Leadership, Culture, People
Matthew Harrington
A Leadership Recipe for the Holidays

Good food is all about timing, intention, and a willingness to experiment. Leadership is no different. So, this holiday, let’s take a detour from boring leadership jargon and straight into the heart of the kitchen—a place where raw ingredients transform into something magic. Great leadership, like great food, can feed the soul. Here are the essential ingredients for the perfect leadership dish.

A Leadership Recipe for the Holidays
Leadership, Culture, People
Matthew Harrington
The Shifting Dynamics of Work: Remote, Hybrid, ...

Remote and hybrid work models have reshaped the workplace, with high-performing leaders often excelling due to their autonomy, discipline, and results-oriented approach, while lower-performing employees may struggle without direct supervision. Research, such as the Stanford University study, highlights the benefits of hybrid work, particularly in enhancing productivity and retention, though challenges arise when remote work is poorly managed. The future of work requires organizations to balance flexibility and accountability, fostering environments that empower diverse employees and adapt to changing expectations.

The Shifting Dynamics of Work: Remote, Hybrid, and the Leadership Question
Leadership, Culture
Matthew Harrington
Strategic Planning Season: The Importance of ...

This post explores the critical role of strategic planning and visioning in helping organizations navigate uncertainty and long-term challenges. It emphasizes the importance of staying at a strategic level, resisting the pull toward immediate tactical fixes, and focusing on the pillars that drive success: leadership, innovation, operations, and customer focus. With actionable steps and insights, it provides a framework for crafting meaningful, future-oriented plans that transform strategic dreams into achievable realities.

Strategic Planning Season: The Importance of Vision in Uncertain Times
Leadership, Culture
Matthew Harrington
The Overlap of Conflict, Vulnerability, Trust, ...

True innovation exists at the intersection of trust, vulnerability, and constructive conflict. As leaders, our role is to create the conditions for innovation to thrive. That means checking our egos, fostering trust, and modeling vulnerability. It means leaning into conflict, embracing discomfort, and having the courage to confront the most brutal facts of our current reality.

The Overlap of Conflict, Vulnerability, Trust, and Innovation
Leadership, Culture
Matthew Harrington
Putting Values Into Action: The Cornerstone of ...

When teaching or coaching emerging leaders, one topic I push hard on is values. Values refer to the fundamental beliefs and guiding principles that define what an individual, organization, or community stands for. These principles act as a moral and operational compass, influencing behavior, decision-making, and culture.  They are part of the magic three: mission, vision and values.

Putting Values Into Action: The Cornerstone of Leadership

Leadership

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The Power of Building Good Habits

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The Power of Building Good Habits

As leaders there's always one behavior or another we're trying to shape or change in others.  What about the chronic latecomer, the constant complainer and the time management challenged? We attempt to give constructive feedback, help them set goals or focus on teamwork and continuous improvement.  Sometimes it clicks; sometimes it doesn’t. Do you know how much our habits actually impact our behavior choices (which is either what you’re trying to stop in others or grow in others), or how habits can by-pass our decision-making function?

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What Am I Looking For When I Build My Next Workplace Team?

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What Am I Looking For When I Build My Next Workplace Team?

Teaming can be this big word, especially if you’re new at it.  Really, it's just a group of people getting together working a problem, right?  As a new leader you may be called upon to form your next team, perhaps your first one?!  Here is where I would start if I were to build a very adaptable, high level, results-oriented team:

How do I make it so my meetings aren't a waste of time?

How do I make it so my meetings aren't a waste of time?

I know I’ve written about this recently, but it's an important topic.  Meetings are the game field. Meetings decide well...decisions! And who wins!  And how the team functions! Did you know: between 35-50% of meeting time is seen as wasted, most meetings start 8-12 minutes late, 75% say agendas are not prepared and distributed in advance, less than 30% of decisions in meetings are recorded, and over 40% of people don’t know the purpose of the meeting they’re attending.

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Using the CAMP Method of Motivation to Motivate and Retain Your Staff

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Using the CAMP Method of Motivation to Motivate and Retain Your Staff

This past week, wearing my other hat as chamber director for southwestern Vermont, I had the pleasure to present at the Vermont Tourism Summit in Burlington, Vermont. My topic was on “Building Your Brand With Local Talent.” Now, because of my job and my background, the presentation was heavy on marketing tactics.  However, I was able to weave in some of my other passion - motivating teams.


Right, makes sense!  With all the strategy and tools to get the marketing job done, we still have the fundamental challenge of human beings leading the charge.  We still need to make sure our staff, teammates or freelancers are happy. This is where I often weaved in our CAMP Method of Motivation.

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I’m losing focus on my goals a quarter of the way through the year! How do I get it back?

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I’m losing focus on my goals a quarter of the way through the year! How do I get it back?

Right around this time of year, I find that my immune system just gives out.  I had tried my hardest, forced as much sun-soaked vitamin D in our northeast summers, popped the multitude of good-for-you vitamins, washed my hands every time I could, alas I tend to get a cold during March or April.  I think this New England body just runs out of reserves.

Equally, it can seem that way at work, at the gym, working on projects.  We enter the new year with such gusto, however when we get past the first quarter of the year, the tyranny of the urgent can take our eyes off of the goal. We lose focus.

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5 Reasons Why Getting a Workplace Coach or Mentor is Your Next Big Move

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5 Reasons Why Getting a Workplace Coach or Mentor is Your Next Big Move

Results of a study conducted by Manchester, Inc. of 100 leaders primarily from Fortune 100 companies found that among the benefits that organizations received from providing coaching to leaders were improvements in productivity (reported by 53% of leaders), quality (48%), and organizational strength (48%).  Among the benefits to leaders who received coaching were improved working relationships with direct reports (reported by 77% of leaders), working relationships with immediate supervisors (71%), teamwork (67%).

Understanding Your Employees Competency and Commitment Levels Can Improve Behavior and Motivation

Understanding Your Employees Competency and Commitment Levels Can Improve Behavior and Motivation

There was a direct connection between a person’s commitment level and his/her confidence in his/her own ability to do his/her job. This is typically identified as competency.

Ken Blanchard speaks about Competence and Commitment (C&C) in his discussion around situational leadership; however, what is rarely discussed is the relationship between the two and the belief that competency is a driving factor for commitment.  Blanchard uses these two indicators to help identify an employee’s level of development, which is determined by the level of competency he/she has coupled with his/her level of commitment to the job or organization.

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Developing Best Business Practices During Chaotic Times.

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Developing Best Business Practices During Chaotic Times.

How do we find our way out of this tunnel of uncertainty and change, or at the very least, learn how to ride the rollercoaster while still continuing to develop business?  As Drucker points out, albeit simplistically, if you want to predict what’s ahead, your best bet is to create it. How do we go about creating a model that can handle the chaos of today, react when necessary, and attack with precision and purpose?  Here are some thoughts…

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I’m A New Manager! Help!

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I’m A New Manager! Help!

Many of those that have gone through one of my workshops know that I despise the word manager.  It’s too sterile and authoritarian. It doesn’t describe the actual purpose of the role. When you have entered the arena of manager (welcome!), you take on a new role.  You are no longer suppose to make the widgets, work in the weeds, mow the lawn! Yes, you doing so well at those jobs probably got you there, but it is important to know when you receive the title of manager, supervisor or coach, you are putting down your widget making ability and picking up the skillsets of guiding a team to success!