

So, what will you be doing over the next few days for your sense of luana?

‘Ike loa: Boldly about Knowledge

2008-07-02T08:26:59-10:00

This is the poster I have made (via Wordle) as my own visual ‘Ike loa trigger this month:

‘Ike loa: Boldly about Knowledge:

I created it with the excerpt from Managing with Aloha I had shared in the MWAC Day One Essay: ‘Ike loa, the Hawaiian Value of Learning

Feel free to print up a copy for you too! You can get a download on my Flickr page; this one is a bit off-center.

When you "write story" about learning, what leaps off the page for you?

Write a short paragraph with what you think about learning, paste it into the Wordle Create box, and see what comes up... you actually only need one or two few pithy sentences.

Share your biggest word impression for learning in the comments for us: Learning is a huge topic and we can come up with several hits! Any surprise to you?

A lot of English words in my book compared to the Hawaiian ones... using Wordle, aka "beautiful word clouds" I have also been fascinated to see how differently my book excerpts appear compared to my blog posts. For those of you who are writers, it is a great app to play with in your editing process.

Say Aloha to July 2008!

2008-07-01T00:15:00-10:00

In July we are going full throttle LEARNING!

I have two Day One Essays for you to check out, one on Managing with Aloha Coaching, and another on Joyful Jubilant Learning; we'll dish more here later about them, okay?

For today, be sociable, and go join the rest of the Ho‘ohana Community:

MWAC: ‘Ike loa, the Hawaiian Value of Learning

JJL: Learning From Pictures

You'll find out what this one is all about...

Weekend Warrior (Mine was a Wiliwili tree)

2008-06-29T10:22:57-10:00

How are you doing (or did you do…) with your Reach into the Weekend?

Yesterday morning I indulged in an Artist Date, the exercise Julia Cameron of The Artist’s Way recommends…

“Now to the second tool, the sticky one. [The first tool is her morning pages.] The second primary tool of a creative recovery involves play. Oh this tool is hard to master. Dubbed an ‘Artist Date,’ this second, essential tool involves a once-weekly, solitary, festive expedition targeted at enticing our inner artist into exploring new realms.”

My chosen “realm” to explore yesterday was my passion for, and fascination with, the endangered Hawaiian Wiliwili tree. This view is of a tree I have driven by for the past eighteen years, but had to hike into the scrub to see — and to appreciate up close.

We are surrounded by dryland ‘lava land scrub’ where we live on the west side of the Big Island, on the slopes of the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, two of the five shield volcanoes the Big Island is made of. One visitor to my Flickr photostream had commented, “it looks so remote” and it is and isn’t… it could more accurately be described as in adolescence with land development that may unfortunately be inevitable.

Meanwhile, it is an easy thing for me to set off on foot, and be within wilderness (that truthfully, someone somewhere may consider to be trespassing) within two walking miles. It would also be very easy to get hopelessly lost in the scrub, and you must be careful that you keep the roadway in some relative direction by sight or sound as you hike; the terrain takes you on 180’s in shift constantly, and the rolling hilliness obstructs your view with every few steps (and you do venture in because these old 4-wheel roads are not where it is most interesting):

Yesterday’s morning hike was more ambitious than usual, for it took me a good four hours (very sunny, hot hours) but it was so rewarding. My goal was to populate my Flickr photo set for the endangered Hawaiian Wiliwili tree, and there was one in particular I think of as the Warrior Sentinel. It grows in its natural habitat and is one which has been pruned of its lower branches by the land developer, but has never been transplanted, in fact, the road was rerouted to be built around it.

One look at the trunk near its base, and you can understand why transplanting it would be a monumental endeavor…

Plus the wiliwili is now considered an endangered tree, so it may be that the developer had little choice… law or no law, it is likely that messing with this one would have created an uproar. I wasn’t here at the time the road was built, but if they ever try to mess with it now, I’ll be one of those making the most noise.

