3 Things Strong Leaders Never Do

Posted by & filed under Active Listening, Communication, Conflict, Employee Development, Leadership, Performance Management.

The strength and effectiveness of an organization depend on team members at all levels, but these qualities start at the top. Strong leaders are in high demand! These people must motivate and inspire their teams but still maintain high expectations for performance. While it’s easy to find qualities that strong leaders share, some behaviors mean… Read more »

Leadership Style Series, Part 3: Transactional Leaders as Managers

Posted by & filed under Communicating To Manage Performance, Leadership.

Transactional leaders are those who are more focused on the immediate, day-to-day goals of a group and its members. Rather than focusing too far in the future or inspiring team members to “think outside the box,” these leaders are less concerned with strategy or innovation than meeting benchmarks and maintaining the status quo. The Traits… Read more »

Only Human: When Leaders Fail

Posted by & filed under Communicating To Manage Performance, Communication, Leadership, Work Life Balance.

Leadership failure happens at times to everyone. From General Custer’s Battle of Little Bighorn to Abraham Lincoln’s less-than-impressive military career to Margaret Thatcher’s poll tax, even very high-profile, famous leaders suffered from some fairly major failure at some point in their careers. Failure in leadership can actually happen a lot easier than we think – even to those we see as… Read more »

Performance Improvement Friday: Keep them Engaged & Motivated

Posted by & filed under Actively Engaged Workers, Career Development, career development leadership development.

It’s Friday, and you’ve had a busy week. Here is a quick shot of business wisdom that you can think about over the weekend. You’ll come to work on Monday, ready to take action. What is the core of a peak performance? Dissipating any low self-esteem culture or rituals that have been fostered in your… Read more »

How to Build a Solid Coaching Program

Posted by & filed under Accountability, Coaching, Communicating To Manage Performance, Communication.

Business magazines from Harvard Business Review to Inc. describe coaching as the management style of choice and the answer to many kinds of organizational ills. It is about making sense of complex experience’s, unlocking a person’s potential to solving their own problems and is more often about asking good questions than giving right answers. If… Read more »

Leadership = Relationship: How Do You Measure Up?

Posted by & filed under Actively Engaged Workers, Career Development, career development leadership development, Leadership, Performance Management.

Typically, personal-best leadership experiences challenge the myth that leadership is something that you find only at the highest levels of organizations and society; it is found everywhere. History also challenges the belief that leadership is reserved for a few charismatic men and women. Leadership is not a gene and is not an inheritance; it is… Read more »

Feedback Hacks for the New Year

Posted by & filed under Active Listening, Career Development, career development leadership development, Feedback, increasing personal effectiveness.

Without a doubt, knowing how to give constructive feedback is a cornerstone of increasing your overall personal effectiveness. Following these simple steps ensures your feedback is well received and encourages development. Remember, feedback should be an ongoing part of developing your employees. Don’t wait until an annual review to give your team members the tools… Read more »

Look in the Mirror for Effective Feedback

Posted by & filed under Accountability, Feedback.

Feedback is very much like the mirrors we see ourselves in every morning. Mirrors give us a true reflection of who we are. They do not lie and they do not sugar coat the message they deliver. True feedback can also hurt at times but it is important to get it regularly and give feedback regularly… Read more »

Learn the Power of Effective Feedback

Posted by & filed under Communicating To Manage Performance, Communication.

Acquiring effective feedback skills is one of the cornerstones of communicating to manage performance. Specific feedback encourages positive behavior. Not all positive feedback is created equal. Unfortunately generic (wishy washy, “nice job”) positive feedback can have reducing impact or even disengage employees over time.  In addition generic positive feedback is often accompanied by specific detailed… Read more »