Do your homework

If you’re worried that after school programs won’t keep your child after designated time, check out all of your possible resources. Parents these days work one, sometimes two jobs and need support of their community. You might be surprised to know that while most after school programs run until 5:30 or 6:00 PM, several programs offer an extended after school program that lasts until 9:00 or 10:00 PM. Most days you’re probably not going to be anywhere near that late. However, it would be nice to know that if you have a late night at work, your child will be taken care of.

Do it for your children

Whether you’ve got a large family or you’re a single parent with one or two children, holding down a successful career is a great example for your child(ren). The last thing you want to do is send message that you can’t have a family if you want to have a career.

Even if you’re a single parent who’s been out of work for a substantial amount of time, you can still make a comeback in your professional life. Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t balance a great job with a great family. It may take some getting used to, but you can have life you want.

The Leader's Fallacy is an obstacle to critical confluence. Don't think Critical Confluence will happen automatically. Know instead that you must work hard to achieve it.

After all, you yourself must be motivated about those challenges. If you're not motivated, you shouldn't be leading. But your motivation is irrelevant simply because it's a given.

Here's what's relevant: Can you transfer your motivation to people so they are as motivated as you are? And can you translate their motivation into action that achieves results?

Everyone has major needs that shape their thinking and their actions day in and day out. If you want those people to take ardent action for you, you must provide solutions to problems of those needs so action you have them take brings them closer to realizing those solutions.

By way, critical confluence is not "win/win". It's much deeper and richer. Unlike "win/win", critical confluence is an on-going relationship process from which flow mutually beneficial expectations and solutions.

Here are three steps you can take to help make a critical confluence happen.

(1) Understand their needs.

(2) Turn their needs into problems.

(3) Have their commitment to your cause be a solution to their problems.

To get best out of people, we must embrace best in them. Whenever you need to lead people to tackle important challenges, recall Leader's Fallacy. Know that their commitment to your cause doesn't come automatically. You have to earn it by embracing best of who they are. When you take trouble to build a critical convergence, you'll see a significant jump in results you have others achieve.

2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.