David Holmes Consulting: Education, Leadership, Organizational Management

  Unlock your Strategic Plan: Moving from Strategic Planning to Strategic Actions How many organizations have a strategic plan that is currently serving as a very expensive decoration on a shelf or simply a poster on the wall? It’s a common scene in leadership: A room full of sticky notes, high-level visioning by a leadership team, and the energy of a retreat to retool or reorganize. It often happens at this time of year; sort of like a delayed New Year’s resolution; organization style. We walk away with a thick binder, a poster to hang on the wall, and a sense of accomplishment. But then, Monday morning hits along with all the work you missed while at the retreat. The emails pile up, the fires start, and by mid-summer, that brilliant initiative is buried under the weight of daily operations. The majority of strategic plans fail to produce actual intended results. It’s rarely because the logic was flawed; it’s because the execution failed. Too much energy is often put into ideas or...

  Putting Your Money Where Your Mission Is: The Courage of Financial Alignment If you are in a leadership position, you’ve likely sat through countless strategic planning sessions where leadership teams dream big. We talk about innovation, employee engagement, and transformative growth. But then, the budget season arrives, and those big dreams are often stifled by a document that looks very similar to the same document from ten years ago. If you want to know what an organization truly values, don’t just look at the mission statement on the lobby wall. Look at the checkbook ledger. The Myth of Scarcity The most common phrase I hear in leadership circles when changes are suggested is, "We just don’t have the money." Most of the time, that isn’t true. The reality is, most times we have misaligned money. We fall victim to what is often called "Zombie Budgeting"—taking last year’s spreadsheet and simply adding 3% across the board. This keeps legacy programs alive on life...

  Large Scale Change That Works: How To Take A Step By Step Approach to Ensure Success Have you ever launched a new project, policy, or rule at work, only to watch it fall apart a few months later? You aren’t alone. Most large-scale changes fail—not because the idea was bad, but because the leader forgot one thing: Buy-in . I’ve been that person at times and it has never worked out well. On the other hand, when I’ve taken a measured approach with key steps along the way, the results were much more successful.  When we just tell people what to do, we get "compliance" (they do it because they have to). But when we lead people through a transition, we get "commitment" (they do it because they believe in it and because they believe in you). To get there, you have to help your team climb the commitment ladder.  Step 1: Understanding Before people can help you, they have to understand the plan. You must answer two simple questions: Why now? What is the "emergency...

  Are You Accidentally Diminishing Your Team                                                      Rather Than Multiplying Their Potential? How many of you go home at the end of the day feeling spent, while your team seems to leave the office with energy to spare? If you find yourself carrying the mental load for the entire department or organization—solving every fire, double-checking every email, and making every final call—you might be falling into a common leadership trap. You might be an Accidental Diminisher. The Problem of Good Intentions Most leaders don’t wake up wanting to crush morale. In fact, it’s usually the opposite. Accidental Diminishers are often the most hardworking people in the room. They diminish their team's capability out of a desire to help: The Rescuer: Jumping in to save a project because they don’t...

  Bridging the Gap for a Multigenerational Workforce              Are you struggling to bridge a generation gap in your organization? You are not alone. As a leadership and organizational management coach, I tell my clients that you cannot ignore these differences and you must build intentional connections. The following five strategy bridges can assist you to improve workplace culture, productivity, satisfaction, and profit margins.  Bridge 1: Communication and Clarity The most immediate point of friction is often how we communicate. While you might view a phone call as respectful and efficient, others might view an unscheduled call as intrusive, preferring a text message or email. Leaders should clarify which tools are appropriate for which types of information. Is this urgent? (Text/IM). Does this require interaction and conversation? (Video/In-person). By defining the ‘rules of engagement" for communication, you remove the anxie...

  Performance Coaching: The Strategic Feedback Loop for High-Performing Teams As a leadership and organizational management consultant—and a former school superintendent—I’ve spent many years observing what truly moves an organization from good to great. It isn't a new policy manual or a bigger budget; it's the quality of the daily, interpersonal interactions that shape performance. The complex demands of managing a large school district—juggling budgets, diverse stakeholders, and non-negotiable performance targets—are remarkably similar to those faced by any modern leader. The solution is the same: moving beyond compliance management and embracing potential coaching. The Strategic Shift: From Manager to Coach For too long, leadership has focused on managing compliance. The traditional manager operates from a place of "Tell"—directing and correcting. This model, while basic, fundamentally caps potential. The high-performance leader operates from a place of "Ask...