When the boss needs training – How HR can handle this dicey issue.

It is 10am and you have already completed a solid three hours at the office. You know it will be a long day and you will likely only complete a third of all you need to do. The ping of emails has become your constant companion.

As you reflect upon the week ahead, the state of the economy, and that recent difficult conversation, a moment of fear, mixed with overwhelm washes over you. “How will I make all of this work?” You realize you are simply exhausted.

At that moment, you receive notice from HR regarding a Two-Day Development Event. In disbelief, you again begin talking to yourself – this time out loud,

“They must be kidding. Who can attend training at a time like this? They truly have no idea what I am up against. I will just have to get out of it.”

 

If the above scenario is the reality of so many senior leaders (and I propose that it is), how do you as a human resource professional convince the boss to actively engage in the development initiatives you believe are critical to her and your organization’s long term success? This is an important question, and one that perhaps Marshall McLuhan unknowingly answered in 1964 when he coined the phrase, “The medium is the message”.

The Age of Application

Stanley Kubric once said, “If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, you can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered.” As Kubric suggests, knowing what to do and actually doing it are two very different things.

 

I doubt that many of us need additional information about how to be a more effective leader, as much as we need to find a way to consistently apply all we already know.

Leadership Today. How much do others want to help you?

Lately I have been thinking about what makes a leader in today’s world.

 

Are we a leader simply because others report to us, or because we are responsible for an area of the business? Are we a leader because we have a future vision that no one else seems to be able to see just yet? Or, is the answer that we are only a leader when it is that others are following? After all, how can we call ourselves a leader if, when we turn around, no one is following us or the initiatives we need them to support?

2009: The Year of Opportunity

Welcome to 2009.

As you think of the year ahead, what are your first thoughts? Before reading further, take out a blank sheet of paper and write them down. Write all the thoughts you have about the coming year. Do not censor yourself – simply capture whatever comes to mind on paper so that you can more fully know in what direction you are focused.

Ø     Write about what you believe 2009 will mean for you personally (think of your health, finances, relationships, career, spiritual and personal development);

Ø     Write about what you believe it will mean for your family (your partner, your children, and other loved ones); and finally,

Ø     Write about the implications you believe 2009 will have on your organization (your company’s brand, bottom line, long-term future, and access to resources and opportunities).

 

Now, reflect on everything you wrote.

 

As you read over your thoughts and see them in black and white, how do you feel? Are you excited at what you believe lies ahead? Or, do you find yourself anxious, fearful and overwhelmed? Perhaps you experience some combination of the two. 

Organizational Mastery

It took me two years to get it.

Two years of being continually frustrated! It felt like I was always waiting.

Waiting for things to stabilize; waiting for systems and processes to be in place; waiting for resources to be available; waiting for the new hires to finally get up to speed so that we could move forward. I waited for over two years for a day that never arrived.

The Inner Work of Leadership – A tribute to my mother, a year after her death

This is an article I wrote a year ago. It captures what I believe is the inner work that all truly effective leaders must do at some point.

 

Leadership development is self development … 

Something important.

I have not written in some time. The reason? I did not have anything to say.

 

I believe strongly that the only reason to write (and for that matter, speak) is to share something important, something that has the potential to add significant value to the lives of others. Outside of this, as the saying goes, it is hard to improve upon silence.

 

I now have something to say.

 

What I will share is not of my own thinking, but rather, that of others whose work I think is brilliant. Brilliant because it is simple to understand, can be applied immediately and perhaps most importantly, delivers career-advancing results.

Coaching: A global study of successful practices

The American Management Association recently published their latest research report: Coaching: A global study of successful practices.

 

Highlights include:

 

·     Coaching is used by about half of today’s companies.

·     Coaching continues to gain in popularity.

·     Coaching is associated with higher performance.* Organizations that use coaching are more likely to say they are performing well in the marketplace (measured by revenue growth, market share, profitability and customer satisfaction).*Please see report for research details.

A Secret? Really?

Gravity exists whether we believe in it or not, as does the Law of Attraction, which the movie The Secret has popularized.

 

Now, I recognize there is a great deal of debate about the movie, and perhaps even more criticism regarding how the movie communicated the law, however, what cannot be debated is the evidence for the law’s existence.

 

Like gravity, the Law of Attraction does not need you to believe in it in order to operate. And, I have to say, I am extremely doubtful there is a single successful person who does not realize that what they put out they will get back (otherwise know as the Law of Attraction). Approach people with mistrust, and you will be mistrusted. Approach others with disrespect, and will be disrespected. Thankfully, the opposite is also true.

 

This is not rocket science and, it should not be a secret.

 

What I believe is not well understood is at what fundamental level this law operates: the thoughts we think matter! People know what we really think of them – just as we know what others truly think of us. We can feel it. We know when others think well of us – and we know it when they do not. Consider the vast implications of this.

 

Hurt, Help or Impress?

It has been said that when we communicate with others we are doing one of three things. We are either trying to:

• Hurt
• Help, or
• Impress

Today, pay attention to your communication with others. Notice how often your truest intention in that communication is to either hurt or impress those involved. Also, notice the result when your intention is only to help another.

Caution:

People know when we are genuinely interested in them and their success. They know when our truest intention is to help, and they will always respond by genuinely caring about us and wanting to return the assistance. This is the secret sauce in business.