This is a guest post by Zack Zenger, co-founder and CEO of Zenger Folkman, a professional services firm providing consulting and leadership development programs What makes a great leader? Here are three alternatives to consider: Someone who has managed to overcome any weaknesses that she may have had. Someone who is really well rounded and good at a large number of … [Read more...]
Three Secrets to Group Decision Making
Every time I sit in a meeting, I’m utterly fascinated by the way groups make decisions. What happens before, during and after the meeting is different depending upon an organization’s culture. I’m reminded of this during the recent debt ceiling talks … well, maybe we shouldn’t even go there.Charlie Judy, author of HR Fishbowl, wrote an interesting post titled “Stop Playing … [Read more...]
What Does GREAT Look Like?
Last week, I spent a couple of days with eighty leaders from across my state working on defining our collective vision for the future of the state. As a part of this process, we were asked to break into groups to define what makes something "great." This may seem like a fairly easy task. But, before you jump to any conclusions, try it for yourself. Write down how you … [Read more...]
What Do You Expect? Dare to Expect the Best
What we usually get from people is what we expect to get. If we expect greatness, we'll get greatness. If we expect mediocrity, we'll get mediocrity.Good leaders expect the BEST from themselves and their staff. Your expectations play a huge role in your own success and they also have a profound effect on the people around you.ATTITUDE - What you expect from your staff … [Read more...]
Teamwork: This is What We Can Be
Back in the day, I used to run track for my high school’s girls 440 relay team. Even all these years later, I can close my eyes and feel it: legs churning, heart pounding, as I round the curve, ready to pass the baton. I’m reaching my right hand out to place the baton in my team mate’s waiting, outstretched palm. Most days, the hand-off went smoothly, but once in awhile we … [Read more...]
Ten Actions for Creating A Learning Organization
Jack Welch said, “An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the greatest competitive advantage.” Continuous learning and its respective implementation to generate desired business outcomes is at the core of successful organizations. Peter Senge defined a learning organization as the one “where people continually expand their … [Read more...]
Supervisor Debacle (Part 2)
In my last blog I shared with you a true story of two employees in conflict and the actual intervention made by their supervisor. In a nutshell, that intervention consisted of the supervisor bringing the two employees together and saying to them, "Okay ladies, go kick and scratch each other's eyes out and get this over with." First, I want to thank all of you who submitted … [Read more...]
Supervisor Debacle (Part 1)
A government employee (A) wrote me recently stating that she has been in a conflict with her coworker (B) for about a month now. I say “conflict,” but according to (A), it was nothing more than a minor misunderstanding…at least at first. Once the problem emerged, (A) noticed that (B) was upset and immediately apologized, explaining the good intentions that were behind her … [Read more...]
How to Be a Great Leader
It's not always easy to be a great leader. While some personality traits naturally bring strong people to the forefront of organizations, leadership skills are a learned quality that must be developed over time and through an abundance of practice. Title or job description does not automatically indicate a person’s leadership abilities. A true leader moves people … [Read more...]
Keeping Your Word
I think most people will agree that keeping your word is a good thing. I know that when someone tells me they are going to do something that will positively impact me in some way, I want them to follow through.Yet, the flip side of this value of integrity can take you into a tailspin. I’ve spent many a coaching session with my most successful clients getting them to drop … [Read more...]