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Independent business blogs are blogs that aren't supported by an organization like a magazine, newspaper, company, or business school. Those people provide lots of great content, but they don't need any additional exposure. In this post, every week, I bring you posts of quality from excellent bloggers that don't get as much publicity.

This week, I'm pointing you to posts on roller derby lessons, patience, enjoying those around you, influence, and helping new managers transition.

From KnowHR: Everything I Need to Know About Business I Learned from Roller Derby
"Roller derby may seem like a crash-em, smash-em sport, but it is actually rather strategic.  The mechanics are simple: 1 jammer and 4 blockers for each team.  Jammers try to score points, blockers try to prevent the opposing jammer from scoring.  But the strategy and communication involved is paramount.  Taking a number of competitive people and wrangling them into a functioning team is as hard as it sounds, but worth the effort when your team turns into a well-oiled derby machine. From all of that, I’ve learned a number of things that apply equally well to business:"

Wally's Comment: I confess that I'm a sucker for pieces like this one. I love the way it draws important lessons from a surprising source.

From You're not the Boss of Me: Patience... Virtue And Discipline
"Patience.  It isn’t often included in the list of primary attributes we look for in leaders and yet to me, it is an underpinning of good leadership."

Wally's Comment: Americans are a go-go people. We move fast. We make decisions. We're action oriented. And we're the people of microwaves and fast food restaurants with express lanes. So, quick, why should we even care about patience? Read (don't just scan) this post.

From Mary Jo Asmus: 7 Ways to Enjoy Others at Work
"It may seem an odd thing to ask, but are you enjoying your employees, peers, clients, and manager at work? I have a feeling that if you are, your leadership and the work of your organization is effortless. Things are flowing as they should, there is some fun in the work you do, and your stakeholders are also enjoying each other (i.e. there isn’t the whining and complaining about each other that makes a workplace miserable)."

Wally's Comment: There's research that tells us that people with a friend at work are more likely to be engaged. And I'm convinced that laughter is a marker for a great working environment. Mary Jo Asmus gives you some practical ways to make your work place a better place for you.

From All Things Workplace: Want to Influence? Know the Norms
"Norms are rules that a group uses to define its appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. The catch: Those rules may be explicit or implicit. And those unspoken norms will bite you every time if you don't find out what they are."

Wally's Comment: What are the rules where you work? I'm not talking about the ones in those fat "Gotcha Books." No, I'm talking about the ones everybody knows even though no one talks about them much.

From Great Leadership: How to Onboard a New Manager
"We all know how important it is to provide new hire employees with a good onboarding experience. Proper onboarding helps improve ramp-up time, productivity, moral, and retention. However – what about onboarding a newly promoted manager? Unfortunately, a lot of companies probably don’t pay as much, if any, attention to this. The “onboarding” process is more of a coronation – “I now anoint you manager – good luck!” It doesn’t have to be that way. Stepping into a manager role for the first time isn’t just an extension of the same job with a new title – it’s a brand new job, and should be treated like one."

Wally's Comment: The transition from individual contributor to boss (someone responsible for group performance) is one of the most demanding anyone will face. Jobs, relationships, and support systems all change at once. This is a typically thorough and helpful Dan McCarthy post. He lays out things you should do and resources you can use.

For further reading, you may enjoy my post "Making the Move to Boss: Three Phases of Transition."

That's it for this week's selections from independent business blogs. If you liked this piece you may enjoy my regular post on "Leadership Reading to Start Your Week" which features five choice articles from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms. The last issue had pointers to articles about the global market for football (soccer) talent, Disney among the Chinese, women in sports and on the job, growing up in a complex world, and the financial regulatory reform bill.

And be sure to check out Weekly Leader where I'll try to get you thinking about The Question of the Week.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.