We’re so excited to be sharing this rich post full of great ideas this month. We’ve participated in the leadership development carnival for years and always find it full of good stuff to read and share.
Communication
From Confucius to Mohammed, from Martin Luther King to Abe Lincoln, it is the stories people remember. On a practical note, for all of us in business, the point is best made by Seth Godin: “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” – Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE (@madarling)
Feed Your Future with Feedback & Feedforward
Jillian Miles Massey at The Point Blog says there are three types of feedback. Unsolicited, solicited, and observation, sharing that solicited is often the least common. Do you want to know how to accept that feedback and feedforward? Take a peek at how you can feed your future! – Jillian Miles Massey (@jillian_miles)
Conflict is good – five ways to make it even better!
Lisa Kohn of Chatsworth Consulting Group, presents Conflict is good – five ways to make it even better! on The Thoughtful Leaders™ Blog where she presents a few simple, but not so easy, steps to take that can help make conflict more effective and productive. – Lisa Kohn (@ThoughtfulLdrs)
Who Are the Difficult People and What Can You Do About Them?
At one time or another we have had to deal with people who just seemed to make life difficult. Often we didn’t know what to say or how to improve the quality of our interactions. Here are five specific behaviors that may have given you grief in the past and some strategies for dealing with them. – John Stoker (@DialogueWORKS)
The quiet riot of quitting is loud. Come on, leaders – do you hear the noise?
Employees are quitting at record rates around the country. What is driving this ‘quiet quitting’ trend? Leaders who aren’t listening to their people. – Jennifer Nash (@NashCoaching)
The Dialogue of Delegation: Be Focused & Intentional
The ability to delegate is a key leadership competency. Yet, many supervisors and managers fail to do so. When asked why the most common reasons are: “It’s easier to do it myself.” “It takes more time to explain what I want someone else to do than to do it myself.” “I can do it better anyway.” If the delegator communicates strategically, clearly, concisely and intentionally, it makes the job easier. Key to the successful communication is checking for understanding, and delegating to results, not process. – Diana Peterson-More (@DianaPMAuthor)
Top 4 Questions About Leading & Communicating with Impact in Today’s Reality
At a time when so many employees are feeling stretched, disconnected and overwhelmed by the challenges of our new working reality – and businesses wrestle with significant change and cost pressures – communication leaders are looked to for answers. With that in mind, we’ve compiled four common questions we’ve received recently from leaders and provided answers to them. – David Grossman (@ThoughtPartner)
Creativity/Inspiration
Windshield, Rearview, Handheld-Which do you use?
The commute to work is time to prepare your mind for the day ahead, looking through the windshield at all the possibilities. You can look back through the rearview mirror, leaving behind issues to handle tomorrow. Taking time to use questions to ask yourself and others is an integral part of reflection. Seeking to understand and then working to develop plans for improvement drives growth. Which mirror do you use to reflect? – Brenda Yoho (@BrendaYoho)
Development
How to Bring Out the Best In People
Do you consider yourself a good friend or colleague? Before you answer that question, ask yourself, “Do I bring out the best in people?” – Frank Sonnenberg (@FSonnenberg)
Why do so many leadership development programs fail?
