I just went to Amazon and searched for coaching books. I was presented with 29,935 books to peruse. I typed “coaching programs” into Google and got 687,000 hits. Coaching is so popular because — done effectively — it can turbocharge personal, team, and organization performance. But there’s a mind-numbing array of frameworks, processes, experts, methods, […]
Read post »Two readers recently posted comments voicing the common struggles many people have in letting go of weaknesses when developing leadership effectiveness. One reader responded to Zenger Folkman’s Harvard Business Review blog Three Myths About Your Strengths by naming a fourth myth as focusing on your strengths means you can ignore your weaknesses. He went on […]
Read post »Tom is a strong manager with a solid track record of energizing and pulling teams together to deliver results in difficult circumstances. He’s been rising steadily in his organization. Tom thrives on ever more challenging assignments and driving hard to continue growing his leadership effectiveness and career opportunities. A recent 360 assessment from Tom’s direct […]
Read post »Ghosts, goblins, and zombies are scary. But working for a bully boss can be terrifying — like living with a creature from the black lagoon. If we allow ourselves to be a victim of a horrible boss we could even end up in an early grave. Most bad bosses aren’t evil. They’re often good people […]
Read post »Organizations too often waste time and money providing leadership development programs that don’t work. Very little of their learning and development efforts significantly improve long term team or organizational results. A major reason for this all too common performance improvement shortfall is lack of follow up. Participants are “sheep dipped” in a workshop or 360 […]
Read post »In the opening lines of the chapter entitled, “Making Strength Productive” in his 1967 book The Effective Executive, the “father of modern management,” Peter Drucker writes, “to make strength productive is the unique purpose of organization. It cannot, of course, overcome the weakness with which each of us is abundantly endowed. But it can make […]
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 »In 1998, Martin Seligman, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, was elected President of the American Psychological Association by a landslide. This set him casting about for a central theme for his time in this key leadership role. A few weeks later — still puzzling over a theme — he was weeding in […]
Read post »We had over 400 sites join last week’s webinar on building extraordinary leaders and coaches. During this 60 minute webcast I outlined a high level and highly condensed overview of 5 keys to strengths-based leadership development and 6 steps to building a coaching culture with exceptional leaders. In this fast-paced webcast I rapidly covered: • Key […]
Read post »As the frenetic pace of organizational mergers, downsizing, and restructuring picks up speed, middle and senior managers are faced with career opportunities and major threats. A few months ago I coached “Sheila,” a manager who had been through our Extraordinary Leader development process. Sheila had been given 360 feedback from her manager, peers, direct reports, […]
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 will be delivering a presentation next April at a healthcare leadership conference. The conference theme focuses on the courage to bring authenticity to action. A couple of my books have chapters on authenticity as one of seven core leadership principles. In light of our work over the past 18 months with Zenger Folkman’s strengths-based […]
Read post »Eleanor Roosevelt, American diplomat, writer, and U.S. First Lady once said, “In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” My book, Growing @ the Speed of Change, was built around the fundamental choices of […]
Read post »In a chapter entitled “Making Strength Productive” in his 1967 book The Effective Executive, the “father of modern management,” Peter Drucker writes, “You cannot build performance on weaknesses. You can build only on strengths. To focus on weakness is not only foolish; it is irresponsible. It is a misuse of a human resource as what […]
Read post »Boss A cares about your issues and concerns, leads by example, gives honest and helpful feedback, coaches and develops you, and builds teamwork and trust. Boss B has high standards of excellence, pushes and stretches you and your team beyond what you thought was possible, relentlessly focuses on top priorities and goals, and drives hard […]
Read post »We’re now planning our fall series of webinars, briefings, and public workshops. You can see what we’ve got planned in our Coming Events section. I pulled together, updated, and condensed our research, workshop materials, and key learning from The Extraordinary Leader and The Extraordinary Coach development systems into a 60 minute complimentary webinar. To provide […]
Read post »A highly productive component of The Extraordinary Leader development approach is the Importance Ratings section of the feedback report. This is where each set of raters — including the participant being assessed — are asked to identify the four most important competencies (of the 16 Differentiating Competencies) for their role. What’s especially useful is comparing […]
Read post »I had lunch recently with Derek Alton to discuss his new role as Campaign Animator at the Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement. Derek is a sharp, creative, and ambitious young innovator who is very driven to fulfill Tamarack’s mission of “collaboratively creating vibrant communities by engaging learning leaders.” I’ve stayed in touch with Tamarack’s co-founding […]
Read post »Are you frustrated and overwhelmed by a flood of e-mails, meetings, and endless administrative tasks? Does it feel like the harder you work, the less you accomplish? In their article, “Make Time for the Work that Matters,” in the September issue of Harvard Business Review, London Business School professor Julian Birkinshaw and productivity consultant Jordan […]
Read post »A few thought-provoking insights from Kevin Wilde’s leadership development book, Dancing with the Talent Stars: 25 Moves That Matter Now: “Strong learning practices make the difference. Smart organizations invest consistently in learning, master the essential moves, ensure that what is taught transfers and use partners well for superior performance.” “At the onset of a career, […]
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