8 Tips for Helping People Leaders Become Better Development Coaches
One of the most powerful ways to create a culture of development within your organization is to set the expectation that a primary role of a people leader is to be a development coach for his/her team members. This is the fourth post in the series “Creating a Culture...
The Importance of Values in Creating a Strong Culture of Development
In my last post I discussed the importance of having a clear vision relative to a culture of development and how this vision can engage today’s workforce by providing a common understanding of what the organization is attempting to achieve relative to development of...
Creating a Culture of Development – Do It or Else.
A recent post on Forbes pointed out that 2/3 of the millennial generation, which now makes up the largest part of the workforce, does not want to work for a large organization, but would rather pursue an entrepreneurial career, and so far about 20% are doing it. I can...
Why Organizational Culture Matters
Fortune magazine recently came out with a list of “The 100 Best Companies to Work For” (Fortune magazine, March 2015). In each of these companies, there is evidence of a strong corporate culture that creates clarity of who the organization is and how it wants to treat...
Do I Need a Coach or a Mentor (or Both)?
When people think of getting career development guidance from others they’ll often describe these resources by use of the terms “coach” and “mentor” as if they’re the same thing. In reality, these are two very different resources. I explain the primary differences...
Showing Courage as a Leader
I often find myself thinking about the importance of courage when I meet with leaders or their teams. Although it may not be recognized as such, fear often prevails as an undercurrent in many organizations, and it takes courageous leadership to counteract those forces...
4 Reasons to Separate Performance and Development Conversations
If you want to create a culture of development within your organization, then find ways to increase each individual’s ownership for their development. One way to do this is to separate the performance and development conversations and give the individual the...
Walking the Line: Separating the Personal and the Professional
With communication technologies constantly at your fingertips, it’s not always easy to keep your professional and private lives separate. This is especially true when you factor in social media and the many different ways you communicate with co-workers, clients,...
It’s Time to Kill the Entitlement Mentality
We’ve gone too far. As hard as it is to believe, as an employer I don’t owe you free snacks, lunch, dinner, dry cleaning, day care, or guaranteed salary increases or bonuses every year. It seems that what used to be unusual, welcome and differentiating perks have...
What I Learned about Loyalty from Big O Tires
Over the past few weeks I’ve had three flat tires. Yep, you read that right. Up until this point, I can probably count the number of flat tires I’ve had over 20 years on one hand. Why so much bad luck? I can think of only one reason: there have been a lot of roofing...
What’s Your Unique Value?
How many times have you heard it stated that you should just “follow your passion” or “do what you love” and you’ll never have to work another day in your life? While this sounds wonderful, I don’t think it’s very realistic. The flaw in the statement above is that...
The Three C’s of Trust
If we want people to follow our leadership direction, there has to be more of a reason for them to do so than, “because I said so.” A recent McKinsey & Company research study stated that building trust (as part of "Supporting Others") is a key differentiator of...