Category Archives: Leadership Matters
An Agile Approach to Development Planning
October 23, 2018 | | Leave a comment
Agility is in high demand in today’s workplace. The ability to nimbly pivot when confronted by new or changing dynamics is quickly becoming a core competency for leaders and employees alike. And it makes sense given the complex and unpredictable environment in which we work. But, you know what’s also complex and unpredictable? The employment landscape. Today’s jobs may be automated tomorrow. That role you’ve been working toward for years may evaporate. And positions we can’t even imagine have yet to be invented. As a result, tried-and-true career planning processes must give way to more fluid ways of growing and …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged agility, core competency, development planning
3 Interviewing Mistakes Smart Managers Routinely Make
October 11, 2018 | | 1 Comment
As a manager, recruiting, interviewing, selecting and hiring talent may be among your most valuable contributions to the organization. Let’s face it: on your own, you can do little. But, working with and through experienced and capable team members, you dramatically magnify what’s possible. As a result, interviewing is a high-leverage skill that effective managers must master. Unfortunately, in many organizations, this mission-critical activity doesn’t receive the attention it deserves. Managers frequently find themselves making swift, pressured decisions just to find a “warm body” to fill an open slot. Others relinquish this vital responsibility to intuition, basing decisions on the …
Posted in Leadership Matters, Uncategorized
Tagged clarity, Conversation, interviewng, perspective, preparation, processing
You are the Steward of Your Legacy
September 25, 2018 | | 8 Comments
Guest Post by Peter Giulioni I’m excited to share a guest post from a new blogger whose work I am confident you’ll appreciate: my husband, Peter Giulioni. He brings decades of management consulting, university administration, and life experience to this article on legacy. Coincidentally, I wrote a blog post on the same topic when Peter’s mom (my mother-in-law) died several years ago. So, I guess this is a topic that runs very deep in our family. I hope you enjoy Peter’s foray into blogging—and he welcomes your insight and feedback. When I first thought about writing this blog I, like …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged legacy, relationships, remembered, service, stewardship
Beyond Meditation: How Leaders Can Put Mindfulness into Action
September 12, 2018 | | 1 Comment
Mindfulness continues to garner significant attention in business. And it makes sense. When companies like Google, Apple, McKinsey, Intel, and General Mills all focus in a particular direction, others will naturally follow—especially when research paints such a compelling picture of the possible benefits of mindfulness, from stress reduction to improved relationships to better problem solving and decision making. There’s no argument that today’s always-connected, 24/7 workplace is ripe for mindfulness. People aren’t paying attention to what they’re doing 46.9% of the time according to research by psychologists Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert of Harvard University. Depending upon the study one consults, US …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged autonomy, intention, mindfulness, modeling, multitasking
Let’s Get Smarter About Goal-Setting
August 28, 2018 | | 2 Comments
The rhythm that we established as school children lives on in many of us. Admit it: You get antsy in the spring, realizing that summer is just around the corner. Feeling like September is a fresh start, you clear out a few old files and bring in a few new office supplies. ‘Back to school’ is a groove that many of us fall back into long after we’ve graduated and moved on. We think of this time of year as an opportunity to focus and work diligently to achieve what was set out as objectives for the year… all in …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged emotional connection, employee development, goals, leader, SMART
Vexed by Virtual?
Virtual teams—once a novelty—have become a standard feature of today’s workplace. According to Remote.co, a forecast of employment trends by the World Economic Forum called flexible work, including virtual teams, “one of the biggest drivers of transformation” in the workplace, while a Gallup poll found that 37 percent of respondents have already worked virtually. And virtual work makes tremendous sense in terms of cost savings, productivity improvements and the ability to engage the best talent literally anywhere in the world. But, despite its popularity, many organizations and the leaders responsible for the teams continue to struggle with countless challenges. How about you? Which of …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged accountability, assumptions, communitcation, community, isolation, performance, rapport, technology, trust, virtual teams
Rethinking Your Response When an Employee Resigns
“I quit!” These words strike fear in the hearts of managers everywhere. Resignations represent one of the most emotional, stressful and challenging situations leaders face. They undermine confidence in ourselves, our leadership and our organizations. They threaten the status quo. And they have the potential to compromise team dynamics and business results. Continuum of responses No wonder many managers demonstrate reflexive—and not always constructive—responses to these two emotionally charged words. In fact, leadership responses to resignations frequently fall toward one end of the following continuum or the other. Many managers panic and immediately begin a scramble to turn back the …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged attrition, mindful, resignation, talent
Persist or Pivot? 8 Questions to Determine How to Move Your Plan Forward
June 26, 2018 | | Leave a comment
Planning is a cornerstone of leadership and a foundational competency required for success in today’s complex and uncertain business environment. Love it or hate it (and plenty of managers and supervisors do hate it), planning is a non-negotiable priority for anyone responsible for driving results. Yet, this key activity that ensures alignment, appropriate resource allocation, risk mitigation and organizational support is fraught with challenges. Field research over the past two years highlights the most persistent planning problems facing leaders. Propensity for action A natural bias for action on the part of many leaders teamed with a time-starved workplace conspire to …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged action, alignment, flexibility, persist, pivot, planning, process
Why “Okay” Isn’t Good Enough for Remote Leaders
Guest Post by Kevin Eikenberry and Wayne Turmel I’ve been following the work of Kevin Eikenberry for the past six year and consistently find his writing to be high-quality and highly practical. Teaming up with co-author Wayne Turmel, The Long-Distance Leader is no exception. Given today’s highly distributed workforce, leaders are challenged to find ways to connect, build trust, engage, and drive performance across geographies, time zones and cultures. This book delivers actionable, in-the-trenches advice for these leaders, offering everything from 19 Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership to detailed guidance about communicating and coaching. I’d consider this required reading for the …
Posted in Leadership Matters
The Magic of Making an Effort
Just over a year ago I gave a keynote speech at a conference in Russia. I worked diligently to master a few key phrases. But, between having no natural capacity for foreign languages and not hearing much Russian in my day-to-day life, the result was dreadful. I actually might have insulted their mothers as I greeted the audience; but they smiled and clapped enthusiastically. Throughout the conference, I tried out my slow and very clunky greetings. It was uncomfortable for me and probably sounded like nails on a chalkboard to those with whom I spoke. Yet, even my worst attempts …
Posted in Leadership Matters, Learning Matters
Tagged demonstrated effort, effort, flexibility, perfection, stretch assignments
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When you help employees grow….engagement, retention, productivity, and business results will grow as well.
