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Lost your focus at work? 3 tips for getting back on track
Published on 2012-05-24 07:55:44
It’s easy to lose sight of where you are going when you’ve had your nose to the grindstone for an extended period of time. You get focused on your task and you don’t take the time to lift your head and see where you are headed in the long term. Sometimes it’s just the opposite. The long [...] > read more
Lost your focus at work? 3 tips for getting back on track
Published on 2012-05-24 07:40:33
It’s easy to lose sight of where you are going when you’ve had your nose to the grindstone for an extended period of time. You get focused on your task and you don’t take the time to lift your head and see where you are headed in the long term. Sometimes it’s just the opposite. The long [...] > read more
You’re Invited! Leading from Any Chair in the Organization
Published on 2012-05-23 08:09:56
Join author and consultant Bob Glaser for a complimentary webinar and online chat beginning today at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (12:00 noon Eastern). In a special presentation on Leading from Any Chair in the Organization, Bob will be sharing three actionable steps on creating a culture where everyone feels a sense of ownership, empowerment, and ability to [...] > read more
Only 14% of employees understand their company’s strategy and direction
Published on 2012-05-21 08:23:22
Why don’t more employees do what they are supposed to do? Author and consultant William Schiemann might have part of the answer—only 14% of the organizations he polled report that their employees have a good understanding of their company’s strategy and direction. He shares that fact and some of the causes as a contributing author [...] > read more
If customer service is so easy, why doesn’t everyone do it like THIS?
Published on 2012-05-17 08:51:28
Last week I had the privilege of staying at the Hyatt in Denver for the ASTD International Convention. I was a bit tired upon arrival as I had just flown in from a speech in Edmonton, Canada. My first realization that this was not a “business as usual” situation was encountering Troy at the front [...] > read more
Employees are from Venus, Bosses are from Mars
Published on 2012-05-14 09:25:03
I’m taking some liberties with the title of John Gray’s mega-selling best-seller, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, but I wanted to share some interesting differences in perceptions between what bosses think they are providing and what employees are experiencing in the workplace. Ask most bosses what their management style is at work [...] > read more
Ready to grow and innovate? Begin by driving out fear and apathy—3 ways to get started
Published on 2012-05-10 09:17:03
People are stuck in place, not particularly happy with the way things are, but staying put because they don’t have any better options. It’s a “quit and stay” mentality that has been hard for leaders to address. The tools they’ve used in the past to motivate performance—pay raises, promotions, etc.—are no longer available. Instead of [...] > read more
Don’t make this leadership mistake. Why leaders need to be always in style
Published on 2012-05-07 07:48:13
We’ve all been there. Do to some mix-up or poor communication we end up being either over or under dressed for an occasion. You’re wearing something too casual for a formal event (think shorts at a client meeting) or you find yourself wearing formal to a casual event (think a business suit to an after-work [...] > read more
Would you ever say NO to a customer? Here’s one time you should
Published on 2012-05-03 07:52:02
My two boys played three different sports during high school and, as it happens, there were times when they needed to visit the athletic trainer because of an injury. If you want a lesson in how to treat your internal customers, come to my boy’s high school and see a pro in action! The Head [...] > read more
Who’s Got Your Back? 5 ways to find out
Published on 2012-04-30 08:06:29
One of the hardest things for brilliant, technically proficient folks to realize is that as they assume more and more leadership responsibility they must depend on the help of others. And each of these “others” is an individual who needs to be seen, heard and understood. One of the strategies you can use to map [...] > read more
Memo to Leaders: Stop Talking and Start Listening! Four Tips for Building Trust
Published on 2012-04-26 07:30:30
“To answer before listening – that is folly and shame.” Proverbs 18:13 It’s easy for leaders to fall into the trap of thinking they need to have the answer to every problem or situation that arises. After all, that’s in a leader’s job description, right? Solve problems, make decisions, have answers…that’s what we do! Why [...] > read more
The Biggest Mistakes Leaders Make and How to Avoid Them
Published on 2012-04-25 07:29:25
Join best-selling author and consultant Chris Edmonds for a complimentary webinar and online chat beginning today at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (12:00 noon Eastern). Chris will be exploring three actionable steps leaders can take to self-diagnose, assess, and change unwanted behaviors in a special presentation on The Biggest Mistakes Leaders Make and How to Avoid Them. The webinar [...] > read more
Managers: Drive out fear—one thing you can do this week
Published on 2012-04-23 08:29:40
When people work in isolation—or with incomplete information—their imagination can run away with them (and usually not in a good way.) Here’s an example. Has something like this ever happened to you? My wife has started a new job recently. Like many people, it involves working in a cubicle interacting with customers primarily by telephone [...] > read more
