Tag Archives: goals
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
The Supervisory Squeeze
October 11, 2017 | | 1 Comment
Being a front-line supervisor can be the most gratifying and exciting of roles that anyone will ever experience. It can also be the most terrifying, overwhelming and demoralizing. This is because new supervisors generally have no idea of the “squeeze” into which they are stepping. The front line is the firing line Imagine a place where the most challenging of work is reserved for those who are least seasoned and least prepared. Welcome to most organizations. After the initial glow associated with the promotion fades, new supervisors find themselves facing a difficult set of dynamics. They are fundamentally responsible for …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged front line, goals, leadership, pressure, supervisors, targets
When the Growing Gets Tough
Think about the learning that contributed most powerfully to your development and who you are today. Consider the experiences that built the expertise you use and value most every day. Reflect on what you’re most proud of mastering during the course of your career or life. This memorable learning that has made a significant difference to you (and to the organizations you’ve served) likely didn’t come easily. The kind of learning that sticks with people, helping them achieve lifelong results, generally: Challenges them to change how they think, act, or perform in new ways. Takes significant energy and attention. Involves …
Posted in Career Matters, Leadership Matters, Learning Matters
Tagged career development, careers, engagement, goals, growth, leadership, leadership development, mindfulness
Goal Setting Requires BUY-IN
January 13, 2017 | | Leave a comment
The beginning of the new calendar year frequently corresponds with the start of a new performance period. As a result, managers and leaders everywhere are preparing for those annual conversations designed to establish the goals and objectives that employees will work toward for the next twelve months. Today, few managers make the overt mistakes that characterized goal-setting in the past. In 2017, leaders typically know better than to simply roll their own objectives down, assigning them to the next level via one-way communication. They appreciate the value of dialogue, clarity and even negotiation in some cases. Even still, many managers …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged big picture, buy-in, context, conversations, feedback, framework, goals, metrics, objectives, performance, recognition, support
Give ‘Em Some Space (For Possibilities)
A significant dimension of leadership is coaching… engaging in conversations that help others make the leap from where they are to where they want (or need) to be. Whether the focus is on correcting a performance problem, expanding capacity, improving relationships, or developing within one’s career, coaching is a powerful tool for supporting others as they grow, achieve, and realize their full potential. Whether you’ve been formally trained or have simply picked it up by watching others, you’ve likely learned about the ‘mechanics’ of coaching…. and that questions are the tools of the trade. Effective coaches construct a conversation (or, …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged business, Change, coaching, Conversation, goals, intention, leadership, problem solving
How Do Your Employees Define Success?
When employees succeed in their careers, so do their teams, departments, functions and organizations. As a result, businesses work diligently to develop systems and processes to promote career development; leaders grapple with how to help people reach their goals given structures that are flatter and leaner than ever before. Too frequently though, these efforts are based upon assumptions that may not be accurate for all employees. They center on promotions and pay increases….which, in today’s business climate can be in short supply. But, the good news is that these factors may not play as prominent a role in an employee’s …
Posted in Career Matters, Happiness Matters, Leadership Matters
Tagged achievement, career development, energy, engagement, enjoyment, goals, learning, purpose, satisfaction, work-life balance
Sustainability and Focus
Sustainability gets a lot of attentions these days… and rightly so. As a society, we’re bringing greater consciousness to the preservation and endurance of the environment, energy, and more. Yet, there’s one precious natural resource that rarely gets the same attention. And for too many people, it’s reaching dangerous depletion levels. How sustainable is the personal energy you bring to the focus you deploy against your goals, mission, and purpose in life? Throughout our upbringing, school and work experiences, many successful individuals have learned and honed a potentially destructive form of focus: the forced and fierce variety. You may recognize …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged achievement, burnout, focus, goals, personal energy, purpose, success, sustainability
The New Game of Management
Today’s managers and supervisors are under tremendous, and often competing, pressures. They’re challenged to balance short-term results with long-term focus. They must keep costs down but drive ever-increasing levels of contribution and value. They must follow directives and think outside of the box. And they have to do it all at once. Analogies abound. A manager’s job is akin to spinning plates, juggling chainsaws, herding cats, or navigating the whitewater rapids of change. It’s also akin to a trending app in the Apple Store, Nerdy Workout. (Yes, I do have kids… and in the spirit of full-disclosure the developer of …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged balance, failure, goals, Joe Rothenberg, leadership, management, Nerdy Workout, resources, supervision
Before Competence
January 7, 2014 | | 6 Comments
I finally got around to reading Before Happiness by Shawn Achor over the holidays. It’s an insightful book that describes how we must learn to see the world through a more positive lens which allows us to summon the motivation, emotion, and intelligence necessary to achieve happiness and success. The reading prompted me to begin considering the precursors of other fundamental success-driving factors… like competence. Competence is essential to workplace (or any-place) success. The ability to perform well and efficiently, proficiency, mastery, and expertise – it all lays a solid foundation for accomplishment and results. But competence doesn’t spontaneously appear; …
Posted in Career Matters, Leadership Matters
Tagged accountability, Before Happiness, business, coaching, competence, confidence, experiences, feedback, goals, leadership, learning, Mistakes, network, recognition, reflection, Shawn Achor, strengths
Back to School Inspires Goal Setting
September 17, 2013 | | 5 Comments
Guest Blog by Jenna Giulioni The following post is an article that my 15-year-old daughter wrote for her high school newspaper. It strikes me that we adults might benefit from this teenage wisdom on how to reach our goals. As the new school year fast approaches, there are two types of people, those praying for summer not to end and those who are looking forward to a fresh new start. The beginning of the school year is the kid version of the real New Year. Resolutions are made, although often not as officially. ‘I’m gonna get all A’s!’ ‘I will …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged goals, leadership
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