keynote speaking

. . . and When We Want Feedback – Step 1

We cannot get better without feedback. It is a critical piece, and in my experience people are not effective at giving or getting it. If you believe that relationships are critical in leadership and building effective teams, then you know that great relationships start with honest conversations that lead to thoughtful actions, and ultimately higher performance. It is the core of talent management and leadership development.

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What Seth Said – and more . .

The one I go back to daily is Seth Godin. I like Seth because his voice is edgy and challenging, and he writes about things that are important. Here is a piece of his recent post called The feedback you’ve been waiting for . . . Getting feedback is the foundation for development, and yet it is hard to get and hard to give. Here are some tips for Leaders on how to build moments where it is easier to hear it.

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3 Questions to Transform Your One on One

Talent management is about having thoughtful conversations that lead to meaningful actions and ultimately higher performance. The one on one is a key conversation. Here are three questions to ask and some other questions that will help you make that time more thoughtful and meaningful.

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Learning and 2014

Does learning = reading a book? I would say no, and here are two ways reading gets in the way of development and 2 ways to get development without reading a book – one for you and one for your team. Development and positive change happens when we have thoughtful conversations that lead to meaningful actions, and result in higher performance. That is an effective talent management strategy.

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Creating Space for Honest Conversations: Some Tips

Creating Space for Honest Conversations: Some Tips

Talent management is about great conversations. More specifically, honest conversations, resulting in thoughtful actions, and resulting in higher performance. Here are 5 questions that will help you create space for people to be honest. There still have to be actions that have to get done, but step one is getting it out on the table. Included are some links to templates that can help you have those conversations as leaders.

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The “Am I crazy?” Talk

The “Am I crazy?” Talk

Talent management is about great conversations. One critical conversation is the one we have with ourselves when we are feeling overwhelmed and not living into the work or the priorities we have set for ourselves. That happens. Life happens. But staying in and leading from that space is not healthy. Here are 4 steps to take when you find yourself feeling like you are loosing it (I call it the Am I crazy? question). The ability to do this is a critical part of leadership development.

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The Gift of Our Time

We scramble for the perfect gift, and often it is right in front of us, and behind us, and around us. Our time is a great gift, and for leaders it is too often forgotten because of all the other things we are trying to do. How do you make your time matter? First, recognize how valued it is, then give it. Talent management is about great conversations – go have one.

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An Open Door is not enough – How about an Open Ears policy?

It is time to get rid of the open door policy buzz phrase in business and replace it with the open ears policy. Here are some tips to making open ears work for you as a leader, and a challenge to followers to step into the space created by your leader to listen. Talent management is about great conversations, and having that conversation requires a minimum of two people, coming together, and willing to share the roles of talker/listener. This is a foundational leadership development topic, and should be repeated often if you are building a leadership development strategy.

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Should we do an employee survey?

Should we do an employee survey?

Talent management is about having great conversations. An employee survey is a tool that can help leaders listen more effectively and create some momentum towards the building a stronger culture. It also does not make sense in some cases. Here are some tips for thinking about whether it is the right thing to do for your organization.

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Excuses or Reasons? Two practices to help you listen

How many times have you walked into a situation as a leader, parent, or friend and heard a mountain of excuses and nothing got fixed? We know the impact of an excuses, but how do we get to a different outcome? Talent management is about having great conversations, and having those conversations requires us to manage ourselves well and maybe make some changes on how we manage others. Here are two practices this week to focus on.

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#nicematters

Gratitude matters. #Nicematters. It is important to share with people a simple Thank You, and when we get those messages from others we need to store them in a #nicematters file. Here is a quick request for my friends, to help me celebrate the gifts of 11 high school seniors. I look forward to a great conversation today.

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Entrepreneurial Leadership – My presentation & Two things I learned

Leadership starts with self-awareness. Self-awareness is only possible if we do some inner work and engage in a community that helps us define and refine our talents and potential. That is talent management, for leaders. Here is a presentation I did around entrepreneurial leadership and two things I learned from the experience.

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