Who is this conversation about—me or you? Four ways to tell
Published on 2012-04-19 07:45:44
Ok. Picture this. Someone runs into your office and says, “I need help on ….” What are you probably thinking while they are talking? A. What you were doing before the person ran in, even though it means only half-listening to their story? B. Internal brainstorming on how you would handle X? C. Preparing to [...] > read more
The 3 times when you shouldn’t praise people at work
Published on 2012-04-16 08:38:20
Catching someone doing things right is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable things a manager gets to do. It shows people that you’re paying attention, that their work matters to you, and most importantly, it shows that you care about them. However, there are three times when it is not appropriate to praise someone. [...] > read more
Why employee engagement alone isn’t enough
Published on 2012-04-12 08:41:42
Engaged employees = Engaged customers = Better financial performance. Right? Well, not exactly. It’s a little more complicated than that. While there is a definite statistical linkage between these three measures, it’s not linear. The researchers at Gallup first identified this about seven years ago when they started to look more closely into the performance [...] > read more
3 tips for breaking a negative fairness-entitlement cycle at work
Published on 2012-04-09 07:33:46
A number of studies throughout the recession indicate that staff members do not feel that their organizations treated employees entirely honorably during the downturn. Reductions in force that broke the employment covenant and reductions in merit increases or raises have left many employees indicating that they will actively be seeking employment elsewhere when the economy [...] > read more
A great lesson from a military friend
Published on 2012-04-05 08:18:59
If you are like me, every time I am in an airport and see a military man or woman in uniform, I am compelled to go up to them and thank them for their service. And many times, I actually do thank them. In my mind, that is the ultimate service one can give—dedicating one’s [...] > read more
Accountability Issues? Poor alignment might be the real issue
Published on 2012-04-02 08:19:04
In The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, author Michael Gerber identifies that everything a leader does begins with a common understanding of his or her company’s prime objective. This includes a clear sense of what the company stands for and where it is going. Scott Blanchard referred [...] > read more
The One Minute Manager – Three Secrets to Building Trust
Published on 2012-03-29 08:00:39
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of The One Minute Manager. With over 13 million copies sold in 37 languages, it’s one of the bestselling business books of all-time and continues to inspire leaders around the world with its practical wisdom on managing people. The elegantly simple techniques of One Minute Goals, [...] > read more
Temperament at Work: Understanding Yourself and Others
Published on 2012-03-28 08:37:33
Join best-selling authors and consultants Scott Blanchard and Madeleine Homan-Blanchard for a complimentary webinar and online chat beginning today at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (12:00 noon Eastern). Scott and Madeleine will be exploring personality and its impact on work relationships in a special presentation on Temperament at Work: Understanding Yourself and Others. The webinar is [...] > read more
A kind word changes everything—especially when you’re learning something new
Published on 2012-03-26 08:08:18
My wife is six months into a new job. She has been through a lot of training since she started and just recently completed a four-week class to qualify for an advanced role. She’s been struggling to learn all of the different components of the new role and she hit a low point this past [...] > read more
Are you setting your customers up for success?
Published on 2012-03-22 07:21:26
As a customer I am often frustrated when someone either over or under-supervises me and I get told stuff I already know, or can’t seem to get the information I actually need. Might this be happening with your customers? I want to quickly demonstrate the use of Blanchard’s Situational Leadership® II model to showcase a [...] > read more
“To-do” list got you down? Here’s the 3-step cure
Published on 2012-03-20 08:06:15
If you pile enough on, anyone can be made to look foolish and incompetent. That’s the sad state of affairs many of us find ourselves in from time to time. Work piles up, deadlines are missed, quality suffers and then there are the consequences to deal with. What’s your reaction when faced with a situation [...] > read more
Making the Jump from Good to Great—3 ways to get started
Published on 2012-03-15 08:38:56
In his book, Good to Great, author Jim Collins found that leaders at the most successful companies shared two traits—a fierce resolve toward achieving organizational goals and a deep sense of personal humility. At the best companies, leaders worked tirelessly to keep the goals of the organization ahead of thoughts of personal accomplishment. The result [...] > read more
A Coach as a Servant Leader
Published on 2012-03-12 06:33:00
I recently had a business trip that allowed me the opportunity to visit my son at college. He is a freshman at Colorado State University-Pueblo and is playing football for them. They are a Division II football program that went undefeated last season and were ranked #1 in the nation for Division II schools at [...] > read more
Are you suffering from BLM (Behave Like Me) syndrome?
