text: Online leadership tools that help individuals and team with decision-making. Includes models, techniques, assessments and more.
  Donna Rae Scheffert, author, is President of Leadership Tools and a retired Leadership Development Specialist from the University of Minnesota Extension. She spent over 20 years creating leadership information, tools and training. She is the owner of online-leadership-tools.com
  Improve your decision-making to enhance productivity, relationships and morale in your team. Online Leadership Tools include a team focus, individual and group assessment, models, and techniques. Personal coaching, facilitation and training is also available to insure your success.
  Dream Decide Deliver
  How much do we dream as adults? Not enough, either by ourselves, in groups or in communities.
  I vividly remember a strategic planning session for a church that I facilitated. The opener asked people to identify a dream that they had held that they had accomplished and how that experience felt to them. The energy was high and laughter frequent as people moved about sharing. One of the memorable responses to the question was "taking a year off after college and traveling the world." The second question was to name a current dream they held and how they were progressing toward it. The energy quieted and I noticed a few women crying. I checked in with them and they said directly,
  "I realized I have no dreams; my goal is to make it through the day."
  What is your default for making decisions? In collective settings, how do you come to a collective, durable decision? How does team decision-making work?
  One day I answered the telephone and listened to a sad story of gridlock within a regional government. The leaders had not made joint decisions for a number of years and thus were under a court order to produce a comprehensive plan or risk losing their authority. The story was not just sad because of the lack of leadership; it was sad because they had authority over streams and rivers that had flooded under thier watch damaging millions of dollars worth of homes and businesses. The ethical implications of a decision are an overlooked cost to us and our society.
  "Given all the options, it is painful to just choose one of them. Although it is the only way forward...."
  A dream and a decision must be followed by delivery on the promise. Life has lots of opportunities and pathways. How does one follow through on their commitments?
  "Once I have started down a path toward a dream I have a sense of energy and clarity that helps to keep me going forward."