Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Coaching”
Much has been written about the need to motivate your workforce. Today’s workers are skilled, versatile, risk-seeking, and mobile. You have to motivate the A-players to want to stay, or they’ll leave for greener pastures. How? Quite a bit of research in recent years has shown that money should not be your primary tool. Instead, companies tout their culture, their …
Everyone remembers where they were fourteen years ago today. I remember and I reflect on a decision I made that could have altered my career. September 11, 2001. I was working in HR at a high-tech startup with a significant presence in New York. Prior to that role I worked for Morgan Stanley and had friends still there. I was …
Hopefully by now you’ve warmed up to the notion that productive conflict is important to encourage in your teams. To get the most out of their insights and input, you want to welcome opposition and creative pushback. The days of blindly following our leaders without objection or pressure-testing are behind us. In the knowledge economy, effective leaders encourage opposition to …
My daughter has her first loose tooth. She’s four, so it’s a bit early… but her dentist indicated it’s all genetic. So rest assured it’s not because she’s noshing on hard candy all day, nor are her teeth “advanced.” This loose tooth has caused some drama. I told her how my dad wrapped dental floss around my first loose tooth …
What is leadership, anyway? Ask 100 companies, and you’ll get 100 answers, all describing different leadership models. If you break down each of these models into its competencies, you’d get a nice, comprehensive set of leadership traits to strive for. Problem is: that list will be about 80 competencies long! What’s an executive team to do? We have to define …
I’ve been doing a bit more development and succession planning work lately, especially around internal leadership development candidates. If you have ever been involved in a succession planning process, you know this truth—that funnel gets a lot narrower as time goes on. Stan was a high potential four years ago, but he’s out of your funnel this year. As a …
“Curiosity killed the cat.” This friendly little ditty told to children across the country is intended to squelch the wandering mind of young kids so as not to annoy their parents. Oh, what a disservice we are doing to our future! As Liz Wizeman argues in her book Multipliers, today’s most effective leaders amplify the capability and intelligence of their …
The NBA Championship is over, yet there is a lot of chatter about the tense relationship between LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers coach, David Blatt. After observations regarding body language and confirmation that James called for substitutions and dismissed plays, more and more is being made about the deteriorating relationship. Larry Brown, long-time coach of many stars like Reggie …
Want an easy way to delineate between high- and low-functioning teams? Look for disagreements. Don’t see any? Then you’re probably watching a low-performing team. High-functioning teams have lots of productive disagreements. Show me a harmonious team who gets along in constant agreement, and I’ll show you a team that isn’t achieving as much as it could. Perhaps it’s playing it …
I’ve been known to have been a leader who has really high expectations. I’m not easily impressed or satisfied. I’m not saying I’m right… well, I’m usually right, but it’s who I am. This might sound like I would be hard to work for. I also don’t believe that is true. As you can see, my self-insight scores must be …
