Watch your Head!

If you’ve ever been on a ranch, you’ve probably seen a cattle panel (check out the picture above). Not something you want to run into, especially head first.  That’s what I did recently when there were several panels in the bed of my husband’s truck, at just my height.  I jumped out of my side of the truck and was headed around the back when, bam!  A sharp corner of the panel banged my forehead and jammed into my sunglasses.  I was lucky that I only ended up with a few scrapes and bruises.

Although you may assume that I’m generally clumsy (no comment), I would tell you that this happened because:

• I was looking at the ground
• I forgot the panel was there
• I was in a hurry

After I had some time to reflect on my good fortune, I asked myself if there were any lessons to be learned that might apply to my work with leaders and teams, such as:

• Are we missing a signal that we aren’t communicating effectively with someone because we aren’t looking for it?
• Are we failing to change a non-productive behavior because we forget about the negative impact it has?
• Have we overlooked an opportunity to create an effective team environment because we are in a hurry to get results?

I invite you to raise your head and look around at the things you may be missing that could derail your or your team.  If you need someone to help you figure out how to avoid the bumps and bruises, contact me cheryl@csbryan.com