To avoid being misunderstood, the best defense is a good offense. Instead of avoiding conversations...
In Power Questions, we’re reminded that transformational historic figures like Socrates and Jesus...
The benefits of asking purposeful, well-constructed, quality questions cannot be overstated.
You’re coming in early on this 12-part series about behaviors that can be warning signs of toxic...
You can reclaim control and claim a host of other benefits, too, if you create clarity.
Why should others trust you? Check all that apply as reasons why you believe you are a trustworthy...
The term, critical thinking, conjures negative reactions for many. If you’re feeling that critical...
What’s your standard of listening? Passive listening? Active listening? All-in empathetic...
Every expression of unconscious bias has the potential to explode into something messy and...
It’s a cop out.
The popular job competency, dealing with ambiguity (also called managing ambiguity,...
In a misguided attempt to deal with infobesity, you may also be muti-tasking. Stop!
To manage means “to handle.” Managers handle the work that needs to be done (through others). They...
Like it or not, managers are the ones who get saddled with the role of Change Agent in most...
Conflict mediation is just one of the roles that managers acquire, accidentally, and without...
Multi-tasking, being efficient, and trying to get it all done is confusing for many managers. They...
Managers cannot do it all alone. They shouldn’t be held accountable for organization-wide problems...
It’s a common fallacy. “We deploy our managers as coaches” is often said but not often true.
The...
As a manager, are you bogged down by trying to do your own work and others’ work, too? Have you...
In some organizations, managers give feedback to employees whenever it’s needed. They don’t wait...
Leads, supervisors, and managers set expectations. There’s no way around this, despite the...
“What do you mean, manager as people developer!?! Double nope! We are waaay too busy.”That was the...
You’re looking for answers about your career development, gaps in your skills, and how to navigate...
Like it or now, know it or not, you are a role model to others. The moment you stepped into your...
I’m convinced that there is no job more difficult than that of a frontline manager or supervisor....
Workplace cultures with leaders at every level fuel engagement, create a sense of belonging,...
It’s a catchy phrase, and it’s a nice idea. Most will head bob at the notion of leadership at every...
It’s inevitable. When planning for a leadership development program begins, one of the first...
When asked about the “best” age for people to receive leadership development, CEOs in one study...
Because they have no choice, people submit to managerial authority. Unlike management, when it...
One-size-fits-all doesn’t work when it comes to leadership development. It’s more effective to...
“I don’t know how to lead.” That was the opening line of a recent email from a frontline...
Human capital surveys with senior executives everywhere consistently find that there’s a profound...
In the Gig Economy, Great Resignation, Quiet Quit era, the war for talent is real. Retaining...
When you develop leaders at every level, you strengthen the organization and will significantly...
Don’t wait until it’s too late! It’s never too early to get started with building the skills...
We’ve established that there’s a difference between leadership and management. Understanding that...
In your organization, do you call the people at the tip-top of the org chart “leaders” and use the...
Short-term, tactical, compliance-based, and transactional. That describes the typical HR function....
It’s been said that the senior HR manager should be the CEO’s right-hand. Some think of HR as the...
The HR function is evolving. Yesteryear’s personnel department was compliance- and policy-focused....
The Human Resource function is on the brink of massive change with analytics, data science, AI,...
You’re hiring talented, smart people with the “right” credentials, background and education. So why...
The very nature of the HR role is to look outside the HR function and support people practices...
HR errors are costly, usually preventable, and the responsibility of every management team member...
Making the human resources department a dumping ground for all people-related practices is one of...
It’s been said that some organizations have forgotten the human in human resources. HR problems...
“We hire nice people.” That’s the brand promise of a healthcare company that retails specialty...
Employees are stressed, fragile, and still recovering from all the challenges and life changes...
It happens every day in businesses, big and small, from every sector. An employee fails to deliver...
There are, of course, obvious skills that effective team leaders demonstrate. This isn't a post...
Team camaraderie is attractive. People gravitate to teams where there is synergy, support and...
Guest Blog by Dr. Samineh I. ShaheemWorking in a team is often transformative, exciting and...
I'm encouraged by the number of people who ask how to be a great team player.
The interest in this...
When it comes to harmony in the workplace, it's a lot like ballroom dancing.
There's not a lot of...
What makes for good team effectiveness all comes down to one thing: Empowerment.
Adrift. Alone. Suspended in limbo. Nothing to hang on to. That's how Carmen felt. Sure, she was...
Effective teams are more than the sum of their talented parts. But reaching the full potential of...
How do you define teamwork?
Have you made teamwork synonymous with terms like "rowing in one...
To improve team communication, note that there's a big difference between effective team...
The fight or flight mechanism is a strong one. As tensions rise, some prepare to do battle. Others...
Healthy team conflict? Yes, it is possible. In fact, it's essential for highly effective teams.
...
