Self Awareness

4 Words That Frame the Succession Conversation, 2 Tips to Reframe it

Succession planning is an important conversation, and a difficult one. Here are two tips for making it easier, and some feedback from a recent keynote topic I did on the topic. Talent management is about having great conversations. Great is about having honest conversations, leading to thoughtful actions, and improved performance.

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Tough Conversations

Leadership is about having honest conversations. The skill of being able to handle difficult conversations (conflict, differing opinions, accountability) is one of the most critical skills for a leader. Fierce Conversations and Crucial Conversations are great books, and here is another offering – a video by Ash Beckham. Talent management is about great conversations, this will help you have more of them.

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Leaders and One On Ones – Know your voice

Leaders have to be adaptable – not only in the changes around them but in how they vary their natural style when leading their people. Talent management is about great conversations, and one of the most critical conversations is the One on One. Here are some tips to help leaders be more effective in understanding what their people need and to meet those needs. Here is also a template for a one on one form that incorporates some of these key tips.

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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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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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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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Owning it

Owning it

Talent management is about great conversations. One great conversation is the one that happens inside of us as we try to get unstuck. Ownership is the biggest single difference between an entrepreneur and many that work in larger organizations. When we act like an entrepreneur we move past those barriers. Here are a couple of books that have become my barrier buster reminders, and a few triggers to use when you watch yourself.

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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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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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4 Keys To Successful Transitions

4 Keys To Successful Transitions

Talent management is about great conversations. Preparing for and managing through transitions is something we can prepare for, and there are conversations we own as inner work and through the work we do with our community. Here are 4 keys to preparing for and navigating transitions.

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