If you would like to learn more about the Hawaiian Wiliwili you can start with my Flickr photo set, now 62 photos full as of this writing, and then do some Google searches.

The wiliwili is starting to be a more frequent illustration for me now that I have a digital camera, and I have had a few people ask me (and I paraphrase to sum them all up succinctly) “Rosa, what is it with you and this tree?” for to many it is interesting yes, but it is gnarled and less than totally beautiful when compared to some others; in the late summer and early fall it loses its leaves completely, and the older ones I most reverently take my photos of barely leaf at all when they do.

The answer is that the Hawaiian Wiliwili represents significant kaona (hidden storied meaning) for me, so much so that if I ever had to pick one image for all of Managing with Aloha it would not be my book jacket; it would be one of the wiliwili. I will tell the full story one day soon (there is some of it within the Flickr photo set descriptions). For now, I hope you enjoy more pictures.

One of my rewards yesterday was to find another tree with yellow blossoms I had not seen before. Its blooming was farther along than the Warrior Sentinel, and so I could get photos of the wiliwili seed pods:

So tell me, how did you Reach into your weekend?

What are your current triggers with what is interesting to you? My timing for this particular Artist Date had to do with a couple of different things, like having my camera now, and learning to love Flickr photo-journaling, but mostly because the Warrior Sentinel is in full summer bloom right now (there are other ‘before’ pictures from May in the same set). The wiliwili blooming was my reason for a hike into the scrub versus taking another kind of Artist Date, and there are a bunch of other things you can do that are not solo propositions.

I am interested in your stories: There is nothing like the weekend for talking story where we all get to know each other better. Especially for humans, but trees can count too... then there is the very worthwhile goal of learning to be interesting too.

Did you get rewarded with any surprises, as I did with the yellow wiliwili tree I found?

Reach into the Weekend

2008-06-28T05:42:37-10:00

and Kēia Manawa, or as may be more familiar to many, “Carpe, Diem, seize the day.”

It is 5:40am as I write this - just had to wake up early and get the weekend started, for there is so much to do, so much to feel, so much to be, with joy in the living of it all.

How will it be Kēia Manawa for you this weekend?

It's RFL Time: Rapid Fire Learning for June

2008-06-25T09:46:29-10:00

Today is the 25th of the month: You shouldn't be here...

You should be at Joyful Jubilant Learning for RFL!

Wow, this was a great month. And Talking Story readers, I love the JJL RFL exercise as one that you kinda sorta talk story through in both the doing and sharing.

The doing is like self-talking story, where the story is the month that just was some kind of milestone in your life, but it is one waiting for you to articulate it.

The sharing is the magic of what happens over within the JJL community: All you have to do is read today's RFL posting and comment conversation to feel the goodness of it, and see exactly what I mean. For me to try and explain that a bit more here will not do it justice.

Adding in my own RFL sharing there took me all of 5 minutes tops because RFL is intended to be a stream-of-consciousness exercise. You must do this for yourself. It allows your own personal learning to feed your spirit.

Dwayne Melancon is hosting this month, and Joanna Young of Confident Writing already chimed in —- I’m waiting to see you and your name pop up in the comments or trackbacks there next!

Yes, a lot of bold in this because I feel RFL is that important (learners make the world go round, plain and simple) and that good for you, and I care about you.

So click over there: Rapid Fire Learning for June.

Then you can come back and tell me that you weren't just "ing-ing" around with it... come back later and See me when the “ing” stuff is over.

Subscribe to Joyful Jubilant Learning by Email

See me when the “ing” stuff is over

2008-06-24T13:56:57-10:00

I ask myself 'do I want permission so I can have someone on my side when it fails, or so they know it was my idea when it works?' —Ken Smith

If it's done the right way, no apology is necessary - you are right, it is irrelevant. —Terry Starbucker

Love description of approval. Have starred this one - it's a keeper! —Jen Parke

Those are snippets from the conversation continued on Twitter about permission (or approval) versus forgiveness (or fessing up with an apology!) after I told my Twitter Village about the posting here yesterday: Get permission or ask for forgiveness?

