When I talk to leaders who coach, I often get the question, “How do I get my people to have difficult conversations in my organization?” I have come to understand that this is a belief problem, not an action problem. Let me explain: Beliefs lead […]
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I recently read an article in the Harvard Business Review about first-time leaders, and it said that failure rates (of first-time leaders) are reported to be as high as 50% in the first year. Why does this happen? My belief is that […]
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In my experience, when I am coaching CEO’s & COO’s or line supervisors there is one question I ask that consistently has the same answer ……….. CRICKETS, NADA, NO RESPONSE. The question is simply, “What feedback did you give Mary […]
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Exemplary leaders are always trying to improve what is going on in their company. They have a vision of where they want to go and they are constantly trying to execute the right way to do it. Recently, I got an […]
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In today’s organizations, leaders are neither able nor expected to do everything themselves. The consequences of attempting to do this are dreadful.One of the five practices of exemplary leadership from the book, The Leadership Challenge, is: Enable Others to Act. In simple language, […]
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Have you ever found yourself asking, “Why do I always seem to be doing all the work?” The ability to delegate effectively – to assign new products and responsibilities to individuals or a team and providing the authority, resources, direction, and support […]
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Recently, I was talking with one of my great clients about their strategic plan. Their plan is bold. They are looking to double the size of their company (in revenue) in five years. There are two things this company already […]
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What is the difference between leadership and management? In this blog, I intend to make this question much more personal. I encourage you to understand that what goes on in-between your ears has a direct correlation to your job satisfaction and […]
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Do you have a culture of accountability at your company? Most companies do not. From the public corporation to the medium and small companies no one seems to understand accountability from the top down. Here is a short way to […]
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I frequently get asked how to handle accountability with the person I report to versus the person that reports to me? The answer is– you should handle them the same. He is a five-step process that you need to accomplish accountability from […]
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You can avoid common feedback mistakes by learning how to easily communicate important information about performance to direct reports, peers or superiors in a way that helps them hear and understand exactly what you are saying. Here is an easy […]
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Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. — Stephen R Covey Are you leading your business, or is your business leading you? Are you Working IN or ON […]
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In Patrick Lencioni’s groundbreaking work, The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team, his core, foundational, belief is that great teams trust one another. There is a lot of talk in teams about what lack of trust looks like. If you are […]
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I continue to get questions about accountability. During some training with clients, I heard this complaint: “We have this 20 year employee and every time we give them a simple task they fail to accomplish it and someone else has […]
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Often, I hear people use the words leadership and management interchangeably, as if they are the same word. Quite honestly, I think they are very different. Ask yourself this: Do leaders manage and do managers lead? Absolutely. They are distinct qualities and have their […]
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The most effective leaders have a high-level of self-awareness. Your capacity for self-awareness increases your ability to influence outcomes and inspire others. It also allows you to recognize strengths and identify potential blind spots. Here are 3 things you can start practicing […]
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The most common question that I get asked, both from leaders and aspiring leaders, is: “What’s the most important characteristic of successful leaders?” The most important choice that successful leaders make is the choice to be lifelong learners. Most leaders don’t […]
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There are five practices that leaders follow to be exemplary. These practices include: Model the Way Inspire a Shared Vision Challenge the Process Enable Others to Act Encourage the Heart Within the five practices, there are six behaviors that describe the […]
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Let me ask you a question. In your experience, observation, or your best practices in your organization; who do we typically promote into leadership roles? The answer that I hear most often is: “People who are technically the most competent.” Sales managers, […]
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Once in a while, great companies have to execute tough decisions. Sometimes these tough decisions are things like: Work force layoffs, cutting expenses, freezing wages, suspending bonus etc. These decisions are meant for the greatest good of all employees and, […]
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There are a few critical fundamentals of leadership and ways that you can effectively apply to your everyday work life. Here is a list for five fundamentals of leadership: First, leadership is everybody’s business. It’s not a title; it’s not […]
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Have you ever thought about how you, as a leader, can develop organizational excellence? I have a five-step process that I teach to enable organizational excellence. 1) What is your PLAN? What is your vision and values for the organization? Have […]
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When I am talking with leaders in an informal setting, like a networking event or even something going on in my neighborhood, I consistently get asked one question: “What are the one or two things I can do differently as […]
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I get asked a lot of questions about teamwork. Do I do teambuilding and that kind of thing? Today I want to talk about Patrick Lencioni’s excellent work on “The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team.” Patrick describes the behaviors […]
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There’s been a lot of work done on what makes an effective team and what are the behaviors that you need to have a cohesive team. The work that I like the best is Patrick Lencioni’s work on The Five […]
