Stress is a normal part of life for everyone. For leaders, it is likely greater because of the special demands on you, higher levels of responsibility, and fewer people with whom you can share what’s going on. Because of that, developing regular rituals you can do every day will help steel you against anything that […]
Mindfulness, stress management
Many people attend a leadership workshop or seminar and get fired up about what they learned. But often, that fire dies down within a day or two, and the participants go back to however they were behaving before they attended the workshop! The “high” or peak experience doesn’t last. Why not? Because, as Jocko Willink […]
Change, leadership, Leadership Development, leadership skills
People are often promoted into leadership roles because they have said “yes” to new opportunities and challenges throughout their careers. If that describes you, it can create the expectation among higher-level supervisors that you will always say “yes.” But one of the realities of a leadership role may be that you cannot say “yes” to […]
leadership, leadership skills, saying no, Self-Awareness
It can be challenging for companies to identify leaders. And some companies wait until an employee reaches a management position before investing in their leadership potential. But at that point, it can be too late, because some bad habits may have become ingrained, while positive competencies you would want to instill by that point may […]
Drive, Humility, Leaders, leadership potential, leadership skills
Mindfulness is becoming more and more popular in the professional world. Leaders can often feel overwhelmed, stressed and like they’re running a never ending race. Mindfulness can help with that. But does mindfulness training work well for teams? A recent article in Forbes took a look at the research behind this question and suggested some […]
efficiency, engagement, leadership skills, Performance, Productivity
Here’s the situation: Your top sales rep is killing their quarterly numbers. But almost every other rep on that team is threatening to quit. Now you have to deal with “The Competent Jerk.” But how? They’re producing results, they’re good with clients, and they’re appropriate in meetings with you, that’s true. But often, the Competent […]
360-Degree Assessment, Accountability, Coaching, Performance, Support
High performance teams aren’t just a group of experts. They’re talented people who work collaboratively and enable each other to be better. And for a team to reach this level of excellence, a strong degree of trust between/among individuals and across the entire team is critical. But as we all know, trust takes time and […]
Communication, Company Culture, High performance, Innovation, Relationships, Trust
When you are in a leadership role, you are frequently in the position of giving other people critical feedback. And in criticism, as in comedy, timing is everything. When you’re giving constructive feedback (including positive feedback, although I’m focusing on constructive criticism below), try to give that feedback as soon as possible. Here’s why: The […]
Coaching, constructive feedback, Feedback, Listening
One of the realities of business is not everyone loves what we propose. Sometimes that’s a reflection of our failure to learn as much as we can about what they really need. Other times, it’s a reflection of the client’s indecision. When clients don’t know what they want, they often use the proposal process to […]
learning, lessons learned, Rejection, Self-Awareness
In today’s world, we’re inundated with technology that’s supposed to help us work smarter, play harder and live our best lives. Although they do offer some advantages, the unintended consequence is that we’re more distracted than ever, and there’s pressure to reply more quickly to emails, texts, and social media messages. Combined with the “normal” […]
health, Human Performance Institute, Mindfulness, stress management