communication

Just Add Fear – Is this a line in your Leadership Recipe?

Fear is to an organization as water is to a house. It always finds a way in, and only does damage if it stays around for a while. Leadership by fear is a choice, and often it is not about intentionally doing it, but by ignoring the habits that replace fear with love. Here are some leadership tips about having great conversations that allow fear a voice, and create a conversation that makes it hard for fear to stay around.

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People Habits before People Skills – Johari Window

It is great to have a goal of Fierce or Crucial Conversations – but while the skills are critical for leaders, the success of implementing this work rests largely on your ability to create the time to practice them and get better. The one-on-one is a critical place for this work, and here are some Johari Window videos that will help you look differently at this time. Talent management is about great conversations – and great conversations are honest, result in thoughtful actions, and ultimately lead to improved performance.

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. . . and When We Want Feedback – Step 1

We cannot get better without feedback. It is a critical piece, and in my experience people are not effective at giving or getting it. If you believe that relationships are critical in leadership and building effective teams, then you know that great relationships start with honest conversations that lead to thoughtful actions, and ultimately higher performance. It is the core of talent management and leadership development.

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3 Questions to Transform Your One on One

Talent management is about having thoughtful conversations that lead to meaningful actions and ultimately higher performance. The one on one is a key conversation. Here are three questions to ask and some other questions that will help you make that time more thoughtful and meaningful.

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Creating Space for Honest Conversations: Some Tips

Creating Space for Honest Conversations: Some Tips

Talent management is about great conversations. More specifically, honest conversations, resulting in thoughtful actions, and resulting in higher performance. Here are 5 questions that will help you create space for people to be honest. There still have to be actions that have to get done, but step one is getting it out on the table. Included are some links to templates that can help you have those conversations as leaders.

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The “Am I crazy?” Talk

The “Am I crazy?” Talk

Talent management is about great conversations. One critical conversation is the one we have with ourselves when we are feeling overwhelmed and not living into the work or the priorities we have set for ourselves. That happens. Life happens. But staying in and leading from that space is not healthy. Here are 4 steps to take when you find yourself feeling like you are loosing it (I call it the Am I crazy? question). The ability to do this is a critical part of leadership development.

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An Open Door is not enough – How about an Open Ears policy?

It is time to get rid of the open door policy buzz phrase in business and replace it with the open ears policy. Here are some tips to making open ears work for you as a leader, and a challenge to followers to step into the space created by your leader to listen. Talent management is about great conversations, and having that conversation requires a minimum of two people, coming together, and willing to share the roles of talker/listener. This is a foundational leadership development topic, and should be repeated often if you are building a leadership development strategy.

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#nicematters

Gratitude matters. #Nicematters. It is important to share with people a simple Thank You, and when we get those messages from others we need to store them in a #nicematters file. Here is a quick request for my friends, to help me celebrate the gifts of 11 high school seniors. I look forward to a great conversation today.

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Empathy – How I experienced it with a dog and 3 ways to build it with humans

Empathy is critical if you are a leader that wants to build their relational capacity with peers and teams. It has to matter for you, and here are three ways to begin to build it. My reminder was reading a great book called The Art of Racing in the Rain. I will never look at Harper the same, and it is a daily reminder that I have to listen differently. Talent management / great relationships are about great conversations.

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Knowing our roles:  One Thing A Leader Does

Knowing our roles: One Thing A Leader Does

Living into the roles in our lives often requires us to take a second look at our priorities. Being a great Dad, Mom, Friend, or Leader means naming the priorities and making time for them. Talent management is about great conversations. Living into the roles in our lives means having some of these conversations.

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Leadership Journey – Strengths to overused Strengths

Talent management is about having great conversations. For leadership development, those great conversations are critical to have when transitions happen. Not sure if you believe this? Then read this post. Believe it? Then read this post where I give you some resources to become better at handling these situations so they don’t happen again.

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