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All leaders need to have a vision for their company, for their division, for their department. Depending on where you are in the leadership hierarchy depends on: How big that vision needs to be How complex that vision needs to […]
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I get asked a lot of questions, and a lot of comments from leaders that say, “You know somehow I miss communicated this message, but I don’t understand” or, “I’ve been having trouble communicating with Mary or John, and I […]
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Great leaders ask great questions. Unfortunately, leaders are also always called upon to give answers. One of the skills you should work on as a leader is the ability to ask questions, this will directly reflect on how good a […]
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I spend a lot of time coaching my clients on how to coach their employees. Coaching is a formal process that uses one-on-one meetings to help your team members develop their hidden skills and discuss issues for improvement and performance. […]
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One of the key behaviors in an organization that you spend a lot of time on is interviewing. If you hire the right employee and then coach them appropriately, you’ve got a winning formula. Here are a few interviewing best […]
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A team that trusts each other implicitly, with vulnerability-based trust will engage in robust conflict. When they engage in robust conflict that’s not destructive, they’ll make strong commitments to one another. Because they make strong commitments to one another, they’ll […]
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Exemplary leadership is built on values. Those wishing to go beyond simple management and step up to lead must first discover—and then embody—the values that are critically important to them. Eventually encouraging your direct reports to take the same journey […]
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Empathy Definition: The feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions: the ability to share someone else’s feelings. Empathy is valuable in the workplace. Most of us work on teams. We must be able to foster productive […]
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Have you ever questioned the value of your one-on-one meetings? If you have followed my videos and blogs at all over the last 7-8 years, you know I am a big proponent of one on one meetings with cadence. Depending on […]
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In this post we cover 7 areas to master to increase your growth.
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As a leader, having difficult conversations is an inevitable part of the job. How you prepare for the discussions will directly impact their effectiveness. Before you conduct the conversation, you must assess whether it is a content, pattern, or relationship […]
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I get a lot of questions from my clients about help with coaching their people for success. I universally respond that the root of the issue the leader could be having with their direct report is either based in the […]
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A good rule of thumb for effective coaching is that it should make up about 35% of your management function. Coaching your people should ideally help you identify your constituent’s individual needs and corresponding performance improvement steps. Whether you are […]
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My work has led me to some conclusions related to learning and development that will help any organization seeking to position itself for future success: 1. Leadership is Everyone’s Job. It isn’t just for senior managers; it needs to be […]
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First, let me say that the question: Are leaders born or made, is an age old question; and there is not just a simple answer. Leadership is behavioral and behaviors are influenced both by genes (personality and intellect) and by […]
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In Patrick Lencioni’s groundbreaking work, The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team, his core, foundational, belief is that great teams trust one another. There is a lot of talk in teams about what lack of trust looks like. If you […]
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You can avoid common feedback mistakes by learning how to easily communicate important information about performance to direct reports, peers or superiors in a way that helps them hear and understand exactly what you are saying. Here is an easy […]
Read More
When I am talking with leaders in an informal setting, like a networking event or even something going on in my neighborhood, I consistently get asked one question: “What are the one or two things I can do differently as […]
Read More
I continue to get questions about accountability. During some training with clients, I heard this complaint: “We have this 20 year employee and every time we give them a simple task they fail to accomplish it and someone else has […]
Read More
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. — Stephen R Covey Are you leading your business, or is your business leading you? Are you Working IN or […]
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Empathy Definition: The feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions: the ability to share someone else’s feelings. Empathy is valuable in the workplace. Most of us work on teams. We must be able to foster productive […]
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One of the five practices of an exemplary leader is to inspire a shared vision. A great definition of vision is: An ideal, unique image of the future for the common good. When talking to leaders, they often get mission […]
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Is delegation a tool for employee engagement? There continues to be a lot of work being done on employee engagement in surveys. A recent Gallup poll indicates that the level of employee satisfaction is around 13%. Another study has found […]
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One of the five practices of an exemplary leader is to Model the Way. Model the Way is the easiest practice to understand and grasp, but can be one of the harder practices to execute (especially in stressful, tense work […]
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Once in a while, great companies have to execute tough decisions. Sometimes these tough decisions are things like: Work force layoffs, cutting expenses, freezing wages, suspending bonus etc. These decisions are meant for the greatest good of all employees and, […]
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If you haven’t completed your goals for 2017. It is ok. You are not alone. Your goal planning process should be fairly straight forward and follow the SMART ( Specific, Realistic, Attainable, Realistic, Measurable) acronym. SMART goals are built for […]
