Cracking the Code of Organizational Culture: What Successful Leaders in New Roles Know Free Register Here
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When I Get Better At… by Marshall Goldsmith
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In my younger days, as a newly minted Ph.D. and organizational behavior consultant, I would challenge my clients to pick one to three areas for personal improvement. As I grew more experienced, I began to realize that three was too many. The problem was not a lack of motivation or intelligence—these were brilliant, dedicated leaders. The problem was that they were just too busy. They all had profitability goals, growth goals, quality goals, customer goals, health goals and so on. Multiply each of the types of goal by three and you quickly reach a number of goals that is not only impossible to achieve, but also impossible to even remember.
What I teach my clients now is to pick the one area for personal change that will make the biggest difference, and to focus on that. If we pick the right area for change, increased effectiveness will almost always influence other aspects of our relationships with people. For example, more effective listening will lead to higher scores in all kinds of related behaviors, such as building teamwork, increasing customer satisfaction and treating people with respect.
Nathaniel Branden, Ph.D., a psychologist and author of about 20 books, has a wonderful exercise that helps answer the question, “Is this change really worth it?” Between five and eight people sit around a table, and each person selects one behavior to change. One person begins the exercise by saying, “When I get better at…” and completes the sentence by mentioning one benefit that will accompany this change in behavior. For example, one person may say, “When I get better at being open to differing opinions, I will hear more great ideas.”
After everyone has had a chance to discuss their specific behavior and the first benefit, the cycle begins again. Now each person mentions a second benefit that may result from changing the same behavior, then a third benefit, continuing until the facilitator ends the exercise (usually after six to eight rounds). Finally, participants discuss what they have learned and their reactions to the exercise.
When Branden first explained this exercise to me, I was polite, but skeptical. I couldn’t see the value of simply repeating the potential benefits of change over and over. My skepticism quickly went away when I saw the process work.
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It is Our Turn to Help the World by Margaret J. Wheatley Comments (0)
Several years ago, I read of a Buddhist teacher who offered his encouragement to a group that was filled with despair over the state of the world. His advice was simple, profound and placed things in historical context: “It’s just our turn to help the world.” What I love about this statement is that it reminds us of other times and other people who stepped forward to help create the changes that were necessary. We do live in an extraordinary era when, for the first time, humans have altered the planet’s ecology and created consequences which are just beginning to materialize in frightening ways. But throughout human existence, there have always been people willing to step forward to struggle valiantly in the hope that they might reverse the downward course of events. Some succeeded, some did not. But as we face our own time, we need to remember that we stand on very firm and solid shoulders.
In my own work with local communities around the planet, I’ve learned to define leadership quite differently than the norm. A leader is anyone willing to help what they do and label them as courageous, but those who step forward never feel courageous. They just did what felt like the right thing to do. free
DON'T DELEGATE MORE DELEGATE MORE EFFECTIVELY by Marshall Goldsmith Comments (0)
When C-level executives are asked what change they could make to become a more effective leader, one of the most common answers is, I need to delegate more!
My caution to these executives is always the same: Don't delegate more. Delegate more effectively.
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“Time to Mourn” by Robert Gunn & Betsy Bullickson
Corporate cost of time lost to bereavement leave is likely to increase free
Humility, the ability to transcend ego, plus willpower, releasing latent capacity in service of a goal, combine in leaders who transform their companies from "good to great." Reflecting on the book by Jim Collins.
Continued...free
“Can Leadership Be Taught?” by Robert Gunn
Old assumptions about the difficulties in developing leadership are outmoded free
“Letting Go to Get Ahead” by Robert Gunn & Betsy Gullickson
The delegation of power is a dance that balances three parts: authority, accountability, and responsibility. free
“Ten Self-Defeating Behaviors to Avoid” Fast Company | by Mark Goulston
1. Thinking you're indispensable
2. Talking over or at others
3. Not listening
4. Not delegating
5. Using jargon
6. Being afraid to fire people
7. Fear and avoidance of giving performance reviews
8. Fear of confrontation
9. Fear of failing
10. Not getting buy-in free
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When I Get Better At… 
It is Our Turn to Help the World 
DON'T DELEGATE MORE