Published on 2012-03-08 18:48:00
Without a theory, framework, and understanding of personality types, people tend to judge others in comparison to themselves, explains Scott Blanchard in a recent article entitled, Understanding Others Begins with Understanding Yourself. Once that happens, you are very susceptible to “BLM Syndrome,” which is “Behave Like Me.” As Blanchard explains, “Without a way to understand [...] > read more
Creating A Positive Work Culture: Why you need to ask instead of tell
Published on 2012-03-05 09:16:16
My colleagues Chris Edmonds and Lisa Zigarmi have written a new book called Positivity at Work. The book is chock-full of 140 ideas for creating a more positive work culture. They obviously both have a lot to say on the subject but you’d experience something completely different if you spoke to either of them in [...] > read more
Work got you down? Here are five possible reasons why
Published on 2012-03-01 09:24:17
In their new book Positivity At Work, authors Chris Edmonds and Lisa Zigarmi identify five aspects of a positive work environment that lead to higher levels of well-being. That’s a hot topic these days as organizations deal with the general burnout prevalent in so many workplaces after three years of belt-tightening and a single-minded focus [...] > read more
The Five Pillars of Well-Being in the Workplace and the Critical Role of Trust
Published on 2012-02-27 08:00:15
The topic of well-being in the workplace is getting a lot of attention right now. The January/February issue of The Harvard Business Review featured articles on “The Value of Happiness – How Employee Well-being Drives Profits.” Since people spend more time at work than in any other single environment, it behooves leaders to create organizations that foster [...] > read more
Great Leaders Grow: The Four Keys to Becoming a Leader for Life
Published on 2012-02-23 07:15:27
. Growth for a leader is like oxygen for a deep-sea diver. Without it – you die. Leadership is a living process—and life means growth. Join best-selling authors Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller today at 9:00 a.m. Pacific / 12:00 noon Eastern / 5:00 p.m. GMT for a free webinar on the four keys to [...] > read more
George Washington on Leadership
Published on 2012-02-20 11:52:58
With great power comes great responsibility. In the unsettled atmosphere of the American Revolution between the victory at Yorktown in 1781 and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, a movement arose from officers in the Continental Army to proclaim George Washington as King George I of America. As incredible as it might [...] > read more
Is a stupid policy at work holding you back?
Published on 2012-02-16 10:36:47
Do you have any stupid policies at work that keep your people from serving at the highest level? Have you ever been told by someone serving you, “I am sorry to have to ask you this, or do this, but it’s our policy?” I once took my sons to a large, soon-to-be-out-of-business, toy store where [...] > read more
Are you too proud to grow? 3 great reminders from “The Artist”
Published on 2012-02-13 08:05:21
. Sometimes, nothing is more damaging to a career than success. It’s not always easy to see this at work in your own life, but you can certainly see it in others. In the movie, The Artist, one of this year’s Oscar-nominated films, silent screen star George Valentin falls victim to this when his past [...] > read more
Are you growing—or dying—as a leader? 8 questions to ask yourself
Published on 2012-02-09 08:02:33
“Growth is what separates living things from dying things,” explain Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller in their new book Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life. “Growth brings energy, vitality, life, and challenge. Without growth, we’re just going through the motions.” In a recent article for Blanchard’s online newsletter, Ignite! the authors warn that [...] > read more
Are you too busy to grow?