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One way for a leader to enhance employee engagement is to build performance management based on SMART goals. Employees are more likely to own the goals and be actively engaged in achieving them if they are allowed to co-create those […]
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Accountability continues to be a very valuable topic today for my clients. They tell me there is real confusion on the topic and quite honestly far too little accountability being executed in their companies. I am going to discuss a […]
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Most improvement comes from changing behaviors. It really does not matter whether you are trying to upgrade your status of your health by exhibiting an increased cadence of exercise or developing your leadership capabilities by making progress on behaviors associated […]
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Manager vs. Leader Often we use the words manager and leader interchangeably, but there are big differences between the 2 roles. There is no doubt that most leaders must also manage, but not all managers lead or know how to […]
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Leadership Messaging: Constituents Perception or Your Reality In your world where your brain is swirling with an endless number of items, you may want to occasionally pause to take a breath, clear your head, and make sure the messages you […]
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Recently, 31 leadership experts were called upon to list their top 3 skills or traits of a great leader. Here are the top 7 vote getters: 1. Integrity (10 votes) 2. Helps Others Succeed (8 votes) 3. Self-Awareness (7 […]
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There are many interesting benefits that are born out of the successful implementation of the behaviors that encompass the practices of exemplary leaders. Recently, one of my clients conveyed to me how she was making better and faster decisions. […]
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As a leader, how do you empower your people to take action? Enable others to act, one of the 5 practices of exemplary leaders, is probably the most often cited as having the largest area of need for improvement. This […]
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Progress Not Perfection- Do you only execute when you think you have achieved “perfection”? When I talk to my clients about the execution of leadership behaviors I constantly remind them to just “make progress” and resist the temptation to only […]
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5 Steps to Ensure Execution By: Len Petrancosta, COO, The Leadership Quest When I work with leaders, I often hear that the #1 challenge they say they face is lack of execution by those they lead, especially direction given to […]
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Key Attributes of Leaders A lot has been written about leadership and none may be clearer than the research done by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner of The Leadership Challenge. The authors have interviewed hundreds of thousands of participants and […]
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Questions a team leader needs to ask themselves before pursuing The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team If you have read the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni and your team exhibits similar behaviors described in […]
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How to Build a Cohesive Team In Patrick Lencioni’s groundbreaking book, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, Lencioni describes 5 behaviors that, when exhibited, will lead to a cohesive team that gets things done in an efficient, stress free environment. Those […]
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Leadership doesn’t happen without courage. Courage is having strength in the face of perceived pain or grief. There are a few things about courage I have observed in my study of key Leadership principles. First, courage is a skill that […]
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I just returned from The Leadership Challenge conference in New Orleans. Spending time with Jim Kouzes and Barry Pozner was so energizing. One thing that hit me was the diversity of entities embracing and driving The Leadership Challenge through their […]
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The definition of adversity is: A state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune. Adversity can bring out the best in organizations and individuals; they can also bring out the worst. The following are six strategies that can […]
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There are 5 practices that extraordinary leaders follow. One of the practices is: Model the Way. Modeling the way helps leaders to do two very important things: Clarify values and help each person find their voice and affirm shared ideals. […]
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Vision is often confused with mission so let me quickly explain. Mission is “What is my business and why does it exist”. Vision is “Where do I see my business going”. A great definition of vision is “An ideal, unique […]
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One of the hottest topics today continues to be lack of worker engagement. One way to increase your team’s engagement is to articulate “where you are going”. Imagine driving in the fog. You drive slower, turn off the radio because […]
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One thing I have noticed about leaders (and has been backed up by lots of research) is that leaders are lifelong learners. They find opportunities for self-improvement by reading, listening to others, taking seminars, reading blogs and more. Much of […]
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In their work “The Leadership Challenge“, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner have found that great leaders follow 5 practices that make them effective in their leadership roles. Here’s the list: #1 – Model the Way This is simply to […]
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Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner have surveyed hundreds of thousands of people and asked them to pick from a menu of 20 the top characteristics admired most in leaders. The results are very interesting but not for the reasons you […]
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Often I hear two words used interchangeably and, in my mind, they are words that are not synonyms. The two words are leadership and management. Certainly leaders need to manage at times but not all managers actually lead. […]
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Often times when talking to those who are led by someone else I hear words of frustration like: “My boss gave me a project and he is constantly looking over my shoulder, almost daily asking me questions about status and […]
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I attended The Leadership Challenge International Conference. Trainers, consultants, and companies engaged with the timeless work of The Leadership Challenge gathered from all over the world in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was a great two days of sharing and learning at […]
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