Branches & Roots V4:E3, Your Humble Mo

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Your Humble Momentum (Mo)

Leaders drive the key initiatives in their own lives as well as those entrusted to their care. This past Friday marked the end of the first quarter of 2017, and if you put your ear to the ground you can hear the wheels of commerce spinning at high speeds.  Ending Q1 with some momentum is a big deal.  How was your Q1? Did you nail it? We hope you did, and are going to focus on how to keep your momentum going in this edition of Branches & Roots. 

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Momentum's Recipe

Way back in 2013 we released a golf story about momentum, and have been students of the discipline ever since. Our recipe includes three targets with three correlating hazards. 

•    At the start, present yourself humbly before your task, and be mindful that expectation is not your friend.  
•    Treat ups and downs with a similar hand, and don’t let your mind drift ahead while in the middle of your race. 
•    As the crescendo builds, pursue your best performance for the performance’s sake, and allow the darts of the wicked and your own doubts fall upon a tin ear. 

Thinking about 2017, we are entering the middle of longer days and rotating schedules, while people balance the tasks of progress and accomplishment with the escapes that allow for silence and reflection. A hard winter is capital's friend, while summer provides a pleasant distraction.  

The past six months we have posted a daily image in five leadership theaters to build out a micro-brand by the name of The Team Leader Club. The genesis of the club came from a client who wanted to offer her team a daily boost of leadership encouragement. Everyone is a member of the TLC, and it reinforces that we are all leaders in different settings, and that each situation often requires a different style of leadership. To keep your momentum going for 2017 we offer three images that hopefully will help you as you lead yourself, your family, and your work team. 

If things are not going the way you want them, or you are looking to change things up a bit, consider a ten-day micro sprint where you re-prioritize things to make one task or issue number one for you and the team. This process allows other issues to rise to the surface, and it can potentially lead to flushing out a buried conflict that is distracting your team. Charles Duigg writes about this in his best-selling book The Power of Habit. Read a few pages in the preview to start changing up habits. 

If you have a method or recipe for team momentum we would love to hear from you. Thanks and have a great next 45 days.  Keep the Mo going!

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Banyan Book Store

We have recommended a lot of books over the years in our newsletter, and are frequently asked about ones to read on a variety of subjects.  If you would like to browse the selection of books reviewed or discussed in Branches & Roots, check out our virtual library.