Close

Found 25 results for 'All'

Tagged with 'training'

4 Ways Learning and Development Ignites or Impedes Culture Shift

Recently I delivered a virtual keynote presentation to a national forum of senior executives on leading change and culture development. During these crazy times, strong leadership is more critical than ever. A central focus of the forum was the pivotal role of learning and development in change efforts. I presented four points that generated a […]

Read post »

Dunking Trainees in the Training Tank Often Makes Things Worse

Recently a training director asked for a customer service training workshop. As we discussed what she was looking for, it became clear she wanted “customer courtesy” or “smile 101” training. I asked about senior leaders’ active involvement in building a customer-centered culture. Nope. They wanted her to fix the frontline to make happier customers. Been […]

Read post »

Perceptions Are a Leader’s Reality

Have you ever caught yourself saying, “that’s not reality, that’s just their perception”? This is a common trap leaders often fall into when receiving personal feedback or reviewing organizational survey data. We judge ourselves by our intentions. Everyone else assesses our leadership effectiveness by our behavior. That’s a highly subjective evaluation based on what others […]

Read post »

Dancing with the Talent Stars: 25 Moves That Matter Now

Kevin Wilde is Vice President of Organization Effectiveness and Chief Learning Officer at General Mills. Since joining in 1998, the company’s been consistently recognized for its innovative development work, highlighted by Fortune’s #2 ranking as one of the best companies in the world at leadership development, Leadership Excellence magazine ranking at #1, and Training magazine’s […]

Read post »

How Many Monkeys Are On Your Back?

My last blog (Breaking the Manager-Employee Dependence Spin Cycle) discussed how Dave, a recent participant in The Extraordinary Coach workshop, realized he’d locked himself into an ever increasing cycle of taking on more and more of his employees problems. He was getting busier and busier while his employees were getting ever more frustrated waiting for […]

Read post »

Leadership Sweet Spot: Strengths, Passion, and Organizational Needs

Most leadership development workshops provide short term inspiration that quickly dies out. That’s usually because participants are encouraged to focus their improvement efforts on weaker areas. As outlined in my Double Learner Motivation with Strengths-Based Leadership webinar, focusing on strengths is much more effective and lasting. Direct reports, bosses, peers, and others assessing overall leadership […]

Read post »

Dispelling Common Myths about Likability and Leadership Effectiveness

“I don’t care about being liked, I just want to be respected,” is a statement repeated by many less than extraordinary leaders. Trapped in either/or thinking, these narrowly-focused leaders often push hard for results while leaving a trail of damaged relationships and enervated people scattered behind them. Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, is perpetuating a related […]

Read post »

Feedback’s Huge Impact on Perceived Honesty and Integrity

Last week’s two blogs reviewing and excerpting Joe Folkman’s book The Power of Feedback drew very positive reader responses. One wrote, “‘I’d like to give you a little feedback’ really does send a shiver up my spine! Eeek! I am going to read this book because I need to change my mindset.” The reader went […]

Read post »

Thoughts That Make You Go Hmmm on…”The Power of Feedback” by Joe Folkman

“The only people who are truly incompetent are those who refuse to listen to and accept feedback from others.” “People do not give equal attention to all attributes. Some characteristics count more than others. Understanding which characteristics are most critical is an essential element in bringing about change.” “Small changes in specific areas can have […]

Read post »

Book Review: “The Power of Feedback” by Joe Folkman

“I’d like to give you a little feedback” sends shivers up the spine of many people. Sometimes prefaced by a cursory point or two on our strengths or what we did well, most of the feedback centers on what we’ve done wrong or on fixing our weaknesses. Rather than benefiting from the power of feedback, […]

Read post »

5 Steps for Managers to Maximize a Direct Reports’ Development

Far too many organizations squander training dollars by “sheep dipping” supervisors, managers, or executives through development workshops and hoping something will stick. Decades of studies show time and again leadership behavior change rarely lasts in a “once and done” approach. One study by a large international learning and development firm found that the optimum ratio […]

Read post »

The Best Positivity/Negativity Ratio for Peak Performance

Given the overwhelming research on the power of optimism can leaders and teams be too positive? Intuitively we know that’s true. An overly positive view often leads to whitewashing issues as if pretending they don’t exist will make them go away. Over the top optimists often avoid those courageous conversations that address the difficult Moose […]

Read post »

Are You Stimulating or Stunting Growth?

Are your houseplants stunted? Are you limiting their growth by keeping them in a small pot? BBC Nature reports a fascinating story entitled, “‘Stunted’ Pot Plants Cannot Reach Their Full Potential” from the Society for Experimental Biology’s annual meeting in Salzburg, Austria. Researcher Hendrik Poorter with the Julich Research Centre in Germany found that houseplants […]

Read post »

The Coach-Coachee Relationship and the Impact of Executive Coaching

A number of participants in our February 12 Building Extraordinary Coaching Skills webcast provided comments and raised interesting questions about this vital leadership skill. One question was whether there’s a marked difference in coaching those in volunteer roles versus people in paid positions. In the webcast I outlined our definition of coaching as “interactions that […]

Read post »

Coaching Survey: Huge Improvement Opportunities

Last week I delivered a one hour webcast on 6 Steps to Building a Coaching Culture with Exceptional Leaders. Participants from 41 countries registered to attend. At broadcast time 536 unique sites signed on — many were teams or groups viewing the webcast together. The best feedback on whether participants feel they are getting high […]

Read post »

Myths and Methods for Developing Our Next Generation of Leaders

In the next 5 -10 years we’re going to see waves of leaders retire. Forward thinking organizations are now deep into succession planning as they prepare for this big generational change. In his Harvard Business Review blog, “We Wait Too Long to Train Our Leaders,” Jack Zenger highlights Zenger Folkman’s research showing that many supervisors […]

Read post »

Double Learner Motivation with Revolutionary Strengths-Based Leadership

On March 4, HR.com is hosting my complimentary webinar on Double Learner Motivation with Revolutionary Strengths-Based Leadership. In this fast-paced session I’ll discuss why a huge part of the leadership development gap is caused by traditional needs assessments and gap analysis. This weakness-based approach is ineffective and undermines participant motivation for change. I’ll show pre […]

Read post »

Six Steps to a Coaching Culture with Exceptional Leaders

In our Extraordinary Coach development system we define coaching as interactions that help the individual being coached to expand awareness, discover superior solutions, and make and implement better decisions. This is a broad leadership skill set that is most often used in career and performance coaching. Extraordinary coaches can exist in an ordinary or even […]

Read post »

What’s Really Creating the Coaching Skills Gap

When asked why they aren’t providing more coaching, managers will typically say: I am overwhelmed and don’t have enough time; my boss doesn’t coach me; or, my employees don’t need coaching. Our research shows these are excuses coming from low performing leaders without coaching mindsets on wobbly foundations of weak coaching skills. Within the very […]

Read post »

A Great Time of Year for Reflecting and Refocusing

I’ve long found January to be a great time of year for reflecting on the journey so far and looking ahead to what direction I’d like to take in the coming year. This year’s R & R time coincided nicely with revising my LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn has become a major tool for connecting to people […]

Read post »