Every leader eventually hits a wall, whether it is a struggle to lead at scale or a sense that they cannot motivate their team to achieve its full potential. In these moments, it is tempting to focus on external obstacles like organizational bureaucracy or employee attitudes. However, recent research reported in Harvard Business Review by Muriel Wilkins suggests that the … [Read more...] about Are These Beliefs Holding You Back?
Develop Your Strengths or Fix Your Weaknesses?
Once upon a time, people believed that if you could just fix all of your weaknesses – you would be a big success. The annual performance review was focused on “what do you need to work on?” These days the “weakness-fixing” era is fading and more people realize that real success is when you can develop your strengths; when you can move from being very good at something to … [Read more...] about Develop Your Strengths or Fix Your Weaknesses?
Convincing Your Boss They Need a Coach
Lots of our bosses could really benefit from having an executive coach! We have all probably had bosses like this. They have a lot of talent and many good qualities – but there are some blind spots! If they could only get past these then life would be much better for you and the organization. What do you do? How do you approach your boss about coaching? Here are some … [Read more...] about Convincing Your Boss They Need a Coach
The Illusiveness of Accountability
Everyone agrees that holding people accountable is crucial for high performing teams and organizations. And yet, so many leaders do this very poorly. Some of the implications for lack of accountability include: Below average performance of the team and organization Resentment builds among team members Lack of accountability becomes a part of the culture and … [Read more...] about The Illusiveness of Accountability
Don’t Let Your Reliability be a Liability
Are you the “fix it” person? High-performing leaders often fall into a "fixing" cycle. When something goes wrong, they always come to you. And sure enough, you are able to fix it – whatever “it” is. Over time, this creates a toxic dependency. The more you fix, the less others have to. Your reliability effectively masks systemic issues, allowing broken processes and … [Read more...] about Don’t Let Your Reliability be a Liability