Linda was recently reading an article in The New York Times Magazine by Jami Attenberg (February 4, 2018) about healthcare decisions. In it, Attenberg said something that seemed powerfully true not only for our healthcare decisions but for all our decisions! This is what she said: “. . .[every time I needed to make a decision] I hesitated, and a handful of hesitations that take only a second added up to years of failing to make a decision.” This struck us as one…
If you’ve been part of our community for a while, you know that our Work, with a capital W, is helping individuals, teams, and organizations succeed through increasing the leadership of each and every person, regardless of role or title. As coaches and consultants, we work at the intersection of psychology and business and we know, from 30 years of experience, that the ability to lead requires that you: Pause and manage your reactivity so you can respond powerfully…
We were recently in a meeting with two top executives. They were describing an incredibly challenging time when their leadership team was running at full speed. That afternoon, the team asked to skip a leadership team meeting so they could use that time to focus on several “revenue critical” efforts that were underway. These executives needed to make a decision that would move their agenda forward, create success for the organization, and manage their staff’s need for some control over…
We’re currently working with a number of organizations with relatively new leadership teams. As is often the case, the people on these teams have made their way up the organizational ladder because they have succeeded in their department or in a specific area of expertise. While it makes sense that they would move up in leadership as their skills grow, the transition to higher levels of leadership requires a major shift in their approach and mindset. In particular, they need to…
This is the follow-up to the 3 Steps to Delegate Effectively which we re-shared last week; we thought this follow-up should be re-shared as well. We heard from several of you that you were concerned that if you used our 3 Steps to Delegate Effectively, it would be experienced by others as micromanaging. Delegation is about providing Context, Content, and Connection so that the individual who is assigned the activity can organize their thinking and their tactics to accomplish the delegated task. When…
As coaches and consultants, we find that many people regularly struggle with delegation, and they tend to feel uncomfortable admitting it because they believe they should know how to do it. In our experience, delegating is a challenging skill . . . one that few of us are taught. People are frequently told they should, “just delegate that” but when they do, and they don’t get the results they hoped for, they give up and just heap the task onto…
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from people in leadership is that they have to be available to their teams “all the time” to answer questions and solve problems. They say that they read about dream teams that know how to move forward in the face of challenges but their team just doesn’t get it. When we ask them to share some examples of how this plays out, we often hear a long history of our client (as team…
There is a big difference between sharing your opinion and giving credible input and knowing that difference can have a powerful impact on your success. Giving relevant, useful input is an important skill that requires practice and thoughtfulness. Without a framework for giving input on a question or issue, many of us get anxious and then resort to giving our opinion. Yet, when decision-makers look to you for your expertise, they generally don’t want your opinion—they want useful input.…
In last week’s post, Take Small Steps, we invited you to take a few minutes to reflect on your vision for your life – what it would look like at a 10 – and how that vision compares with your actual life. We’ve heard from many of you that you found the exercise helpful yet are concerned that, despite the best of intentions, you won’t make the time to take the small steps that will lead you to a life…
Those of you who know us, know that we believe deeply that change occurs in small steps made consistently over time. As much as we all wish we could make one big leap into a new life, greater success, more money, etc., for most of us, true change is about taking small steps consistently over time toward creating a life and work that matters to you. Today we are celebrating 6 years of the Monday Morning Business Coach! That’s three…