LaTasha Dandy

Happy #thinkaboutitthursday A friend of mine shared a quote with me from his grandfather that I thought was pretty cool: “It's what you learn after you know it all that counts." I think these words capture the essence of continuous learning, emphasizing the importance of humility, growth, and adaptability that we can all grow from: ❤️ Embrace Humility: The notion of "knowing it all" often leads to complacency and stagnation. When we believe we've reached the pinnacle of knowledge, we close ourselves off to new ideas, perspectives, and opportunities for growth. However, true wisdom lies in acknowledging that there is always more to learn. Embracing humility allows us to approach life with an open mind, ready to absorb insights from diverse sources and experiences. It enables us to recognize our limitations and seek continuous improvement, fostering personal and professional development. By humbly accepting that we are perpetual students of life, we unlock the door to endless possibilities and discoveries. 🐈 Cultivate Curiosity: Curiosity is the driving force behind lifelong learning. It fuels our desire to explore, question, and understand the world around us. As we venture beyond the boundaries of our existing knowledge, we uncover new truths, challenge assumptions, and expand our intellectual horizons. Cultivating curiosity encourages us to ask "why" and "how," igniting a sense of wonder and discovery. Whether it's delving into a new subject, experimenting with unfamiliar concepts, or engaging in thought-provoking conversations, curiosity propels us forward on the path of growth. 🌱 Embrace Failure as a Catalyst for Growth: Failure is not the end but rather a stepping stone towards greater success. When we believe we know it all, we often shy away from taking risks or venturing outside our comfort zones. However, failure is an inevitable part of the learning process—one that provides invaluable lessons and insights. Each setback offers an opportunity for reflection, adaptation, and growth. By embracing failure as a catalyst for growth, we cultivate resilience, perseverance, and a growth mindset. Instead of fearing failure, we view it as a natural and necessary component of our journey towards mastery. "It's what you learn after you know it all that counts" serves as a nice reminder of the power of continuous learning. By embracing humility, cultivating curiosity, and embracing failure as a catalyst for growth, we unlock the door to infinite possibilities for continuous growth. So, let’s embrace the pursuit of knowledge with open hearts and minds, for it is in the pursuit of learning that we find true fulfillment in life.

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This morning, I'm addressing a topic that many people tend to overlook, hoping it will simply disappear. One of the most challenging scenarios within any organization is navigating conflicting visions from two bosses while still expecting your team to be onboard. So, what's the next step? Well, I'm not suggesting you ignore them and do whatever you please (just kidding). Let's delve into the specific challenges you and your team may face: 1. Feeling overwhelmed with tasks 2. Uncertainty about expectations 3. Mixed or contradictory messages To tackle this obstacle effectively, I recommend the following steps: 1. Reinforce the organization's overarching vision. 2. Open lines of communication: Schedule meetings with both bosses to discuss concerns. 3. Establish clear boundaries to manage expectations and responsibilities. If you're currently grappling with this situation, I wish you the best. Feel free to share your experiences and how you've navigated similar challenges in the past.

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You’re a leader that works hard all week, meeting to meeting, no white space in the calendar.. How do you know you’re headed the right way? You have to take time to breath Find that 10000 foot vantage point, look where you’re headed Reflect on where you’ve been, plan the route in front of you. Every week my wife and I lean over a paper calendar and plan the months ahead, it works for us. We take similar approaches with teams we lead. How do you show your team the way? #leadership #skiday #planning

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Check out this slide on #leadership and #culturechange that my colleague Mark Hoffman, CBCP, MBCI and I created for our #DRJ Spring presentation this year. It's my favorite slide yet! The slide shows a simple way to change culture through individual daily actions. Whether we realize it or not, we all contribute to shaping the culture of our workplace. So let's do it intentionally! It's not just about how we do the work, it's about who we are when we do the work. Let's create a positive culture together. #culture #empower

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Today, I read a post by Amy Miller, and shared an incredible story of personal growth and professional development. Keep reading to find out about it. In this hero origin story, Amy shared how she experienced personal growth by choosing not to comment on a post someone made on a topic that they have no level of expertise in. Instead of engaging, she chose to go pet puppies. This is the adult thing to do. 👏 I haven't reached Amy's level of adulthood yet. So this is my plea. Writing soliloquies on LinkedIn professing about how terrible recruiting processes are, how the ATS is killing your shot at a job, fake job posts, the hidden job market, etc., I want you think of the trees that you are harming. Recruiters are friends, not food. There are countless absolute GOAT recruiters out here posting relevant and knowledgeable content for FREE. Please follow them, not someone who applied to a job once and now says they're a job coach or ATS wizard. #recruiterlife #oxygen #tedtalk