Published on 2012-02-06 09:14:02
If you’re not growing, you’re dying. That’s the message that Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller have for leaders in their new book, Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life. In a classic parable format, they tell the story of Blake Brown, a young 20-something, as he takes on his first leadership role. Funny thing [...] > read more
One time you shouldn’t treat co-workers like family
Published on 2012-02-02 07:31:13
One of the most overlooked gaps in well-meaning organizations is recognizing the need to treat internal customers even BETTER than external customers—at least initially. Within an organization, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking of your fellow employee as your family that you can treat however you want because “they have to love [...] > read more
Employee Engagement: 3 ways YOU can help (based on your role in the organization)
Published on 2012-01-30 09:23:30
27% of workers worldwide are actively disengaged according to the latest survey conducted by the Gallup Organization. In their latest report, The State of the Global Workplace, Gallup breaks down engagement figures for 50 different countries. Re-energizing and re-invigorating today’s employees remains a key concern for leaders at companies everywhere. Last week over 5,000 people [...] > read more
Quit and Stayed – Pearls of Wisdom from Leadership Livecast
Published on 2012-01-26 07:00:36
Nearly 5,000 people joined dozens of leadership experts yesterday for the Quit and Stayed Leadership Livecast. Over the course of four hours there were presentations and online discussions about what causes employees to be disengaged on the job and strategies leaders can take to address this epidemic in the workplace. The Quit and Stayed phenomenon [...] > read more
A first step any leader can take to improve employee engagement
Published on 2012-01-23 09:23:22
The Gallup Organization estimates that 27% of workers worldwide are actively disengaged at work. This is a state of mind where an employee is so discouraged at work that they essentially quit and stay—doing only what is marginally required of them to keep their job, but little more. In some extreme cases it can be [...] > read more
Three Steps to a Customer-Centric Organization
Published on 2012-01-19 08:26:54
The 2011 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer reports that 60 percent of U.S. consumer respondents believe that businesses have not increased their focus on providing good customer service. Even more surprising, 26 percent think companies are actually paying less attention to service. Wow—now is your chance to be the one who CAREs about service! [...] > read more
Advice for leaders: How Dr. Martin Luther King points the way
Published on 2012-01-16 07:43:11
Today is Martin Luther King Day in the United States, a time to reflect back on the life and teachings of the great civil rights leader and activist. While most of us will not be called to engage in social activism on the scale that Dr. King did, we can still have a great impact [...] > read more
Do you really care about your people? 4 ways to show it
Published on 2011-06-30 07:16:16
There’s an old saying that, “People don’t really care what you know, until they know you care.” This is good advice for leaders who often get caught up and lose focus while dealing with all of the performance pressures at work. Sometimes > read more
Ready to Empower Your People—3 tips to make sure they’ll succeed
Published on 2011-06-27 07:58:35
In a recent post for Fast Company entitled Managers: Set People Free To Promote Growth And Get Results, Blanchard Executive VP Scott Blanchard makes the observation that knowing when to give people greater autonomy in their jobs is often hard for man > read more
The Indelible Mark of a Trusted Leader – Do You Have It?
Published on 2011-06-23 09:00:40
A few weeks ago I took my mother-in-law to a doctor appointment and the nurse who helped us had this Chinese symbol tattooed on the back of her neck. When I asked her what it meant, she said that it represented “honesty.” As the Trust Pra > read more
Have you broken trust with your people? A 5-step process for getting back on track
Published on 2011-06-20 07:21:28
As leaders, sometimes we blow it. Sometimes we break trust by exhibiting poor judgment or poor behavior. Randy Conley, Trust Practice Leader at The Ken Blanchard Companies calls those occurrences “trustbusters.” Minding your A,B,C, and D’s— > read more
Four Leadership Behaviors that Build or Destroy Trust
Published on 2011-06-15 08:54:22
Join The Ken Blanchard Companies for a complimentary webinar and online chat beginning today at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (12:00 noon Eastern). Trust Practice Leader Randy Conley will be discussing strategies for leaders in a special presentation on F > read more
Trust, Caring and Connectedness: Who Was Your Best Boss—a creative exercise and reminder
Published on 2011-06-13 08:49:31
As you look back over your work career, who is the supervisor, manager, or leader that you would identify as your best boss? And more importantly, what was it about them that made them great in your eyes? Take a minute now to identify that person > read more
Trust Issues at Work? Don’t Be an Ostrich
Published on 2011-06-09 07:03:37
The difficult economic situation of the last couple of years has negatively impacted levels of trust. A recent study by Maritz research found that just 11% of employees surveyed had a strong degree of trust in their organization’s leaders. Even > read more
What can people expect from you as a leader?