The words we choose can indeed give us some immediate context.

I also got some private push-back in regard to the caveat about “great bosses” versus “run-of-the-mill managers” with one gentleman writing me that,

“my boss’s favorite line is, ‘don’t come to me when you are doing it, just after it’s done.’ Problem is, it’s a crap-shoot for me on if he’ll like the done or not. I just never know.”

Which goes back to the second caveat: “If you are the manager, make your expectations clear in regard to how people should best work with you…” If you are the boss, you should expect your people to do well, I agree with that, however you also have to set them up to succeed with you and not wait for them to hang themselves! (That is true jerk-dom). Talk story with them, and get more clarity to happen between you.

If like my emailer you also have a boss stuck in jerk-dom, you will have to get brave and talk to him (or her) about it being a challenge for you to meet their expectations. Not easy, I know, but something you will just have to do. It is either that, or risk getting hung.

I once had a boss that was a bit similar, but he did go the distance making sure we completely understood what was expected. His line for us was, “see me when the ing stuff is over.” It was a way he made his expectation clarity pretty easy for us to remember. What he meant, was that we needed to think twice about coming to him when our work could still be described with “ing” ending words, like:

Planning
Reviewing
Analyzing
Budgeting
Organizing
Strategizing
Brainstorming
Scheduling

As far as he was concerned, all those kinds of words were still stuck in the doing and not in the “done” of accomplishment.

In contrast, he loved “ed” ending words (and certain ones):

Executed (was way better than planned)
Decided (was way better than analyzed)
Financed (was way better than budgeted)
Collaborated (was way better than strategized)
Prototyped (was way better than brainstormed)
Reinvented (was way better than reviewed)

You get the idea. This gentleman was my boss well over a decade ago, but his expectations were so crystal clear, they stayed with me long after he was out of my work picture.

He had a related phrase that always stayed with me too, which was, “Wishing and hoping is not a strategy.” This one pretty dramatically affected the way that I view Ka lā hiki ola, our value for the month of June, which you’ll recall is the value of hope and promise. I still have a lot of cautions about wishing and hoping (frankly, I feel pretty wimpy whenever I catch myself using those words), but drop that “ing” and HOPE is pure gold.

I talk about hope today in my last MWAC Tuesday essay about Ka lā hiki ola: Hope, thy name is Optimism. The article also shares the Legend of the Wiliwili Trees. Check it out.

(How was that for a segue between the two blogs, hmm? Yeah, kinda pleased with myself... classic example of what writing morning pages can do for you :)

“I once heard it said that “hope has nothing to do with what is going on in the world.”

More at MWAC today… it’s the wrap up for Ka lā hiki ola.

A new month begins next Tuesday.

Reading here on the site?

Another mini-lesson on Context is in this Post Extention: open her up...

Think about reviewing context as you think about expectation clarity. Take a look at this book review I had done for Joyful Jubilant Learning back in March:

Are you ready to Trade Up?

If I were you I would wrap up Ka lā hiki ola first however... so here is a JJL content box on context to remind you about this added mini-lesson later.

1. Reveal your context: what do you believe about yourself? What holds you back? How do you impact others?

2. Own your context: take stock of the upside and downside of your context, and examine the intended and unintended consequences of it!

3. Design a new context that gets you what you want: begin by asking yourself “how good are you willing to have life be?”

4. Sustain your new context: develop new practices to get this new context to stick!

5. Activate your context and engage with the world: move out of your own concerns and into partnership and community with others to help change the world around you!

Get permission or ask for forgiveness?

2008-06-23T08:20:19-10:00

I've just done a guest spot for the www.CrankyMiddleManager.com newsletter which was sent out today by Wayne Turmel. Each month, Wayne will ask a readers' question of a guest he'd once featured on his CMM broadcast, and I was his guest back for Episode 15, talking with Wayne about Managing with Aloha shortly after HCer Bren Connelly had introduced us. Wayne is up to 148 episodes now, and that's a lot of terrific talking story...

