Set Goals & Bulletproof Ideas

We talk a lot about setting goals, accountability, etc. in the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Here is an excellent thought provoking video by Mike Figliuolo, who also produces the thoughtLEADERS blog.

I hope you find this useful in setting your course for 2009.

COMO Ed

Time is limited…… Are you spending it on purpose?

For today's blog entry, I'm calling your attention to a great article I've found on time management.

Time is limited……was a post from The Practice of Leadership blog back in June of last year. It contains this great quote:

"Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action, and purpose." – Lance Armstrong.

The article also contains a great graphical representation of the relationship between energy and focus.

What does this mean for you as a Coast Guard Auxiliarist? Since we are volunteers donating what precious time we have (after our family and work commitments), I suggest that we strive to make the most of the time we do contribute to the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Choose to be proactive, rather than reactive, and pursue your goals with vigor. Also, it is important to have fun and derive a sense of satisfaction from what you're doing. If you're not having fun or getting a lot of "psychic income" from a given activity or mission, perhaps it is time to refocus your energy on missions that do give you a sense of accomplishment, while having fun at the same time.

Remember - time is a finite resource - spend it purposefully.

COMO Ed

New Years Message from the Commandant

I am enclosing a link to the Commandant's New Year's Message, posted on iCommandant. It is an excellent brief on what's coming in the next 12-18 months, and I highly encourage you to take the time to read it.

In that message, the Commandant talks about numerous upcoming changes. I know for many people, change is scary. Eric Hoff once said "In times of change, it is the learners who will inherit the earth, while the learned will be beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists. " What does this mean? In sum, it means that we will need to hone our existing skills, maybe even develop new ones, and not rest on our laurels, and be prepared to constantly adapt to the changing environment. Also, we need to be flexible, so that we are not surprised every time change happens.

The Commandant also talks about the importance of partnering. He runs through the alphabet soup of acronyms - DHS, DOT, DOD, etc. etc. etc., all of whom have a strategic relationship with the Coast Guard. Just as the Coast Guard is focusing on its partnerships with other agencies, so should we. "Who are our partners?" you ask. As the primary promoter of recreational boating safety and the America's Waterway Watch programs,we should be partnering with many state and local agencies (sheriff, fire departments, EMS, etc), the U.S. Power Squadrons, state Boating Law Administrators, Yacht Clubs, marinas, etc. In many parts of the country, where the weather is less than optimal for boating, now would be a great time to develop and strengthen these relationships.

To sum it up, we will need to be more flexible and do a better job of adapting to charges that will inevitably come our way. We should also be strengthening our relationships with our strategic partners, and all grow together so we can better execute our missions.

COMO Ed

Coast Guard announces: 2008 LEADERSHIP VIDEO CONTEST RESULTS

The Coast Guard has announced the winners of its 2008 Leadership Video Contest:

ALCOAST 629/08
COMDTNOTE 5351
SUBJ: 2008 LEADERSHIP VIDEO CONTEST RESULTS
A. COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC 081412Z OCT 08/ALCOAST 501/08
1. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE SECOND ANNUAL LEADERSHIP
VIDEO CONTEST. THIS YEARS SUBMISSIONS HIGHLIGHT ONE OR MORE OF THE
28 LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES.
2. IAW REF A, A SELECTION PANEL WAS CONVENED 26 NOV AT THE
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CENTER AND 9 DEC AT COMDT (CG-133) TO REVIEW
THE VIDEO SUBMISSIONS.
3. THE WINNERS OF THE 2008 LEADERSHIP VIDEO CONTEST ARE:
A. FIRST PLACE: MSU PORT ARTHUR (VIDEO: "WAITING FOR A PETTY
OFFICER" A HUMOUROUS ACCOUNT OF ONE PETTY OFFICERS STRUGGLE WITH
"LEADING SELF")
B. SECOND PLACE: CGC NEAH BAY (VIDEO: "INNOVATIVE DAMAGE CONTROL
KIT" SHOWCASING THE "CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION LEADERSHIP
COMPETENCY")
C. THIRD PLACE: MSU VALDEZ (VIDEO: "A WRENCH IN THE GEARS"
SHOWCASING A STRUGGLE WITH CUSTOMER FOCUS AND HUMAN RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT)
D. HONORABLE MENTION: CG STATION ELIZABETH CITY (VIDEO: "A JUNIOR
MEMBERS LACK OF HUMILITY EFFECTS SELF AWARENESS AND LEARNING") AND
CGC WRANGELL (VIDEO: "THE DAY TO DAY USE OF ALL LEADERSHIP
COMPETENCIES")
4. WINNING VIDEOS WILL BE FEATURED ON THE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
CENTER WEBSITE AT THE FOLLOWING LINK:
HTTP://WWW.USCGA.EDU/LDC_DISPLAY1.ASPX?ID(EQUAL_SIGN)10133
A DVD FOR DISTRIBUTION AND USE AS A ULDP RESOURCE WILL ALSO BE
COMPILED. AWARDS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED VIA THE APPROPRIATE CHAIN OF
COMMAND.
5. RDML D.R. MAY, DIRECTOR OF RESERVE AND TRAINING, SENDS.
6. INTERNET RELEASE AUTHORIZED.