Published on 2011-06-06 08:59:12
Boss watching is a fact of life in many organizations. Frontline employees are more concerned with keeping the boss happy than they are with keeping the customer happy. Leaders can help employees focus in the right direction by taking the mystery out > read more
What creates an engaging work environment?
Published on 2011-06-02 08:39:23
Think back to your best job—a time when you felt totally engaged in the work you were doing. What was it about that job that made it so special? What was happening in the work environment that caused you to feel that this was a place where you coul > read more
Larry the Cable Guy’s Advice on Building Trust: Git-R-Done!
Published on 2011-05-26 07:00:37
Recently I was channel surfing while watching TV and I ran across a showing of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Larry the Cable Guy was one of the featured performers, and if you’ve seen his act before, you know his signature catch-phrase is “Git R D > read more
Employee Work Passion–connecting the dots between perceptions and intentions
Published on 2011-05-23 04:53:31
A new white paper from The Ken Blanchard Companies establishes the link between environmental work factors, employee perceptions, and subsequent intentions to act positively or negatively at work. The paper is the third in a series tracing Blanchar > read more
Have you got “virtualosity”?
Published on 2011-05-19 06:32:51
As the world becomes more connected by technology, there is a growing expectation that modern professionals are accessible and responsive. Often, this means stretching boundaries and developing new skills to conduct business with people in far-reachi > read more
Where is your focus at work—your organization, your boss, or yourself?
Published on 2011-05-16 07:46:04
That’s really a trick question. When a company’s organizational vision, department strategies, and individual goals are aligned properly the answer to this question should be, “All three, of course.” If you feel that each of these is a > read more
Unify Your Team through a Common Vision—3 steps for getting started
Published on 2011-05-12 08:21:04
An effective team brings together people from different backgrounds and different experiences to work together toward a common goal. Yet [...] > read more
Employee Engagement—what employers can learn from video game makers
Published on 2011-05-09 11:08:03
Why are videogames so addictive? Dr. Marjorie Blanchard of The Ken Blanchard Companies believes that there are three reasons. The player is in control of their environment. The player receives rewards and recognition on a regular basis. The player ex > read more
Are you a serving, or a self-serving, leader?
Published on 2011-05-05 09:33:38
Ken Blanchard was a featured speaker during commencement ceremonies for the college of business at Grand Canyon University yesterday. In his remarks Dr. Blanchard encouraged the aspiring leaders to remember that leadership is not about you—it is a > read more
Are you asking people to be great?
Published on 2011-05-02 09:13:16
My friend and colleague Jesse Lyn Stoner featured a great story about Abraham Lincoln on her blog site. Lincoln would often slip out of the White House on Wednesday evenings to listen to the sermons of Dr. Finnes Gurley at New York Avenue Presbyter > read more
You’re Money!
Published on 2011-04-28 07:00:35
“Money”…”Clutch”…”Nails”…Maybe you’ve used (or heard) one of those phrases to describe someone who seems to deliver when it matters most. It’s the go-to person that everyone trusts to get the job done on time, on budget, and wit > read more
Is employee performance a shared responsibility in your organization?
Published on 2011-04-25 07:48:23
Managers and employees should work together as teammates and share accountability for the employee’s performance says Garry Ridge, CEO of WD-40 in a new article just published in the May issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine. Drawing on > read more
Healing the Wounded Organization–3 key strategies from Ken Blanchard
Published on 2011-04-22 13:41:00
Trust, commitment, and morale all took a hit as many companies struggled through the economic downturn of the past two years. Ken Blanchard believes that there are three key strategies that leaders can employ to return a wounded organization to fu > read more
Ken Blanchard Webinar and Online Chat–Healing the Wounded Organization
Published on 2011-04-20 07:34:23
Join best-selling author and consultant Ken Blanchard for a complimentary webinar and online chat beginning today at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (12:00 noon Eastern). Ken will be discussing strategies for leaders in a special presentation on Healing the > read more
The Challenge of Working in Teams—Dealing with Conflict
Published on 2011-04-18 09:28:13
Differences are inevitable when passionate people work together. Eventually, after a team gets through an initial orientation with a new task, members usually come to the realization that working together to accomplish a common goal is tough work. Th > read more
Compensation Is About Fairness and Respect
Published on 2011-04-14 09:06:47
Money often serves as a proxy for other issues that may be happening in a work environment. That’s why so many people ask for more of it when they feel short-changed in other areas. It’s sort of a “They don’t pay me enough to put up with ____ > read more
Rebuilding Trust, Commitment, and Morale
Published on 2011-04-11 08:04:59
Years ago, business owners were asked, “If you had to choose between a fire that wiped out your facilities versus having all of your people quit and walk out at the same time, which option would you take?” Almost everyone said they’d rather > read more
Are You Smart? If not, you may not be trusted either!