Thought I'd share my response to Wayne's reader question with all of you too, for it's a question that comes up occasionally in my coaching as well.

It was also a guideline I would explicitly give to my managers when I was actively managing, telling them that in my preferred "style" of managing them, I wanted them to defer to asking for forgiveness instead of my permission. The underlying assumptions were pretty clear:

--- You probably won't want to ask for forgiveness either; asking for it is a bummer no matter how nice I might be about giving it to you.

--- So do whatever it takes to get the job done the right way and the best way; then both permission and forgiveness are unnecessary and thus irrelevant.

Yes, I told them not to ask for my permission unless they had a shortfall within the realm of talent, skill, or knowledge with something (i.e. needing more training, not approval) ---more in the newsletter excerpt below. We've talked about this subject before: If you are the manager, make your expectations clear in regard to how people should best work with you:

SIDEBAR: For later review:

5 Things Employees Need to Learn—From You

New to management: 2 Learning Hit Lists

There are also two words within my response written for Wayne which MWA readers and practitioners know are packed with implied meaning: "Great bosses" are not the same as run-of-the-mill managers. There is a calling for management I assume to be built on 10 core beliefs.

Here's the newsletter snippet. You can subscribe for Wayne's newsletters at the www.CrankyMiddleManager.com --- check it out.

Readers' Questions and Cool Answers

Rosa Say is one of my favorite people. She is just a walking hug and I have a weakness for conjoined vowels so anyone who speaks Hawaiian gets my attention. She was the star of Episode 15 and we've stayed in each other's orbits since.

"I get proactivity, but I'd like to keep my job. How do I know "when to ask permission" and "when to ask forgiveness?"

Great question, Garth.

The short answer is, "It depends." The good news is that what it depends on, are the kinds of situations that are usually ideal for self-coaching that helps you grow. You answer this question of forgiveness versus permission for yourself situation by situation, by answering two other questions that are pretty easy to remember:

1. What would make work easier on my boss?

2. What action should I take that will make both of us look good?

The answer to Number 1 is also the best possible answer to "how should I be managing up?" for ultimately, that is what terrific managing up is (whether we like it or not): Doing whatever it takes to make work easy on our boss. Do that in the ethical and right way, and your boss will pay you in kind eventually (trust me on this).

The answer to Number 2 has to do with understanding that "approval" can be read in a couple of different ways. Asking for approval before taking action means lack of talent, skill or knowledge (at best), but it also can mean lack of forethought, gumption and initiative (at worst). Bosses get annoyed when they are asked for approval that is actually a guise for shortfalls in thinking and doing your homework, wimpy buck-passing on owning a decision ("Well, the boss approved it.") or as a delay tactic hurled at them to buy more time on deadlines ("Hello, Ms. Gatekeeper? Can you let him know I need to speak with him before I can move forward?") In the strictest sense, approval is required when the action that must be taken is not normally within your circle of influence (even then, rephrase the question to, "Would you like me to take care of this for you?")

Great bosses look at granted forgiveness as an opportunity to give their performing stars more coaching. Cultivate a sense of urgency balanced by forethought, take action when you should, be quick to apologize and correct if need be, and you answer Number 2 by being that star unafraid of mistakes you can learn from, and about whom the boss will say, "Yeah, he/she is one of my people."

Rosa Say coaches, speaks and writes; she is the author of Managing with Aloha Coaching, where you can "Learn to put Managing with Aloha in practice in our value of the month program: Live, Work, Manage and Lead with Aloha!" She serves as the managing editor of Joyful Jubilant Learning to encourage the 21st Century social media and digital learning initiatives she feels are crucial in tertiary learning and the building of our global neighborhoods. Find out more about Rosa's coaching at Say Leadership Coaching.