Way back in January 2014, in an issue of McKinsey Quarterly, a group of researchers attempted to answer this question: They summarized their finding into the four main issues that led to a lack of results in most leadership development programs – Sean Glaze (@leadyourteam)
Why Is It So Hard? Moving Beyond Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 101
I feel like we’ve been in “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 101” class for decades now. Starting more than 30 years ago organizations first funded the “D” (diversity). Then when those programs didn’t diversify workforces enough, they added the “I” (inclusion) and more recently the “E” (equity) to bring racial and gender balance into their leadership ranks. Now we’re talking about the “B” (belonging). Yet the lack of true diversity, equity and inclusion in our workplaces and leadership remains. – Dana Theus (@Danatheus)
Culture Leadership Charge: Are Staff Quiet Quitting? How to Fix It
What is quiet quitting? It means employees are no longer going “above and beyond” – they’re doing exactly what their job description says they should do. They’re not taking on extra work; they’re doing what they’re paid to do. How can you fix it? -S. Chris Edmonds (@schrisedmonds)
The Catalysts Behind Highly Effective Development Conversations
Development is both a driver of attrition and an incentive for recruitment. So, whether they’re coming or going, employees prioritize opportunities for growth – and leaders committed to cultivating a robust and stable staff must prioritize it too. – Julie Winkle Giulioni (@Julie_WG)
I have coached hundreds of leaders from all ranks. Over time, I noticed that leaders were far more likely to benefit from a coaching conversation, to act on commitments made during those conversations, when they were left with brief, memorable headers about the insights that we discussed. Often the insights were captured in two simple words. -Bill Treasurer (@btreasurer)
The New Model for Leadership–Old School Diplomacy
In this article, I draw from the lessons of history to suggest a fresh model and set of skills for leading in this era. It turns out, the skills of successful diplomats are ideal for navigating the needs of today’s demanding stakeholder groups. -Art Petty (@artpetty)
Become Less Relevant to Your Company
I see so many business owners that are in the way of their business’s growth. They feel they need to be involved with each decision and the business cannot run without them. The team cannot make decisions without the owner’s blessing. There’s another way. – Jon Verbeck (@jonverbeck1)
It’s Never Too Late for an Elegant Exit
“How can we keep you?” is only a relevant question when there is sufficient time to implement effective retention tactics. If there’s not enough time, then it’s a done deal and it’s too late to talk the employee out of leaving. But it should never be too late to ensure an elegant exit. – Bev Kaye (@BeverlyLKaye)
Some reflections on why doing things the hard way can pay off as a path to personal and professional growth. – Ken Byler
‘Enterprise Thinking’ Is Key to Your Next Promotion
Prioritizing your organization’s success over your own is a necessary step for climbing up the leadership ladder. View your work through the lens of the entire organization by looking at the big picture and watching for opportunities to benefit the greater good rather than just your team or functional area. By developing your enterprise thinking skills, you’ll be climbing into new levels of leadership in no time. – Jon Lokhorst (@jonlokhorst)
Engagement
Employee Wellbeing: A Leader’s Call to Action
It is time to learn from the past and prioritize wellbeing as our strategy for future success. There is no time to waste for leaders to prioritize the whole person in the workplace in all aspects of wellbeing. It is the only way forward. -Angel Hummel (@AngelaJHummel)
How to talk about [bleep] at work?
Do you avoid sensitive [bleep] topics at work? Too bad! If you address them (including #DEI and #ESG issues) you build the organization’s culture and come up with actionable ideas together. Let’s talk about any [bleep] that matters. Dialogue is always relevant for work. Let’s become courageous, positive influencers. – Marcella Bremer (@MarcellaBremer)
Overcoming Mistrust
Using lessons from the current culture wars, this post illustrates common patterns of conflict and identifies behaviors that can help people begin to overcome any period and type of relationship mistrust, including those common within many organizations. These are essential leadership behaviors that can and must be modeled in order to start a healing process. – Dan Oestreich (@DanOestreich)
Productivity
Why You Should Quit Trying to Manage Time
Time management is a futile goal. Instead, manage your emotions, your focus, and knowing what gives you a sense of purpose to feel more joy than stress. – Marcia Reynolds (@marciareynolds)
How’s Cubicle Life Going for You?
Once upon a time, people worked in huge open areas without zero privacy. And then came the cubicle some 60 years ago. But where did the idea of the cubicle start? The irony of the cubicle concept is that it was intended to boost productivity, or so thought Robert Propst, a designer for office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller. – Jim Taggart (@jlctaggart)
Turning Your Roadblock into an Opportunity
Have you ever turned roadblocks into opportunities? With your potential, you can surpass this period with turning your ideas into a better opportunity than once thought. – Neal Burgis, Ph.D. (@Exec_Solutions)
Team Building
Think back for a moment to a team you were assigned to but didn’t feel accepted. No doubt this had a negative impact on your contribution and performance, because social belonging is a basic human need. Learn team characteristics that foster connection. – Priscilla Archangel (@PrisArchangel)
Are you creating teams or just collecting talent?
It takes more than talent to create a great team. – Wally Bock (@WallyBock)
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