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Lean Community: On the first Wednesday of each month, the #ICelebrateYou hashtag is simply a way to express gratitude and showcase people who have contributed to your personal or professional growth. My theme for July is WORKFORCE INCLUSION and these Leaders have exponentially strengthened workforces by removing barriers to entry in some unique way. Laura Becker Who: President of Procter & Gamble, Global Business Services (retiring) What: Collectively, neurodivergent people make up about 15-20% of the total population, but despite their talents, research has shown they often face significant obstacles to employment and economic mobility. This waste of human potential costs the US economy billions in lost productivity and innovation. How: Partnering with Ernst & Young and other leading organizations to help evolve recruitment, hiring and onboarding through Neurodiversity Community Accelerator efforts. P&G now has neurodivergent employees working globally in areas such as digital support, product supply planning, payables, lab testing and engineering with data-driven benefits. Dennis Dio Parker Who: Regional Talent Development Leader at Toyota and Founder of the FAME Career Pathway (now under The National Association of Manufacturers). What: To overcome traditional, organizational challenges preventing better outcomes relating to Safety, Quality, Productivity, Cost and People Development within a Culture founded on “Respect for People”. How: Creating an intentional learning and development strategy and Human Resource Development infrastructure within Toyota which produced an apprenticeship training program called The Advanced Manufacturing Technician (AMT) program, today known as FAME USA. It has a proven track record of success. John Stepper Who: Creator of the social learning method called “Working Out Loud®” which is founded on five elements of Relationships, Generosity, Visible Work, Purposeful Discovery and Growth Mindset. What: Recognition of the enormous waste relating to the achievement of personal or professional goals due to structural barriers or breakdowns in interpersonal connection all resulting in low self-determination and engagement. How: Peer support groups meeting once a week over the course of 12 weeks to build sustainable habits. Exploding in German organizations such as Bosch and Siemens, this method is changing the DNA organically within companies to restore community, boost innovation and deliver better business results. I cannot thank each of you enough for your lifetime commitment to bringing fulfillment into peoples' lives. #ICelebrateYou

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I dread the hard conversations… They come with much uncertainty, emotion, and so many times a level or uncertainty. I would always rather much see people smile, see them excited. I used to avoid the hard conversations but it led to more difficult situations, eroded at standards, and didn’t meet my teams expectations So I had to change My team wanted me to hold people accountable. My team wanted constructive feedback. My team wanted to understand all of the expectations and it started with defining them but continued with course corrections. So here is what I did: 1. I clearly defined my expectations, expectations came with a “why”. 2. I used my senior leaders as a team to identify when we needed to have conversations. They gave input on the approach. 3. I planned out the hard conversations to include how my expectations weren’t met. I tied it back to previously communicated expectations. 4. I always came with a path forward to keep the conversation constructive. I’m most cases it made hard conversations easier. Responses were engaging and based in trust rather than defensive in nature. The frequency of conversations decreased, the team respected the expectatuons. Tell me how you approach difficult conversations. #standards #leadership #leaders #expectations

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Helpful hint: I was reviewing a company’s PowerPoint presentation who said they submitted a supplier profile. I went to review said profile, but I could not find it. They referenced their company’s name in the presentation in three different types of abbreviations. Nowhere did they state their full company’s name that was on the profile. Remember, I don’t know your company. If you want to do business with me, make sure your profile and your presentations and your Sam registration all coordinate. There is nothing small about small business!!

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👨🏼‍💻Burnout is an individualized event. An entire team may be going through the same issue, but some may feel extreme burnout, and others may have no effects. Either way, the signs will be different for all team members and should be handled with the same seriousness regardless of the level of burnout. The Program Manager should work to develop a strong relationship with their team and their own self to recognize the signs. Open lines of communication with each team member will also assist with the prevention. 🧩Please repost, follow me, and subscribe to my Piecing Together Project Management newsletter at rtomsaxton.substack.com #PiecingTogetherProjectManagement

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👨🏼‍💻Being in the present as a project manager will: Teach you that you can be both a project manager and an involved parent, spouse, and family member. Emphasize what is truly important in your life today, not tomorrow. Eliminate a degree of burnout you may not even recognize.

