Leader: What’s Your Status?
I’m a rookie when it comes to improv theatre. Even as a rookie, though, I have already learned a ton. You might be surprised how much of it translates into how I coach and lead. I’ve written before about how the improvised leader is better than you think. In that post, I was focussed on an improv basic called the…
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Leadership Metrics – Game Changers for Improving Leadership/Business Effectiveness
What gets measured gets managed/done/improved. This business adage has been burned into the psyche of all business people worth their salt. There is a lot of truth to the saying. As business people, we are very comfortable measuring our performance in sales and production. We’re sophisticated enough to measure our return on investment (ROI) on marketing spends. We regularly measure…
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Risking Your Identity to Grow
My colleague Tim Edris and I have the privilege of coaching a senior leadership team through a year-long program called Leader to Leader™ to increase their individual and collective leadership effectiveness. We know empirically that even small increases in overall leadership effectiveness can have a significant positive impact on the business. These Leaders are Willing to Put Their Identity on…
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Just Add Vulnerability
I have a love-hate relationship with math (probably because I am getting worse at it with each passing minute). I do love word formulas, though. They are nice and sticky, as in they are easy to remember and employ. Here’s a favourite formula: Data + Feeling + Impact = Effective Feedback Even my most conflict-averse clients have had success using…
Read MoreThree Cheers for Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge (a well known character in Dicken’s A Christmas Carol–Summary here) was a miserable and miserly business owner who seemingly hated Christmas and people. He’s known for his Bah! Humbug! response to his nephew’s Merry Christmas. My colleague Tim Edris and I are fortunate to not have any true Scrooges in our practice. After all, a real Scrooge would…
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Leaders: Step Into Your Truth
Fact: Many of the leaders I coach are scared to say what they really think to their people. They withhold facts¹: One of my direct reports is interviewing elsewhere. They withhold thoughts and opinions: I don’t support expanding into the US market right now. They withhold feelings: I feel anger that I was not consulted on that hire. They withhold…
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Dear Leader: Where Are You?
Images and metaphor help us tell great stories. They help us explain concepts that we struggle to explain with words alone. The next 3 minutes could change the way you see the world. Please watch. Now tell me, dear leader…where are you? If your answer is “below the line”, take heart. Simply notice it and ask yourself: “Am…
Read MoreLean on Me: Partnering to Help Leaders Keep Pace
This week, my writing colleague Louise Campbell interviewed my coaching colleague, Tim Edris of the Emerging Leaders Institute, to get his view on leadership and how it is evolving. “What got you here won’t get you there,” was coined by business leadership guru Marshall Goldsmith to underscore how leaders need to regularly update the way they lead to keep…
Read MoreSignaling a Lane Change
You’re driving on a fast highway and a car swerves into your lane without any notice. Your reaction might range from a gentle head shake (tsk, tsk) to jamming on the brakes to ending up in a car crash if you don’t have enough time to react. Signaling a lane change is the law on our roads. Bad things can…
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Feedback: A Formula to Face and Embrace
Is feedback important? We’d all say a resounding, “Yes!” Yet how many of us ever ask for feedback on our leadership? Or ask what’s expected of us, both the spoken and unspoken? And how many of us make giving/getting feedback part of our everyday? Feedback is merely information that helps us know whether we are on track. Sounds so simple.…
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