Monthly Archives: February 2020

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Characteristics of an Effective Mentor

Author Fred Manske Jr. Secrets of Effective Leadership nailed it when he said: "The ultimate leader is one who is willing to develop people to the point they surpass him or her in knowledge or ability.” There are several characteristics of an effective mentor.  First is Wisdom.  There is no substitution for experience.  Your past successes and failures are your bank account for an effective mentor.  Next is Empathy. Chances are you were mentored and can relate to the place the mentee is in.  This leads to the next characteristic of Patience.  Growing and developing people takes time.  If you are not willing to invest the time needed, you simply can’t be effective at mentoring.  The next is Highly-Skilled.  As [...]

By |2020-04-21T01:21:52+00:00February 25th, 2020|Coaching, Leadership|0 Comments

It’s all about the People

Isn’t it true that people are an organization's most appreciable asset?  What I’m learning is the longer I’m in the seat the more value I need to place on people -- in particular the top 20%. When it is all said and done, I believe leadership isn’t about strategy, efficiency, marketing systems or high quality products -- it’s about people! We lead people -- not manage them.  Our people skills are the leader’s most critical asset.  Developing, practicing, and honing people skills are a good investment of our time as a leader. There is no substitute for the leader who is good with people.  If you are good with people you can lead in a variety of contexts. Bottom line [...]

By |2020-04-21T01:15:30+00:00February 20th, 2020|Coaching, Connecting, Development, Empowering, Leadership|0 Comments

Attract Motivation

"Competitors will eventually copy an innovative idea for a product or service but an organization of highly motivated people is very hard to duplicate," Bill George. I don’t know about you, but I’ve learned over the years that I can’t motivate anyone.  Maybe a short period of time light “a little fire,"  but it generally doesn’t sustain. I'm reminded of legendary New York Yankee's manager's comments when a reporter asked him what his secret was for winning so many World Series. Great answer: "Have good players." I’ve found I am a better leader, and a much better coach when I'm working with motivated people.  It’s more fun, more satisfying and results follow. It all seems to start with who we [...]

By |2020-04-21T01:12:36+00:00February 17th, 2020|Coaching, Connecting, Development, Empowering, Leadership|0 Comments

Culture of Empowerment

Leading author and consultant, Ken Blanchard states “People already have power through their knowledge and motivation.  The key to empowerment is letting this power out." So what is empowerment? It is the process of unleashing the power in people -- their knowledge, experience, motivation, and focusing that power to achieve the positive outcomes for the organization. As leaders, we should be striving to create a culture of empowerment.  To do so, we may need to scrub some traditions, habits and even language.  For example -- instead of dictating tasks to do – see yourself as a coach -- a partner in unleashing their skill and our knowledge. How about changing the word planning to visioning.  Visioning suggests a more inclusive [...]

By |2020-04-21T01:06:54+00:00February 10th, 2020|Coaching, Connecting, Development, Empowering, Leadership|0 Comments

There is no Multi-Tasking in Coaching

What can we give our best people?  The better question is: what should we give our best people? We certainly need to provide the resource for them to grow.  We need to help equip them with the knowledge and skills for them to make an impact. What I believe our key people need is our time, in fact more important than time is our energy. Author Simon Sinek in his book Leaders Eat Last illustrates this point with a parent attending the child’s soccer game.  He states, "If a parent goes to watch their kid's soccer game but only looks up from their mobile device when there is cheering, they may have given their time, but they haven’t given their [...]

By |2020-04-21T01:02:05+00:00February 5th, 2020|Coaching|0 Comments
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