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Traveling this week to facilitate a workshop on leading with emotional intelligence with our San Diego facility. 🌟 In today's dynamic work environment, effective leadership requires more than just technical skills. Emotional intelligence is crucial for fostering strong relationships, making informed decisions, and creating a positive organizational culture. Looking forward to connecting with leaders committed to personal growth and organizational excellence. Let’s unlock the power of emotional intelligence together! #Leadership #EmotionalIntelligence #ProfessionalDevelopment #SanDiego #Workshop #LeadershipDevelopment

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To Complete The Journey You Have To Take The First Step #quoteoftheday #hizandherzpespective #brownlegacyenterprises Attaya Reed-Brown, MBA, CSM, Lean Six Sigma

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Exciting update for my LinkedIn network! I've just earned a new certification in Managing the Organization from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Equipped with valuable skills, I'm eager to apply them to enhance organizational efficiency and effectiveness. #certification #management #professionaldevelopment

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Celebrating wins of those you serve is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a servant leader. It's a testament to their commitment to excellence and growth mindset. Recently, one of the rising leaders in my organization achieved a truly MASSIVE win. I think I was more excited about it than he was! We've had some very rewarding one-on-one mentoring sessions, and I truly believe the sky is the limit for him. As a servant leader, putting others before self is key to building culture and community, and achieving incredible things with your team. This was a magical moment, and hopefully one of many to come, for him and for my team. #servantleadership #teamwork #leadershipdevelopment

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I have been focused on resumes a lot lately. I am working toward updating mine for a level promotion I will be going toward at work. But my mentee is also looking to switch careers and we have been focusing on her resume. Then today I will be looking at intern resumes to give them feedback and advice. I was thinking about what advice I would give to someone in 15 mins? That’s the time I have with the person. What I came too was close your interview. It’s not the resume advice people would expect. And I’m not even sure I could relate it directly to the resume in a way that is a one liner. I do know that when you are looking at a new opportunity you need to sell yourself. You need to know your value and how it relates to that person and company. What are they looking for? What do you have that fulfils their need? And does that fall inside your strengths and what you want to do? What I told my mentee was that at the end of an interview you’ll get a chance to ask questions. Before you finish give them a little something that lingers. Tell them something about yourself that they didn’t ask but would make you valuable to their team or the position. Even something as bold as I bring “this” to the role and would be a value add to your team. It’s direct and very clear. (disclaimer that this works only in direct cultures) Job descriptions can be hard to read the unsaid things. Sometimes you need to understand that undercurrent of what is REALLY valuable at a job that might not show up there. I think of critical thinking, the fact that I can research and figure it out, that I don’t need someone over me to guide me, and that I have a sense of strategy with the big picture that sets me apart from others. I know that a company can train me on their systems and culture. What they won’t need to train me on is my communication skills, project management, understanding of working a team to deliver a project, and many other things. So, my advice on a resume would be to sprinkle that je nais se quois into your resume. You are selling your value the moment your name is list on your resume. What do you want them to know about you that makes you perfect for that position? Tell me. . . what sets you apart from the others? What do you bring to the table? Or what advice do you give about resumes?

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All Things Small Business podcast episode 11 is now available. I discuss the new DAU Small Business Professional (SBP) course, SBP 2020V Intermediate Small Business Programs, Part B. The course replaced DAU courses SBP 102V and SBP 202V which are now retired. The course will be one of the requirements in the new SBP Credential (CSBP 001A) that will be available for enrollment by the end of September 2024. This Virtual Instructor-Led (VILT) course prepares SBPs to work effectively with Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition teams throughout the acquisition lifecycle. Students demonstrate their comprehension of concepts introduced in Part A by completing a series of activities typical of what they will do on the job, including: -Devising a market research strategy -Developing a supported, justified acquisition strategy based on the market research -Contributing to solicitation documents and support developing evaluation criteria to maximize small business participation -Evaluating small business elements of a proposal -Reviewing subcontracting plans -Creating a post-award briefing As a capstone to the course, students develop a small business acquisition strategy recommendation for presentation to the acquisition team. This course is restricted to DoD government civilian and military students only. To learn more about the course visit the DAU iCatalog at https://lnkd.in/eMm3ndjX. Listen and learn. The podcast is available at the following links: DAU Media - https://lnkd.in/e4ans7Np YouTube - https://lnkd.in/eUx6wntR Renee Reynolds, Ph.D. Please be a champion of this podcast. Let me know what you think by providing feedback and/or "liking" the episode.

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The countdown begins! For all of my retired folks out there, any tips/info you think value drop a comment!

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