Truth and trust are the two areas that all leaders need to focus all of the time. Here are 5 Habits to build a Trust Savings Account (aka: Emergency Fund). The Birkman Method is a great tool for helping to understand the individual needs of your people. This is s cornerstone of both leadership development and the development of the culture of your team.
Leadership and followership are topics that belong together. Here are some of my take aways from a team event that I facilitated recently. It was a great discussion for defining What is Leadership and What is Followership. This could be a great keynote topic.
Leadership and team development involves looking in the mirror on occassion. The Birkman Method is a great tool for creating self Awareness for the team and for the leaders. The Birkman Method helps see the natural style, the stress style, and the needs that have to be met in order to help the natural style of the leader be present more often.
This is a question from the Wisconsin State SHRM Conference in 2011. I was invited to speak on the Talent Management Scorecard. The question was How do you recommend supporting momentum once development plans are established?
Talent managment is not an initiative, it is about habits. My talent scorecard helps leaders ask themselve “Am I doing all of the important things that my people need”. Leadership development is about helping leaders become skilled at the What of leadership, and this scorecard helps them understand the Why as well as the what.
Leadership and accountability is a double edged sword. Accountability is too often used around revolutionary or punitive rhetoric. Be careful, because it is a powerful word and it can result in some very distructive actions. Talent management has to have accountabiity to work, but it starts with a great conversation and a strong relationship.
We all need foundational beliefs that guide us. Leadership is hard enough without a set of beliefs to help guide our choices. This post is about exploring your Leadership Rocks. Mine is centered around a definition offered by Ken Blanchard many years ago.
When people are under lots of stress because of life/work, they start action ‘strange’. When I hear labels, I automatically think of the Birkman Method and what it captures and shares. A cornerstone of leadership development is self awareness of what is normal behavior, what our needs are, and how to deal with stress.
There is lots to talk about when it comes to Steve Jobs and his run with Apple. I just hope we do not forget the leadership lessons and the resilience he showed in coming back to the company that fired him and being more successful.
Is boss watching the #1 sport in the office? Not sure. But leaders need to have the self awareness to know people are watching and lead with transparency. Leadership is about building trust and generating truth to such questions as Why is this happening? or What are you thinking about? Boss watching is about followers filling in the blanks.
Safety around water is important because the risk is real, and a drowning victim has a name. This lesson hit me during a recent swimming lesson, and it has application in leadership development. What do new leaders need? A lifeguard of sorts – called leadership development, an on-boarding plan, or a mentor.
Listening is not always THEIR problem. Leaders need to be clear and people need to have time to digest either positive or negative news. Too often there is confusion and surprise. Here are 3 steps for leaders to make sure the news is heard and it makes a difference.