Joel’s a high IQ manager with strong analytical skills coming from a deep technical background. He hates meetings (“they get in the way of real work”) and resents having to sell changes or get people on side. “I don’t care if they like me,” he’s fond of saying, “I only want their respect and implementation.” […]
Read post »“The whole human side is now more important than skills or IQ. Everything we hear from clients is about the human aspects of leadership,” reports Rajeev Vasudeva, CEO of the Egon Zehnder executive recruiting firm. In a feature article on today’s “ultra-tight job market,” Fortune magazine concludes, “across industries, employers are prizing people skills, the […]
Read post »“Corporate leadership development programs aren’t working. Less than a quarter of executives at the organizations that have them think they’re effective.” These conclusions are from a report published in the November-December issue of Harvard Business Review. The authors trace the main source of these dismal results to using unproven and ineffective leadership development approaches. The […]
Read post »Does your team or organization need to improve communications? Would you like to get more e-mails every day? I’ll often ask those two questions in workshops when we’re discussing communications. Most hands go up when asked who would like to improve communications. Often no one raises a hand when asked who would like to increase […]
Read post »A scout leader was trying to lift a fallen tree from the path. His pack gathered around to watch him struggle. “Are you using all your strength?” one of the scouts asked. “Yes!” was the exhausted and exasperated response. “No. You are not using all your strength”, the scout replied. “You haven’t asked us to […]
Read post »Last week we discussed research on the big problem with Binge Meeting Disorder and how ineffective meeting leaders create this major waste of time and energy. When leaders sharpen their meeting leadership skills and practice good meeting hygiene, team collaboration, psychological safety to speak up, team results, engagement, and energy levels soar. Many pre-post studies […]
Read post »Would you like to: Increase employee engagement by up to 8 times? Double/triple leader’s motivation to implement a personal development plan? Build coaching and leadership skills around natural strengths? Make performance appraisals an inspiring event people look forward to? Double rates of improvement from 360 feedback? Sounds farfetched, I know. It might even sound like […]
Read post »Of all our custom keynotes and workshops topics, the most popular continues to be variations of Leading @ the Speed of Change. One reason for that is in today’s fast-moving world it’s easy to be overwhelmed by rapid changes and difficult problems. While we can’t control the changes, we can manage our response. It’s not […]
Read post »As I reflect on attending the Canadian Positive Psychology Association conference and Zenger Folkman’s Leadership Summit over the past two months, Jonathon’s Haidt’s advice from The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, Jonathan Haidt rings true; “Work on your strengths, not your weaknesses… if it is a weakness you choose to work on, […]
Read post »How important are these six skills to leadership effectiveness? Which ones are most effective and should be developed? Innovation: encouraging new ideas and solutions through creative approaches Relationships: developing strong relationships built on trust, respect, and consideration Acumen: acquiring knowledge and skills to be at the cutting edge of business practices Inspiration: motivating others to […]
Read post »How many of these common problems with leadership development apply to your organization: Not tied to organizational strategies. Separating reflection and insight from real work. Development requires behavior change but uses unproven methods Lack of managerial involvement. Lack of measurement. Lack of follow-up and sustainment. Focused on the individual, not on leadership team and changing […]
Read post »Would you like to help your leaders increase employee engagement by up to 8 times, double or triple their motivation to implement a personal development plan, build coaching and leadership skills around natural strengths, make performance appraisals an inspiring event people look forward to, and double rates of improvement from 360 feedback? As farfetched as […]
Read post »Many succession planning processes involve identifying and developing high potential leaders. As with promising amateur athletes working to secure very scarce spots at the professional level of their sport, not every leader considered to have strong potential grows in their career to ever higher leadership roles. Through our evidence-based approaches to identifying key leadership skills […]
Read post »We’re currently working with an organization embarking on an extensive leadership and culture development process. It’s starting in a series of workshops and planning retreats with the CEO and his team of direct reports along with their direct reports. The first part of the process is our strengths-based 360 assessment. The CEO is actively engaged […]
Read post »During these rapidly changing times leadership skills are critical. Yet many studies show a profound dissatisfaction with leadership effectiveness across most organizations. And a vast majority of executives feel their leadership skill development efforts aren’t effective. A major part of the problem is that we’re “seduced by the dark side” of fixing weaknesses or closing […]
Read post »Here is a recap of our most popular resources over the past year. I hope you’ll have a little extra time over the holidays to catch up on any that you missed, or review any you found especially helpful: Blogs: “The Quality of our Communication Determines the Quality of our Lives and Workplaces“ “8 Factors […]
Read post »As organizations thin their ranks to run leaner, the need for building highly effective leaders becomes a strategic imperative. Stronger leaders create stronger organizations. This creates even stronger leaders across the organization in an upward spiraling circle toward peak performance. As discussed in our recent webinar on “How Wilfrid Laurier University is Strengthening Leadership Skills […]
Read post »Heather and I love to travel. A great perk of my work is that I am invited to speak or lead workshops and retreats in some beautiful places around the world. Heather carefully selects which ones she joins me for. Northern Canada in winter rarely makes the cut! When we travel to a new city, […]
Read post »Last week Melanie Will, Manager of Learning and Organization Development, Wilfrid Laurier University and I delivered a one hour webinar on Strengthening Leadership and Culture. Melanie provided a case study using many examples and research data from their organization’s use of The Extraordinary Leader Development System for over 160 leaders throughout the university. We covered […]
Read post »Does your team/organization need more communication? Would you like to get more e-mails? Most workshop participants give an emphatic yes in response to the first question and a deafening no to the second. Yet when told that team/organization members want more communication many leaders respond with ccing more people or sending more e-mails. During the […]
Read post »Let’s discuss how executive coaching can boost your development efforts.
I found “The Extraordinary Leader” 360 assessment and personal development process very effective. Its competency companion development guide provides a clear road map for building on one’s leadership strengths. It is measurably superior to any 360 methodology I have previously seen and my only regret is that “The Extraordinary Leader” was not available years ago.
– Dr. Alan Harrison, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic)
Queen’s University