Author spotlight

Debbie Collard

Debbie Collard has 30+ years of leadership experience. She served on the National Baldrige Foundation Board of Directors for 15 years, including as the first female Chair of the Board. She is an iPEC- and ICF-Certified Professional Coach and co-author of The Making of a World- Class Organization, a practical guide for leaders to engage employees and increase profitability. debbiecollard.com

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Debbie Collard

Feeling Overwhelmed? This simple process can shift your perspective

The feeling of being overwhelmed can happen to any of us. It doesn’t matter what your “job” or role is, or what “level” you are in an organization. You can find yourself feeling overwhelmed and helpless to do anything about it. Leaders can feel especially overwhelmed because they often have added demands on their time from bosses, peers and employees.

Abundance Versus Scarcity – How Do You Roll?

I often work with leaders with a win-lose mindset. They feel they must win, or they lose and someone else wins. This win-lose scenario is a scarcity mindset. With a scarcity mindset it’s difficult to see opportunities.

Fuzzy Socks and Other Favorite Things on Your Leadership List

I hear from clients all the time that they want to solve a problem, but they resist potential new approaches because they have “tried that on other projects and it didn’t work.” A solution to this dilemma is rethinking our approach to “favorite things.”

Keeping Commitments – An Attribute of Positive Leaders

Promises made – promises kept is a core value of mine. However, this value is a challenging one to keep. Have you ever made a commitment or a promise to do something, and then not done it?

Leadership Success Tactic: Tracking Accomplishments

Sometimes, we get so busy that we forget to celebrate what we’ve accomplished. Instead, we just look to the next hill we need to climb or task we need to finish. However, taking the time to reflect on what we have achieved can help us recognize and repeat the things that created success, and note places we can improve for future efforts.

How to Make Better Leadership Decisions: Procrastinating with Purpose

Leaders often fall into the trap of prioritizing action – any action – over procrastination. Deadlines loom and as the leader people look to you to be swift, decisive and powerful. All this pressure can lead to a rushed decision. It is worth the reminder that there are times when procrastination can result in a better outcome.

Recharge your Leadership Batteries

When we as leaders take care of ourselves, we are better able to lead and take care of our teams because we have so much more energy. We also get the chance to let others shine while setting a great example for others to follow, helping them learn the importance of setting boundaries and taking time off.

Stuck on Stress Mode? Reframe and Cultivate Resilience

Leaders often tell me that they are overwhelmed and that there is so much to do that they could never possibly do it all. My clients talk about higher expectations and more demands being made on them. These feelings are increasing their stress levels. But you can take control; by reframing stress and cultivating resilience we all have the power to lead better lives and be better leaders.

Excellent Leaders Need Sleep

Being armed with the knowledge about what part of the day you are most productive is helpful because it enables you to schedule tasks that require brainpower for your preferred time of the day, when your brain is fired up and ready to perform.