My last blog, “7 Reasons Change and Development Programs Fail“, concluded that a senior leadership team retreat lays the foundation for successful change and development initiatives. This is often the intact senior leadership team heading up a department, division, or the entire organization. Depending on the retreat objectives and length, one or sometimes two, levels […]
Read post »When our son Chris was home from university to celebrate his 22nd birthday, he and I had a conversation about how much more complex, nuanced, and interesting the world has become for him than when he was a teenager. During his teenage years, the world, and most of the people he encountered in it, could […]
Read post »360 assessments are now being used by over 85% of larger and leading organizations. As I wrote in “9 Problems with 360 Multi-Rater Assessments” there’s a growing backlash and resistance to their use because they often search for gaps and weaknesses. Our work with Zenger Folkman has shown that 360 data on a leader’s effectiveness can […]
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 our research. That one thing […]
Read post »As I was preparing my slides for next week’s coaching and leadership development webinar I rediscovered a powerful description of coaching I’d cited decades ago in one of my first books. In A Passion for Excellence: The Leadership Difference, Nancy Austin and Tom Peters write, “Coaching is the process of enabling others to act, of […]
Read post »Focusing on Strengths and Not Weaknesses Tricia is preparing for a performance review meeting with Tom. She’s very happy with his work and sees lots of potential for him to grow further in his role and move up to higher leadership roles. Tom is a strong communicator, good at building relationships, and inspires his direct […]
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The Conference Board of Canada recently published a report summarizing their research on leadership development from a cross section of public and private sector organizations. Participants identified their top leadership development drivers as: addressing declining levels of leadership capacity planning for succession and growing the talent pool engaging and mobilizing employees managing changing demographics and […]
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 »Leadership competency models are now used widely by many organizations to define the skills and behaviors of effective leaders. They’re often used for “talent management” such as coaching and development, performance management, succession planning, identifying and developing high potentials/emerging leaders, and the like. Many competency models are multi-layered with differing competencies for supervisors, managers, and […]
Read post »E-mail continues to be a huge challenge for many leaders. In our workshops, leaders often assess how much time they spend dealing with technical, management, and leadership issues and where they’d prefer to invest their time (“Check Your Balance with the Performance Triangle“). Every poll we’ve ever taken with participants shows that 80 – 90% […]
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 »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 »As with my webinar earlier this month, 11 Keys to Building Extraordinary Leaders and Coaches (now archived and available for viewing), when presented with the overwhelming research, reflecting on their own experiences with good and bad leaders, and thinking about what motivates them to stick with an improvement plan, most audience members experience a sharp […]
Read post »I was working with a highly energized financial services team who really connected with the power of strengths-based leadership. Part of our discussion centered on the story of a 7th grade teacher who had each student write down what they felt was the greatest strength of each of their peers (see “The Enduring Impact of […]
Read post »“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 »Lord Kelvin was a highly decorated and recognized 19th century British mathematical physicist and engineer. The list of his pioneering contributions to electricity, thermodynamics, and the emerging field of physics is a very long one. He was knighted by Queen Victoria for his work on the transatlantic telegraph. The guy was a genius. He’s also […]
Read post »Last week I met with an HR VP to discuss lifting organizational performance through leadership and culture development. The company was doing well and growing through a few strategic acquisitions. Levels of customer satisfaction, service/quality, safety, productivity, and profits were good but not great. He and the senior team were looking for ways to boost […]
Read post »Most progressive organizations today are using leadership competency models to outline the key skills and behaviors they want to see in their supervisors, managers, and executives. Leadership competency models can provide a structured framework for defining and developing those behaviors that have the biggest impact on an organization’s performance. Used effectively, they become a roadmap […]
Read post »Another exciting and inspiring Olympic games has come to a close. The Olympic flame has been extinguished until it will be relit four years from now in Rio de Janeiro. Chris Brasher, a British athlete, sports journalist and co-founder of the London Marathon once observed, “There is something in the Olympics, indefinable, springing from the […]
Read post »As a leadership geek my idea of weekend relaxation is cruising Internet sites for research, insights, and perspectives on culture and leadership development. I’ll often post these to my LinkedIn profile which also links to Twitter and my Facebook profile . If you’re not already connected to me on LinkedIn please send me an invitation to […]
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Jim has keen insight into what it takes to build a transparent and effective culture. His ability to translate principles into relatable and personal action steps is terrific.
– Denice Torres, Co-Lead J&J Consumer, North America and President,
McNeil Consumer Healthcare, HBA 2015 Woman of the Year
Jim provided our leadership team with practical, evidence-based information that we can use to lead our teams. His passion and creativity inspired us and gave us lots of great ideas to move forward in our planning.
– Judy Shearer, Associate Vice President, Mental Health & Addictions Programs
Grand River Hospital
We brought Jim in to present his Leading @ the Speed of Change workshop. After a few discussions with Jim we were able to customize the workshop to our exact needs. The two day workshop was well received by all in attendance and highly recommended.
– Mike Horton, Director
Great-West Life
We have seen the proof of getting your management team aligned using Jim’s solid principles for balancing management and leadership. Jim’s books and The CLEMMER Group’s training and consulting services have been invaluable to building our company’s high performance culture. In this time of constant, ever increasing change, having an experienced guide for implementing key leadership principles is very valuable.
– Steven Bryce C.A., Vice President, Finance
Metro Retail Supply Chain Solutions Inc.