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Focus and Context: The Hub of Leadership

The hub of leadership, Focus and Context, is where the contrast between management and leadership is possibly at its sharpest. It is the very beginning point of strong leadership.

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Feedback to See How Others See Me

We tend to define levels of service or quality through our own eyes and values. That may not be the way our customers or partners define it. If we're going to improve the service or quality delivered, we need to first understand how those we're serving, or producing for, perceive service or quality.

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Feedback is an Essential Element of Learning and Improvement

As managers, our frequency, sensitivity, and action (or lack of it) on personal performance feedback sets the pace and tone for the rest of our team and organization.

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Exploring Inner Space

Reputation is what people think I am. Personality is what I seem to be. Character is what I really am. Our goal should be to blur the lines between the three until they are one and the same. That means living life from the inside out.

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Exception is A Poor Rule

Effective leaders build an atmosphere of accomplishment and pride through recognition and appreciation within the organization.

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Engagement is an Inside Job

Building partnerships through involvement and participation results in strong leadership that leads to high performance.

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Empowerment Through Passion and Commitment

Making jobs more rewarding is the best way to influence motivation and job satisfaction. It requires giving employees more control over the processes they are involved in for real empowerment

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Emotional Empowerment Builds Commitment

Most managers recognize that one of their key roles is motivating others, and the key to motivation is empowerment. Internal commitment is participatory and very closely allied with empowerment.

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Education and Communications Pathways and Pitfalls

Trust and communication levels go together. The source of misunderstandings and mistrust is often in the leaders' behavior and lack of communication.

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Education and Communication Build Commitment

If we want people on our team or in our organizations to behave like business partners, we need to treat them that way. Education, combined with powerful communication systems, processes, and practices, is one of the keys to organizational learning and innovation.

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Don’t Wait to See Blood

A few examples of the multitude of ways to gain a true picture of how you and your management team's actions are viewed through your organization.

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Don’t Promise Too Much

Promise a little and deliver a lot, and ensure expectations match your delivery capabilities. Service reputation keeps customers coming back.

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Do As I Say, Not As I Do’ Doesn’t Cut It Any More

Managers express frustration over the behavior of the people they lead. When it comes to their own behavior, many of those same managers aren't acting any differently than the people they complain about.

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Discipline Can Be Habit Forming

Our discipline and habits spring from our passion and commitment. To motivate myself, I need to find ways to increase my passion and get my heart into it.

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Developing a Team or Organization Vision

We can't really motivate others, but we can create a high-energy environment that dramatically magnifies and expands the energy of individuals, teams, or organizations.

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Deepening Our Discipline

Discipline means having the vision to see the long term picture and keep things in balance. Regret can cost hundreds of hours, discipline costs minutes. An ounce of bite-my-tongue can outweigh a ton of I-am-so-sorries.

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Decentralized Organization Structures Empower and Energize

High performing organizations that are thriving in today's chaotic world, are adapting and pioneering a wide variety of highly decentralized structures. They are giving up control of people so that people can control their own and the organization's destiny.

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Customer Satisfaction is a Reflection of Employee Satisfaction

A company's external customer service is only as strong as the company's internal leadership, and the culture of commitment that this leadership creates.

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Customer Intimacy and Empathy are Keys to Innovation

Through living in and empathizing with our customers' world, our innovation leaders focus the organization's development capabilities on solving problems or meeting needs that our customers may not realize could be done.

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Culture Change Starts with the Management Team

When change fails, it can almost always be traced to dysfunctional leadership.

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