December thoughts from Dr. Nathanson

I am pleased to see that my work in the areas of human resources, humanistic leadership and joyful work are starting to get applied in organizations and honored by this award from the North Bay Business Journal. 

Humanistic leaders are creative.

When leading ourselves and others, we learn how to be creative. Creativity is learning to think from new perspectives. As a leader, it is essential to re-frame challenges and look at them through new lenses.

The more creative practice, the more wisdom is acquired, an essential attribute for leadership.
Creativity is just the first step; the second is innovation or implementation of the creative idea. Implementation occurs with planning, courage, risk-taking, and confidence, which are essential attributes for a leader.

The Holiday season is a good time for reflection.

The holiday season is an excellent time to reflect on your life, plans, and progress toward your most important goals.

Examining your values and measuring if your daily behaviors ALIGN with your values is a healthy exercise.

It is also good to measure if you progress toward goals that align with your values.
The holiday season is also a good time for you to live in the moment and take CARE of yourself and those you care about. The holiday season is a good time of year to be OPEN to new perspectives, DISCARD old judgments that no longer serve a purpose, and examine your habits to see if they need CHANGING.

The holiday season is a good time of year to be grateful for what you have and REFLECT on your journey to ensure you are still traveling in the RIGHT direction.

Feedback at work

Adults do better with feedback when they ask for it, as they are ready to receive it.
Adults do best when feedback is informal, frequent, positive, forward-looking, and not written down. Adults do worse when evaluation is given infrequently, written down, backward-looking, and linked to merit or punishment. Adults especially get defensive when an assessment about them gets written down.

The humanistic leader no longer uses antiquated processes for measuring and evaluating people.

The humanistic leader works with people to lead them well in collaborative ways in partnership and harmony.

Dr. Craig Nathanson

Educator, Author, Speaker, and leadership coach.