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Will Coaching Work: 4 Questions to Answer

Author: Paul Dillenburg, Date: 7/10/2012

Faced with smaller developmental budgets, organizations need to be selective and invest a disproportionate amount of resources in key talent. One avenue for developing top talent is hiring a coach. But, truth be told, not everyone in your organization needs a coach. And, it is not appropriate to invest in coaching for all leaders. How do you know if a coach is the best resource for a given leader?

Here are 4 questions to help you determine if a leader should work with a coach:

1. Does your organization support coaching?
In order to achieve the results intended, individuals need support not only from their coach but also their boss and peers.

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Know What You Do Well and Build On It

Author: Diane Hamilton, Date: 7/5/2012

Einstein Quote For the past 20 years or so, I have used 360 degree feedback tools to help leaders continue to learn and grow. I think they are extremely valuable in helping people see where they are at; what strengths to leverage; and, what improvement opportunities exist.

While extremely valuable, a mistake I regularly see is the desire to focus only on the negative. Now, I understand this. By nature, when I look at something I’ve done, it is easier for me to talk about what still needs to be improved versus commenting on what was right. When it comes to my own self-examination, I have a nasty inner critic of excellence that tells me to do more, do better, change, or adjust.

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Teacher and Student

Author: Paul Dillenburg, Date: 6/13/2012

On a fairly regular basis, I facilitate mastermind groups for high potential employees. For those of you not familiar with a mastermind group, it is a monthly gathering of 5 – 8 individuals from different organizations that seek professional development through peer learning and the presentation of leadership content.

One of the key “ground rules” I like to present to the group is the idea that we are all teachers and students. Meaning, you can teach everybody you interact with something and everyone you meet can teach you something. This is an extremely powerful message and one not everyone embraces – especially as leaders. But for those of us that must lead through collaboration, if you aren’t open to others input you may find yourself without followers.

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Observe Leadership in Action

Author: Diane Hamilton, Date: 6/5/2012

“Sports do not build character. They reveal it.” –Heywood Brown, American journalist

I’ve been watching a lot of high school baseball recently. I have a nephew whose team is in the state high school tournaments—and, at least as of this blog post, they are continuing to win and make their way to the state finals.

As I’ve been enjoying the “national past time,” I’ve been paying a lot of attention to leadership. Leadership in baseball (as in organizations) happens at all levels. You can learn a lot by observing leaders in action—both in and outside of organizational life. And, in baseball, as in organizations, you can observe leadership in action on a regular basis (and you also notice the implications of a lack of leadership). Here’s what I’ve noticed:

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Walk a Mile…

Author: Diane Hamilton, Date: 5/17/2012

“We always admire the other fellow more after we have tried to do his job.”
–William Feather (1889 – 1981), American author and publisher
Shoes
An age old problem in business is how individuals work together. I’ve had several leaders say to me, “If we didn’t have to deal with all of this stuff, we could concentrate on running the business.” The “stuff” in question is human dynamics—what makes individuals and teams work; and, what most definitely gets in the way of productivity and performance.

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The Myth of the Charismatic Leader

Author: Paul Dillenburg, Date: 5/9/2012

When you hear the word “leader,” what images pop in your head? Often it’s the gregarious, outspoken, energetic, showman, whose personality seems larger than life – someone who is able to rally and motivate employees with their words. But what if you are not gregarious, outspoken, or a master presenter? Can you be a leader that others will follow?

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The Value of Executive Coaching

Author: Paul Dillenburg, Date: 3/6/2012

More and more companies are using executive coaching to improve their bottom line. It is one of many approaches to developing leadership talent. Three reasons that coaching is particularly effective include:

Individualized attention. Unlike many other approaches to leadership development, each participant gets focused attention to learn about their strengths and development opportunities; and, develop specific action steps that tie to organizational results.
Accountability. Coaching is results-focused. The client creates goals and the coach helps hold the client accountable to those goals. Coaches provide clients with the process, tools, structure, and support to achieve higher levels of performance.

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Stop Holding Yourself Back

Author: Paul Dillenburg, Date: 2/14/2012

Over the last several months, I have been reading books from a few different genres – some are biographies, some are books on leadership, some are books on investment. What is striking is that even though these books tend to focus on different subject areas, I have gotten the same “advice” from many of them. That advice is, stop holding yourself back. Whether it’s the business classic Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill (1937) or the more recent Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeir Hanson (2010), authors interested in getting the best out of their readers often focus on the power of self-confidence.

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Do Organizations Set Managers Up For Success?

Author: Paul Dillenburg, Date: 1/31/2012

Countless organizations talk about how much they value their employees or their “human capital.” They espouse how important their people are to the success of their business. While there certainly is good intention in their words, actions may not always line up when it comes to setting new managers up for success.

According to a 2011 Careerbuilder study, nearly 60% of managers reported never receiving management training. This is an alarming statistic when you consider the stress associated with being a mid-level manager. Often individuals at this level within an organization are caught between the frontline (i.e., customers and client interactions) and the upper-levels of the organization (i.e., implementing strategic initiatives).

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Oldies, But Goodies

Author: btj-admin, Date: 1/26/2012

Regularly we post What We Are Reading and share that with our clients and colleagues (our most recent one was posted on 12-13-11). It occurred to us that while we constantly strive to have the latest and greatest leadership and business books and periodicals on our bookshelves (or our electronic readers), some of the books we refer to regularly are several years old; and, they have stood the test of time. Their concepts and principles are solid; their theories and practices transcend industries, economic conditions, and decades. While a few things may have changed, a few companies may have come and gone, the core principles have remained.

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Posts Tagged ‘Leadership Development’

Will Coaching Work: 4 Questions to Answer

Know What You Do Well and Build On It

Teacher and Student

Observe Leadership in Action

Walk a Mile…

The Myth of the Charismatic Leader

The Value of Executive Coaching

Stop Holding Yourself Back

Do Organizations Set Managers Up For Success?

Oldies, But Goodies

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