Deanna Doss Shrodes

“Avoid meetings, if you can…they are a waste of time.”  I’ve heard some prominent leaders say this. Some people are part of the school of thought that meetings have little value, failing to produce anything significant. My experience with meetings is that they are a key factor of success over my years of leadership. My pattern as a leader has always been to clearly establish a purpose for meetings and make sure initiatives are developed before we adjourn. Then, I inspect what I expect over the coming weeks and months. When I became leader of the current team I serve with, it became clear we would need some new guidelines to have successful meetings and make the reaching of our goals a reality.   I was thankful when Joy Conley, one of our team members, shared the idea of  "Group Norms" with us. Group Norms are the four rules of every meeting that Joy utilizes in her teacher meetings at the public school where she serves a teacher trainer. We tried Group Norms and...

Have you ever been afraid that you wouldn't accomplish your life's dream by the time  you die?  I read 1,000 Places to See Before You Die and all I could think of while reading it was, "If I race around to see all these places I won't have time to achieve my dream."   A few weeks ago I told Larry, "If I pass away before achieving my dream, please don't have a funeral." You think I'm kidding?  I was dead serious, pardon the pun. I said it would be an embarrassment for him to have a celebration of my life and have to admit to everyone that I never reached what I set out to do. At least two or three of my friends would probably show up and share a nice memory or two. Hopefully my kids would share more than the story about me substituting vanilla coffee creamer for milk in the recipe for homemade creamed corn two Thanksgivings ago. It was disgusting but I did it out of desperation since the stores were closed. I thought it would work since th...

Everyone wants something. I've noticed the majority of people are clueless about how to get help. And some, when instructed, will insist on continuing to do things their own way which does them no favors. If you want to receive someone's attention, and ultimately their favor -- communicate with them in the manner that they best receive requests. There are no guarantees, but success is much more likely.  A previous boss loved texts. If I wanted their attention and response I could text immediately and they promptly responded.  I hate texts. If someone texts me, I groan. I answer in as few words as possible. And, I normally check my texts once or twice a day...not all day. But if I'm dealing with someone who prefers texts and I need something, I know I need to make a personal adjustment. Because I'm the one asking. I am easy to reach through e-mails, Facebook messages, etc. This would be my number one method of communication where I really flow in helping peo...

I ponder the subject of success all the time. Probably too much. I'm intrigued by it. Curious about what works and what doesn't. After a lot of observation, I've concluded that initiative is one of the most important ingredients to success. In my book, JUGGLE , I talk about the importance of having an initiative list. I believe successful people are not only clear on their initiatives, they take initiative to get them done. They don't wait around for other people. I've been coaching for a while and it's interesting to me that when I formulate agreements with clients, they will agree to pretty much anything but then look to me for what I'm going to do next.  It's never about what the coach is going to do next. It's about what you're going to do once you and the coach have agreed upon  plan. People that keep waiting for the coach fail. People who take initiative succeed. Initiative is really, really important.

If you want to stand out, simply keep your word. Apparently it's not quite that simple. By all indications this is a really hard thing to do since so many people don't do it. Which means if you do keep your word, you are a hot commodity! Over the last 25 years time I've had considerable experience mentoring others. I also am in connection with lots of other leaders who are involved in the same thing. What's surprising to many of us is how rare word-keeping is. Who would have ever thought that people would be amazing simply for showing up?  That's pretty mind boggling to think about...that just being present would be all one would have to do to stand out above the rest. But it's true! If I'm helping someone who happens to be looking for a job and I notice they keep their word, I always find ways to include this on their resume and underscore the importance of communicating this aspect of their character in an interview. Keeping your word is so r...

 "Definition of overnight success---Endless nights, early morning, long weekends, books, mentors, working when no else tells you to or watching, failing more times than you succeed, wanting to quit over and over, yet not doing it and working toward continuous improvement.   I am an overnight success."  ~  Keith Frein