Zenger Folkman has just been given the 2014 Top 20 Leadership Training Companies Award from TrainingIndustry.com. Selection for this year’s Top 20 Leadership Training Companies was based on the following criteria: Thought leadership and influence on the leadership training industry Industry recognition and innovation Breadth of programs and audiences served Delivery methods offered Company size […]
Read post »The Sochi Olympics show the colossal impact of key individuals on team success or a country’s medal count. Popular entertainers or professional athletes are glaring examples of the outsize impact that key individuals have on the success of a movie or sports franchise. Organizational success often hinges on oversized contributions from pivotal players like software […]
Read post »We are often asked, “What is the one thing a person ought to do to be a better leader and have a more successful career?” While it is difficult to narrow down the list to just one thing, there is one that seems to surface over and over again in Zenger Folkman’s research. That one […]
Read post »Having someone fix our turned up collar or point out we have a piece of spinach in our teeth before a big presentation can be very helpful. The tone and intention of this feedback makes us feel supported and thankful or belittled and resentful. Giving difficult feedback is a critical coaching skill. As reported in […]
Read post »Would you like to move beyond building individual leaders to building a culture of exceptional leadership and coaching in your organization? Are you concerned about succession planning, deepening leadership bench strength, cultivating teamwork, recruiting top talent, increasing retention and engagement, improving customer service, safety and wellness, and increasing sales and profits? These critical issues are […]
Read post »Fixing weaknesses is so deeply ingrained in our practices and beliefs. When coaching or having performance discussions with a team member, most leaders will quickly gloss over strengths to address “improvement areas.” After reading How to Be Exceptional: Drive Leadership Success by Magnifying Your Strengths, Janet Pierce, Vice President of Education for Certified General Accountants […]
Read post »In “Can Every Strength Become a Weakness?” I reported on the lively LinkedIn Strengths-Based Leadership Development discussion group on “How do you help leaders let go of focusing on their weaknesses?” Part of the discussion focused on the mistaken belief that strengths can be overdone and become weaknesses. If you’d like to follow this discussion […]
Read post »In “Assess Your Effectiveness at Getting and Giving Feedback” I summarized Zenger Folkman’s recent research on the power of feedback. Leaders ranked in the top and bottom 10% on asking for and giving feedback were also rated the highest or lowest in leadership effectiveness and engagement levels. The post had a link to Zenger Folkman’s […]
Read post »“…what you pay attention to — what you rest your mind on — is the primary shaper of your brain.” “…the default setting of the brain is to overestimate threats, underestimate opportunities, and underestimate resources both for coping with threats and for fulfilling opportunities. Then we update these beliefs with information that confirms them, while […]
Read post »The emerging science of Positive Psychology continues its exponential growth using evidence-based approaches. New research and practical applications map pathways for moving our mental health and well-being from good to great. Rick Hanson is a neuropsychologist, founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, and an Affiliate of the Greater Good Science Center […]
Read post »Eons ago Archimedes said, “Give me a lever long enough, and fulcrum strong enough, and single-handed I can move the world.” Leveraging strengths have proven to be a powerful way for leaders to boost their effectiveness. A few months ago my blog on “Letting go of Weaknesses is Really Hard” responded to commonly held beliefs […]
Read post »Despite all the research showing the enormous payoffs of extraordinary coaching skills, numerous studies show many leaders are falling short. Some of the reasons are: • Confusing coaching with resolving issues, directing, mentoring, or training • Awareness, personality/style training, or education rather than how-to coaching skill development • Complex coaching models that are difficult to […]
Read post »Make a hopeful comment to a pessimist and he or she will often counter with “bringing you back to reality.” Most of what’s called “reality” are reflections from the dark side. Politicians, journalists, activists, and religious, environmental and other fundamentalists wallow in fear and dire warnings of impending doom. Here’s what evidence-based reality tells about […]
Read post »Nearly 100 years ago, this John T. McCutcheon cartoon (known in his day as the “Dean of American Cartoonists”) showed the young New Year of 1905 chasing the old man of 1904 into the history books. The cycle of constant change takes one more turn. A major theme underlying my books, workshops, our training and […]
Read post »Albert Einstein’s oft quoted definition of insanity is, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we’ll keep getting what we’ve been getting. To move our leadership effectiveness to a new level, we need to blaze new paths. Feedback is critical to increased […]
Read post »“We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives…not looking for flaws, but for potential.” – Ellen Goodman, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning […]
Read post »As the sands of time run out on another year I’ve found this quieter time is great for looking back over the past twelve months and focusing on what lies ahead. One of the biggest challenges of our time is the tornado of multi-tasking crazy-busy bustle that can spin us around in ever faster circles. […]
Read post »Just one more sleep before kids get their big performance review. Where will the big guy watching from the North Pole mark them on the naughty-nice scale? Will it be enough to get them into the next gift bracket? When we published Growing @ the Speed of Change: Your Inspir-actional How-To Guide For Leading Yourself […]
Read post »Where did 2013 go?! Were the days of the past year a tornado of multi-tasking juggling endless e-mails, phone calls, hurried hallway conversations, and racing between meetings? Did you spend countless hours putting out fires and responding to one problem after another? A major leadership — and life — skill in today’s crazy-busy times is […]
Read post »Coaching skills development has become a major concern for many organizations. And for good reason. Leaders with extraordinary coaching skills create 8 times higher employee engagement, 2.5 times higher job satisfaction, 3 times more willingness to “go the extra mile,” half as many employees thinking about quitting, and dramatically higher levels of customer service and […]
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