Management

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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A lens for your talent conversations: 30-30-40 Conversation™ Rule

Talent management is about great conversations. The lens I use to guide these conversations has come from years of watching people interact, being in some great conversations, and working with some friends on a product to help others have great conversations. Here is my 30-30-40 rule. Use it to refine your leadership, peer, and team conversations.

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Ingredient #1: Owning your development

Talent management is about great conversations. One conversation that is powerful is around career development. Looking into the future to plan a career or commit to mastery is exciting, and not easy. Personal ownership is the big key to success, and that is step 1. Here are some tips for owning your own career development and some books/resources that might help.

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7 Books That Make Great Gifts For A New Job

Transitions are exciting and scary at the same time. Within the transitions related to our work, there is a real opportunity for a great conversation. Here is a list of my recommendation of 7 books that make great gifts for a person starting their first job. Each of the potential to create a perspective for someone that will help them manage through the highs and lows of that first role. Some equip people with specific things they can do, while others equip them with a perspective they need to keep. Both are equally important. Talent management is about great conversations. These gifts have the opportunity to start one.

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Beware of MORE Leadership

Talent management is about great conversations. Ultimately, great conversations are laced with the right words, the right intent, and the right actions. MORE is a word that is part of startup, growth, and leadership conversations, but beware of it. Ultimately it causes motion, but erodes most of the other things that are part of great relationships. Here are 5 reasons why MORE is dangerous.

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New word for your leadership toolbox – Capacity

Talent management is about great conversations. One topic that should be part of every conversation is our capacity and how it is being stretched, grown, shared in the work that we do. Leadership development is about helping leaders do it for themselves and using that experience to become capacity planners for their team. What is leadership? One answer is being a capacity developer of talent.

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Behind Performance Adjectives Series: Narcissistic

How do we get past labels and deal with the root causes of performance issues? When a label like narcissistic is applied, too often that is the end of it. I think it is the potential for a much richer conversation that could shift and individual and a team to a different place in terms of trust and performance. The Birkman Method can help with that conversation. Here are a few tips for moving from a label to a conversation.

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Knowing our roles:  One Thing A Leader Does

Knowing our roles: One Thing A Leader Does

Living into the roles in our lives often requires us to take a second look at our priorities. Being a great Dad, Mom, Friend, or Leader means naming the priorities and making time for them. Talent management is about great conversations. Living into the roles in our lives means having some of these conversations.

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Forget your brand. What is your art?

Talent management is about great conversations. For an individual to participate in these conversations, it is critical for them to bring a self awareness of what gifts and talents they have. Creating this self awareness as part of helping people find their place is critical. One key is how we talk about it, and Seth Godin uses the term Artist vs the traditional approach of talking about Brand.

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Employee Survey 101

Talent management is about great conversations. Doing an employee survey correctly requires the courage to step back and answer some fundamental questions about why you want to do it and what commitment you are willing to make as a leadership team. Here are some tips for having a conversation in the beginning that will build a foundation for success.

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Leadership Journey – Strengths to overused Strengths

Talent management is about having great conversations. For leadership development, those great conversations are critical to have when transitions happen. Not sure if you believe this? Then read this post. Believe it? Then read this post where I give you some resources to become better at handling these situations so they don’t happen again.

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