Blog

Leading Your People Along the Journey

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

I’ve always had a philosophy of “meeting my clients where they’re at”. While I may see tremendous potential in taking a different approach, we will not be successful working together if I force my ways upon them when they may not be ready. More than that, I may be wrong. Yes, I said it… WRONG! Just because I have seen something be successful in other organizations doesn’t mean that I have the intimate knowledge of the inner workings of this current organization such that I know what is best for my client at this particular time.

Leading Your People Along the Journey

Sure, my clients hire me and Plus Delta Consulting as a firm because we bring a certain expertise to the table. That expertise in isolation could be worthless though, maybe even devastating, if applied unilaterally. That expertise matched with the intimate knowledge of our internal client counterparts, however, is like a match made in heaven!

Read more ›

Posted in Coaching, Consultants, Facilitator, Guide, Journey, Leader, Leadership, Learning, Partnership

Falling Down and Getting Back on Your Bike Again

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

For the holidays, I bought both my children and myself bicycles as presents. It seemed like a great idea at the time, not only because they’d both been asking for awhile but also because it created a great family activity for all of us – including my 10-year-old daughter Amanda who only recently learned not just to ride a bike but actually to appreciate it. Well, we’ll see if she still feels that way about it in another week!

 

You see, Amanda was so excited about her new bike that she brought it over to a friend’s house to ride a few weeks ago and while heading down a steep hill did what any novice 10-year-old rider might do. She pulled the front brake! Read more ›

Posted in Bicycles, Broken Bones, Daughter, Learning, Lessons, Perseverance

Plus Delta’s Founder & CEO Delivers Workshop for Fellow Solopreneurs to Grow Successful Consulting Practices

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Ready to focus on your own professional development and up your game this year? Plus Delta’s Founder and CEO Dr. Jeremy Lurey kicks off the New Year with the Organization Development Network Chicago and an exciting, interactive learning program you won’t want to miss!

Making It On Your Own: Launching, Running and GROWING a Successful Consulting Practice, Friday, February 24th – This is a perfect primer for skilled consultants who want to launch their own consulting practices and/or those who want to develop the critical skills needed to be successful “solopreneurs” and take their existing firms to the next level.

 

 This all-day workshop is being offered in Chicago, so if you are in the area sign up now. And if you don’t live or work in the Chicago area, contact Jeremy at +1.310.589.4600 x4612 or by email at jslurey@plusdelta.net for more information. He will share the schedule for future sessions and/or schedule additional ones for you and your organization whenever and wherever it’s more convenient for you!

Posted in Chicago, Consulting, Consulting Practice, Consulting Skills, Management Consulting, OD Network, OD Network Chicago, Organization Development, Professional Development, Soloing, Solopreneur, Training

Past, Present & Future: Choosing to Live in the Now!

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Have you ever stopped to consider that there really are 3 ways to live your life: Past, Present, and Future. Most of us believe we’re being Present throughout our day-to-day lives and living every moment as it actually occurs, but the reality is that many of us live in the Past. We literally filter all of our “present” experiences through events that happened to us in the Past.

Yellow and white decision signs on a tree

Read more ›

Posted in Change, Future, Life, Motivation, Past, Present, transformation

UBU. IBME.

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

So many of us spend much of our lives not allowing our true and full selves to come out. Sometimes, we do it because we are afraid of really going for it and trying to fulfill on our dreams for fear of failure. Oftentimes, we do this in an effort to connect with others thinking they might not like us if they find out who we really are. Does that seem as ridiculously silly to you as it does to me now that I’m writing it? Even if we succeed in achieving our goal of connecting, it isn’t really us who is in fact connecting with those others if we aren’t sharing our true selves.

