Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog

Working Supervisor's Support Kit A collection of tools and information that will help you do a better job as a boss.

Contact Wally  about coaching, consulting, or speaking to your group.

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 Dan McCarthy's virtually free leadership development plan, taking a vacation, letting team members solve their own problems, high performance organizations, and the 4 to 1 rule.

From Dan McCarthy: Free Leadership Development Program: Becoming a Great Leader
"What if I created a leadership development program that anyone with $100 and a good dose of initiative could complete on their own? So here it is, my first draft. It turned out to be more of a project than I thought it would be, taking up a good part of a rainy Sunday morning in New England and hours of follow-up refinement. Your feedback is welcomed, including pointing out typos, which I am sure there are many."

Wally's Comment: Dan McCarthy is my go-to guy for all things leadership development and this post is an excellent example of why. I believe that "Becoming a Great Leader is Up to You " and the series of posts I did under that title last year pointed to many of Dan's posts. Now Dan has put together a program that you can pursue. It will cost you about $100 for the books he suggests that you read. That's a tiny investment that should pay huge dividends. .

From Tanveer Naseer: 4 Reasons Why Your Boss Should Take A Vacation
"For many leaders, the idea of forgoing their vacation would appear to be ‘the right thing to do’ in order to show solidarity and understanding for the growing pressures/demands faced by those they lead. Indeed, the apparent rise in criticism being directed towards leaders – both in the public and private sectors – who do elect to take some time off work would appear to reinforce the thinking that it’s better to stay on the job and to keep pressing ahead until better times return once again. While this might make all parties feel better through reinforcing the notion that we’re all in this together, the reality is that such decisions are actually more harmful than beneficial for your organization and your employees. If you’re thinking of skipping out on taking time off from work this summer, here are four reasons why should reconsider this in terms of how this decision might impact your team and their future effectiveness."

Wally's Comment: I wish Tanveer had titled this post, "Why you should take a vacation if you're the boss," but whatever the title, this is a great review of reasons why you and your team will benefit from your vacation.

From Andy Klein: Why managers rob their people and business of growth opportunities
"Taking on employees' problems is problematic for a couple of reasons: First, it affords managers less time to fulfill their own job demands, such as managing higher-level activities and solving their boss' problems (which is where they really should be spending their time). Second – and most critically to our topic at hand – it deprives employees of development opportunities that managers should encourage them to experience if they're to build that entity that can function without them. Plus, if a manager isn't letting their people solve their own problems, what exactly are they paying them to do?!?"

Wally's Comment: Andy Klein notes that your team members won't grow if you handle all the hard parts for them. So quit meddling, step back, and let them work.

From Jesse Lyn Stoner: Four Views in High Performance Organizations
"In our studies of high performance organizations, (organizations that sustain high levels of productivity, profitability and employee satisfaction over time), my colleagues and I found that although these organizations have their own unique and distinct culture, four views are widely held in all."

Wally's Comment: Jesse Lyn Stoner reviews what she and colleagues found when they looked at the research on high performing organizations.

From Dan Rockwell: The 4 to 1 Rule Will Change Your Life
"July 2, 2011 I decided to adopt the 4 to 1 rule. I challenge you to do the same. Every negative comment requires four positive comments. I know what some of you are thinking; that’s impossible. Let me clarify. Make as many negative comments as you like. The challenge is following every negative with four positives."

Wally's Comment: Dan Rockwell suggests that you will flourish if you maintain a ratio of 4 positive comments for every negative comment. There's some good science underlying that suggestion, especially studies by Dr. Marcial Losada. For more on his work read "Want to Flourish? Stay in the Zone" and "Work Teams and the Losada Line: New Results ."

Carnivals and Such

The Leadership Development Carnival at Great Leadership

From John Hunter: Management Improvement Carnival #135

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 innovating your business model, numbers and strategy, dispersed workers, job jugglers, and influencing culture.

How I Select Posts for this Midweek Review

The five posts I select to share in my Midweek Review of the Independent Business Blogs are picked from a regular review of about sixty blogs I check daily and an additional twenty-five or so that I check occasionally. Here's how I select the posts you see in this review.

They must be published within the previous week.

They must support the purpose of the blog: to help leaders at all levels do a better job and lead a better life.

They must be from an independent business blog.

As a general rule, I only select posts that stand on their own, no selections from a series.

I reserve the right to make exceptions to the above.

Here, on Three Star Leadership, I post things that will help a boss at any level do better and live a better life. At Results vs Activities, I join other bloggers with posts on talent development. My blog at the Toolbox for HR is People and the Changing Workplace .

If you're a boss, you should check out my Working Supervisor's Support Kit.

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.