Today, you can find a “coach” for everything. Where we used to associate coaching specifically with sports, now there are life coaches, leadership coaches, executive coaches, parent coaches, career coaches… you get the picture. Since our firm provides leadership and career coaching, we obviously see the value in coaching.Performance Management: Putting Research into Action states, “There is strong research and case-study evidence that coaching is an effective leadership development tool.” In fact, one of our coaching clients from last year received a substantial raise as a result of gains in his performance. He deserves the credit for this through his
I’ve been asked by a friend to write a post on time management. It seems fitting at the beginning of each year to look at how we manage our time and “resolve” to manage it more appropriately as we begin anew. But other than this one tidbit of time management advice, I’m not going to write today about time management: How you spend your time should be based on your purpose, and your purpose should be captured in a mission statement to govern how you spend your time. Instead, in considering time management, I think it is worth reflecting on
This year, I made my professional and personal goals public in order to demonstrate one effective characteristic of goal setting- going public with them. So, did going public help? Here’s how this year shook out: Goal 1. Maximize productivity in the morning. Result: Accomplished, but room for improvement. I didn’t get up as early as I had planned, and I really owe more credit to this happening to my running accountability partner and my early-bird three year old than I do myself. But, mornings have gone a lot smoother this year. Goal 2. Grow company revenue by 30% or more
I attended a seminar last week discussing ways to improve productivity and communication in the workplace. One thing that stood out to me in the presentation was the emphasis the presenter placed on eliminating stressors so that people could be innovative and creative. He placed a value on innovation and creativity as the only differentiating factors in creating a sustainable advantage. What if standard or traditional work arrangements are creating workplace stressors and reducing innovation and creativity? This leads me to consider a tie to a book I mentioned last week, The Elephant and the Flea and its emphasis on
To continue our periodic posts on Leadership How-Tos as a suggestion from participants in my last Leadership I class, I’d like to suggest an activity that combines two of the class topics: 1. Teamwork 2. Communication In the class, everyone takes a Communication Style Assessment. You can take an online assessment like the one taken in the class for $31.00 each and/or click here to see all the other products that go along with the assessment. To better understand communication in the workplace and build camaraderie amongst your team (and have a little fun while you are at it!) get this