Great leaders take an active role in helping their employees grow. A major part of that process? They’ve learned to master the feedback balancing act: providing just the right combination of cold, hard truth and sincere compassion. Course correction with encouragement. Constructive criticism with … [Read more...]
A Smarter Way to Identify High Potentials: The Challenge Factor
“WANTED: Future leaders to help our organization reach outrageous goals and face challenges we can’t even begin to imagine while using technology that doesn’t exist yet. Apply today.” The truth is, we can’t predict what’s ahead for our organizations. That makes it a beyond-daunting task to prepare … [Read more...]
The Shark Tank Principle: The Big Take-Away for Leaders
If you’ve seen the popular TV show Shark Tank, you know the moment I’m talking about. The wildly enthusiastic entrepreneur starts explaining her “revolutionary” product idea with dreams of landing a big investor. But as she describes her business plan and low sales numbers, the Sharks begin circling. … [Read more...]
Driving Alignment: 10 Best Practices Leaders Can’t Ignore
One of my coaching clients (we’ll call her Cindy) was in trouble. Cindy’s department was responsible for delivering content marketing for the business units, and those important stakeholders were not happy. Cindy’s manager thought the root of the problem was a bad attitude and lack of creativity; I … [Read more...]
When Recognition Backfires: Are Leaders and Teams Seeing the Same Thing?
It happens all the time: two people look at the same image but see something different. In a business setting, that phenomenon can pave the way for more efficient problem solving and creative approaches. Or it can lead to conflict. As an executive coach, I seek to help the client see issues from … [Read more...]
Break Out Of Your Reading Rut!
As professionals, many of us spend our days reading. The morning news. An endless stream of emails and text messages. Social media updates. Online magazines and reports. The latest business books. Without question, these sources provide us with much-needed information to be more effective on the job and … [Read more...]
How One Value Added Reseller Took Accountability
This is an accountability success story of regular people just doing their jobs. They weren’t trained in Six Sigma, yet you’ll see concepts of that process improvement methodology in this story. They had a process problem, not a people problem, yet fingers were pointed, blame was happening, and the … [Read more...]
A Better Approach to Annual Performance Evaluations
Summer is the time of year when many organizations conduct their annual performance evaluations. As a manager, you may procrastinate writing them. Maybe you don’t know what to say, maybe you have been avoiding a performance problem, or maybe you are unsure how to deal with the employees who have made … [Read more...]
The Benefits of Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone
As I headed for the rowing machine at the gym, I realized that I’d forgotten my iPhone. “How can I work out without music?” I wondered. The pounding Latin beat from the Zumba class called my name, and I stepped into the room where the group had just started to warm up. It had been years since I had … [Read more...]
Gardening Is The Best Metaphor For Leadership
It seems that I am having the same conversation over and over again with executives I coach. They wonder, how can I empower my team of managers? How can I get them to have a sense of urgency and ownership? Am I the only one who cares so much? How do I go about growing my people? How do I steer the ship … [Read more...]
