How to Increase the Grit in Your Organization

Grit is the ability to stick with something over time until you’ve accomplished your goal, met your challenge, or mastered your skill. What causes one manager to decide to quit for an “easier job,” while another battles setback after setback and through it all keeps asking for more support to improve her leadership skills? It’s all about grit, and organizations can take steps to build it in their people.

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Can I Teach Someone how to Be a Leader?

A colleague expressed it well: she knew how to teach technical tasks, like how to add a user account, but she doesn’t believe it’s possible to teach soft, squishy skills, like how to lead. As the creator and facilitator of our leadership development program, Gillespie Nimble, I’m going to shock you and say that I agree 100%.

And that’s why I’m a facilitator, not a teacher or instructor.

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Chronic Body Odor and Communication

Talking costs nothing, doesn’t trigger sensitivities to fragrance, and could actually solve the problem, instead of coating it in floral scent. However, it’s a lot harder to raise a sensitive issue than it is to spray an air freshener. As a new or seasoned manager, you’re going to face lots of difficult conversations. So, how do you address sensitive and difficult conversations with your direct reports? Let’s look at the technique we explore in Gillespie Nimble.

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Gaps in First-Time Manager Training

There are an incredible number of demands on the adult worker today. These demands leave only about 1% of a typical workweek available for training and development—that’s about 25 minutes a week! Some of the fault rests with the technology that’s supposed to make life easier. It also makes us more available to an overload of demands and responsibilities.

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