As we wrap this CONNECT2Lead series on the 12 Dimensions of Trust, we’d be remiss if we didn’t...
Work from home. The Great Resignation. Record-high levels of employee disengagement, burnout and...
Why are some workplaces so much more laidback yet productive than others? What is it that makes...
Information is currency. In the workplace, people gain trust and earn favor by having the right...
As we proceed through the 12 Dimensions of Trust in this CONNECT2Lead blog series, fostering...
Trust in the workplace is obvious asset. It makes everything easier, life happier, and results...
It’s not automatic. Employees don’t instantly trust their bosses, management teams, or each other....
Have you ever really thought about this: What makes you trustworthy? What makes you trust other...
Earning trust at work is absolutely essential for career success. In environments or relationships...
Once upon a time, people found jobs with a company and stayed in that organization for their entire...
Most folks are surprised to learn that there’s more than honesty and integrity required to build...
When you first meet a new colleague, you have little foundation for trust. Even so, working...
Do you consider yourself to be trustworthy?
Why?
Trust. It’s a loaded word, a misunderstood construct, and a necessity in the workplace. Without...
As we wrap this series, Why Wait to be Great?, there’s one more aspect of personal effectiveness we...
Failure is inevitable. Your response to failure determines whether that failure helps or hurts you.
By now, the Why Wait to Be Great? series has undoubtedly challenged you in some way to step outside...
Have you been dodging a difficult conversation? The kind of conversation that may be uncomfortable,...
Becoming more assertive in a way that improves personal effectiveness mean that you won’t infringe...
Motivation is personal. What drives one person may be unappealing (or even abhorrent) to another....
To be effective, you’ll need to build skills for influencing others.
Influencing others is not the...
It’s impossible to make progress if people don’t trust you. It’s impossible to achieve great things...
As you’re mastering the habits of personal effectiveness, supplement them with the competencies...
As we continue our series on how to unleash your full potential, keep in mind that it’s the little...
Bucket lists, New Year’s resolutions, fitness apps, competitions, KPIs, and grades in school all...
Your personal potential is yours (and yours alone!) to recognize and maximize.
It’s not up to HR,...
Perception matters. Misperceptions, even unfair ones, can be damaging to a career or to healthy...
You can spend a lot of time, energy, and angst focusing on how others perceive you. Worrying about...
Mindset is “the established set of attitudes” you hold. An attitude is “a settled way of thinking...
This series, Why Wait to be Great?, explores how to unleash your full potential. Step one is...
The time is now. There is no point in waiting, no reason to delay. Your greatness is yours (and...
By now, you’ve seen it on company websites and heard it used to describe corporate culture. But...
The Top 10 Fixes for Miserable Meetings series in the CONNECT2Lead Blog is wrapping with this...
Throughout this CONNECt2Lead series about miserable meetings, we’ve introduced best practices for...
The best meetings are inclusive meetings. They elicit contributions from everyone attending,...
The first seven miserable meeting fixes covered in this series have focused on changes to be made...
When scheduling business meetings, there are two prevalent approaches: comparing calendars to...
Too many cooks spoil the broth. This proverb aptly conveys what happens when too many people are...
Let’s start with a shocker: you may not need a meeting agenda.
Not every type of meeting requires...
If you’re constantly trying to shoehorn essential tasks, deep thinking time, and your “real work”...
In part one of the Top 10 Fixes for Miserable Meetings series, we ran the numbers to calculate the...
The chief complaint employees have about meetings is that they’re disorganized. The lack of...
Miserable meetings are a soul-sucking, time-wasting blight in the workplace. If people in your...
If the mere mention of “meetings” makes you recoil, your organization may be making these common...
The answer may surprise you. When it comes to inclusion in the workplace, it’s not just the latest...
Bosses behaving badly in the workplace has some new additions to the list of employee grievances....
Remote working is here to stay, especially if employees have anything to say about it. Studies...
The solution is sensemaking, a critical competency for managers that want to alleviate workplace...
In our mini-series on employee engagement, we’ve covered what it is and why it matters. As we wrap...
No series about employee engagement would be complete without an honest look at how to prevent...
Maybe it’s easier for teachers, nurses, social workers, and caretakers to see the impact of their...
Here's a scary statistic. It aptly summarizes just important that manager’s role in employee...
Pre-Covid data revealed that only 25% of employees describe their workplace as a happy one, and...
As we wrap our CONNECT2Lead miniseries on coaching, we’re calling out the specific behaviors of...
We’ve been looking at coaching from every angle in this CONNECT2Lead miniseries. We examined the...
You can’t succeed at something if you’re doing something entirely different. Coaching often fails...
There’s a widespread misunderstanding of what coaching entails and how it’s different from other...
There are so many reasons to offer both mentoring and coaching in your organization… Unfortunately...
Information overload. An avalanche of misinformation. People counting on you to sort it all out....
