A leader who is an adept coach can greatly enhance the organization’s success; one who dabbles and doesn’t take the process seriously can cause harm.– Marshall Goldsmith, bestselling leadership author and executive coach. Recently recognized as the #1 leadership thinker in the world at the bi-annual Thinkers50 ceremony sponsored by the Harvard Business Review Our […]
Watch webinar »My last blog “How Leaders Cause Their Direct Reports to Sink or Soar” gave examples and research on the power of expectations. The impact of teachers, coaches, parents, or manager’s expectations of the people they were leading on their performance has been well documented. “Leaders Have Great Expectations” reports on the pioneering work of Robert […]
Read post »“Tell me about the people at the organization you just left,” said the senior manager who was screening candidates to fill a key leadership role. “They were uneducated and lazy,” the candidate responded. “You always had to keep an eye on them because they were constantly trying to goof off or rip off the company. […]
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 »Are you interested in learning from world class leaders and practitioners in coaching and leadership skill development? Would you like insights to new and ground breaking approaches you can apply immediately and bring back to your organization? Do you want to see the latest research and practical applications that break traditional molds to produce measurably […]
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 […]
Read post »Ignorance may be bliss, but it’s deadly to leadership effectiveness. And it’s often the mark of a blind and weak leader. Feedback-impaired leaders often mistake compliance for commitment. They might, for example, proclaim an open door policy and when no one enters their office to raise problems, believe there aren’t any serious issues to be […]
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 »A University of Scranton study on New Year’s resolutions reports that 2/3 of Americans make one. 47% of these are “self-improvement or education related.” The study found that only 8% are successful in achieving their resolution! Many New Year’s resolutions are aimed at correcting our deficiencies or shortcomings. So is it any wonder that 92% […]
Read post »I am publishing just one blog post this week as I enjoy holiday relaxation with family and friends. So I’ve packed this blog post with enough resources to last the week! 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 […]
Read post »After Ebenezer Scrooge has his life-changing Christmas Eve experience, he enthusiastically sets out on a new pathway to personal growth on Christmas Day. When he gets back to work what would you suggest he do to increase Bob Cratchit’s workplace engagement? In his entertaining and insightful Forbes column, “Lead Like Scrooge: The Surprising Research Results“, […]
Read post »American president, Thomas Jefferson, once said “the glow of one warm thought is worth more to me than money.” Reinforcing feedback produces a powerful afterglow that raises the positivity ratio, energizes and inspires, and provides the pause that refreshes. This is the perfect time of year for you and your team to reflect back looking […]
Read post »Employee engagement is a critical issue for many organizations. And for good reason. Highly engaged employees are more productive, less likely to leave, have lower absenteeism, create happier customers, contribute to safer workplaces, increase revenues, and decrease costs. A new research study from Zenger Folkman shows that many organizations are overlooking their most disengaged people: […]
Read post »Throughout my work I’ve quoted extensively from Martin Seligman’s pioneering work in founding the breakthrough field of positive psychology. This is the study of positive emotion, positive character traits, and positive institutions to raise the importance of psychological health around the world. His most recent focus has been on helping people move from enjoying a […]
Read post »As shown in the extensive research of our web site section, Focusing on Strengths, we have overwhelming evidence that building strengths is 2 to 3 times more effective than fixing weaknesses, closing gaps, or “rounding out” lower leadership skills. But when a weaker leadership skill crosses the line into fatal flaw territory the “horns effect” […]
Read post »As I wrote in “Perceptions Are a Leader’s Reality” a leader’s impact on others is dramatically increased by the presence of a few towering strengths or sharply reduced by one or two glaring weaknesses. This halo or horns effect was first documented with empirical research by Edward Thorndike, an early 20th century pioneering American psychologist. […]
Read post »I’ve written extensively about coaching skills development. Many of my leadership books have full chapters on coaching and developing. We have also designed and delivered numerous coaching skills development workshops. Two years before we formed a strategic partnership with Zenger Folkman I reviewed their new book, The Extraordinary Coach: How the Best Leaders Help Others […]
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