I remember I used to love playing chess in high school. As you can imagine, that isn’t the first thing I shared about myself when I started making new friends in college. I probably haven’t even shared that with anyone for more than 20 years now! I may not have even played a good game of chess for that same period of time – and in no small part because chess isn’t “cool” according to many. Without thinking too hard about it, I would offer that chess could actually be the most intellectually stimulating and individually competitive game there is. Read more ›

Posted in Authenticity, Chess, Integrity, Learning, Me, Relationships, Whole Self, You

Smile. Have Fun! What if we Renamed Work, Play?

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

 

We all spend so much time at “work”, yet many of us relate to it as if it really is “work”. Why is that? One would think that we would want to enjoy what we spend so much time doing. Many go to work because they have to pay their bills. Some go to work because it affords them the lifestyle they really enjoy. The simple philosophy of “work hard, play hard.”  Well what if we transform our total experience of work such that it actually becomes just an extension of the fun we have in the rest of our lives?

Novel concept? I don’t think so. As I start the New Year, I’m committed to experiencing much more fun in my life, and I invite you to do the same. Work doesn’t have to be monotonous, tedious “work”. Neither does doing the laundry or the dishes for that matter! You can choose to relate to any and all aspects of your life this way if you’d like. It just isn’t necessary. It’s a choice.

Recently, I facilitated a 2-day HR leadership summit with one of my favorite client groups. Read more ›

Posted in transformation Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Happy Holidays from Plus Delta Consulting

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

This year, Plus Delta continues to be green during the holidays. Money saved from holiday card printing and postage will be donated to the California Wildlife Center – a fabulous organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of sick and orphaned wildlife in our surrounding area.

Posted in Uncategorized

The Power of Breakdowns as an Access to Breakthroughs

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

People tend to cry a lot and emotionally (if not physically!) kick and scream whenever they have breakdowns. It could be the proverbial “bad hair day” or something more significant like a major setback in one’s career or personal relationships. Regardless of the severity of them, breakdowns are rarely if ever celebrated in those very moments when they occur.

 
Breakdowns, however, are not experiences to be feared or resisted. Sure, that’s easy for me to say as I sit here pontificating from my high horse. In the moment, a breakdown is exactly that – a breakdown! On the other side of a breakdown though awaits the potential for a powerful breakthrough,  Read more ›

Posted in Australia, bad day, breakdown, Failure, Judith Viorst, success Tagged with: , , , , , ,

What’s Your Sweat Equity Worth?

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

In this day and age of the post-recession economy, I might argue that my sweat equity is worth millions! Some might agree with me without even putting up a fight. I haven’t lost my job. I haven’t lost my house. And under the right circumstances and with just a little more perseverance and individual effort, I can produce phenomenal results that actually put a few more dollars in my pocket or that rainy-day fund. Unfortunately, I’ve never met a banker who would cash me out for my sweat equity alone!

 

I suppose that’s why it’s called entrepreneurship. Because the person with the sweat equity (me in this case) organizes a business venture – whatever that venture might be – and assumes all the risk for it. Don’t get me wrong… There is tremendous potential, and with the right idea and enough sweat one might create real equity and reap the benefits of his/her efforts one day. Read more ›

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Equity, Lamborghini, Perseverance, success Tagged with: , , , , ,

So How Do You Manage People You Never (or Even Rarely) See?

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

You don’t! OK, that’s sort of a trick question because I don’t believe in managing people per se. In my experience, management is all about planning, budgeting, directing, and  controlling work efforts. Leadership, on the other hand, is more about clearly articulating the vision, setting appropriate performance expectations, helping employees develop their abilities in line with those expectations, and providing guidance as needed to keep people on track. And yes, I’m a huge advocate for virtual leadership and remote coaching for those team members who are not present in and do not work from co-located facilities. 

I actually completed my doctoral research on best practices in designing and supporting effective virtual teams back in ’98 (click here for the Cliffs Notes version), and surprisingly not much has changed since then. Read more ›

Posted in Management, Remote Coaching, Remote Workers, Virtual Leadership, Virtual Teams Tagged with: , , , ,

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Want tips to improve performance right now?
Sign up for Plus Delta’s e-newsletter!