There are two questions with a single, same answer that we’re going to tackle in this CONNECT2Lead...
In our series on information overload, information and source quality, and the importance of ...
When you look up to someone, you expect them to be honest and genuine. The people we admire don’t...
Courage means taking action despite fear. To be a courageous leader, you’ll make decisions and...
If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. The role of a leader inevitably...
Strong leaders ask great questions. Their questions make you think, make you smarter, and make you...
When you hear the word “bias,” does it trigger an instant “not me!” reaction? For most, it’s easier...
45% of respondents to a Tolero Solutions survey indicated that a lack of trust in leadership was...
We started with a breakdown of information overload and becoming more discerning about the...
Last week, the CONNECT2Lead Blog tackled the topic of information overload. One way to control the...
It’s real. It’s happening. It has a detrimental effect on every person on your team. Information...
Transcript
I always appreciate it when people in an organization are dedicated to growing the...
Transcript
Have you ever put any time or thought into the individual needs of every member of your...
Leadership is personal. In a previous Words to Lead by post here in the CONNECT2Lead Blog, we...
One of the most unfortunate stereotypes about sellers is that we are self-centered. Buyers wrongly...
According to Abraham Maslow and extensions from his theory,
- A musician must make music,
- An artist...
This will, almost certainly, be a provocative statement.
Observing leaders in business, I think...
Good: Satisfactory in quality, quantity, or degree.
Great: Unusual or considerable in degree,...
Each week in the Words to Lead by series from CONNECT2Sell, we’re examining various aspects of...
In recent CONNECT2Lead posts, in a series called Words to Lead by, we’ve looked at behaviors,...
When you think about leaders that you willingly choose to follow, certain obvious characteristics...
As one of the world’s 56 Certified Masters of The Leadership Challenge®, I have the privilege to...
In this new CONNECT2Lead series, Words to Lead by, our objective is to dig down to the nitty gritty...
This blog post is being released on the first Monday of the first month in the new year of a new...
This is what you can expect when you work to build your mental might and eradicate lazy thinking.
In 2019, the CONNECT2Lead Blog focused heavily on employee engagement. It's the key to success in...
Sales is all about persuasion and influence. Persuasion and influence fails are usually the result...
In 2019, the CONNECT2Lead Blog focused heavily on employee engagement. It's the key to success in...
Continual improvement. Never becoming complacent. Striving to learn from every success, every...
ATD’s sales competency model builds on four foundational competencies: collaboration, solution,...
In 2019, the CONNECT2Lead Blog focused heavily on employee engagement. It's the key to success in...
Each of us has a preferred style when it comes to conflict. This preference influences how we make...
In 2019, the CONNECT2Lead Blog focused heavily on employee engagement. It's the key to success in...
Sales stall out when buyers can’t see how their problems are going to be solved.
When it comes to formal recognition programs, how does your organization stack up?
Swamped by emotions, sellers can make costly mistakes like these:
It’s a dangerous disconnect.
- 92% of respondents, representing all age groups, think having access...
According to Michael Steger of CSU, there are three core components of meaningful work:
Arguing is not necessarily a bad thing. To argue simply means to present reasons for (or against) a...
According to Dr. Pragya Agarwal, author of Sway, “workplace culture is the shared values, belief...
Trust is the “reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety or a person; confidence in...
At the risk of sounding preachy, we’re continuing what we started last week in the CONNECT2Sell...
A study with 7,500 full-time employees found that 23% feel burned out at work very often or always,...
A “little white lie” is one that is about a small or unimportant matter. White lies are told to...
Do you have friends at work? As you look across the organization, does it appear that most...
Developing your mental prowess requires mastering new techniques and approaches. It’s as much about...
Surely, by now, you’ve considered employing team members who work remotely. Or you’ve given team...
Sales success is often contingent on well-reasoned arguments and the seller’s ability to make a...
What’s the impact of having clear and well-communicated values in your organization?
As a sales coach, I spend a fair amount of time in the field observing sellers. As a researcher, I...
Managers have more impact on employee engagement and retention than anyone else in the...
For CHROs and human resources professionals, there are serious concerns when it comes to human...
It’s a big problem in business. 90% of executives said keeping new hires is an issue in their...
As noted in last week’s article, the business benefits of employee engagement are extensive and...
Employee Engagement is the emotional commitment that employees feel toward their organization that...
If you’re a sales manager, keep reading! This post will also help you understand what’s reasonable...
This post is for everyone who relies on people to drive business results. This is the business case...
Throughout this 18-part series, The Ultimate Guide to Soft Skills for Managers, we’ve examined the...
When it comes to interpersonal skills, you can only fix what you know needs fixing. Blind spots are...
Before we can tackle the question of how to apply leadership skills in the workplace, there are...
As sales manager, you can focus on the short-term and drive sales results to meet this period’s...
The number one, most frequent problem I hear as an executive coach is that people just don’t know...