Published on 2011-04-07 07:00:37
When I was a kid I loved watching reruns of Get Smart, the TV series (1965-1970) starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, the bumbling Secret Agent 86. Anyone who has seen the show or watched the movie spin-offs knows that Agent 86’s partner, the lovel > read more
Ego and the Dark Side of High Achievement
Published on 2011-04-04 06:45:38
Are you driven to achieve? Are you overly concerned with the opinions of others? Ken Blanchard left a reminder on voice mail the other day that if your self-worth is dependent on your accomplishments plus the opinion of others you are in trouble, > read more
4 Tips for Dealing with Conflict on Teams
Published on 2011-03-28 06:53:46
Most work teams experience conflict, but few team members know how to respond appropriately. Dr. Eunice Parisi-Carew, who recently presented on the topic of Why Teams Fail—Dealing with Friction and Dissension recommends that teams address conflict > read more
Conducting Challenging Conversations—a 5-step process for managers
Published on 2011-03-24 09:06:51
Whether the topic is delivering a difficult message, giving tough performance feedback, or confronting insensitive behavior, managers need to step into their “uncomfortableness” explains Eryn Kalish, mediator, conflict resolution expert, and co > read more
Who are you as a leader? 6 questions to help with transparency and authenticity
Published on 2011-03-21 08:14:09
So much of leadership advice focuses on what to say and how to act in ways that creates trust, confidence, and followership. And while it is important to understand how certain leader behaviors can be interpreted by others, that should never take t > read more
Changing Behavior—What are you seeing through your “belief window”?
Published on 2011-03-17 11:18:52
Want to know what a person believes? Watch their behavior. People act consistently with their world view. If someone is acting scared, or selfish, or self-centered, they are telling you something about their beliefs. That’s the message Hyrum Smith, > read more
Employee Engagement: Are you building a cathedral—or just breaking rocks?
Published on 2011-03-14 08:06:05
There is a classic fable about a man who approaches three laborers breaking and shaping rocks. The man asks the first laborer what he is doing. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m breaking rocks,” the laborer replies. The man asks the seco > read more
Make sure you’ve done your part before giving feedback
Published on 2011-03-10 09:44:48
Giving feedback is a critical job responsibility and a challenging one for many managers. Especially when the focus is on accountability, make sure that you have done your part and are prepared before having a discussion. Here’s a quick checklist f > read more
Just lift up your shirt—moving from knowing to doing
Published on 2011-03-07 07:38:10
The title of this post comes from a conversation I had with my wife a couple of years ago. One of those conversations that can only be understood by others who have been in a close relationship with another person for 20+ years. It was about this > read more
Don’t Leave Collaboration to Chance: 3 Strategies for Leaders
Published on 2011-03-03 08:39:36
Collaboration is a hit-or-miss proposition (and mostly a miss) in today’s organizations, according to Dr. Eunice Parisi-Carew, a teams expert with The Ken Blanchard Companies. The result is a huge loss in productivity and potential as “pseudo-tea > read more
Are you ready for Open Leadership?
Published on 2011-02-28 11:49:55
Are you ready for Open Leadership? That’s the question that Charlene Li asks in her book, Open Leadership: How social technology can transform the way you lead. A major theme in the book is that leadership is about relationships, and because so > read more
Revisit Your 2011 Goals Today
Published on 2011-02-24 09:31:51
Unfortunately, most New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by Valentine’s Day. Just as distressing, most 2011 work goals are safely filed away in a desk drawer by the same time. That’s a shame considering all of the work that went into creati > read more
Performance Review: Survey Says…
Published on 2011-02-21 09:03:34
In a recent webinar for The Ken Blanchard Companies, WD-40 CEO Garry Ridge asked participants to assess their performance review system. Over 400 people shared their thoughts in three key areas. Here are their responses to each question. How woul > read more
Performance Planning, Coaching, and Review: How’s your organization doing in these three key areas?