I am hopeful that at sometime in the near future, the Auxiliary can contribute entries to to contest.

COMO Ed

Attention Leaders: There is no success without succession

One of my favorite quotes from leadership expert John Maxwell is " there is no success without succession." There are countless lessons from business and the sports world where failure to have a succession plan resulted in the downfall of the organization.

Why am I bringing this topic up now, when many of our elected leaders are starting their first day(s) in office? Well, I am a huge believer in the old axiom - "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail." The time to start on succession planning is NOW.

A recent article on Teaching Leadership Skills offers some guidance that may be of use to those currently sitting in the leadership chair.

One of your most crucial jobs as a manager is to help develop your direct reports' leadership capabilities. Action learning can help. Through action learning, individuals work through actual business problems and apply lessons learned to new challenges. How it works:

1. Assign the employee a substantial project that is "in plan" and important, and for which failure would have visible consequences.

2. Deliver some individual performance feedback that's relevant to the employee and the context in which she will be learning.

3. Debrief the experience of tackling the project-reviewing with your direct report the results she achieved and how she achieved them.

4. Articulate the results' business implications.

5. Help her transfer lessons learned to future projects.

The more relevant the challenge and the higher the stakes, the more action learning stretches leaders and the more they learn.

This of course can be applied equally to volunteer organizations such as the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Irregardless of the type of organization, this necessitates trust on the part of the current leader, and also requires a good deal of communication skills. To develop future leaders, we must article our expectations and the consequences of potential failure, not to "scare" our future leaders, but to keep them focused on succeeding, and on learning from their mistakes as they go..

All of this takes time. So now I hope you understand why I suggest you get started now on succession planning for your unit.

Smile and enjoy the ride!

COMO Ed

Make sound and timely decisions

This post is a follow up to my last one entitled Be Solutions Oriented, not Problem Focused .

I'd like to call your attention to Mike Figliuolo's thoughtLEADERS blog, and specifically his 10th leadership principle - make sound and timely decisions. Check out Mike's article, which builds upon my comments regarding the paralysis of analysis.

Many times, we as leaders in the Coast Guard Auxiliary (or anywhere for that matter), are afraid to make decisions because, if we make the wrong decision, we'll look bad. This is promulgated by fear of failure, and a philosophy I call "not on my watch." So rather than make a decision (and risk being wrong), we make a decision - to make NO DECISION. By doing so, we often settle for mediocrity.

Will we make perfect decisions 100 percent of the time? Of course not - after all, we're human. We will make mistakes - we simply need to learn from them, and keep moving forward. Am I advocating making decisions in a reckless fashion, with a cavalier attitude as to whether the decision is right or wrong? Absolutely NOT!

If you enjoyed Mike's article, please be sure to check out his entire series on Leadership Lessons from West Point. I know that I have benefited from his insights, and I am sure you will too.

COMO Ed

Be Solutions Oriented, not Problem Focused

All too often, in both the Coast Guard Auxiliary and in other aspects of our lives - work, school, or personal issues - we tend to focus and dwell on the problem, rather than concentrating on finding the solution to the problem. Please don't think I am preaching to you; I'll admit that I have committed this sin many, many times myself.

Solution Focused Questions was a recent blog post that appeared in the Sources of Insight blog. In that article, they offer some great advice, including these key take-aways:

• Spend 20 percent on the problem and 80 percent on the solution. Focus attention on the solution. This doesn’t mean ignore understanding the problem. It means, that rather than spending 20% of your energy on the solution and 80% on the problem, spend 80% on the solution and 20% on the problem.
• Stay out of analysis paralysis. Keep moving forward, learning and adapting rather than sitting in analysis paralysis.
• Use questions to get resourceful. By asking solution-focused questions, you switch your mind into a more resourceful state. Your brain suddenly starts drawing on all your resources internally and around you to solve the problem.

I'm often guilty of the paralysis of analysis. One thing that has helped me avoid that is a something I learned from reading one of Colin Powell's leadership books. Powell suggests that you make a decision once you've got 70-80 percent of the data you wished you had, but don't have the time to wait for. Powell also urges that you learn to "trust your gut" and develop your gut-level instincts.

Hopefully this post and advice from Colin Powell will help you as a leader (whether ti is in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, at work, etc.).

ENJOY!!!

COMO Ed

Personal Productivity Quotes

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR - may 2009 bring you health, wealth, and happiness in all that you do!

If you are like me, and LOVE quotes, you're sure to enjoy this article on Personal Productivity Quotes from Sources of Insight blog.

Here are what they are suggesting (and I would agree with) are the top 10 productivity quotes - and they are GOOD:

Here’s my top ten favorite quotes:

• “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own.“ –Bruce Lee
• “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” - Peter Drucker
• “Fall seven times, Stand up eight.” - Japanese Proverb
• “If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” - Bruce Lee
• “It not knowing what to do, it’s doing what you know.” - Tony Robbins
• “Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year - and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!” - Tony Robbins
• “Success breeds success.”
• “The path to success is to take massive, determined action.” - Tony Robbins
• “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” – Voltaire
• “Words may show a man’s wit but actions his meaning.” - Benjamin Franklin

There are lots of others - so check it out when you have a chance.

ENJOY!!!

COMO Ed