Archive for Leadership

Performance management includes having the ability to make good decisions about goals.  Here are 8 steps to take to make a good decisions. 1. Define the problem or opportunity.  What exactly do you hope to make happen? 2. Clarify expectations and desired outcomes.  Everyone should know what you are aiming for and how to recognize [...]

Please add your story about a bad boss, present or past, to the “Leave a Comment” section at the bottom of this blog post.  If your boss is still around, give him or her different name and circumstances.  Then come back later to read other people’s stories.  If you leave your contact information, you may [...]

The NY Times announced on August 17, 2009 (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/health/18psych.html?_r=1 ) that “The Army plans to require that all 1.1 million of its soldiers take intensive training in emotional resiliency, military officials say.  … Usually taught in weekly 90-minute classes, the methods seek to defuse or expose common habits of thinking and flawed beliefs that can [...]

Performance management includes having the ability to create goals with the characteristics summarized by the acronym SMART. S = Specific. Everyone needs to know exactly what the specific results of a goal should be.  What does that look like specifically?  A vague goal can leave one in doubt about what to do and what the [...]

When you create important goals, it is powerfully motivating to visualize them.  You can do this for yourself and coach others to do it.  Here are the steps to visualizing goals: 1. Write down your goal with specifics.  For example, a goal of mine is increase by 25% the number of participants in my Public [...]

When you address a problem, take the time to evaluate how important this problem is to you, your group and your company.  And when you coach others to describe a problem or opportunity, ask them to include how important the issue is.  Ask them, “What is important for you in this situation?”  Draw out why [...]

When you coach others to describe a problem or opportunity, ask them to include how they are experiencing the problem personally.  When I suggest that, I am assuming you have a cordial relationship with them.  If your relationship with them is antagonistic, they may feel threatened by the following approach so it may not work [...]

When you coach others to describe a problem or opportunity, ask them to speak very factually at the beginning.  Have them talk about what they can see or hear.  Keep asking for visible evidence for their conclusions Coach them to be specific. Keep asking for specifics such as “When?  Who?  How?  How often?  When they [...]

When you describe a problem or opportunity, speak very factually at the beginning.  One way to make sure you do this is to talk about what you can see or hear.  You might want to say, “John was very hostile toward me.”  Well, that is actually your conclusion.  Start with what you saw and heard.  [...]

Performance Management starts with identifying opportunities for improvement. As you clarify the problem(s), you need to distinguish between the facts and interpretations of the facts. Investing time here speeds up implementation of the solutions.