Published on 2011-02-17 08:26:10
Why all the surprise when targets aren’t hit and people seem confused? If you look at most organizations, processes and procedures are not in place to help leaders set goals, manage performance, and conduct reviews in a way that brings out the best > read more
Share feelings at work—but not like this!
Published on 2011-02-14 08:41:29
Yes, you should let people know you care about them and appreciate them as work colleagues, but a recent article in the Wall Street Journal shows how confused some people can be when thinking about how to display caring and appreciation in the workpl > read more
Understanding “The Dip” and Why People Quit
Published on 2011-02-10 09:04:41
There’s a good reason why more people don’t run and jog to improve their cardiovascular health. It hurts—especially when you’re just starting out. For me it occurs at about the 3:00 minute mark. That’s when the early burst of exciteme > read more
Employee Engagement: A Key Learning from Super Bowl XLV
Published on 2011-02-07 10:38:41
Who did you root for in yesterday’s game? If you didn’t happen to live in Pittsburgh or Green Bay, you probably had a decision to make. That process you went through—and your eventual decision, can teach you a lot about employee engagemen > read more
Helping People Win At Work
Published on 2011-02-03 14:07:23
Garry Ridge, CEO of WD-40 Company, still remembers the first time he heard Ken Blanchard talk about how as a college professor he would hand out the final exam on the first day of class and then he would teach everybody the answers throughout the cou > read more
Rebuilding Trust: Mind your A,B,C’s—and D’s
Published on 2011-01-31 08:37:34
Everyone agrees on the importance of trust as a building block to creating strong relationships at work. But what is trust composed of? Trust experts Randy Conley and Dr. Pat Zigarmi point to four key areas (represented by the letters A, B, C, and D) > read more
Blanchard Webinar Series – Ken Blanchard on Leading with LUV
Published on 2011-01-27 17:45:08
Ken Blanchard and Southwest Airlines president emeritus Colleen Barrett present an extraordinary, wide-ranging conversation on the leadership secrets that have propelled Southwest Airlines and other great companies to unprecedented business success. > read more
Free Ken Blanchard Webinar! Lead with LUV: A Different Way to Create Real Success
Published on 2011-01-26 07:58:00
Join The Ken Blanchard Companies for a special complimentary webinar and online chat beginning today at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (12:00 noon Eastern). Best-selling author and consultant Ken Blanchard will be joined by Southwest Airlines president eme > read more
Whoever is doing the talking is doing the learning
Published on 2011-01-24 08:19:50
Close your eyes for a moment. Place yourself in a traditional learning situation. What’s happening? The teacher is at the front of the room, right? Who is doing the talking? The teacher, right? Who is standing, moving around the room? > read more
Leadership and Love—Why they are a perfect match
Published on 2011-01-20 12:25:11
“If you seek long continued success for your business organization, treat your People as family and LEAD WITH LOVE.” That is the advice that Herb Kelleher, legendary founder of Southwest Airlines, offers readers in the foreword of a new book, L > read more
What Killed The Coach?
Published on 2011-01-18 14:54:02
No, the coach didn’t actually die, but if you perform a “leadership autopsy” on the recent firing of Rich Rodriquez, the former University of Michigan head football coach, I think you’ll find that the ultimate cause of his demise was that he > read more
The Hidden Cost of Being Neutral at Work
Published on 2011-01-13 09:33:46
New research suggests employees who must appear dispassionate at work may have less energy to devote to work tasks and may receive less than positive appraisals from others. “Our study shows that emotion suppression takes a toll on people,” said > read more
Customers, Employees, and Shareholders—who comes first in your organization?
Published on 2011-01-10 08:15:31
All organizations have three groups of people that they need to keep happy—customers, employees, and shareholders. It can be a real juggling act at times trying to balance the needs and desires of all three groups—especially when important deci > read more
Colleen Barrett of Southwest Airlines: Lead with LUV
Published on 2011-01-06 10:09:44
Once, while sharing her thoughts on leadership, Colleen Barrett, president emeritus of Southwest Airlines (stock symbol LUV), was asked if she was worried that competitors would now be able to steal her management ideas—like writing thousands of t > read more