coaching
Three Steps to Team Alignment
How often have you worked with a team that isn’t on the same page? This common work situation of being misaligned is not the team’s fault but the responsibility of the leader/manager. What Elements Make up Team Alignment? 1. Purpose 2. Culture 3. Values When any of these three elements are out of alignment, the…
Read MoreIs your job spiraling into (un)planned obsolescence?
Yes, even in the financial services sector, robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence will disrupt or eliminate your job. Here are the types of jobs that are at risk: Tasks that are simple and repetitious Job functions that can be done using an AI or Machine Learning algorithm. Jobs that involve data entry from disparate…
Read MorePerceptions of You Enter the Room Before You Do
All too often, others’ perceptions of us can make or break our opportunities, adoption of our ideas, our futures. Perceptions of us result from the direct and indirect experiences others have had with us. So, yes, opinions about us can become viral in an organization where assumptions are made about us by people we have…
Read MoreEmotional Intelligence
EQ – A Journey to Personal and Professional Success “The capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.” Emotional Intelligence (EQ) refers to the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the feelings of others. Having Emotional Intelligence requires us to understand how emotions…
Read MorePassion and Leadership; Leadership and Passion
Gung-ho and leadership are not the same things. We’ve all worked for a boss that was all about getting it done at all costs, striving to get all the wins at any cost, take the hill without caring about consequences. This behavior is not leadership. Passion is a leadership attribute that cannot be denied, but…
Read MoreLeaders Know the Temperature of the Team
Leading is about driving results but it is also about taking the team’s temperature and understanding three things:
– Do they need the temperature turned up?
– Do they need the temperature turned down?
– Do they need to be on a glide-path for a while?
There is no science to the art of temperature taking, but we can draw on personal experiences to help reset the temperature. Thinking back over your professional life you may have experienced some of the same dynamics that teams exhibit. Let’s correlate personal experiences to team experiences…
Air Travel, Leading and Stress: What do these have in common?
Stress is part of our lives. Outside forces can cause us stress, and we can also bring on stress for others and ourselves. Air travel is a source of stress; that makes it a good metaphor for stress management behaviors. Many people find air travel very stressful. The stress surrounding air travel is not unlike…
Read MoreWhat’s Dog Poop Got to Do with Leadership?
We’ve all observed the behaviors of dog owners. If you live in an urban or suburban area, you know the rules; if you walk your dog, you are expected to pick up your dog’s poop. From my home, I have a great view of a stretch of grass that is a favored peeing and pooping…
Read MoreSo You Want to Be a Leader; a 3 Step Primer
So, let’s define leadership. Leadership IS NOT about title, rank, direct reports, or hierarchal power. Leadership IS about creating change. A person that is not creating change is maybe a satisfactory task and people manager but not a leader. Being a leader requires the individual to have the courage to take risks, use her/his voice…
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