Summary: No one has time for a long meeting and in the time of year when performance appraisals are happening and strategic sessions for the New Year occur, there’s a case to be made for the quick and easy, or portable and powerful route to leadership guidance. Here are three key reasons why it works and why you might want to reconsider how you coach, counsel, guide, develop and direct those you lead. We’ve all gone mobile What you think is their favorite Pandora station being piped into the headset on the crowded gym treadmills could actually be a podcast, an audio book on business or even a conference call! The world has gone mobile and with nearly every American in possession of a phone or electronic device that talks to them, leadership guidance is no exception to what needs to be transmitted over those airwaves. How can you make your message to the team one they can take with them? Maybe you record your words of wisdom and send them a weekly audio file? Maybe you give them guidance on a recorded conference bridge and encourage them to listen to it again? We’ve all developed a short attention span With meaningful messages in as short as a super bowl ad and Twitter as a widely used medium, we’ve grown accustomed to needing to “get it” in under 30 seconds or 140 characters or less. As well, my editors have always reminded me to “take the time to be succinct”. That means that while you may WANT to pontificate for days on how someone could do better, the reality is they want you to get to the point. Nicely, of course. How can you chunk your message into a tweetable size? How can you make it memorable? Do you have an acronym that covers all of your leadership expectations? Hmmmmmm… mine has always been E.F. H…or short for EF Hutton if you remember blast from the past… but more on that another time. We’re accustomed to “Drive-bys” Okay, so that just doesn’t sound right, but think about it. Combined with the ever increasing speed of information and the reduction of long meetings for meetings’ sake, we’ve all gotten used to information being shot at us out of a verbal cannon at a rapid rate of speed. We’re then expected to take it in, process quickly, and move toward action. How can you implement the concept of “drive by coaching”? Mind you, you want to leave your recipient still standing, but with a meaningful message. Maybe there’s a Monday morning quick huddle that would do the trick. You can share your message, or word of the week, or weekly goal or motivation… once… and then everyone is on the same page. Just make sure your “Drive by” has a more positive spin than the connotation. Take the time this week to enjoy some portable powerful leadership guidance of your own with these new ideas and maybe even downloading the Monday Moments by Monica podcast on iTunes. See, even we’ve gone mobile! I’m Monica Wofford, and that’s your Monday Moment. Have a great Monday, an even better week and of course, stay contagious!
