What’s your experience with performance reviews? How energizing and helpful are they — to give or receive? Do you look forward to performance discussions with excitement or dread? Do performance reviews in your organization boost, block, or befuddle effectiveness? In a Harvard Business Review article on “The Performance Management Revolution,” the authors write, “hated by […]
Read post »An old fable tells of a farmer with a wagon brimming full of cabbage heading to a new market. He stops for directions and asks, “How far is it to the market?” The man replies, “It’s about an hour if you go slowly but if you rush it will take all day.” It was a […]
Read post »I once sat through a frantic, high-energy presentation by an author on knowledge management. He deluged us with a flood of statistics showing how the world’s knowledge was growing at mind-blowing rates. The gist of his presentation was that we need to re-train our brains to absorb more information at faster rates so we could […]
Read post »Innovation and agility are critical to thriving — or even surviving — in today’s fast-changing world. Balancing speed and quality is now a vital leadership skill. First used in software development, Agile is an approach now spreading to other functions. Its main principles are focusing on people more than process, using pilots and prototypes for […]
Read post »Good managers often have strong technical expertise and analytical skills. They love to jump into the details and resolve tough problems. Effective leaders resist the quick-fix, I-can-do-it-better-myself temptation. He or she knows such do-it-yourself projects reinforce the upward delegation cycle (“Hey, boss. Here’s another one for you to solve”). This leads to him or her […]
Read post »In the past four years the number of books on coaching available at Amazon has grown by 50% — from just under 30,000 to over 45,000. This reflects the growing understanding that effective coaching has a huge impact on individual, team, and organization performance. But this also shows there’s an overwhelming assortment of coaching theories, […]
Read post »Aesop, the ancient Greek story teller, tells of an old legend that we were all born into this world with two bags hanging around our necks. A bag in front is filled with what we see in others. The other bag behind our back is filled with what others see in us. That’s why it’s […]
Read post »Often a “dragon investor” on the Dragon’s Den TV show or a “shark investor” on the Shark Tank show will decide not to invest in a hopeful contestant’s company because he or she feels the budding entrepreneur isn’t “coachable.” An article in Entrepreneur magazine on how to attract venture capital investors lists coachability as one […]
Read post »Many managers see people as they are, and treat them according to what they see. Outstanding coaches, however, see people as they could be, and work to grow that potential. If you buy a little goldfish and keep it in a small bowl it will remain no bigger than a few inches long. Move that […]
Read post »“Research on the Dramatic Impact of Extraordinary Coaching Skills” shows that leaders who are the most effective at coaching have three times more employees that “go the extra mile.” When leaders add coaching to their existing strengths they are ten times more likely to become a top-tier leader. But as Aristotle observed, “with regard to […]
Read post »Have you ever experienced a leader who’s very strong at coaching and mentoring but doesn’t get results? People feel great working with him or her, but the job doesn’t get done. What’s the likelihood this leader would be rated in the top ten percent of leaders? How about a leader who is very good at […]
Read post »The research behind development of The Extraordinary Coach included looking at best practices in helping professions such as counseling, clinical psychology, and social work. Two practical lessons that apply to coaching effectiveness were focusing on topics of importance and interest to the coachee and asking for feedback at the end of a coaching conversation. When […]
Read post »Last year Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman conducted a survey among readers of their Harvard Business Review blog readers. 2,700 responded to the online survey with questions about positive and negative feedback and attitudes about feedback experiences. This was an international survey with over half of the respondents coming from outside the United States. Here […]
Read post »As I described recently in “Courageous Leaders Ask for Feedback“, strong leaders encourage feedback, and reap the benefit in their improved leadership and coaching effectiveness. Feedback from others is twice as valid as our own self-assessment, and provides a double value: insight into how others perceive our current leadership effectiveness and assurance that our route […]
Read post »We once worked with an organization where “coaching” was a term that meant reprimand. When a manager said to a team member “I’d like to give you some coaching” it created fear and anxiety. Coaching is a more positive term in most organizations. Many time-pressured leaders know this skill is pivotal to their team member’s […]
Read post »Many organizations have increased their efforts to strengthen the coaching skills of their supervisors, managers, and executives. That’s because of mounting evidence showing that coaching effectiveness dramatically improves employee engagement, levels of customer satisfaction, productivity, safety, and profitability while reducing turnover, absenteeism, and costs. Coaching skills have an especially vital impact on “volunteerism.” This is […]
Read post »Last week I delivered a fast-paced webcast addressing the serious talent gap impeding many organizations. As I outlined at the beginning of the webcast, research shows: • 70% of executives think their organization lacks adequate bench strength. • 97% of organizations report serious leadership gaps — 40% say these are severe. • 65 to 75% […]
Read post »As summer fades like the flowers in our garden and we move into a busy fall season we’re planning a series of webinars, executive briefings, and workshops focused on Talent Management. Here’s why: • 70% of executives think their organization lacks adequate bench strength • 97% of organizations report serious leadership gaps, 40% say these […]
Read post »“Do You Have What It Takes to be a Good Coach?” showing our research on the connection between coaching effectiveness and employee commitment. This blog also provides a link to take a coaching evaluation to see how you compare to outstanding coaches. This follows from Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman’s recent webinar on becoming a […]
Read post »Surveys show that when we’re asked to rate our own driving skills, over 75% of us score ourselves as above average. Similar self-assessment distortions show up when managers are asked to rate their own coaching effectiveness. In researching and developing The Extraordinary Coach development system, Zenger Folkman identified four powerful reasons for asking coachees for […]
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